The Wife Stalker(71)
Did this mean Evie was getting close to her and forgetting me? With a feeling of alarm, I opened the car door, grabbed my handbag, and marched to the mall, trying to talk myself out of the fear I felt. It took a bit of walking around before I caught sight of them sitting in the food court. They seemed to be deep in conversation, which meant they didn’t see me, but I was heartbroken that they seemed to be bonding. Evie looked so grown up sitting there, with her shiny brown hair past her shoulders and parted in the middle. She wore a white sweater that I hadn’t seen before, black leggings, and a pair of pink Uggs that I’d picked out for her last year.
She looked like she was enjoying herself, laughing and gesturing with her hands as they talked. Piper, too, looked like she was having a good time, but an image popped into my mind of a smiling Mia in that photograph, and then a deadly spider spinning its web, a web that looks so inviting and enticing until its victim is trapped and fighting for its life. Beside myself, I stood there, trying to decide if I should ignore the court order, run over, and grab Evie away from her. But before I could take a step, I saw Leo and Stelli, hand in hand, heading toward the food court. With a shaking hand, I pulled my sunglasses out of my bag and put them on, kicking myself for not having brought a baseball cap.
I needn’t have worried, though. They only had eyes for each other as Leo walked briskly to the table and leaned over to kiss Evie and Piper before sitting down. Anyone else looking at them would think them the perfect family. Even Stelli was smiling. Had she won him over as well? A crushing jealousy choked me, taking my breath away. I thought my heart would break. But then I realized—Piper wasn’t being sweet to the children because she wanted a mother-daughter or mother-son relationship. She was lulling everyone into complacency. How much easier to put whatever her plan was into action if the children felt safe with her? I fought the feeling of helplessness that was making me light-headed and unsteady and ran to the parking lot.
By the time I reached my car, I was sobbing hysterically, and I leaned my head against the steering wheel and cried and cried. When I was finally able to stop, I took a deep breath and started the car. The clock on the dash said one thirty. My appointment with Celeste was at two, which gave me plenty of time to get there. I arrived with five minutes to spare and took a seat in the small waiting room. I felt so alone. I needed desperately for someone to hear me, someone to tell me I could protect my family.
Celeste opened the door to her office. “Hello, Joanna. Come in.”
She sat down in the familiar red chair and waited for me to seat myself before she began. “You look like you’ve been crying. Has something happened?” she asked gently.
I tried to control my breathing. “Yes . . . I mean no, not really, but something is going to happen. Something bad. I went to see Piper’s mother. And even her own mother didn’t really defend her when I voiced my suspicions about the two dead husbands.”
“Did her mother indicate she’d ever been violent?”
“Not in so many words, but . . . And now Evie seems to be trusting her.”
She crossed her legs and looked at me intently. “What do you mean?”
“Piper took Evie out to lunch. At the mall. Leo left work early and met them there. He had Stelli with him.”
“And you know this how?”
I bit the inside of my lip. “A friend of mine saw them. She called to tell me.” There was no way I was going to admit I was following Piper. Even though our conversations were confidential, I didn’t want to lose credibility in Celeste’s eyes.
“Okay, let’s think about this. It’s not helping you to hear from other people what Piper or Leo or the children are doing. It upsets you needlessly because there’s nothing you can do about it. I think it would be wise of you to tell your friends that you don’t want to hear any more stories or gossip.”
“My friends are as disturbed as I am at what’s going on—they’re only trying to help me.”
“But here’s the problem. It doesn’t serve you in any way. It only makes things worse for you. I think you have to accept that Leo is not going to leave Piper, for your own sanity.”
“I can’t simply stop thinking about my family, especially not when my friends and I see Piper all over town acting like the adoring wife and mother we know she isn’t. No way in hell.”
“Maybe that’s the issue—seeing her around. What would you think about getting away somewhere? Somewhere you wouldn’t run into her. You could take some time on your own, maybe think things through without all the noise. You might even come back with a fresh perspective.”
The heat started in my chest and rose to my face. “This woman is dangerous. She’s planning something bad. She’s got two dead husbands and a dead child in her past”—I could hear my voice turning toward the hysterical, so I took a breath—“and who knows what she has planned now? The children are in danger, and you’re telling me to take a vacation?”
Celeste said nothing for a minute, pursing her lips. “You say you believe Piper has divulged nothing of her past to Leo, is that right?”
“Why would he be with her, let her be around the children, if he knew?”
Celeste locked her fingers together and brought her hands to her chin, seeming to ponder this. “Your concerns could be legitimate. Her past doesn’t look good, I agree. On the other hand, it is possible to make assumptions that are false.”