She swallowed the liquid and compressed her lips. “It’s not bad,” she said, thinking longingly of the almond croissants she liked to start her day with while abroad.
“It’s food,” he laughed.
“Does Harry have any family?” She returned to her line of questioning.
“Why do you care?” He softened the rude question with a smile. Her tummy flipped.
“I liked him,” she said simply. “But I felt a profound sadness in his home.”
“You felt it?” Will teased to hide the astuteness of her observation.
“Yes. Sadness and grief were palpable.”
Will had a little more of his soup and then placed the spoon in the bowl. “Harry’s wife died years ago. I never knew her.”
“Did they have any children?”
He nodded, wondering why his instinct was to talk openly to Lilah when he rarely spoke on this matter. “A girl. Maddie. She … she died eight years ago.”
“That’s a tragedy. And so it’s just Harry?”
“Yeah.”
“How did she die?”
“Maddie?” He swallowed, pushing down on the familiar sense of panic. “She was picking up some groceries from the store when a guy went on a shooting rampage. Seven people died that day, including Maddie.”
“That is appalling,” Lilah murmured, her face pale. “What a waste of life.”
“Yes.” His eyes clouded over. He hadn’t spoken about Maddie to anyone in such a long time and he found it felt unexpectedly cathartic. “She was a grade school teacher. She worked at one of the worst schools in Washington. You know, the kind of place you have to walk through two metal detectors to get in the gates.” He shook his head. “If anything was going to happen to her, I would have put money on it being there.”
“Did they catch the gunman?”
“Two days later,” he nodded. “They found him hiding out in some guy’s garage. He shot himself, and a cop for good measure.”
“I hope he is burning in hell,” she condemned angrily.
“He was mentally ill.”
“Aren’t all men who commit some atrocities?”
Will’s expression was reflective. “No. Some are Kings.”
Lilah dipped her head forward and had another spoonful of soup. “Harry must have been devastated.”
“That’s an understatement. He had adored his wife, and never so much as looked at another woman after she died. Maddie was his angel. He was a wonderful and devoted father.”
“I can imagine.” She rested her hands in her lap and gave Will the full force of her attention. “He is lucky to have a friend like you.”
“I owe Harry a lot,” Will said simply.
“I’m sure he’s grateful.” Lilah shifted a little in her seat. “Was Maddie married? Did she have children?”
Will felt the familiar stone of grief in his chest. “Yeah.” His voice was crackly with emotion. “She was married. As for children … our baby would have been due a month from when she was shot.”
CHAPTER SIX
“Did you just say … she was your wife?” Lilah reached across the bench and put a hand on his in an instinctive gesture of sympathy.