The Perfect Wife

by Kimberley Louise

  “I know you’re angry with me.”

  Jean’s mouth pulled downward into a pout. “What do you want?”

  “I’m sorry about yesterday. I shouldn’t have told Derek the way I did.”

  “It’s done now. You made sure of that.”

  “But he was going to find out sometime, and he had a right to know.”

  “It wasn’t your place. I was going to tell him in my own time.”

  Emma’s eyes rolled up. “It’s out in the open now. That’s a good thing.”

  “Derek’s barely talking to me. This is my marriage.”

  “Well maybe you should have thought about that before you lied to him.”

  “How dare you? You know nothing about me or my marriage.”

  Emma nodded her head slightly. “I’m sorry. Derek will come around. Maybe I can talk to him. He’ll listen to me.”

  Jean’s body twitched as she faced Emma with wide-open eyes. “No, I don’t want you to talk to him. I don’t want you interfering. You’ve done enough damage.”

  Emma gripped her handbag. “I am truly sorry if I’ve caused any trouble for you. That wasn’t my intention.”

  “That was exactly your intention.”

  “I was upset that you accused me of cheating on my husband, yes, but I wasn't intentionally malicious.”

  “Emma, I can see right through you.”

  “Look, I didn’t come here for a fight, Jean.”

  “Then what did you come here for?”

  Emma opened the front door. “We need to make a few things clear.”

  “What things?”

  “I’m in charge of the boys. So I don’t need any more hassle from you.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I may re-consider when and if you can see your grandchildren.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I’m not doing anything.” Emma blasted Jean with a glare. “I’m just warning you to back off. Start being nicer to me. Because if I take those boys away, you’ll never see them again.”

  “I won’t let you do that.”

  “You can’t stop me. I’m warning you. Don’t cross me. See you soon, mother-in-law.”

  Emma left and slammed the door behind her. Jean rushed upstairs into the bathroom. She threw up as soon she reached the toilet.

  Jean had a spitting headache. She certainly wasn’t in the mood to cook dinner that evening.

  She thought about calling Beatrice, but she was so wrapped up in Mike lately, that Jean didn’t want to bother her.

  It was the 5 p.m. when Jean had gotten up from her rest on the couch. She prepared some vegetable soup for dinner, and waited for Derek to get in from work.

  She was still tense from her earlier conversation with Emma. She’d threaten to stop Jean seeing her grandchildren. Emma knew how much those boys meant to Jean. Losing them would kill her.

  Emma was nothing to them. She was their father’s widow. And she thought she could call the shots and treat Jean like dirt.

  Fancy coming to her home and bullying her. Jean had put up with enough. Those were her grandchildren. And Emma had no right to say when or not she could see them.

  Jean heard the front door open, and some keys dropped in the bowl in the hall. Derek appeared in the kitchen.

  “Hi, love?”

  “HI,” Jean replied. “Good day?”

  “Not bad. A lot on, you know how it is.”

  “I’ve done us both some soup for dinner.”

  “Sounds great. I’ll just go and have a bath.”

  “Wait a minute,” Jean said. “We need to talk.”

  “Can it wait? I want to get out of these clothes. Get something comfortable on.”

  “Sure,” Jean said.

  “I won’t be long.”

  He kissed her and went up the staircase. While he was gone, Jean got her laptop and searched Emma’s Facebook page.

  She’d noticed that Emma had posted more pictures of Charlie and the boys. Watching Charlie with her grandchildren made Jean’s blood boil. They were Eddie’s children, not his.

  A tightness burned inside Jean’s chest. Her family were being taken away from her, and she felt powerless. She took a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and poured herself a glass. She had to make Derek see what Emma was doing to their family.

  And that they were at serious risk of losing their grandchildren.

  Chapter 10

  “I’m engaged,” Beatrice announced as she thrust her hand towards Jean, displaying a sparkling engagement ring.

  Jean had decided to visit Beatrice on the way home from the supermarket. It was the following Monday and Jean remembered her friend was working from home that day.

  “You’re engaged?” Jean asked her. She’d tried to hide her complete shock but was failing at it miserably.

  “I know it’s a bit of a surprise,” Beatrice conceded. “I haven’t known Mike that long. But when it’s right it’s right,” she added brightening with a happy smile.

  Beatrice took two coffee mugs out of the cupboard.

  “It is quick,” Jean noted cautiously. “Even for you.”

  “Jean, I’m fifty-eight,” Beatrice responded. “I haven’t got time to wait around.”

  “But what if it doesn’t work out?” Jean asked.

  “Then it doesn’t. Life’s too short.”

  Beatrice took the milk out of the refrigerator and stirred it into the coffee.

  “And you’re sure. You’re absolutely sure?”

  “As sure as I’ll ever be.”

  Jean reached out and hugged Jean tightly. “Then I’m happy for you. You deserve it.”

  “Thank you,” Beatrice said.

  She handed Jean her coffee and they both went into the lounge. Sitting at the dining table, Jean sipped her coffee anxiously.

  “Are you okay?” Beatrice asked.

  “Emma has a new boyfriend,” Jean explained.

  “She’s what?”

  “His name is Charlie.”

  Beatrice widened her eyes. “She’s a fast mover, isn’t she? How did you find out?”

  “The boys told me.”

  “He’s met the boys?”

  Jean nodded. “You’re a lawyer, aren’t you?”

  “Whatever you’re going to say, stop right there,” Beatrice cautioned, using her lawyer voice.

  “Hear me out,” Jean begged. “There’s must be some way that I can get those boys away from her.”

  “Not unless they’re in any danger,” Beatrice offered.

  Jean slapped the table in frustration. “She’s not fit to be looking after them.”

  “That’s a matter of opinion,” Beatrice said.

  “She’s not related to them. Not like Derek and me. She hasn’t any rights.”

  “The court says differently.”

  “Why won’t anyone take me seriously?” Jean wailed.

  Beatrice touched her hand, but Jean moved it away. “The world is not against you, Jean,” Beatrice said. “You’ve just lost your son.”

  “This isn’t about that,” Jean said. “I know I’m grieving. But, Emma is just not right. There’s something about her. I’ve known it from the moment I met her. The boys should be with me, their grandmother. I love them.”

  Beatrice pulled her into a side hug. “I know you do, Jean. You poor love. But you’ll just have to give this some time.”

  “I’ve got to go,” Jean announced. She grabbed up her handbag and hustled to the door.

  “Thanks for the coffee and the advice,” she said giving Beatrice a hug.

  Jean stopped by the florists near her house, on the way home. She’d wanted to brighten the living room up, and besides, the ones currently there had died. She brought a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and a coffee from the local coffee bistro and was heading to her car when she noticed something in a charity shop window. It was a charity shop that Jean regularly donated to, so she knew it well. When she looked in the window, she saw a cap standing on the hat stand.
It was Eddie’s. It had NYC on the front. She recognised it because she had brought it for Eddie when she and Derek had holidayed in New York five years ago. She remembered that Eddie had written his name inside it.

  Jean pushed open the door and asked the cashier if she could see the hat. When the cashier handed Jean the hat, she looked inside and saw it, indeed, had Eddie’s name written inside it.

  “I’ll take this, please,” Jean said to the cashier.

  Livid, Jean paid for the hat, left the shop and made her way home.

  When Jean got home, she could hear Derek and a woman talking in the lounge. It sounded like Emma. Jean hung her coat up. When she arrived in the lounge, Derek and Emma were sitting on the couch, laughing. William and Jack were sitting in front of the television.

  “Hello, love,” Derek said. “Look who has come to see us.”

  Jean went up the boys and kissed them. “This is a surprise,” Jean said.

  “I thought the boys would like to see their nana,” Emma said.

  Derek looked at the bag in her hands. “What have you got there?”

  “I’ve been shopping,” Jean said. “Buying my son’s hat.”

  “Pardon?” Derek asked.

  Jean took the hat out of the bag and Emma’s eyes dropped the floor.

  “Care to explain, Emma?” Jean asked.

  “It belonged to Eddie.”

  “I know it belonged to Eddie. I was the one who brought it for him.”

  Derek stood up. “What’s wrong, Jean?”

  “What’s wrong? This was a gift for my son. And I find it in a charity shop for one pound.”

  “I took some things there because I didn’t want to throw them out. Maybe someone could make use of it.”

  “Why didn’t you give it to me? You gave me all of his other clothes. Even a t-shirt that didn’t belong to him.”

  “Jean. That’s enough,” Derek held her hand, but Jean pulled it away.

  “Jean, I’m really sorry. I seem to keep saying that these days. I can’t seem to do anything right.”

  “I just think you should bring Eddie’s things to me, rather than take them to a charity shop. That hat was precious to him. He really loved it.”

  “That’s not what he told me,” Emma said.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Look,” Derek said. “We’re not going to fall out over a hat. Are we?”

  “It’s not any hat. It’s Eddie’s hat,” Jean replied.

  “Come on, boys,” Emma said. “We’re leaving.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Derek said.

  Emma got up and ushered the boys into the hall. Derek followed her. When Jean went to the window, she saw Derek hugging Emma before she left. When Derek came back to the lounge, he shook his head.

  “What was that about?” Derek asked.

  “She had no right to take that hat to a charity shop, Derek. And then to make out that Eddie didn’t like it. When I knew he did.”

  “Jean, it’s hat.”

  “She shouldn’t have done it.”

  “We could have had the boys this evening. It would have been nice for them.”

  “She didn’t have to take the boys.”

  “I give up.” Derek threw his hands in the air and left Jean standing by the window.

  While they ate dinner in the kitchen, Jean watched Derek fork his new potatoes around the plate like he’d lost interest in them. Why was he really mad at her? Had she broken up his cosy little time with Emma? She saw how they were. Laughing, chatting. He never laughed like that with her, ever.

  “Are we just going to sit here in silence?” Jean asked.

  “I’m not hungry,” he replied.

  “Is this about earlier?”

  “I think you were out of order.”

  Jean put her fork down and sipped her water. “She was the one who was out of order.”

  “Eddie was her husband.”

  “And he was my son,” Jean said. “I brought him that hat. It was special. She’s just made it seem like it meant nothing.”

  “I don’t think she meant to do that, Jean.”

  “That’s not all.”

  Derek raised his eyebrows. “How do you mean? What else is there?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “No, come on.”

  “She gives me the creeps,” Jean admitted. “There, I’ve said it.”

  Derek tugged at his ear. “Emma does?”

  “Yes. She was here yesterday. She changed the sheets on our bed.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “She let herself into our house and into my bedroom. That’s private. I’d never go into her bedroom. She takes liberties.”

  “I said it was okay that she came around. She wanted to see how you were. She’s your daughter-in-law. Hardly a stranger is she?”

  “That’s just it. She is a stranger, Derek. We know nothing about her. Eddie hardly knew her, let alone us.”

  “Oh come on, Jean. We got together quickly. Eddie was just being impulsive for once in his life.”

  Jean got up and started clearing the table.

  “What’s this really about?” Derek asked.

  “I don’t know what you mean?” Jean said.

  “Well you’ve never been keen on her, have you?”

  “I just said she gives me the creeps.”

  “Jean, she’s just lost her husband,” Derek said. “We should be supporting her.”

  Supporting her. What about me, your wife. I’d lost my son. Our son.

  Jean slammed the plates in the sink, one of them broke. She was tired, not psychically, but mentally. Grief was tiring.

  Derek got up and she felt his hand on her shoulder, and then down her back.

  “Emma’s not the problem here,” he whispered. “Although she did mention that she was worried about you.”

  “Derek—”

  “Listen, Jean, we need all of the help we can get. Alienating Emma is not going to help is it?”

  Jean turned around and looked into his eyes. They were hazel, and what she first noticed about him all those years ago. That and his smile.

  “Maybe I’d overreacted about the hat,” Jean said.

  “Yeah, you did. But I understand. You need time and someone to take better care of you.”

  That’s what she told you. Those are her words.

  Jean nodded. “Yes, Derek.”

  In the bath later, Jean soaked her aching body. The water was filled with lavender scented bubbles, foaming heavily and nicely enfolded her. Rested her head against the tub, she thought about what Derek had said. Had she overreacted? She wasn’t so sure now. She’d felt so angry that Emma had taken Eddie’s things to a charity shop, in particular gifts that Jean had given him. It didn’t sit well with Jean. And it mattered to her.

  Jean didn’t want to have to deal with this right now. It was enough that she had all of these emotions storming through her, so the last thing she wanted was to be fighting with her family. As she lifted herself out of the bath, and wrapped a towel around her wet body, she went to the mirror and gently dried her face with a hand towel. It was then she noticed the aftershave in the bathroom cabinet. There was two brand named aftershaves, and a shaving foam. Jean hadn’t seen them before. They obviously belonged to Derek, but he didn’t use that brand.

  Going into the bedroom, Derek was taking a shirt out of the wardrobe. He always prepared his clothes for the following day, the night before. Drying herself, she gazed at him.

  “I take it those aftershaves in the bathroom are yours?” Jean asked.

  “Yeah, I forgot about those. They’re so expensive I dare use them.”

  “I thought they looked pricey. Why did you buy them? They are not your usual brand?”

  Derek nodded his head, satisfied with his choice of clothing for work the next day. He then turned his attention back to Jean.

  “Oh, yeah, Emma got them for me.”

  “Emma?”

  “Sh
e said they were Eddie’s.”

  “She gave you Eddie’s aftershaves.”

  “Yeah. It was at the funeral.”

  Jean dried herself, her gaze flicking upward. Derek didn’t notice she was annoyed.

  “You could have said,” she said.

  “I didn’t remember.”

  “Did you put them in the bathroom?”

  “No, she did. Doesn’t matter does it?”

  “No, it doesn’t matter.” Jean hoped he heard the sarcasm in her voice, as she intended.

  At the dressing table, she put on her moisturisers, and then her night dress.

  “Eddie liked the expensive stuff didn’t he?”

  “I don’t like her rooting around my house,” Jean snapped.

  “You’re not going to start all that again are you?” Derek said with a sigh.

  “Everywhere I look, I find something that’s she’s altered.”

  Jean then started on her hair, Derek flopped himself on the bed.

  “It’s really nothing to worry about.”

  “So you keep saying.”

  “Because it’s true. They belonged to Eddie, and she thought I might like them. I thought it was rather nice of her.”

  “Of course you did.”

  Derek rolled his eyes and got off the bed. “I’ll go and make some tea.”

  “Fine,” Jean said.

  Derek left the bedroom, and Jean went to her wardrobe to get her dressing gown. When she returned to the dressing table, she noticed something on the floor underneath it. Bending down, she picked up the screwed up piece of paper that appeared like a receipt. When she unfolded it and straightened it out, she saw it was actually a receipt. It was from the department store where Emma worked. The item brought was two aftershaves and one shaving foam. The cost was sixty-six pounds for each of the bottles of aftershaves, and nineteen pounds for the shaving foam. Jean gazed at the date on the receipt, it was Tuesday the 4th of September. The day after Eddie’s funeral. Derek had said that Emma had given him the aftershaves on the day of the funeral. So why was there a receipt for exactly the same aftershaves and shaving foam, purchased on the day after the funeral? Something was amiss here. Did Emma buy those products specifically for Derek? If so, why? And why would Derek lie about it? And why was the receipt screwed up at the bottom of her dressing table, as it was intended to be found?