The Wife Stalker(45)
I looked at him in the mirror and laughed. “Yeah. Mom had a fit, saying it looked like a bordello.”
He shook his head. “I thought you’d get tired of it. But I have to admit, it works.”
“Now the room will be mostly empty, except when I’m home from college on breaks,” I said, walking over to him and taking his hands in mine. “And you’ll come see me at BU, right?”
He gave me a sad look. “Let’s not think of being apart. Today is a celebration.” Reaching inside his suit pocket, he pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to me. “Here. Don’t tell your mother.”
It was a check, folded in half. I opened it and gasped. Ten thousand dollars! “Dad! What is this for?”
“A graduation present. I want you to take it and open an account in your name only. It’s for a rainy day.”
I was flabbergasted. I hugged him, then I took the check and hid it in my dresser drawer.
The rest of the day went by in a blur. My parents smiling and waving from the stands. A celebratory dinner with them before I joined the rest of my friends for an evening of partying, as we stopped by the homes of four different friends.
The next morning, a Sunday, I awoke to my mother’s screams. I ran into the kitchen, where she was sitting at the table, a piece of paper in one trembling hand.
“Mom! What’s wrong?”
“He’s gone,” she said, not looking at me but staring straight ahead. “Gone for good.” Her fingers opened, and the paper dropped to the floor. I grabbed it and began to read.
Ida,
By the time you read this I will be long gone. Things have been over between the two of us for a long time now, but I made you a promise all those years ago, and I’ve kept up my end of the bargain. Joanna is an adult now, and just as it’s time for her to start her own life, it’s time for me to take mine back. You don’t have to worry about money—I paid off the house, and I’ll continue to support you. But in return, I want an easy divorce. My lawyer will be in touch. You won’t see me anymore, and you know why. Tell Joanna that I love her and that I’ll get in touch with her when the time is right. I know you’ll say I’m a coward for not explaining things to her myself, but I didn’t want to ruin her graduation. Maybe I am a coward, but I just couldn’t do it. I hope she’ll understand one day. Try and be good to her.
Bill
I started to shake, and the words wouldn’t come. Sinking down into the kitchen chair, I placed the letter on the table. “What is he talking about?”
She turned to look at me, and the loathing in her eyes was so intense I recoiled. “He’s gone to live with her full-time now. Her and her child. Got himself a new family.”
“Mom. You’re not making any sense. Live with who?”
She got up then, started making coffee, putting dishes in the dishwasher. Turning to me, she said, “Eggs?” Her voice shook, and with one hand she wiped from her cheeks the tears that she’d been trying to hide. I stood up and went to her, putting my arm around her frail shoulder. She started to cry then, violent racking sobs that made her body shake. I’d never seen her like that before. I held her while she cried, and then, as abruptly as it had started, it stopped.
“Sit. I’ll make you breakfast.”
I wasn’t hungry, of course, but I sat and waited, reading through the note again. He was making it sound like I would never see him again. I knew that he and my mother hadn’t been happy together, but how could he leave without telling me or saying goodbye? He was my father, and I loved him. I assumed he’d always be there, and the thought that he was gone forever—that now it would be just my mother and me—devastated me.
“He admitted that he’s had a mistress for years. He waited until you were grown up to leave. I guess I have to depend on you to take care of me now,” she said.
“But I’m moving to Boston in the fall.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Your worthless father said he can’t pay the tuition. Maybe you can take classes at a community college.”
I ran from the room, tears blinding my eyes, and up to my bedroom. Shutting and locking the door, I grabbed the phone from my nightstand and dialed my father on his cell phone. She had to be lying. He knew how much going to BU meant to me. My heart raced as the phone rang, then almost stopped when the recording came through. I’m sorry, but the number you are trying to reach is no longer in service.
I didn’t talk to my father again for years. I found out later that he married the woman he’d been living with part-time since I was eight. Mom’s chronic fatigue had gotten worse and worse right after he left, and she became too dizzy to drive. So I’d used the money he’d given me to enroll in the local community college, stayed in my room with the red walls, and took care of my mother.
I didn’t want to think about my father anymore. He had made the choice to leave me, so different from the way I’d been torn from Stelli and Evie. Every time I thought about how much I missed them, I felt a knife in my heart. I couldn’t bear it if they believed I’d abandoned them. They needed to know I’d fought for them, that it was Piper’s fault we were separated. I sat and thought and decided I would write them a letter.
My dear precious Evie and Stelli,
I miss you both more than you know. I think about you every minute of every day, and I want you to know that I am always watching you, even if you don’t see me. I watch over you to be sure you are safe, and I want you to know that I will never let anything bad happen to you. Just as your guardian angel protects you, so do I. Never forget that. When I close my eyes, I pretend that we are holding hands and talking to each other. You can do that, too, when you close your eyes. Picture me standing next to you, holding your hand, whispering in your ear, giving you a kiss on the cheek.