The Valentines

V

William sighed and continued to fix his tie. Usually, before work, Esmé would check his suit over, making sure everything fits properly and that his tie was straight. That being said, this was no ordinary day.

When William had woken, his wife was nowhere in his sight, which honestly didn't surprise him in the slightest. He had known that she wouldn't have been able to stay in that room all night and would have only stayed for the length of time it took for both Theo and William to fall asleep.

Still, it was unusual for there to be no sign of her presence in the room. Normally if she had to leave the room, she would return just before William woke up to set out his suit for the day or to place his coffee on the bedside table. Sometimes she would start the shower up and switch on the heated flooring in the bathroom for him. There was a whole host of different things that she would do randomly with no set routine, small things like open the windows, things that William always noticed and always appreciated.

Yet when he woke that morning, there was absolutely no trace of his wife ever being in that room. Yes, these little things were done randomly, but since the day they had started living together, Esmé had always done them. Every, single, day. William knew it was something she did because it was one of her obscure ways of showing her affection for him, so for her to not have done it concerned him.

A frown crossed his face as he began to comb through his beard, shaping it. As far as he was aware, he hadn't done anything to anger her, they hadn't had a disagreement or an argument in a while, so it couldn't have been anything he had done. The only thing that was different about that morning was the tiny red-headed woman who was buried in the middle of their bed, fast asleep.

Even with Theo in that bed, he still found it odd. It wasn't the first time they had slept with another person in their bed, and Esmé would still do the things she would normally do. Putting the comb down slowly, William's frown deepened.

The only other reason for his wife to be out of sorts was if she was feeling something she didn't want to or something she didn't quite understand and needed time to process. However that theory was incredibly far fetched, and William knew that was the least likely reason for whatever was happening. Esmé didn't feel easily.

Deciding that it was better to find her and check on her before he left for his meetings, William quietly stepped out of the walk-in wardrobe into the bedroom. Quickly his eyes scanned the room. There was still no indication that Esmé had been in that room. Quietly, he leaned over the bed to check Theo, who was still sleeping peacefully, breathing deep.

"Esmé?" William called as he hit the final step of their staircase. "Are you down here?" There was no response and the mansion was eerily silent. It was incredibly unnerving. "Darlin'?" He walked into the kitchen, but there was nothing there. Touching the back of his hand to the kettle, he found it was cold. If she had been down here, it had been hours ago. Turning around and going down the basement steps, he found all the doors were shut and locked, but that didn't stop him from knocking on each door and calling her name.

Still, there was nothing. William scratched his head as he ascended the steps, walking to the car key rack and grabbing the set he needed. Individually, he checked each hook, to find all the keys were on the rack. Wherever she was, she was in the vicinity. Glancing at the clock and knowing he couldn't really waste any more time, William bounced on the balls of his feet.

An extremely large part of him wanted to stay here and hunt for his wife. Trail through the acres of land they owned, sift through the CCTV footage of the night. However, that part of him knew that she had gone for a reason. She had left no sign of herself for a reason, and that reason was probably that she really didn't want to be found, or deal with questions she couldn't give answers to. He knew if he stayed and looked for her, as much as it was done out of concern, she would grow frustrated and angry with him.