Chapter 15

Six days before Christmas...

Hanging their coats by the door, Jessica led him upstairs. Andrew was shocked to see his mother sitting with a woman he assumed was Evelynn Rosen. Jessica hugged her half-sisters' aunt then gave Hillary a glare.

Standing, the matriarch of the Hastings family offered her hand to Jessica. "I owe you an apology. I am very sorry for the scene I caused and for costing you your job."

Jessica folded her arms, holding Hillary's eyes as the older woman dropped her hand.

"Manners, Jess," Evelynn warned.

"Not just yet, Aunt Evie." Jessica held her ground, "I want a written promise that she won't do anything else underhanded or attempt to take Ava from Lily. Her sons can give her other grandchildren, but my sister can't have anymore children and I won't let her lose Ava."

Hillary could see the younger woman's iron-clad determination and was shocked by how much the stripper reminded her of herself at that age. She glanced at her eldest son. "Andrew, write up something to meet Miss Johansen's request."

No one moved for a moment, then Andrew picked up a notepad with the Tiger Lily Inn logo on the top. Jessica read over his shoulder as he wrote.

Hillary signed it. "Now, it's legally binding."

"Not quite yet." Jessica shocked them by going into her old room and coming back with a notary stamp and book. She notarized the document and made Hillary then Andrew sign her book. "Now, it's notarized and legally binding."

"You're a notary?" Andrew asked in surprise.

"In Wisconsin." Jessica held out a card to him, revealing smugly, "Since I was eighteen. I worked for the local bank where I learned tax preparation, notarization regulations, and accounting from the bank manager as part of our school's career prep program. I went through two years of junior college to finish the Bachelor's degree I started working on in high school before we all moved back to Miami the year after Lily graduated." She grinned at his and his mother's shocked looks. "I bet your P.I.s didn't tell you that or that the program I am finishing next year is a double master's degree... Not bad for a dumb stripper, eh?"

Hillary admitted sincerely, "I apologize for assuming you were a stripper because you couldn't get another job."

"Like I said to Andrew on the plane, I make a lot more money dancing than I did waiting tables."

"Just how much do you make?" He asked curiously.

Instead of answering, Jessica smirked at him then asked her aunt, "What's for lunch, Aunt Evie? Sneaking out of state for Christmas made me hungry."

Shaking her head, Evelynn smiled, "I made that Chicken White Chili you like so much. I just need to bake the cornbread muffins."

"Great," Jessica grinned then pointed at Andrew, "I'll make the cornbread. You're setting the table. In my aunt's house, you have to earn your keep, Mr. Black Card."

<<@>>

Ian listened to Lily's sister stand up to his mother and brother. He never expected his gentle Lily to have such fierce relatives. As they went downstairs, Ava woke up and yawned.

"Good afternoon, sweetheart. Are you wake enough for a lunch bottle?" Looking up from his daughter, he saw Lily watching him. "How did you sleep?"

"Why are you still here?" Her tears made glossy trails down her cheeks.

"I won't leave you again," he promised.

"I hate you." Her voice sounded tremulous as she lied.

"I deserve it, but I still love you... I will always love you and Ava. I meant everything I said yesterday afternoon," Ian begged her to believe him.

"You don't know anything about me. Our marriage was just a happy lie."

"It wasn't a lie, I swear... And I want to know everything about you; every thought, every feeling, every memory good or bad. Your struggles are our struggles. You've taken such good care of me, of our daughter, and I let you down," Ian admitted. "When I found the crystal star under the couch and realized what happened... I read your e-chart. It was terrifying and I let you go through that alone. I'm so sorry."

"I wasn't alone then, I had my sisters," she reminded bitterly because she wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

"I know. They showed they love you more than I did, but I will... I will prove to you no one loves you and our daughter more than me," he vowed then asked, "Ava needs a bottle. Are you hungry? You haven't eaten since I got here this morning."

Instead of answering, she turned away from him. Accepting her rejection, he changed Ava's diaper before he went downstairs to the dining room.

"Hey," Ian greeted Andrew.

The elder brother looked amazed as he appraised his niece for the first time, then he glanced at his brother with wet eyes. "I'm so sorry. I should have gone to the nursery to see her. I would have known she was yours."

"And I should have gone to the hospital when she was born, instead of getting drunk... I never realized how badly Carly screwed up our family," Ian admitted as his mother hugged them both.

"It was my fault. I am ashamed that I hurt you and your wife," Hillary claimed responsibility. "I almost lost us the chance to know this beautiful little angel."

Evelynn came out of the kitchen with a carafe of hot tea and Hillary looked at her. "Evie, what can we do to help Lily be happy again, like she always was?"

"It isn't as simple as that," Evelynn explained, "It will take time. Lily is going to need medication and therapy. Ian is going to have to go with her to some of the sessions. Getting Lily through her post-partum depression will take all of our commitment. She will be our lovely and loving flower again but for now, we need to be patient and understanding while she adjusts to everything that happened since Thanksgiving."

<<@>>

Five days until Christmas...

Kitty wanted the scream in frustration after she landed in Green Bay in the late evening. The rental car desk was closed. She had no way to pick up the car she reserved until morning, and she couldn't afford to rent one from a different company while the first held her deposit. Not wanting to take Jessica away from Lily and Evelynn since the Hastings were at the Tiger Lily Inn, she texted her old school friend John Micheals her dilemma and asked if he could come and get her.

She was surprised when he texted back that his cousin would be there in twenty minutes, so she cancelled her reservation. Standing just inside the glass doors, she felt shocked relief when an Oconto Constable SUV pulled up.

"Jamie?" Kitty hugged him in surprise. "When did you move to Oconto? I haven't seen you since, well, since the ice fishing season before you got married."

He shrugged as he looked around, "I got divorced last summer and moved here from North Dakota. Do you need to get your luggage?"

Holding out her carry-on, she admitted, "I travel light. I don't even have Christmas presents."

"That's why I'm in Green Bay tonight. I still need gifts for John and Kathy." He put her bag in the back then offered, "Do you want to go shopping with me, or do you need to go straight to your aunt's?"

"Jess is there dealing with the Hastings," Kitty answered. "So, if you still want to shop, I could get some gifts for my family too."

Jamie looked at her in confusion as he started the engine, "Hastings? As in Lily's ex-husband? I thought he divorced her and that whole messy affair was left behind in Florida."

"Oh, well, they said they made a mistake, don't you know?" As they drove through and shopped in Green Bay, she explained everything.

"He was the guy at the Econo Lodge Bill was worried about." Jamie revealed as they stopped for hot beverages for the drive back to Oconto, then Jamie expressed his disbelief. "I can't believe he divorced her because his mother's private dick screwed up his investigation."

"That's just it. Jess said the guy didn't investigate anything, he found out the bare minimum and then made up a bunch of stuff. The Hastings just assumed it was true. Ian never even asked Lily about her life or anything. Now he's here and expecting a Christmas miracle or something. Lily will probably forgive him and take him back."

"You don't think she should?"

"If my baby daddy served me with divorce papers the day I almost died and had to have an emergency c-section, he'd never see me or my baby ever again." Kitty was adamant about her choice.

Jamie was quiet for a moment. "You have to admit there were extraneous circumstances."

"Having a bad ex is not an adequate reason to hire a private investigator to slander your significant other's family. I'd be honest about my suspicions and demand the truth," Kitty insisted vehemently.

"This isn't about your sister and her ex-husband." Jamie glanced at her as he finished. "This is about your father and mother."

"My father was a liar and philanderer who used his parents' religion to justify his selfish and irresponsible behavior. My mother was a weak woman who needed a dick to validate her self-worth and when she couldn't handle the truth, she got addicted to drugs and traded my sister and I off to keep guys and get more drugs. She was pathetic and needy and tried to kill us both when the pedophile she was dating dumped her then she high balled him and killed him in our living room."

"So you don't need anyone?" Jamie asked. "You don't want a relationship or family?"

"Sex isn't important to me, and I don't need anyone to validate me. If I meet someone I like, they get one chance. One. The moment they screw me over, I'm out," Kitty confessed.

"I didn't mean sex, I meant love... What if you're the one who makes a mistake?"

"I am always completely honest with people, and I keep my word. If I hurt someone, I apologize if I'm wrong... I don't expect people to change for me and they better not expect me to change for them. I am who I am and they can accept it or move along." She defined the few relationships she'd had. "Compromising is how you sell your self-worth short... And I don't mind being alone. Most people can't handle it."

Jamie shook his head. "So you wouldn't compromise or change anything if you met the right guy?"

"Or girl... Nope, they either want me exactly as I am, or they can move on."

He was quiet as they drove. Finally, he asked the question that most concerned him, "Are you going to cause problems for your sister or aunt because the Hastings are there?"

Cracking her knuckles, Kitty exhaled loudly then stated flatly, "My family can make their own choices. I will still be there to support them no matter what they choose."

"But you don't approve?"

"Adulting means facing consequences of poor decisions and making hard choices. Lily runs instead of trying to overcome. If she runs back to him, instead of dealing with her trauma or standing up for herself, how is it any different than when she ran to the doctors for anxiety pills after Marlana's murder, or when she wanted to go to Florida after Aunt Ava died? Leaving instead of facing conflict or grief is just what she does after she faints."

"That's very judgmental. Evie told Kathy that Lily has post-partum and S.A.D., those are both a chemical imbalance; she can't help the depression." Jamie found himself defending Lily. "If she needs medication and therapy to help her deal with a trauma or to move past grief, then it's what she needs to cope. It's not running away, which is the same as you shutting everyone out."

"I don't shut everyone out," Kitty refuted him.

"Never changing, never compromising, is just a way to keep people at a distance. It's another way of running away," Jamie chastised her as he turned off Harbor Road onto Old Lake Road. "If the Hastings need to know everything about someone to deal with something that happened to them, maybe you should ask them why?"

"Their excuses don't matter to me. They hurt my sister and cost my half-sister her job because of some chick we never met or heard of until a few days ago. Their family was dishonest about who they were and treated Lily like crap and my family has to pick up the pieces now."

"Don't you mean you have to pick up the pieces and you resent them for it?" Jamie demanded as he turned into the drive for the Tiger Lily Inn.

"Why are you taking their side? You don't know them," Kitty snapped as he stopped. She got out and slammed the door.

He stepped out and opened the back, handing her the bags and her carry-on. "Neither do you. You might need to bend this time, 'cause Lily is already broken, and you don't want to be the one who breaks her further." Shutting the rear door, he got in and drove off before she could think of something to retort.

Standing there, Kitty glared after him, huffing her words out in crystalline clouds, "You don't know anything about me either!" Swallowing her rage, she plastered a fake smile on as she unlocked the door and walked inside, calling out, "I'm home!"

She heard Jessica running down the stairs.

"You made it!"

"I told you I'd be home before Christmas Eve." Kitty hugged her.

Laughing, Jessica picked up some bags as she glanced out the window. "How'd you get here? And who took you shopping?"

"Jamie Micheals... The rental desk closed early so I called John. Jamie was in Green Bay shopping, so he picked me up. That man has changed since his divorce... I don't like him anymore," Kitty complained. "He's judgey."

AS they climbed the stairs, Kitty snorted a laugh. "Pot, Kettle."

"Shut up or I'll keep the fluffy stuff I bought you for myself," Kitty snapped, "And I am not, I am pragmatic and practical." Changing the subject, she asked, "How's Lily?"

Jessica frowned, revealing, "Not good. Dr. Harris told Aunt Evie that she has a severe case of post-partum. Ian sat with her the whole day again. He really regrets everything."

"If he hadn't been an arse, then he wouldn't have anything to regret," Kitty declared spitefully.

"True but if you or I had dated a Carly, we'd probably be acting the same way." Jessica set the bags on Kitty's bed, "Don't give me that look until you hear the tea about Ian and her."

Thinking about what Jamie said, Kitty scowled then demanded, "Tell me about the biyatch who started it all so I can find her and stuff her down an ice hole."