by King, Karen
The Perfect Stepmother
A totally gripping psychological suspense thriller
Karen King
Books by Karen King
Psychological Thrillers
The Perfect Stepmother
The Stranger in My Bed
* * *
Romantic Comedies
Single All the Way
The Year of Starting Over
Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts Hotel
AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
The Stranger in My Bed (Available in the UK and the US)
Contents
Prologue
1. Lily
2. Lily
3. Maria
4. Lily
5. Lily
6. Maria
7. Lily
8. Lily
9. Lily
10. Maria
11. Lily
12. Maria
13. Lily
14. Lily
*
15. Lily
16. Lily
17. Maria
18. Maria
19. Maria
20. Maria
21. Maria
22. Lily
23. Maria
24. Lily
25. Maria
26. Lily
27. Maria
28. Lily
29. Lily
30. Maria
31. Lily
32. Maria
33. Maria
34. Maria
35. Lily
36. Maria
37. Lily
38. Lily
39. Maria
40. Maria
41. Lily
42. Maria
43. Lily
44. Lily
45. Maria
46. Lily
47. Lily
48. Maria
49. Stefanie
50. Stefanie
51. Lily
*
52. Lily
53. Maria
54. Lily
55. Maria
56. Maria
57. Maria
58. Lily
59. Maria
60. Lily
61. Maria
62. Lily
Epilogue
The Stranger in My Bed
Hear More from Karen
Books by Karen King
A Letter from Karen
Single All the Way
The Year of Starting Over
Snowy Nights at the Lonely Hearts Hotel
Acknowledgements
*
Prologue
Lily
June
* * *
Ringing the doorbell of her childhood home still felt strange, Lily thought. She’d always had a key to let herself in, even so many years after moving out. But everything was different now. And she was here to make amends.
Maria, her new stepmother, opened the door. ‘Hello, Lily. I wasn’t expecting to see you today.’
‘I came to see how you are after yesterday,’ Lily said, stepping into the hall.
‘That’s very kind of you. I’m fine. I’m sure I fainted because of the heat.’ Maria led the way into the kitchen. ‘Would you like a coffee? Your dad’s out at a meeting with clients but Emma’s here – she’s playing on the swing in the garden.’
‘I’d love one, thanks. And I wanted to talk to you… but I’ll go and say hello to Emma first.’ Lily stepped out of the back door and looked around for her little sister. The garden was empty. How strange.
Maybe Emma was hiding.
‘Emma!’ she shouted, walking over to the shed and trying the door handle. It was locked. She peered behind it. No Emma.
‘Emma! Are you hiding from me? I’ll find you!’ She went over to the big bush and looked behind that. No Emma.
‘Emma!’ She tried to still her panic as she ran over to the side of the house and looked behind the bins. Where was her little sister?
She walked over to the gate and checked that it was still locked. Then turned and walked back over to the swing. ‘Emma! Come out from wherever you are, darling.’
Silence.
Lily’s gaze frantically scanned the garden, the silence and emptiness of it scaring her now. It was as if Emma had vanished into thin air. Then she spotted a rag doll lying on the grass by the high wall that ran along the side of the garden. She froze as she looked at it, then at the two garden chairs placed with their backs against the wall.
An icy hand of fear clutched at her heart as she walked over to the wall. Had Emma stood on the chairs and climbed over it? She couldn’t have. Even with the help of a chair the wall was too high for her. She was only five. Lily had tried to scale it a few times when she was little and had never managed it.
Unless someone had helped her.
Lily picked up the rag doll, terror gripping her like a vice. Where was her little sister? Had someone taken her?
Turning towards the house, her face stricken, she could see Maria watching her through the kitchen window. Their eyes met, and the hairs pricked on the back of Lily’s neck when she saw the fear in Maria’s eyes. Had her suspicions about her stepmother been right?
1
Lily
October – Eight months before Emma disappeared
Lily Metcalfe hitched the shopping bag back onto her shoulder. She hadn’t meant to buy quite so much but she was so excited about actually going abroad again. Her last holiday – and her only holiday with Seb – had been almost three years ago, the year before her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It had spread so rapidly she had died within twelve months, leaving them all distraught and both Lily and her little sister, Emma, motherless.
Lily and her boyfriend Seb had only been living together a few months when her mother had taken ill but he had readily agreed to them moving from their flat in a busy suburb of Birmingham to a house just around the corner from Lily’s parents, who lived in a village on the outskirts of Solihull, so that they could help look after her mum and Emma. When her mum had died last year, Lily had been heartbroken but had stepped in to help out with Emma as much as she could, and tried to be there for her father too. He had struggled with his grief, and coping with Emma wasn’t always easy; the five-year-old was adorable but could be such a handful at times and was missing her mother terribly.
The last couple of months though, Lily had felt that her father had turned a corner. He looked happier and more relaxed, Emma had just started school, and her childminder, Hazel, collected her and looked after her when he and Lily were working. Hazel was a kind, motherly figure who Emma adored. Seeing her father and Emma so settled, Lily finally felt at ease about going away on holiday, and her father had been delighted when she’d mentioned it to him, telling her she must start to live her own life again, to have time to grieve herself rather than looking after him and Emma, and that she had to put her relationship with Seb first. She knew he was right. Seb was good-natured and incredibly supportive but he’d very much had to take a back seat the last couple of years and she wanted to spoil him a bit. It would be so good for them both to have a holiday and take a break from the busyness of their daily lives. Lily worked in a gift shop in the local town centre, selling unusual and quirky gifts. She’d been working there for a few years now and really enjoyed it. Seb was a plumber, employed by a nationwide firm. Both their jobs were pretty hectic and it would be good for them to have a break and get away from it all for a while.
Lily had spotted the last-minute deal for ten days in the Dominican Republic, leaving next Tuesday, and they were both really looking forward to going. She’d googled the weather, delighted to see that the temperature was forecasted to be in the mid-twenties, so she’d treated herself to some new bikinis
and picked up a couple of items for Seb too. Luckily they both had plenty of summer clothes because the shops were now mainly full of winter coats and woollies. It would be heaven to feel the sun on her skin again and to have a chance to relax with Seb, go on walks, lie on the beach, have romantic meals and late-night drinks. She couldn’t wait.
Right now, though, she needed a cup of coffee and a sandwich. She was flagging. The shops were so busy and she’d only had a bowl of granola and yoghurt for breakfast. She headed for the café, pushed the door open and looked around. It was pretty full but there was a free table over at the back so she made her way over to it. As she got nearer her eyes caught a couple sitting at a table in the corner. It was her dad, she realised. He was deep in conversation with a dark-haired woman. Thinking she must be one of his clients, Lily was about to turn away and choose another table so they could talk in peace, but her eyes widened as she saw her dad reach over and clasp the woman’s hand. He was looking at her as if… as if he loved her. Lily froze, rooted to the spot, her eyes fixed on her dad as he leant forward and kissed the woman.
Suddenly, his eyes met Lily’s and, horrified, he pulled back and stood up, muttering something to the woman, who immediately looked over her shoulder. Lily gasped as she recognised her. Maria. Her mother’s cancer support beauty specialist. The woman who had come to her parent’s house during her mother’s last months to give her beauty treatments. Someone her mother had adored and considered a friend. Her dad had always said how much Maria’s visits lifted up her mother’s spirits. And it was true, Mum was always brighter after Maria had worked her magic, bringing with her a new lipstick or foundation, styling her mother’s hair or bringing a selection of wigs for her to try when there was too little hair to style. ‘A saint.’ That’s how Mum had described her, telling Lily how Maria had her own beauty salon but gave up hours of her time for free to treat cancer patients.
And now Maria was apparently working her magic on her dad. How long had this been going on? Had they been seeing each other while her mother had been dying? Had popping into the house to style Mum’s hair, give her a facial or a pedicure just been a cover so Maria could see her dad?
Her father was walking over to her now, looking agitated. Lily refused to obey her instincts to turn and run. She was going to stand her ground. Let them try and explain themselves. She raised her head resolutely, stared him straight in the eye as he stopped in front of her, getting ready to scoff at his explanation that ‘it wasn’t how it seemed’. However, the words that came out of his mouth weren’t an explanation or an excuse but, ‘I’m sorry you found out this way. I was going to tell you at the weekend.’
She glared at him. ‘Tell me what? How long has this been going on, Dad? Mum’s barely cold in her grave and you’ve already taken up with someone else. Unless you two were seeing each other while Mum was alive?’
He flinched as if she had slapped him across the face. ‘Please don’t cause a scene, Lily. Come and sit down, let’s talk about this calmly.’
‘I don’t want to sit down with you and her! How could you, Dad?’
She could feel everyone staring at them and knew her dad would hate that she was indeed causing a scene. Well, what did he expect?
Maria had got up from her seat and was standing behind her father now, looking concerned but not the slightest bit guilty. Lily felt the rage inside her grow as Maria, cool, composed as if she had done nothing wrong, placed her hand on Lily’s father’s arm, her brown eyes anxiously resting on his face. ‘It’s better if I’m not here, Gareth. I’ll go and leave you two to talk,’ she said softly. She looked sympathetically at Lily. ‘I am sorry you had to find out this way. It must be a shock to you.’ She squeezed Lily’s father’s arm reassuringly then let go of it. ‘I’ll call you later, Gareth.’
Gareth watched Maria walk out of the café but Lily didn’t even turn her head. Maria was nothing to her. She had sneaked her way into their life, pretending to be some kind of Good Samaritan, wheedling into their family, and now she was trampling on Lily’s mother’s memory by dating her dad just a year after her mum had died.
Lily could see the furtive glances from the other customers, hear the whispers, and fought down the urge to scream at her father and storm out. She shouldn’t have accused him of seeing Maria while her mother was still alive. He would never do that. Her parents had been madly in love; her father would never cheat. He might have fancied Maria then though, a little voice whispered. She brushed it away. This was all down to Maria. She would clearly have done all the running. Gareth was still a good-looking man, and as a well-respected financial advisor, he wasn’t short of money. He was quite a catch. Maria was about forty and Lily remembered her mother saying that she was surprised that someone so beautiful and kind was still single. Her father had been grieving, lonely, and Maria had taken advantage of him. She probably thought this was her last chance of settling down and having a family and she’d grab it. Yes, that would be it. Lily would keep calm and talk to her dad, she decided, make him see that Maria was manipulating him.
So, when Gareth said, ‘Can we please sit down and talk this over?’ she nodded, allowing him to clasp her arm and lead her gently to the table he and Maria had been sharing.
‘I understand what a shock this must be for you, Lily, but please, before you say anything, let me explain,’ Gareth said as she sat down opposite him.
Lily nodded, biting back the questions that sprang to her throat. Let him speak, then you can tell him how Maria is manipulating him.
‘I know it looks bad – your mother has only been dead just over a year. But the truth is that Maria and I, we love each other and we want to be together.’
Love? Maria really has worked her charm on him.
‘How long have you been seeing each other?’ Lily demanded.
Something flickered in his eyes and then it was gone. He swallowed. ‘Quite a few months. I bumped into Maria not long after your mum died when I popped into the hospice to thank them for caring for Ruth in her final days, and to give them a donation. Maria was just leaving – she’d been giving a facial to one of the patients. I asked her to join me for a coffee because I wanted to thank her for what she’d done for Ruth. She made your mother’s last months a lot easier, Lily, and I’m grateful for that. So should you be.’
‘Of course I am. But I didn’t expect you to take up with her! I can’t believe that you’ve been meeting all this time, that you actually think you’re in love with her, and you didn’t bother to mention this to me!’
Gareth rubbed his hand across his forehead. ‘Lily, honey, I didn’t mean for this to happen. Neither of us did. We just chatted at first. Maria listened while I talked about Ruth, and my struggle to cope without her, and with Emma. It was so good to have someone to talk to, someone who understood what I was going through…’
‘I would have listened. You could have talked to me! I was going through it too. It was my mother who died!’ The words came out louder than she meant them to and silence fell over the café. She could feel people staring at them again. Her dad would hate that. Well, she hated what he was doing.
‘I know, honey, but I didn’t want to be a burden to you. You have your own life to live. And your own relationship. You give too much of your time to us as it is.’
‘I don’t mind. I want to help you and I love looking after Emma. She’s my little sister.’ It was true that she spent every spare moment she could looking after Emma and doing some of the household chores, so much that she was often exhausted and wished that she and Seb had more time together. Which was why this holiday meant so much to them. She didn’t mind though, she wanted to help – Emma was so young to lose her mother and needed her big sister. Dad had needed her too. He and Mum had been together twenty-eight years and he had struggled to cope without his soulmate.
‘I know you’re lonely and you miss Mum, but you didn’t have to take up with the first woman you met to fill the gap she left.’ As soon as the words left her mouth s
he wished she could take them back. They were nasty and hurtful, but she was angry. Not so much because he had found a replacement for Mum but because that replacement was someone her mother had adored and confided in. Emma had adored Maria too; she had often styled the little girl’s hair or painted her nails in the sparkly glitter she always kept for the daughters of her patients. Dad had sung Maria’s praises, said she was a miracle-worker. It was a betrayal. It felt as if they had both been waiting for her mum to die so that they could be together.
‘We can’t help our feelings, love. I might be your father but I have feelings the same as you. Maria and I, we connected. We grew closer and realised that we loved each other.’
She wished he would stop saying that, that he loved Maria. Lily felt like screaming. She could see how this had happened. Maria was a good few years younger than her father. She was beautiful, immaculately dressed, soft-spoken, the sort of woman that it was easy to talk to and confide in. It was part of her job to be like that: she was a calm, reassuring presence for the women that she cared for, women who were fighting cancer, losing their bodies, their hair, their femininity. Maria came along like an angel, waving her cosmetic wand and making them all feel like women again, and they adored her for it. Now she had cast her spell on her lonely, grieving father. Somehow Lily had to make her dad see that this woman had played on his vulnerability to trap him. That he was infatuated with her, not in love with her.