Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

Monday August 2, 2010

We had our first argument yesterday, after I discovered that Lyle hadn’t fired Charlotte. He said I’d feel less paranoid after the baby and realize I would need her help.

Something inside me snapped, bringing up years of suppressed fury. When Lyle convinced me to leave the Salentinos, he said we would be together as a family. Instead, he left me alone in a small apartment with two babies. I spent the first few years alone, without help, without a means to communicate with the outside world.

It was like I’d entered another prison, with Lyle visiting sporadically to drain his balls. When he finally moved us to a real home, he would leave for weeks on end. By then, I had Dr. Forster to pick up the slack, but there were limits to how much I could share.

Lyle spent more time working on his adoption agency than on his new family. He worked long hours and was always stressed. He even lost interest in sex. So, I let loose a tirade of accusations, accusing her of seducing him and trying to usurp my position in this household.

For the first time since we got married, Lyle yelled back. What hurt the most wasn’t the fact that he raised his voice, but that he defended Charlotte. He told me she was doing a better job keeping my daughters from tearing out each other’s throats than I ever did. The house was spotless, the meals were on time, and she created the kind of home he’d imagined we’d have when he discarded an illustrious career in the FBI.

The words stung. He’s never thrown that in my face. My hormones were everywhere, and I burst into tears. Lyle watched me cry for several minutes before walking out. Out of the room, out of the house, and out of our lives.

He didn’t return to bed last night, and his car has left the driveway. I’m now alone with Charlotte and the girls. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where he’s gone. He won’t answer his cell phone or his office number.

I stayed in my room with Heath, expecting Charlotte to take Lyle’s absence as a chance to finish the job she started. She sent Amy in with food, but I refused to fall for that trick again.

In the evening, when I turned down dinner, Charlotte barged into the room without permission. Well, she knocked, but I told her to go away. She wanted to know why I wasn’t eating when I needed all the nutrition I could get to nurse the baby.

The girls stood at her sides, staring at me like I’d gone crazy. I wanted to scream at her to get out and take away her poison, but I didn’t want to frighten my daughters.

All I could think of to say was that I’d order something online. Her gentle smile, her contrived compassion, the way she wrapped her arms around my twins made me sick. It was all an act to groom my girls into thinking I was an unfit mother.

She’s already slithered into my husband’s pants—I know she fucked him with that tight, nubile body while I was hospitalized. That’s why Lyle is being so intolerant. Why, in Giorgi’s words, would he need me when he can have Miss Perfect?

I didn’t say any of this out loud. That’s what she wants. She even made a show of looking disappointed that I didn’t appreciate the special, nutrient-rich meals she and the girls had lovingly prepared to nourish me and baby Heath.

My fists clenched under the comforter. I wanted to laugh in her face, but it would come out as a deranged cackle. Instead, I said her services were no longer required, and she had until tomorrow morning to leave.

Dolly howled, clinging to Charlotte like she was the one who had carried her for thirty-six weeks. Amy stared, not knowing what to think. Charlotte explained in that sugary voice that she was employed by Lyle to help me during this difficult time. I snapped back, telling her that she was a conniving cunt.

All three of them stared at me like I’d turned into Medusa. Then Charlotte pulled the girls out of the room and comforted them outside the door with soft, soothing words.

FUCK HER! And fuck me for playing into her hands. Now, my daughters think I’m a psycho.

If this bitch doesn’t leave my house voluntarily, then she’ll be leaving in a hearse.