He sat across from her at the dinner table, flashing her charming smiles and loving gazes. She returned them, as she always did; what else could she do?
Mrs. Hardy awed and cooed about how cute they were together, still acting very much like newly weds even though they'd been married for seven years. Mr. Hardy always agreed with his wife, reminiscing about old times and how he used to shower his wife with love and attention before life got in the way.
She hated the way they giggled and gossiped about her like teasing in-laws. They didn't know. They didn't know what her husband did to her, the loud yells, the broken glass, the purple bruises. All they saw was what her husband wanted them to see, the working husband with his perfect stay at home wife to take care of their two small children.
Nancy wanted to leave him, for the sake of her children, but she couldn't, she wasn't strong enough. No one would believe her, he made sure of that. The bruises were never anywhere anyone could easily see. The children were always asleep in their sound proofed bedrooms that he'd insisted on. He'd weaseled far into her father's heart and he'd charmed the Hardy's into thinking he was perfect.
She'd tried once, the first time he hit her, to leave him. It'd been a year before their marriage and they'd both been in college. She'd caught him flirting with another girl and she'd dumped him then and there, rather publicly. He'd raced after her, making a big show of begging for her forgiveness while curious gossips stared out the window towards them. She'd forgiven him, only for him to turn around and backhand her when they got to her car. He'd told her never to embarrass him like that again. She'd nodded, scared of him, but the minute she returned to her dorm she called her father and told him what happened. Her father had come up right away, furious, demanding an explanation from him. He'd acted surprised, meeting her eyes briefly before admitting that he'd hit her, but the way he said it made her father think he was lying. Her father had cornered her later that night, warning her not to put her boyfriend in such a position where he'd have to lie to cover for her again. Her father actually thought she had lied to him because she was mad and her boyfriend hadn't wanted to reveal her lie to him so he'd admitted to a falsehood.
What other choice had she had but to take him back? Her father had lost his faith in her.
Joe sat to her husband's right, talking sports as he played with her one year old son Nick.
When dinner was over and the dishes had been cleared away. She took the moment of peace to excuse herself with the excuse of feeding her infant daughter. With waves of dismissal and murmurs of acknowledgment, she picked up her daughter's diaper bag and her carrier before heading for the guest bedroom where she and her husband were staying.
It was peaceful, rocking her daughter as she silently fed her. It wasn't often she was alone, truly alone. There was always someone around her.
Normally she wouldn't let Nick out of her sight, but she knew her husband wouldn't hurt him, not with three other people in the room anyway.
When Nan was finished with her feeding, she laid the infant girl in the bassinet by the bed and left to room to rejoin her husband. As she descended the stairs the doorbell rang. Being closest, she answered it.
Her heart fell when she saw who it was, the man her heart had always belonged too.
"Nancy."
"Frank."
She stiffened when her husband's arms slid around her waist. Frank turned from her to her husband, a tense smile on his face.
"Hello Ned."
My mom read the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books as a ittle girl and I fell in love with them, strange for a kid born in the 90's but whatever. Anyway, just got into the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Mysteries tv show from the 70's on netflix and got inspired to write.