More silence.
Maxine kept at Lily. “He wants to marry you.”
Utter silence.
“In two months!” Maxine, now, was losing patience.
“I’m not talking about this.”
“Lily!”
There was a sharp noise as if something was slammed on a counter.
“He promised me he was never letting me go! He told me he’d take care of me!” Lily hissed.
“Sweetling –” This was said placatingly and Laura didn’t have to be in the room to see Lily to know what she was feeling. It was blindingly apparent from the emotion trembling in her voice.
“No, Maxine. You of all people know what it’s been like, what we’ve been through. No. He promised me.” She broke off, not able to go on with her thought then she continued. “For eight years, I thought he was dead.”
There was a rustle of movement and then, “I do know, sweetling, but he’s not dead and he’s here and –”
Lily interrupted her friend, her voice now was bitter and the sound of it broke Laura’s already wounded heart.
“I believed him. I trusted him. And he didn’t come for me. He thought I left him, just like that.” Laura heard a snap. “Me leaving him. It’s ridiculous! And with no explanation, no reason, just packing up and moving away after what happened between us. He didn’t come after me. Even if he thought I’d left, he didn’t come for me, to ask me to explain, to convince me to come home. He lied. He said he wouldn’t let me go and then he did, without saying a word, doing one single thing to stop it.”
Maxine spoke. “Perhaps you should talk to him, perhaps he has an explanation.”
The sounds of busy work resumed.
“Too little, too late,” Lily returned. “We’ve struggled, no… I’ve struggled. I had to depend on you and Fazire and… and… he’s a man who can transfer seven million pounds into someone’s bank account in a day! You’ve seen him! He dragged me into a room with solicitors and threatened to take my daughter away from me. He thought the worst of me. He thought I was some flighty, besotted idiot who went and got herself pregnant and then hid the knowledge from him for years.” Laura heard the determined noises of Lily staying busy. “He can’t explain that. I don’t want to hear anything he has to say. It’s over. We’ll agree a visitation schedule and I’ll have to see him when he comes and gets Tash and when he brings her home. That’s it. The end.”
“Lily, I can’t help but think you’re making a mistake,” Maxine warned and Laura felt a moment of hope.
Then, at Lily’s next words, that hope was dashed.
“No, I already made the mistake, eight years ago. Now I’m protecting myself. I couldn’t endure it if it happened again and, Maxie, I need you to stand by me.”
More noises and then a muffled, “You know I will. I always have. I want what’s best for you.”
The conversation was over and Laura stood in the hallway, wondering what to do.
She should, of course, tell Nathaniel.
She should try to talk to Lily, to tell her about Nathaniel and why he would think she would leave him. Why, Laura knew in her heart even though he’d never told her, Nathaniel let her go. Laura wanted to explain all that was her son because she knew, she knew, Lily would understand.
But it was not her place.
Nathaniel would not thank her for sharing the information about his former life. He wore it like a badge of honour at the same time he hid it like a dirty secret.
Laura, like Victor, thought Nate could do anything. She thought this because he’d proved it time and time again. He didn’t need anyone, he had taken care of himself since he was born. He’d never asked for a thing since she’d known him, if he wanted it, he got it for himself.
This time, even though he didn’t know it, he needed his mother.
And she was going to be there for him.
Laura waited until there was enough time for the two women in the kitchen to be assured she hadn’t overheard anything and then she walked in, smiling brightly.
Once in the room, Laura asked, “Can I help?”
Chapter Seventeen
Lily
It was nearly closing time and Lily, caught in her own thoughts, most of them not very good, the rest of them supremely confusing, sat behind the counter of “Flash and Dazzle”, Maxine and Lily’s store in town.
Lily had bought into the store several years ago using the funds left over from the sale of her childhood home. She’d held onto them just in case some other calamity happened and in those days, calamities were happening with alarming frequently: the refrigerator breaking down (twice); the clutch going out in the car; the washing machine overflowing and flooding the house. At first, Fazire used to take care of these with a flick of the wrist but the Great Grand Genie Number One had channelled him and warned him if he did it any more, it would be considered Lily’s last wish and he’d have to leave them. And there was no way Lily would allow Fazire to leave them, he was the only family they had.
Fazire had been furious, he couldn’t actually get a job because he had no skills, save magic, and furthermore, he didn’t exist in the human world and had no passport or driver’s license. He’d started their air journey from Indiana eight years ago in the opened bottle in the luggage compartment, formed himself and magicked himself into the passenger area to sit with Lily. He couldn’t drive a car, they frightened him. Machinery,” he said with a shudder to hide his fear, “is common.” In those days, he couldn’t do much to help, except magic away problems. However, he also couldn’t go against the Great Grand Genie Number One, the consequences would be dire.
Therefore, for years Fazire had been magic-less except for floating, of course, and the occasional creation of three hot fudge sundaes.
Luckily, Flash and Dazzle had been doing a booming trade and still was. Every item in the store was handmade by talented designers and artists, each piece the only one of its kind. Two of their jewellery designers had become immensely popular and Maxine had found this woman who made the finest, loveliest, hand-crafted sweaters that Lily had ever seen. People came from far and wide to buy a one-of-a-kind sweater, dress or piece of jewellery.
Maxie had wanted to expand and open a store in Bath but didn’t have enough capital to do it. As she had helped Lily incredibly over the years, Lily took the chance and invested in Maxie’s expansion. It had been a good investment, increasing her income just enough to make their financial situation move from “critical” to simply “grave”.
Maxine now spent her time flitting from one store to the other, bedazzling her customers with her extravagant personality, customers who came for the goods but came back for another dose of Maxie, and taking care of her clerks as if they were all favoured daughters.
Lily managed what she now thought of as “her” store. She’d been working there (except for the brief time she lived in London and the time she had been unable to work because of her pregnancy with Tash) for nearly a decade. She loved it there, she kept the flowers in the window box and tubs outside bright and cheerful all year long. She designed the displays of goods with a cautious eye for detail. She took care of her own clerks and all their various and sundry girl problems like they were her younger sisters. It was perfect as Lily could walk to work and thus not tax her stubborn car. She could make her own hours. And she could have Tash there whenever she wanted.
It wasn’t exactly comparable to being an award-winning, jet-setting, best-selling novelist but it put food on the table.