Motherhood is Murder(16)

Margaret crossed her long legs underneath herself in the chair and sipped her coffee. “Helene and I were best friends since college. She’d always been there for me, you know? Through all the parties and good times and then through some pretty terrible times.”

“Terrible times?” I asked.

I wanted to drink my latte, but hesitated. What if I spilled it on Laurie? Surely it was unsafe to drink hot coffee over her tiny head. I looked around the café. She was still too small for a high chair. Because I had the baby carrier on and my house was so close, I hadn’t thought to bring a stroller, but now I had nowhere to put Laurie.

I stirred the foam again longingly.

Margaret looked over her shoulder. “I think, well, I don’t think. I know she and Bruce were having problems. He’s an investment banker. You know, they work tons of hours. Out of the house all day, most nights, too. Wining and dining clients. And Helene, well, at first she didn’t mind. She liked to shop and travel. She started taking lots of trips to Costa Rica. Loved it there. Wanted me to go, too. But, you know, with two small ones you just figure, later. But Helene didn’t have any hang-ups about going alone.”

“I understand they didn’t have any kids.”

“No. Not yet. Helene was getting to that place, you know, tick tock. Like a time bomb in your head. But Bruce didn’t give any indication of wanting kids. She was really frustrated with that. I also think that’s why she stepped up her travel recently. Probably so discouraged at home that she needed a distraction.”

“Why was she a member of Roo & You?”

Margaret frowned. “Why not? She loved to hang out with us. She had the idea of starting a club when Matthew, my two-year old, was born. I was meeting lots of moms, because I was attending this class on breastfeeding and nutrition.”

I remembered the way Celia and Bruce had huddled at the service.

“Do you think her husband was having an affair?” I asked.

Margaret looked taken aback. “Bruce? No. I don’t think so. They were having problems, sure, but I don’t think he was cheating on her. At least Helene never gave me any indication . . .” She looked miserably at what was left of the brownie on her plate, then shrugged and popped the rest of it in her mouth. “Well, these really are extenuating circumstances, aren’t they?”

I nodded. “Go ahead, I promise no nutrition police are going to pop out of the woodworks here.”

She motioned toward my latte. “You’re not drinking your coffee.”

“Uh . . .” I glanced at Laurie.

“Oh!” Margaret said. “I know how protective new moms are. Here, give me the baby. I’ll tell you I never, not once, spilled hot liquid on my kid’s head. But I know how obsessive the thought can be.”

I unstrapped Laurie and handed her to Margaret, who smiled for the first time that afternoon. The smile brought relief to her face while at the same time highlighting her swollen eyes.

She gazed at Laurie. “You forget how tiny they start out. I mean . . .” She gestured to her baby in the stroller, who was now snoozing. “Marcus is only six months old, but he seems gargantuan compared to your little thing. I can’t believe that he was this size only a few months ago.” Margaret stroked Laurie’s hair. “Is she lifting her head ninety degrees during tummy time?”

What? Ninety degrees!

I knew I was slacking on that tummy time!

I sipped my latte. It was ice cold. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Margaret’s eyes grew wide. “Oh,” she said, rounding her mouth and eyes in an exaggerated way.

Was Laurie supposed to be able to hold her head up ninety degrees?

“I mean, she lifts her head. She certainly lifts her head when we do tummy time.”

Margaret nodded sympathetically.

I tried to calm the defensiveness that was swelling inside me. Was my face red? I sipped the cold latte, ignoring the acid flavor. I needed the caffeine anyway.

“When are they supposed to be able to do that?” I asked.

Margaret glanced at her baby and fidgeted slightly. “I don’t really remember, but I thought it was around two months.”

“Well, Laurie’s not quite two months yet. She’s only seven weeks.”

Margaret smiled. “Of course, she’ll be holding her head up in no time. So anyway, I was in this class at the hospital and was becoming very friendly with Evelyn. Helene had the nice idea of forming a group. We would meet at each other’s houses and organize events and stuff. It worked really well for a while.”

“For a while? What happened?”

“I got pregnant again and my neighbor Sara did, too. We asked her to join our group. This may have been one of the things that set Evelyn off, I don’t know. But she seemed different. And we ended up having to ask her to leave the group.”

“Is that why there was so much tension with Evelyn on the cruise?”

Margaret looked at me and shrugged.

“What about the fight Evelyn said she overheard between Helene and Sara?”