It was Stelli. I broke out in a cold sweat. Married?
“Stelli, sweetheart. Calm down. When is it happening?”
Sobs came over the line. “Saturday. I hate her!”
They were getting married in two days? Leo hadn’t told me that they’d set a date, and now it was obvious that he wanted to hurry and get it done without my knowledge. I was so furious, I couldn’t move. How had she managed to oust me so fast? I needed to stall him until I spoke with Ava, but she wouldn’t be back until Monday. I couldn’t let Piper become his wife and Evie and Stelli’s stepmother.
“Calm down, sweetie. I’m going to think of something. Where’s Evie?”
“She’s out shopping with Piper.”
“Okay, have her call me when she gets home, but don’t let Piper know she’s doing it. Don’t worry. I’m going to find a way to fix this.”
After we hung up, I racked my brain. I wasn’t about to show up at the wedding and make a scene. I’d already been humiliated enough. I wondered if Leo’s mother might intervene, though. She was always so good at seeing through people, and surely she could tell that Piper wasn’t good for him. I started to dial, but put the phone down. It wasn’t fair to put her in that position. I dialed Leo’s cell instead, pacing as the phone rang.
“Hi, Joanna.” The frustration in his voice was apparent before I’d even said a word. “What’s up?”
“Shouldn’t you be telling me? I’ve just had a call from a very upset Stelli. You’re getting married Saturday?”
He sighed loudly. “I was going to call you.”
I’ll bet he was. “What’s the rush, Leo?”
“We thought it best to do it before the children start back at school. This way things are settled before the school year begins.”
“But you hardly know her! And she’s not who she says she is. As a matter of fact—”
“Stop it, Joanna,” he interrupted me. “I’ll hang up if you say another word. I know you’re not happy, but it’s my life.”
I bit back an angry reply. I had to think of the children. “Look, Leo, it’s going be a stressful day for the children, watching their father marry someone else. Why don’t you let me take them out in the morning for a little while, to the beach and for some ice cream?”
“I don’t know if that’s a great idea.”
“Regardless of what’s going on between you and me, we both love the children and want what’s best for them. I promise not to say anything negative. I just want to make the day a little easier for them.”
“All right, but only if you promise: not one bad word about Piper.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. I’ll pick them up around ten and have them back in plenty of time. What time does the ceremony start?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the word wedding.
“It’s five o’clock, but they need to be back here well before that.”
“I’ll have them back by two,” I said, meaning it.
When Saturday arrived, I drove over to the house a few minutes early and watched from the street as flowers were delivered, tables and chairs were brought in, and a flurry of activity unfolded. I was surprised to see that the kids’ croquet set was still up, that she hadn’t cleared it away for the big day. I waited until ten o’clock on the dot, just like I’d arranged with Leo, and pulled up to the front of the house. The children ran down the hill and jumped into the car, and once they were settled in their seats, I pulled away.
“Hi, my darlings. It’s a beautiful day. All ready to go to the beach?” I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Stelli was pouting and his arms were crossed.
“You said you were going to do something. They’re still getting married. I checked.”
I took a deep breath. “Sweetheart, there’s nothing I can do about that. But Daddy loves you, and I’m sure it will all be fine. I wanted to try to cheer you up before Daddy’s wedding.”
Then Evie, in a small voice, said, “She’s making me be a bridesmaid, and Stelli is the ring bearer.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“I hate her, and I’m too old to be a stupid ring bearer!” Stelli piped up. “She’s always telling me to be quiet. And she hogs Daddy. Why can’t you come home?”
My heart sank. Stelli was a spirited child, full of joy and energy, but to someone who wasn’t used to children, he could be a handful. And Piper struck me as someone who didn’t have the first clue about kids. “I’m trying to. I love you so much.”
Stelli kicked the seat. “You said you were just going to be gone for a little while. You lied.”
“Oh, my darling. I wanted to come back, but your daddy wanted Piper instead of me.” I knew I’d promised Leo I wouldn’t say anything negative, but I couldn’t let Stelli think I had willingly abandoned him.
“It’s not fair,” he said.
Evie spoke then. “Daddy wants us to call her ‘Mommy Piper.’ She’s nice, but I don’t want to call her that.”
It took everything I had not to scream. I gripped the steering wheel harder. “You do not have to call her that. I’ll speak to Daddy.”
“I don’t want Daddy and Piper to be mad at me for telling you,” Evie said.
“They won’t be mad, honey. I promise,” I assured her. I was going to let Leo have it. How could he be so thoughtless? Poor Evie always wanted to make everyone happy, and Leo was putting her in an impossible situation. Mommy Piper? That woman would never be their Mommy.
When we arrived at Compo Beach, I let the children pick out where to set up our little camp. They chose a spot right by the shimmering water, where we laid down the towels and pulled out the toys, and I sat on the sand with them as we built our sandcastle. After about twenty minutes, Stelli looked up. “I want ice cream.”
“How about lunch first?”
He shook his head. “Later. You promised us ice cream, remember?”
“Okay, let’s walk over to Joey’s.”
“Can’t you go? Let Evie and me finish our sandcastle.”
I looked behind me to Joey’s, a hundred feet or so away. “I don’t know, honey.”
“Please! Someone might wreck it if we leave,” he pleaded.
I stood. “You have to promise not to go in the water.” I looked at Evie. “Promise you won’t let him out of your sight?”
She nodded.
Grabbing my purse from the beach chair, I hurried inside and ordered them each a cone. Vanilla for Evie, chocolate for Stelli. I turned around every few seconds, craning my neck to see out the door and check on them. They were fine. As the boy behind the counter handed the cones to me, one of them fell. He turned back around to make another. When I looked again, I saw only Evie sitting on the sand. My heart jumped into my throat. Where was Stelli? Frantic, I stood on tiptoes, looking all around her, but still there was no sight of him.
I ran from the stand back to the beach.
“Where’s Stelli?”
Evie was deep in concentration rounding out the edge of the castle and looked up, distracted. “What?”
“Stelli? He’s not here!”
I ran up to the lifeguard stand in a panic. “Have you seen my little boy? Around this high?” I held my hand up. “He was right here, but now I can’t find him.”
He put his binoculars up to his eyes and scanned the water.
It must have been less than a minute, but it felt like hours before I saw Stelli playing with another little boy farther down the beach.
I ran to him. “Stelli, you scared me! I thought you were lost.”
He looked up. “I just wanted to play with the dump truck.”
I took his hand. “Come on, let’s go back to your sister.”
The three of us went to Joey’s together for new ice cream, and then an hour later, we had lunch and spent a little time at the playground. The rest of the day passed in a pleasant blur. By a quarter to two, I decided I should probably get them back. We gathered up our things, my arms full with towels and beach toys, and I couldn’t hold Stelli’s h
and.
“Stay right next to me, sweetie. It’s a busy parking lot.”
Before I could step down from the curb, Stelli ran into the road ahead of me. “Look, a dollar!”
“Stelli, no,” I screamed, watching as if in slow motion when a pickup truck slammed on its brakes, narrowly missing him.
In a panic, I dropped everything and ran, helping him up. I reached out and swatted him on the behind. “Stelli. You have to listen!”
He started crying, and I picked him up and took him back to the curb, where Evie was waiting, her face white.
“You hit me!” he wailed, his voice loud.
“I’m sorry, honey. You just scared me.”
A woman about my age in a black bikini stomped over to us, a look of outrage on her face. “I saw you hit your little boy. What’s the matter with you?”
Before I could answer, she called to a police officer standing a few feet away. “Sir, sir—this woman just hit her child.”
My knees buckled. This couldn’t be happening! I’d never laid a hand on either of the children before. And besides, it was just a swat, barely anything, in reaction to a terrifying moment. Surely everyone had had a moment like this?
But the next thing I knew, we were in the backseat of a police car heading to the Westport Police Station. The children were terrified, and I did my best to calm them.
“It’s going to be okay, guys. They’re calling Daddy.”
“You’ll have to wait here until DCF arrives,” the officer told me as he showed the three of us to a windowless room. He brought in water for the children but nothing for me, looking at me like I was some sort of hardened criminal. Stelli sat on my lap, and I stroked his head while we waited, my other hand holding Evie’s. It wasn’t long before Leo and Piper burst into the room.
The children jumped up and ran into their father’s embrace. “Thank God you’re okay.” He hugged them close, tears rolling down his face. He stood up and glared at me, fury in his eyes, his voice a low growl. “What happened, Joanna? The police said there was a suspicion of”—he lowered his voice so the children couldn’t hear—“child abuse.”
Piper jumped in then, her tearstained face red with anger. “I told you not to let her take them today. We’re supposed to be getting married right now, not standing in a police station!”
Before I could say anything, Leo cut in. “We need to take this discussion elsewhere,” he said, inclining his head toward the children. “Piper, take them to the detective’s office while we wait for DCF. I want to talk to Joanna alone.”
After the door closed, he looked at me and spoke in the tone he used for witnesses. “They told me that you hit Stelli. Have you ever done that before?”
“Of course not. You know I love him, and I would never hurt either of them. It was just a heat-of-the-moment reaction to his running out into the street in front of a truck. It happened before I even realized it.”
He gave me a skeptical look. “I’ll see what the children have to say about that. If I find out you’ve been hurting them in any way . . .” He balled his hands into fists. “And did you know that now DCF is going to investigate me, make sure that I’m a fit parent?” He shook his head. “Do you know how easy it is for parents to lose their rights?”
I started to cry. “I’m sorry. I just got so scared when he ran into the road. You have to know I would never ever, ever hurt them.” I looked at him and suddenly felt very tired, every emotion draining out of me.
“This is the final straw. You stay away from us. I’m going to fix it so that you’ll never be able to come near any of us again.”
And just like that, I was newly full of anger. I was on my feet before I even realized it. “You can’t do that. They need me.”
He started to speak, then just shook his head and stalked out of the room. I sat there alone for another half hour, until the police officer returned and gave me a citation for child abuse and a court date.
The children had left with Leo without even saying goodbye.
23
Piper
Piper took the dress from the hanger and unzipped it, glancing briefly at the pale-blue Valentino she’d bought for the wedding that never happened. She’d told Leo it was a bad idea for the children to be with Joanna that morning, but he wouldn’t listen. If she didn’t know better, she might think that Joanna had gotten herself arrested on purpose just to stop the wedding, but even she couldn’t be that desperate. It had been humiliating, having to explain to the guests that the wedding wasn’t going to happen. After they’d gotten the call from the police, they sent everyone home. By the time DCF had finally arrived and then finished interviewing all of them, including the children, it had been close to six o’clock. They were all too drained even to talk about rescheduling the wedding.
The only positive thing that had come out of it was that Leo had been enraged with Joanna. Piper had never seen him so angry. Maybe he’d finally listen to her and cut off all communication with that woman.
When they’d gotten home from the police station with the children, his family was still there, waiting for them. Evangelia, Leo’s mother, a serious look on her face, had pulled Piper aside before the Drakos family all left to drive back to Astoria.
“I understand the children are not happy that you and Leo are marrying. It is a big responsibility, having children. You are not just marrying my son, you know, but my grandchildren as well. You have to consider their feelings, too.” She walked away before Piper had the chance to respond, which was just as well since she might have said something to her soon-to-be mother-in-law that she would later regret.
The kids were still crying and asking for Joanna. Stelli ran up to his father and beat his fists against Leo’s chest, yelling at him to bring her back. Leo’s face had gone white, and Piper could see that Stelli’s pain was killing him. And poor Evie had looked so small and lost, crying into the beach towel she was holding.
The next morning, the first thing Stelli said to Piper was “At least now I don’t have to be a stupid ring bearer. I’m glad I went to jail instead.”
A few days before the wedding, Piper’s things had been moved into the house. She had spent every day since the aborted ceremony wishing she were still in her old house, which she was now preparing to list, instead of in the middle of a three-ring circus. She could only hope that things would improve once she and Leo were married. One thing was for sure: her suspicions about Joanna had been legitimate. She reminded Piper of Ava, when she’d tried to ruin Matthew and Piper’s wedding six years ago. That day, none of the flowers had arrived—either at the church or the country club. When she’d called the florist in a panic, they’d told her that they’d received a call canceling the order the week before.
Matthew’s mother had stepped in and found a florist to pinch-hit. But it wasn’t the same. Ava had achieved her goal of disrupting everything. And now Joanna had done the same thing, only worse.
She thought about her first wedding. It seemed a lifetime ago. Maybe she and Ethan had done it the right way—a simple ceremony with the two of them standing hand in hand under a full moon on the beach in California, a commitment to love each other forever and into eternity. They had been so young. Too young to know that forever was an impossible promise.
She looked at the dress she was holding. Sighing deeply, she wiped her eyes and stepped into it, then sat at the vanity and took her time to finish her makeup. She sat back, satisfied, and then went down to join Leo.
“You look beautiful,” he said as she reached the bottom of the stairs.
“Thank you.” They had decided to go alone, with only Leo’s brother George as a witness. She took his hand in hers as they walked to the car together.
Piper settled into the passenger’s seat and clicked her seat belt into place as Leo pulled out of the garage. “I wish I could make everything up to you. I know getting married at the courthouse is not the kind of wedding you wanted.”
“Oh, Leo. It’s not your faul
t. We have to use this experience as a transformative one.”
“How do you mean?”
“As we heal, we are reborn. Nothing happens in a vacuum. As terrible as that day was, we’ve overcome it together. And it will help our relationship deepen.”
He looked confused. “Still . . . you didn’t deserve what happened last week. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t nourish your myth.”
His expression turned to one of bemusement. “I’m sorry, Piper, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. I get a little carried away when I’m upset. It helps to center me to try and reframe things in a more palatable light. What I mean is that the delusion that you are responsible for what happened . . . that’s a myth, and you don’t have to atone for something that isn’t your fault.”
She was, however, still blaming him for canceling their honeymoon to Paris, a move that had seemed unnecessary. No amount of persuading on her part had convinced him, and she was afraid to push too hard. So now they were stuck here because Leo was afraid to leave the children, even though he’d gotten the courts to agree that Joanna was a risk to the kids and couldn’t come near them. But just in case Joanna still tried to see them, he’d told Rebecca not to answer the door for anyone, no matter who, if he wasn’t at home. The worst part was that Stelli and Evie were still moping around. Stelli, especially, was a problem, talking back to Piper and refusing to listen to her. Something had to be done.
“Leo, I’ve been thinking.”
“Yes?” He glanced at her then back at the road.
“I know Joanna is legally required to stay away now, but the children still hope they’ll get to spend time with her. We both know that she’s unstable. What if she had done something worse? I really don’t believe that that was the first time she hit Stelli. I just saw a bruise on his arm that looks like it’s a few weeks old.”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I could kill her.”
She thought back to one of her clients in California, when she’d had her counseling practice. “I know a man who suspected his ex-wife was hurting their kids. The children would never admit it—they rarely do—but it was going on for years, and finally he was able to prove it when the daughter broke down and admitted it. It was subtle abuse, pinching and grabbing, but it wreaked havoc on their emotions, and the kids suffered for a long time.” She was exaggerating slightly, but the story was based in fact.
The Wife Stalker Page 10