“Hello?”
“If you had been watching the children like you should have, Stelli would never have been hurt. Why would you let him go on a slide that was clearly too dangerous for someone his age?” The voice on the other end was at full volume.
Joanna! How had she even gotten this number? “Leave us alone, or I’ll call the police,” Piper said firmly.
“I want to talk to Stelli,” Joanna pleaded.
Piper hit the End button and threw the phone down, shaken by the rage she’d heard in Joanna’s voice. When she got downstairs and she still hadn’t heard from Leo, despite having left him two voice mails, she and the children sat down to dinner.
“Hot dogs tonight, Stelli, since they’re your favorite. And as a special treat for being so very brave today, you can choose a movie to watch, even though it’s a school night.”
Stelli sat up straight and gently fingered the bandage on his chin. “Captain America!”
As soon as they finished eating, Piper settled them in the den, wrapping an afghan around each of them, then brought in two mugs of hot chocolate.
Evie reached out to grab a mug, but Piper stopped her. “That one is for Stelli. I put extra honey in it, just the way he likes it. This one is yours.” She picked up the blue mug from the tray and handed it to Evie. “Careful, it’s hot.” She watched as Stelli took a sip from his. “Sweet enough?”
He nodded.
Satisfied that he’d actually drink it, she went back to the kitchen and was making herself some tea when Leo walked in.
“Hey, beautiful. Sorry I’m late. Got tied up in a deposition.” He put his arms around her and nuzzled her neck. “How was your afternoon at the park?”
She sighed. “I tried to call you a bunch of times. I’m afraid Stelli had an accident.”
Leo went white. “Where is he? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine. Just a cut on his chin. He’s in the den with Evie, watching a movie.”
He moved away from her, but she grabbed his arm to stop him. “He fell from the slide. He’s okay, but I need to talk to you.”
Leo shook off her grip and strode to the door. “I need to see him,” he said, before she could say another word.
Piper gave him a few minutes before following him into the den. He was sitting next to Stelli, his arm around him, while Evie sat on Leo’s lap. The three of them looked so at ease with one another that Piper felt more like an intruder than she usually did. She wondered if she would ever be a real part of this family.
Leo looked up at her and beckoned her toward them with a nod, but she held back, unwilling to break into the tight circle. Finally, Leo stood. “You finish your movie, Stel, and I’ll tuck you in afterward. I hope you thanked Piper for taking such good care of you,” Leo said.
Stelli looked up at Piper. “Thank you,” he said flatly, and turned his eyes back to the screen.
Piper and Leo returned to the kitchen, and Piper fixed a plate for him. He cleared his throat. “Can you tell me again exactly what happened? Evie mentioned something about Stelli going down the big slide.” He looked up at her from his plate. “Were you watching him?”
This again, the accusation that an accident was somehow her fault. Piper’s pulse quickened. “Of course I was watching them. I was sitting right there. Accidents happen, Leo. I didn’t realize that only certain pieces of the playground equipment were age appropriate. You have to remember all this is new to me. I’m trying my best.” As she looked at him, her eyes filled with tears.
He sighed. “I know, honey. It’s just that Stelli doesn’t always have the best judgment. Just try to remember he’s only six.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ll be more careful in the future. There’s something else, though.” She paused. “Joanna called again.”
His eyes narrowed. “When?”
“Today. This afternoon. She yelled at me. Said I wasn’t watching the children. That Stelli’s accident was my fault.” She paused. “Leo, she had to have been at the park, watching us. What if the children had seen her?”
A muscle in his jaw tensed. “Maybe I should talk to her, remind her of the judge’s order.”
“No. You can’t do that. That’s exactly what she wants—to talk to you. You’d be playing right into her hands.”
“I don’t know what else to do. We can’t have her coming near the kids.”
“Let’s think about this before you do anything. Talk to one of the judges you play golf with. See what they say. I’m worried that if you call her, she might get the wrong impression.”
He reached across the table and caressed her cheek. “Okay, I’ll talk to Judge Barrows and see what he thinks we should do.”
After he finished eating, they went back to the den together to watch the end of the movie and then put the children to bed. Piper went into Stelli’s bedroom after Leo tucked him in. “Stelli, you were a really brave boy today. I was very proud of you. May I give you a kiss good night?”
“My stomach hurts,” Stelli said, his eyes filling with tears. “I want my mommy.”
Piper clenched her nails into her fist. Stelli was going to have to learn, one way or another, that you don’t always get what you want.
34
Joanna
I watched her yesterday. Sitting there, pretending to be their mother, while completely ignoring them and typing on her iPad. She didn’t see me; she wasn’t paying attention to anyone, was just hammering away on her stupid tablet, likely writing more platitudinous tripe. I am incensed that she has the nerve to keep me away from the children when she clearly doesn’t even care about them herself.
As she sat ignoring them, I wanted to yell: Put down your damn iPad and watch the kids. I’d told Stelli time and time again he had to be older before using that tall slide—it was for sixth graders and up. But when he’d looked over and seen that Piper wasn’t watching, he’d tromped right toward it. I wanted to run over and stop him but couldn’t risk going against the court order. Before I could decide what to do, he went flying down on his stomach and hit the ground hard. It had taken everything in me not to run to him and sweep him up into my arms. I cried as I watched her finally get up off that bench. Another mom had run over, too, but I’m the one who should have been there comforting him.
Tears streamed silently down my face as she hustled them off to the car. I couldn’t tell how badly he was cut, or if he needed stitches. After they left, I sat in the car for another half hour, seething, then drove myself home.
When I got there, Mom was in bed and complained that she was too tired to get up for dinner. I took a bowl of soup up to her, then poured a glass of wine for myself and carried it outside to the tiny back porch, where there was barely enough room for two folding metal chairs. As I sat in one of them, I noticed that the plastic weaving was fraying in several places. A chain-link fence ran around the perimeter of the narrow yard, and untrimmed grass was a half foot high against its edges. My mother said you could always tell which houses in the neighborhood didn’t have a man around by how neglected they looked, and I guess our house was Exhibit A. I sat and sipped, watching the sun go lower into the sky, and thinking more about Stelli’s accident, and grew increasingly angry. He could have hit his head, gotten a concussion, broken an arm—the possibilities were terrifying. What if there was a next time and the injury was more serious?
The blood was pounding in my temples as I downed the rest of the wine, took the cell phone from my pocket, and called her. I had copied her number from Leo’s phone while we were still together. The minute I heard that soft tentative hello, I told her she needed to take better care with him, but she started yelling at me, telling me to leave them alone. I begged her to let me talk to Stelli, to make sure he was okay, but she refused, telling me he was just fine, and then the witch screamed at me not to call her, saying she would call the police if I bothered them again, and disconnected the call.
She’s got Leo right where she wants him, and he’s blind to her gam
e. I recalled my conversation with Ava, when she’d told me Piper had hated her stepdaughter, and began to wonder if Piper’s intention had been to get rid of only Mia. Maybe Matthew had been collateral damage. Was she planning to kill Stelli and Evie, too, so she could have Leo all to herself? I went inside, my head still pounding, and lay down on the sofa as darkness began to fill the room.
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, my mother was gently shaking my arm.
“You should go up to bed.”
I sat up and looked outside. The sun was just coming up. “Why are you up so early?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “My leg hurt, and I came down to get some aspirin. I called for you, but you didn’t hear me.” She sat down next to me. “Honey, you need to get yourself together. It isn’t like you to mope around this way.”
She was right. It was more like her, but I didn’t say so. “I had a bad day. Stelli got hurt.”
“Oh, honey. Is he . . . Wait, how do you know?”
I told her what I’d seen at the park. “I think I’m going to call Leo and tell him what she did.”
“Don’t bother, Joanna. She’s already told him her version of events, and he’s not going to listen to yours. You need to forget about him once and for all.”
“What are you talking about? I can’t forget about him. Leo and the children belong with me.”
She waved her hand dismissively and shook her head. “He married her. Men always get what they want, and we’re left with nothing.” She reached out and clasped my hand. “At least we have each other.”
I looked at her in her rumpled robe and matted hair, the forty extra pounds she carried on her doughy body, and thought, No wonder my father left, and then was immediately struck by guilt. She couldn’t help that she was sick—even if she may have milked her condition over the years—and that my father had turned out to be the liar she’d always claimed him to be.
I stood up. “I’m going to go get dressed.”
“Good. Maybe you ought to start looking for that job you talked about, now that I’m feeling better. Get your mind off things.”
On some level, I knew she was right, but I couldn’t devote my energy to job hunting right now. If only I’d listened to my head instead of my heart. Instead of taking care of Leo and the kids all these years, I should have followed my own dream. I could have been a good lawyer—at least as good as Leo, maybe even better. I took some pre-law courses in college. After I got my associate’s degree, I was ready to go on to get my bachelor’s, but problems with Mom always seemed to come up. Some emergency or other. It was too much, trying to work full-time, take care of her, and go to school all at once. I just couldn’t do it. I have always regretted it.
35
Piper
Piper got up from the lounge chair and glanced at her watch. It was close to four, and Rebecca would be home with the kids soon. If she hurried, she could get in some laps before they got back. September was her favorite month in Connecticut—the air still warm but without the stifling humidity of August.
The water felt good, and after ten minutes in the pool, she felt the stress in her muscles begin to dissipate. Leo had promised her he’d be home early and the two of them would go out for a romantic dinner. It had been weeks since they’d been out alone together, and she was pulling out all the stops. She’d bought a new dress and lingerie for the occasion, made reservations at their favorite local restaurant, the Artisan, and booked a room at the Delamar. She was going to surprise him with the hotel. She didn’t want any interruptions to their lovemaking tonight. Evie had gotten into the habit the last few weeks of coming into their bedroom at night, claiming she’d had a nightmare. The first couple of times Piper had been sympathetic, but it was almost every night now. When she’d tried to ask Evie what the nightmares were about, the girl got quiet and said she didn’t want to talk about it. Tonight she’d have to knock on Rebecca’s door instead.
The sound of giggling made her stop in mid-lap and look up. Evie was chasing Stelli, who was holding his sister’s ballet case behind his back, laughing at her as she yelled for him to give it back. Piper was about to tell him to stop when Rebecca ran over and started chasing him, too, laughing along with him and turning it into a game.
“Come on, Evie, let’s get him!” she yelled, and just like that, Evie went from being upset to laughing along with her brother. How did Rebecca always seem to know how to handle them?
Piper walked up the steps of the shallow end, exiting the pool, and reached for her towel, but before she could pick it up, Stelli dropped the ballet bag and grabbed the towel.
“Keep away from Piper!” he yelled, running toward the house.
Was she seriously supposed to go galloping after him? She felt annoyance fill every pore of her being. Rebecca and Evie were watching her quietly. Was Rebecca trying to make her look bad by just standing there waiting for her reaction? She forced a smile.
“Stelli, dear, I’m too wet to chase you. I could slip.” That’s probably what he hoped for.
He made a face at her and walked back toward her, then tossed the towel on the ground at her feet. “You’re no fun.”
Rebecca finally stepped in. “Stelli, you apologize.”
Piper put a hand up. She didn’t need Rebecca to make her look any worse “No, it’s fine. You’re right, sweetie. I haven’t been much fun. Why don’t I run up and change, and then we can go out for ice cream?”
His eyes lit up.
“But . . . they haven’t had dinner yet,” Rebecca stammered.
Piper turned to Stelli. “Now who’s no fun? Who says you can’t have dessert first, right?”
“Yay! Ice cream, ice cream,” he began to chant. After a minute, Evie joined in.
Piper gave Nanny Tight Ass a triumphant smile.
When they returned from town, Leo was waiting in the kitchen, snacking on a brownie. Piper was really going to have to speak to Rebecca about all the crap she baked for the house. Although, considering the stunt she had just pulled with the ice cream, Piper decided she’d better wait a few days.
“Hi, babe.” He kissed her on the lips, then crouched down and opened his arms. “Pethia mou,” he called in Greek as the children ran into his arms.
“Piper got us ice cream!” Stelli told him.
Leo laughed. “I can see that. You’ve got a chocolate mustache.”
“I’m going to go get ready. Our reservation’s in an hour.” Piper smiled, her mood lifted further by this rare good time with Stelli and the prospect of an entire evening alone with her husband.
“Where are you going?” Evie asked.
Piper stopped and turned around. “Out for dinner. Remember, I told you this morning?”
Stelli stomped his foot. “I have my family tree project. You were supposed to help me,” he whined to Leo.
Piper felt her heart skip a beat. This could not be happening.
Leo’s expression was puzzled. “I thought that was due next Friday, right, buddy?”
Stelli, his arms crossed, shook his head. “No, tomorrow. And you said you’d help me find pictures of Mommy!” He doubled over. “And I don’t feel good. My stomach hurts again.”
Leo looked at Piper. “Can you move the reservation a little later?”
She probably could, but what was the point? They hadn’t even started on the family tree, and they’d be at it for hours. Plus, she was sure it was going to end in tears anyway, given the subject matter.
She forced a smile. “No worries. I’ll reschedule it for next week. This is more important.”
Leo looked at her gratefully and gave her a peck on the lips. “Thanks, babe. You’re the best.”
Sure she was, she thought, as she walked up to the bedroom and shut the door. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed a pillow from the bed, went into the bathroom, turned the water on, and screamed as loud as she could into its feathers.
36
Joanna
“I’m not making any head
way. I still can’t see the children. And I sent a letter to Stelli and Evie, but I’ve heard nothing back.”
Celeste shook her head. “I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you, but your attorney is working on trying to get you visitation rights, correct?”
I nodded.
“Okay, then. What did we talk about last time? The things you can control?”
“That doesn’t seem like a very long list these days.”
Celeste cocked her head. “Well, for one thing, how about getting back to the gym regularly? The endorphins would help your mood.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. I just can’t seem to find the motivation.”
She nodded, her expression soft. “I understand. I could refer you to a psychiatrist we work with to evaluate you for antidepressants.”
I thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t want anything that’s going to change my personality.”
Celeste shook her head. “No, of course not. I’m just talking about something to ‘take the edge off,’ as you put it.” She lifted her hands to make air quotes. “We don’t have to decide now. Just something to think about. Tell me about things with your mother. How are they going?”
I sighed. “Being together in the same house night and day is exhausting. She’s really okay on her own, even though she tries to make it seem like she’s not. But at least I have the time now to build a case against Piper. I know she has more skeletons in her closet.”
“We’ve talked about this, Joanna. It’s not good for you to be so focused on Piper.” Celeste tapped her pen on her pad for good measure. “You have to accept the fact that Leo has remarried. You have to get on with your life. Regardless of whether Piper is hiding something or not—your marriage is over. Why don’t we try to focus on something positive, like what steps you can take to get at least some visitation with Evie and Stelli?”
“But that’s just it. Leo and Piper have built a case against me. It’s all lies, but the court believes them. How can I fight that?”
The Wife Stalker Page 16