“Would that be enough to make you feel safe?”
“I don’t think anything will ever make me feel safe.” A wistful expression haunted Piper’s features, and Kiersten’s heart suddenly ached for her friend.
Her fingers clamped into a fist, and she longed for the power to wipe the past from Piper’s mind. The drug dealers and human traffickers, Mr. Claussen and his shovel, the bomb threat and everything that followed.
It didn’t seem fair, that keeping other people safe meant Piper could never feel safe herself.
“I just wish I knew what he was planning,” Piper said quietly.
Kiersten rose to grab Dottie’s diary from the kitchen island. “Speaking of bad guys, I have something else to show you.”
“Now what?” Piper asked warily as she returned to the couch.
“I think ...” She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to say these words out loud, but in her heart, she knew they were true. “I think Richard Davis is the evil husband in Dottie’s diaries.”
Piper sank back against the couch cushions. “Seriously?”
Kiersten nodded. “And I also think his sweet wife who just had cataract surgery and fed us pecan pie is actually Peggy, the mistress.”
Piper’s mouth dropped open. “No way.”
“Way.” Kiersten handed her the diary. “Read this.”
Chapter Sixty-Four
Dottie
September 27, 1965
I confronted Peggy in the kitchen today after Dickie left for work.
She was standing at the sink, washing raspberries she’d picked from the garden.
“Is Dickie the father?” I asked, point blank.
She burst into tears and damn it, but I actually felt sorry for her.
She shook her head emphatically. “No. He was a mechanic. From the garage.” She swiped at her tears with the back at her hand. “He skipped town when I told him about the baby.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
She’s lying.
I knew every mechanic in that garage. If one of them had quit suddenly, Oscar and Leonard would have mentioned it.
I swallowed and made a sympathetic noise in the back of my throat. “When are you due?”
She lowered her gaze. “October.”
October.
Just like me.
I turned away quickly so she couldn’t see my expression.
I want to believe her. I really do. Because if she’s lying, then Dickie seduced her days after our honeymoon, or maybe days before the wedding itself. If this baby is his, then he never loved me, not even for a moment, not even at the very start of it all, and for some reason, this knowledge still has the power to break my heart.
“What will you do?” My words came out parched and dry.
