Murder in the Mansion by Lili Evans Page B

It bothered her so much that she went back into the
emergency room looking to see if they needed another pair of hands.
    “No.
No way,” she was told firmly. “Go home. It's way past your shift. We appreciate
you for staying but you need to rest.”
    “I'm
fine, really,” Rachael said but they didn't care.
    “Enjoy
your day off tomorrow. Today. It's after midnight. It's six hours past your
shift.”
    “I
know.”
    “Go
home.”
    Rachael
sighed. Was it time to start thinking about why she didn't want to?
    She
never knew what she was going home to, Rachael thought as she walked through
the hospital parking lot toward her car. Grant wanted them to be a family. The
kind that spent time together, ate dinner together, and talked to one another.
That didn't fit with Rachael's career as an on-call doctor who worked long,
often unknown, hours. Grant had made it clear during multiple conversations
that he wanted that to change. Rachael didn't know if she wanted to spend less
time at the hospital and more time at home. She had worked so hard to achieve
her goals and she loved every minute of what she did.
    The
sticking point, Rachael decided, was that she had no problem with him wanting
to be home to look after his daughters. But she felt he had no right expecting
her to give up time to be with them or have a child of her own. She pulled out
of the parking lot, annoyed by it all over again. Grant working from home had
only become an issue when they had begun living together and sharing the same
space. It was only a problem now that he expected it of her too.
    She
had even gone so far, during a fight, she recalled, to suggest that if she did
consent to having a baby, that he should stay home with it. He had been furious
with her. He didn't understand how she could be so career-driven, so
self-centered. She, in turn, had called him an asshole for wanting her to
change her entire life for something only he wanted. The fight escalated
quickly then, she remembered, turning to money and power, because she was a doctor
and he was a journalist who worked primarily from home.
    “Do
you think this is what I wanted?” he had shouted at her. “I was going to see
the world. I was going to go to war-zones and report on life and death
situations. I was going to do something important.”
    But
because he was a single father, none of that would happen, Rachael thought. He
had chosen a wife and children over his career. Which was fine, in Rachael's
mind, as long as you prioritized and made the distinction. Her parents never
had. They had tried for appearance-sake to do both, to have both, and had only
fucked their children up in the process. Grant had chosen family. Rachael had
chosen career. She knew she could not have both. She knew she didn't want both.
    So
what was she doing?
    She
was no closer to an answer when she pulled quietly into the driveway and shut
off the engine. The house appeared dark and quiet. Rachael hoped they were all
asleep. She was too tired and confused to deal with them now. Her relationship
with Grant had held a certain appeal for her because he already had kids of his
own. It had been easy to fall in love with him knowing they both had what they
wanted and he wouldn't expect anything more from her. Now she felt as if she
was losing control of the entire situation.
    Inside,
she shut the door quietly and slipped off her shoes. She tiptoed upstairs and
into their bedroom but Grant wasn't there. The bed was made. She glanced toward
the bathroom desperately wanting to shower, then eat a hot meal before bed, but
she knew she had to find him. There was a very large possibility that he was
pissed that she was home late again, and as usual, hadn't had time between
patients to call.
    He
was sitting on the back deck, a beer in his hand, looking out over his garden.
He had bought the house when he had married his late wife, before their
daughters were born, and took great pride in what he had done with the space.
It was still