The Perfect Stepmother

by King, Karen

  Maria

  It was so busy in the salon that Maria didn’t have time to check her phone until lunchtime. She was alarmed to see missed calls from Emma’s school and Gareth, and a message from Gareth telling her that Emma had been sent home ill but luckily Lily was off work today so had collected her from school and was at their house looking after her. Why hadn’t Lily taken Emma back to her own house? She hoped that her troublesome stepdaughter wasn’t snooping around.

  Maria swallowed down the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. She had to keep calm. The letters were safely hidden under the mattress on her and Gareth’s bed and there was nothing else in the house that would raise Lily’s suspicions. Maria travelled light, always had. She had created a new persona, a new life, ten years ago and there was nothing to link her to her old one.

  She tended to her customers all afternoon, trying to still the thoughts that were swamping her mind. Was it Lily who was sending Maria the horrible letters? They had both been delivered by hand, both on a Friday when Lily would have finished work. She could have easily slipped them through the door as she walked past. She could even have dropped last Friday’s letter on the mat as she walked in, waiting for it to be found.

  Olivia’s whisper broke through Maria’s thoughts. ‘Maria, Mrs Preston’s face mask should have been washed off five minutes ago.’

  Goodness, how could she let herself get distracted like this? ‘Thank you. I thought I’d give it a little extra time,’ she replied calmly even though her heart was beating erratically. She had to concentrate on her work and forget about Lily. Her customers had to come first.

  ‘Any tingling, Mrs Preston?’ she asked as she walked over to the lady who was leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, the face mask now dry on her face. ‘I gave it a couple of minutes longer this time – we want you looking radiant for tonight.’

  Mrs Preston shook her head, obviously not wanting to crack the face mask by talking.

  Thank goodness for that. It shouldn’t create any problems by staying on a bit longer, but she needed to be more careful. ‘That’s good. Now I’m going to gently wash it off.’

  Luckily, Mrs Preston’s skin was glowing once the face mask was removed, with no sign of any redness. That could have been a whole lot worse.

  * * *

  Gareth was already home and Lily had gone by the time Maria walked in. Gareth came out of the kitchen to greet her.

  ‘You look tired, love. Has it been a heavy day?’ he asked.

  ‘A bit,’ she replied, kicking off her shoes. They were killing her and she loved to walk barefoot in the house. ‘How’s Emma?’

  ‘Asleep on the sofa. Lily said that she was sick a couple of times this afternoon but not since three thirty. Her tummy seems to have settled down now so hopefully she’s on the mend.’ He wrapped his arms around Maria and kissed her on the forehead. ‘Why don’t you go and sit down. I’ll bring you a drink and I’ve got a pasta bake in the oven.’

  Gareth was such a good man, kind and thoughtful. She would never stop being grateful that he had come into her life. ‘That sounds lovely. Thank you.’ She nestled her head into his shoulder a little longer, needing the reassurance of his embrace. ‘I’ll just pop upstairs and get changed first. What time did you get home?’

  ‘Getting on for five. I had a coffee with Lily, a quick catch-up, then she went home.’

  So Lily would have had a few hours to look around. But then with Emma being sick she doubted if she would have wanted to leave her for long.

  ‘I’ll be down in a few minutes,’ she told Gareth as she made her way upstairs. She paused as she saw that their bedroom door was half-open – had Gareth left it like that? She had left for work first this morning. If Lily had been snooping, she’d be sure to shut the door after her, she reminded herself, walking into the bedroom and glancing around. The bed was undisturbed and nothing looked out of place, but then Lily wouldn’t leave all the drawers pulled out, would she?

  If Lily hadn’t been into her salon, asking questions, pretending she was someone else, Maria wouldn’t have been suspicious of her looking after Emma today, but as it was, she couldn’t help but feel that Lily might have been hoping to find something. She checked under the mattress to make sure the letters were still there – they were – then went over to the dressing table and opened the drawers. Her underwear was neatly folded, as she always left it; the creams and make-up looked undisturbed.

  She opened the doors of the wardrobe and put her hands to the back of the shelf where all her winter jumpers were neatly folded, then pulled out a small, flat shortbread biscuit tin. Taking off the lid she looked at the papers folded inside, her original birth certificate, a birthday card from Sue, a couple of letters from her mother, some photos, precious links to her past she hadn’t been able to bring herself to get rid of. It didn’t look like they’d been touched, but maybe she should find somewhere else to hide them.

  ‘Dinner’s almost ready, Maria.’ Gareth’s voice floated up the stairs.

  Maria put the box back and placed the jumpers in front of it. She didn’t have time to hide it anywhere else for now but had to think of somewhere. She couldn’t risk Lily, or Gareth, finding it.

  Maybe I should destroy them. Get rid of all the links to my past. She wasn’t going to destroy the letters though, not until she’d checked that they weren’t written by Lily.

  33

  Maria

  Five days before Emma disappeared

  ‘Maria, honey, it’s eight o’clock.’ Gareth shook Maria’s arm gently to wake her.

  Oh no, I’m late! They’d had a disturbed night with Emma, who had woken up twice with a tummy ache and been sick once again – and then Maria had been tossing and turning thinking about Lily, and wondering where to hide her memory tin. Nowhere in the house felt safe from prying eyes, and although the salon seemed the next best place, she was worried about one of the girls finding it on the days she wasn’t there. Finally, no nearer to a solution, she had fallen into an exhausted sleep.

  ‘I’ll do you some toast and a decaf, you get yourself ready,’ Gareth told her.

  ‘Thanks.’ She threw back the covers and headed for the shower. She had to get a move on, they were so busy today. The newspaper article had brought in a few new clients and she was seriously thinking she might need more staff.

  She put the shower on lukewarm to liven herself up and massaged the shower cream into her body, her mind still on the memory tin.

  ‘Coffee’s on the bedside table, and the toast will be a few minutes. I’ll bring it up so you can eat it while you get dressed,’ Gareth shouted through the bathroom door.

  ‘Thank you!’ She turned off the shower and started to dry herself.

  She stepped into the bedroom as she heard Gareth’s footsteps down the stairs. There was no sound from Emma and she guessed the little girl must still be asleep, probably exhausted from being ill yesterday and her disturbed night. She went over to the dressing table and pulled out the bottom drawer to select her underwear. As she selected a white bra and matching briefs, something caught her eye. She pushed aside the underwear and her heart pounded as she gazed at the framed photo of her parents staring up at her. It should be facing down. I always keep it facing down.

  Someone had moved it.

  Lily.

  She took the photo out of the drawer, her eyes welling as she looked at it, her dad with his arm around her mum’s shoulders, her mum’s arms around his waist. They had been brilliant parents, always supported her. Until that terrible day when her life changed forever. The fallout had destroyed her parents and they had disowned her, cut her out of their lives. She didn’t blame them. It was a terrible thing she had done. Unable to cope with the gossip, they’d moved out of the area, bought a little shop miles away. When her mum had died five years later, her dad had told her to keep away from the funeral, that the shame she had brought on them had killed her mother. She’d been distraught at not being able to say goodbye to her mum
but she knew it was what she deserved.

  She looked at the photo again, her heart aching. She still missed them so much and regretted the shame she had brought on their lives. She should have put this photo in the tin, with the other relics of her past life, but she liked to look at it sometimes; it was all she had left of her parents.

  It’s just a photo, she told herself. Even if Lily had found it, it wouldn’t mean anything to her; she was too young to even remember the case.

  It proved that her tin wasn’t safe in the wardrobe though, so it was imperative that she move it. I’ll put it in the boot of my car for now, she decided. She was the only one who drove the Fiesta; Gareth had his own Audi. It should be safe there until I think of a better place for it. Hearing Gareth coming back up the stairs, she quickly put the photo back in the drawer, face down, and covered it with her underwear.

  ‘Here’s your toast.’ Gareth came in holding a plate of wholemeal bread toasted with a light layer of butter, exactly as she liked it. ‘Emma is still asleep, and I’ve managed to rearrange a couple of my appointments to this evening and tomorrow so there’s no need for you to finish early. The rest of my work I can do at home, on my laptop in the lounge, while I keep an eye on Emma.’ He put the plate of toast down on the bedside table by her coffee.

  ‘Are you sure? I don’t mind getting one of the girls to see to my clients so I can leave early.’ She picked up the cup and took a sip of the coffee.

  ‘Positive. Your work is important and Emma is my daughter, my responsibility.’

  ‘We’re married. She’s my responsibility too and I love her as if she were my own.’ She didn’t add that Emma looked on her as her ‘Mummy’ now although they both knew that she did.

  ‘I know you do. We’re so lucky to have you.’ He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. ‘I’ll leave you to get ready in peace and see if I can get a bit of work done before Emma wakes up.’

  Maria ate her toast as she got dressed, then quickly applied her make-up – she had it perfected to a fine art and could do it in ten minutes. Then she took the tin from the back of the wardrobe shelf, got the photo out of the drawer and put that in the tin, and placed it in her bag. She stood by the bed for a moment wondering whether to put the letters in there too but she decided against it; she needed them where she could get to them. She had pushed them under the middle of the mattress; no one would find them unless they took the mattress off the bed and even Lily wouldn’t go that far.

  When she went downstairs Gareth was already sitting at the dining table, head bent over his laptop. He looked up and smiled. ‘You off then?’

  ‘Yes, and I’ve just checked on Emma – she’s still sleeping.’ She went over and kissed him. ‘Message me and let me know how she is today. I hope your day goes well. See you later.’

  Then she went out to the car, opened the boot and lifted the lid of the spare wheel well, slipping the tin there before covering it up again. It would be safe there from Lily’s prying eyes.

  * * *

  Amanda and Sophie were already in the salon when Maria arrived. Amanda was telling Sophie all about her new boyfriend, Al. ‘He’s so kind and attentive. He never talks about himself, which is a nice change, as most of the guys I go out with want to talk about themselves all the time. And he always brings me flowers or chocolates.’

  ‘He sounds a keeper,’ Maria told her. Amanda had shown them all a photo of Al; he was quite a looker with his cropped blonde hair, blue eyes, designer stubble.

  ‘You’ll get to meet him later. He texted earlier to say that he’s going to meet me from work and take me for an Italian tonight.’

  The day flew by and Maria was just finished giving her last client a facial when a tall, blond man came through the door. Al, Amanda’s new boyfriend. He was taller than Maria had imagined and even more striking than his photograph.

  ‘Hello, Al.’ Amanda’s face broke into a smile. ‘I’ll only be a few minutes, we’re just finishing off.’

  ‘That’s okay, I don’t mind waiting.’ Al shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around admiringly. ‘Nice place.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Maria said, standing up, the facial finished. She glanced over at Amanda. ‘You can go now, Amanda. We’ll finish off.’

  ‘Thanks so much.’ Amanda turned to Al. ‘I’ll just go and change my shoes and get my bag. Won’t be a sec.’

  ‘I saw the spread about this place in the paper. It was a good write-up,’ Al remarked, his eyes on Maria.

  ‘Yes, the newspaper was very kind. Hopefully it will draw in more clients, which will in turn enable us to help more cancer patients.’

  ‘Good of you to do that for free. Is it payback?’

  What a strange thing to say! She stared at him, shocked. ‘W-What do you mean?’

  He shrugged. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean any offence. I just wondered if you had lost anyone to cancer so wanted to “give back” for the treatment they received.’

  Of course that’s what he’d meant. Why had she jumped like that? ‘Unfortunately, yes, a very good friend of mine died from cancer some years ago. I saw how she suffered and decided to help other sufferers, even if it’s in a small way,’ she replied. ‘Now, excuse me but I need to tidy up, we’ll be closing shortly.’ She turned away as Amanda came hurrying along, clutching her bag. ‘See you tomorrow, girls,’ she called.

  ‘What did you think of Al then?’ Olivia asked when he and Amanda had left. ‘Bit different from Amanda’s usual sort, isn’t he?’

  ‘I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed,’ Sophie commented. ‘I doubt if it will last long though. You know Amanda and her men! It’ll be someone else in another week or two.’

  Maria joined in the laughter. She was just being paranoid, getting herself into such a state that she couldn’t trust anyone, not even the latest in a long line of Amanda’s boyfriends. How nuts was that? She had to pull herself together.

  34

  Maria

  When Maria came home from work and saw Lily sitting at the kitchen table, colouring with Emma, she was relieved that she had moved her memory box to the boot of her car. She wouldn’t put it past Lily to have been snooping again.

  ‘Hi, Dad had to go meet a new client so I came straight from work to sit with Emma,’ Lily said, glancing up at her.

  ‘That’s very kind of you.’ Maria struggled to keep the annoyance from her voice. How dare Lily go to her place of work and snoop around her home, then act all sweet and innocent?

  ‘Bad day?’ Lily asked, a knowing smile on her face.

  Maria glared at her, trying to keep check on her anger. While she had been driving home, she had been wrestling with whether to question Lily about her visit to the salon. Amanda had said that Lily had begged her not to tell Maria and that she had believed her tearful excuse, but Sophie wasn’t convinced and neither was Maria. Lily was snooping around, trying to get information about her, and ignoring it wasn’t going to stop her. She would just think that Maria definitely had something to hide. She had to tackle this head on, hopefully without Gareth knowing. She was sure that Lily wouldn’t want her father to learn what she had been up to.

  ‘An upsetting one,’ she replied and saw the worried look cross Lily’s face. She turned her attention to Emma, who was still colouring in her book, oblivious to the tension between the two women. ‘Emma, darling, would you pop upstairs and play for a little bit? Lily and I need to talk.’

  Emma continued colouring and asked, ‘Why? Is it a secret?’

  ‘Yes, so don’t eavesdrop, will you?’ Maria asked her. ‘I don’t want you to spoil the surprise.’

  Emma grinned. ‘A surprise! For me? Okay, I won’t listen. I promise.’ She scrambled down from the table. ‘Call me when I can come down.’

  Maria waited until Emma had gone out of the room then looked over at Lily, who was now sitting back in her chair, watching her.

  ‘Problem?’ Lily asked cautiously.

  ‘I don’t know. I’m hoping you can tell me.�
�� Maria had to keep calm and controlled.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Lily looked a little flustered.

  ‘I’d like to know why you went to my salon on Saturday and questioned my staff about me, Lily. If you had any questions, why didn’t you ask me yourself?’

  ‘Because you never answer them.’

  Lily’s blunt reply stunned her, as did the obvious dislike in her voice.

  ‘Pardon?’

  ‘You never tell us anything about your past. You don’t have any close friends. It’s like you didn’t exist until ten years ago,’ Lily pointed out. ‘You didn’t even tell Dad about that letter, the one that freaked you out.’

  So she’d told Gareth. She should have known Lily would. Maria reached out her hand and grabbed the back of a chair for support. ‘I told you, it was from a client who was moving away.’

  ‘That’s rubbish. Amanda said that clients are never given your home addresses. And why would a client write to you in red capital letters, with only one line? I think you’re hiding something.’

  Suddenly the door opened and Gareth walked in. He closed the door firmly behind him and looked at them both.

  ‘What’s going on here? I could hear your voices as soon as I walked in.’ His gaze swept the kitchen. ‘Where’s Emma?’

  ‘Upstairs playing.’ Maria swallowed. She had really wanted to keep this from Gareth. Now she had to be careful how she handled it. ‘I was asking Lily why she went to my salon on Saturday and questioned the staff about me.’

  Gareth looked puzzled. ‘Is this true, Lily?’

  ‘Yes, but Maria is making it out to be more than it was. It’s almost two years since Mum died and I remembered how she loved going to Daisy’s so I popped in, then got talking to the staff. That’s not a crime, is it?’ Lily said defiantly.

  ‘You gave a false name and asked my staff not to mention that you’d been there.’