Meredith Stevens (Book Character)

Meredith Gates is the paramour of Byron Montgomery. The two met while she was a student at Hollis College and she took an art history class with him.

Physical Description
Meredith has long brown hair and is very fit. She teaches yoga classes at a local studio. She also has a pink spiderweb tattoo on her arm.

Biography
Meredith began an affair with her art history professor, Byron Montgomery while his daughter Aria was in middle school. While Aria is walking with her friend Ali to a record store, they come across Byron's car. Upon getting a closer look, they see Byron and Meredith making out. Meredith's affair is temporarily stalled when Byron moves his family to Iceland for three years. Soon after the Montgomerys return, their relationship is continued. Meredith has now graduated from college and teaches yoga at the Strawberry Ridge Yoga Studio. There, she meets Aria for the first time, though she doesn't know that the girl is her lover's daughter. Aria introduces herself as Alison and she has a good impression of the girl in their brief conversation. Later Aria shows up at Meredith's home and reveals her true identity. She tells Meredith that she knows about the affair and she wants the young woman to stop seeing her father. Meredith apologizes for interfering with the Montgomery's family life but refuses to stop her affair with Byron.

Later Aria visits her again, this time during one of her classes at Hollis College. Aria grabs a painbrush dipped in red paint, walks up to Meredith, and paints the letter A on her chest to symbolize the adulterous main character of The Scarlet Letter,. Little does Aria know that the novel's protagonist, Hester Prynne, was meant to be a sympathetic character. When Meredith sees Aria again, the girl is at her doorstep after being kicked out of her house by her mother Ella. Meredith welcomes her inside with open arms and tries to get along with the hostile teenager. Byron is also living with her and he desperately wants the two to become friends. In "Unbelievable" Meredith reveals that she is pregnant with Byron's child. The two eventually get a good deal on a spacious home on Ian Thomas' street. Meredith offers Aria the spacious attic bedroom which also has a nice view of the neighborhood. She gives birth to a girl in "Wanted" and asks Aria to help pick a name. The name of Meredith and Byron's daughter is revealed to be Lola.