Chapter 8

Eighteen days before Christmas...

While her aunt was on the phone, Kathy led her upstairs. Each step hurt but Lily made herself climb.

"So... let me show you what we got set up for you. Ms. Evelynn had them working night and day to get this ready. Our school gets the whole month of December off and the boys may have gone a little crazy painting the walls to match the flecks in the carpet and prints on the fabric. They have a thing for bright colors."

Kathy opened the door to a living room painted with a rich blue trim that matched the colors of the french toile throw pillows and quilted velvet chaise. The wall above the sofa was painted as a pastoral scene from the pillows. One bedroom was a warm golden buttercream accented with dark wood furniture and trim. A Mennonite Tulip quilt covered the bed. There was a bassinet set up in the corner. In the second smaller bedroom, the walls were painted pink, scarlet, and cream plaid, to match the rose toile curtains, pillows, and valance. Another pastoral scene was painted on the wall above a beautiful, handmade crib. Lily reached out to touch it.

"Daniel is a real artist; he did all the painting. David made the crib in woodshop last year." Kathy beamed proudly.

"It's beautiful," Lily responded in awe, then asked, "How much do I owe you for doing all this?"

Kathy shook her head. "Evelynn told us what happened. Consider it an early Christmas gift from our family to you. Why don't you get a shower then lay down and rest? I'll keep an eye on Ava while the boys sherpa the boxes." She guided Lily back to the bedroom and turned down the bed.

"I just need my blue travel bag?"

"I'll get it," Kathy assured her. "Freshen up. This little angel will be just fine. She's so pretty."

"Thank you." Lily saw the boys setting boxes in the living room area. They hurried through the door and down the stairs as Kathy called to them to bring Lily's travel bag first.

A large man who resembled the twins looked up from setting down a box labeled 'Hanging Clothes'. "Hey, Lily."

"John, it is so good to see you." She held out her arms to hug him, but he hesitated.

"Are you sure? You just had surgery." The big bear of a man looked at her pensively.

"Oh, right." Lily suddenly felt a little sadder, rejected, so she blurted out, "Thanks for everything. I need to freshen up, it's been a long drive with the roads."

"Here's your bag." One of the twins panted, then hurried back downstairs.

In the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror, Lily shook her head. From her travel bag, she took one of her pain pills, then wrapped her abdomen in the clingwrap to keep her incision dry and got in the shower. She tried not to cry aloud but she was heartbroken and felt ashamed that she returned to the Tiger Lily a divorced, jobless, degreeless failure with a premie baby. She couldn't even nurse her daughter because her milk never came.

When Lily came out, she put her travel bag on the bed. Next to the dresser were two more tall boxes labeled "Hanging Clothes" in Carlotta's neat, block print. Putting them in the closet, she was grateful Carlotta packed them on the hangers. She dug out the warmest clothes she owned from a box labeled "Dresser Clothes" before she texted Carlotta.

Thank you for everything you packed and your kindness. I will miss you. I am home with family.

A moment later a message came back. You are welcome. I quit working for them after what they did. I hope you and your baby have a wonderful life far away from the Hastings. Be safe. Merry Christmas. Goodbye.

Inhaling sharply, Lily wiped away a tear as she typed back, Merry Christmas. Goodbye.

Here was another thing for Ian's mother to hate her for. Carlotta had worked for them for a long time. Shaking her head, Lily went into the living room of the suite where she was introduced to a man who was not what she expected for a small-town police officer.

"Lily, meet my cousin, Constable Jamie Micheals." He was strikingly handsome and even taller than John. Jessica would have called dibs on the giant man in a heartbeat. 'And he would have said yes,' Lily thought, slightly resentful of her vivacious half-sister's ease with new people.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Johansen."

"Please call me Lily." After a polite introduction, Lily busied herself in the nursery putting things away.

She was grateful for the crib; it was the one thing she hadn't gotten yet. The one she wanted was on order. She wondered what Ian would do with it after it was delivered on the twelfth of December as scheduled.

After setting down a final box, John announced, "That's the last of it, Lily."

Silently, Lily just nodded so he tried to cheer her up because he could see the wetness of her eyes.

"So, Miss Evelyn told Kathy and I that you got your degree in hotel hospitality and management? Will you be staying to take over the Tiger Lily? You were always so cheerful with people. You'd be great at it.."

Small towns meant gossip or at least that's what Lily learned growing up here. "Yes, thanks, and no, not yet, I have one more semester which I'll never finish now," she answered tightly. Her depression repeating the same litany of self-deprecation and loathing. Her tone must have seemed angry because he held up his hands in a surrender motion.

"I didn't mean to upset you."

Lily sighed, she needed to remember she couldn't be Florida-snarky here. "No, John, it's fine. I just had a rough couple of weeks."

He looked at her sympathetically as Kathy came to stand beside him revealing, "Rough? You got served with divorce papers the day you fell off a ladder, and almost died. Evelyn told me, they did an emergency C-section and hysterectomy to keep you and Ava alive. We are happy you're recovering but..."

"We're sad for you about the loss." John nodded, "I remember how much you wanted a big family. If you need anything, or if that jerk shows up here, you call the shop. There's a lot of places out there where a person can

"I didn't hear that," Jamie said jovially from the living room as Daniel or David laughed.

"I think we're done, we'll get out of your hair," Kathy insisted. "Say goodbye, boys."

The four males chorused, "Goodbye boys."

"Oh good gravy!" Kathy muttered.

And Lily giggled, despite herself, then they all wished her goodnight as they went down the stairs.

Aunt Evelyn came up passed them, thanking them profusely before coming into the two-bedroom suite across the hall from her, Jessica, and Kitty's rooms. "Sorry, sweetie, just someone making reservations for next weekend. Are you getting settled?"

"Yes, Aunt Evie, thank you. You didn't have to give up your suite for me." Lily suddenly felt embarrassed to be there, but Evie hugged her.

"Don't make that face. This is your home, I wanted to, and I am more than happy to have you here and Ava," her voice caught, and she swallowed before continuing, "Ava Marlana here with me."

Suddenly Lily regretted naming her daughter after the doctor who saved them from foster care and had been her Aunt's companion for almost two decades. "Aunt Evie, about... the baby's name. We can call her something else besides Ava. We can call her Marlie or Lana or..."

Her aunt's wrinkled hands cupped Lily's cheeks. "Ava is fine. I loved her and I miss her, but I am certain her spirit is still here, and she is happy to have your daughter named after her." Kissing Lily's forehead as she had so many times over the years, Evelynn patted her cheek. "I have to go start the dough for tomorrow's breakfast rolls. Dinner will be ready in an hour."

"I'm sorry if I disturbed your guests."

"You didn't disturb anyone. We have two ice fishermen in the cottage and a couple on the second floor below my room, but they haven't come back from the ice festival in Marinette." Her aunt looked at her with such sad eyes, it made Lily want to cry, as she admonished her grandniece, "Sweetie, you are never, and you have never been a burden to me. You are precious and someday you will realize your worth, even if that foolish Liam boy didn't."

"Ian," Lily corrected as fresh tears threatened.

"Still a fool..." Evelyn harumphed, then added, "Barley soup and rye bread in an hour. You need to eat, you are far too thin for a girl that just had a baby. Now, where is my Ava? I want to kiss her before I start cooking."

<<@>>

Seventeen days before Christmas...

Kitty was still tired when she woke up, but she loaded herself up on coffee and B-vitamin energy shots and made the long haul to the Washington-Canadian border and her tiny, empty apartment. She needed to get back to work. She had been off work for almost three weeks and her savings was feeling it. Pulling into the Leomon's International Haulers Yard had never felt so good or so wrong as her guilty conscious whispered to her.

What are you doing here? Lily needs you.

Ignoring her inner voice, she went inside and saw the owner's son who was their lead mechanic.

"Hey stranger," Bob greeted her. "How's your sister?"

"She's good, better now that she is rid of the loser husband and his psycho family," Kitty lied then announced, "I got the three rigs from Atlanta piggybacked. Where do you want them?"

"Don't worry, Doll, I'll unstack 'em. You go home and get some rest. We are down four drivers with that virus going around. If you want, let Judy know you're back and you can be headed to Alaska at dawn."

"Cool. My un-vacation dented my savings."

He grinned at her. "Don and Shelly both need co-drivers."

"So you're telling me, I gotta pick between his unfiltered smokes or her vegan farts... Damn, Bob, you know how to lead a gal on and let her down hard," Kitty teased and he chuckled.

"You know they can't drive together because the cigarettes will set off the methane fumes and blow the cab up. It's science!"

"Or he'll order a cheese steak and moo the whole time he's eating it in front of her." Kitty giggled despite her exhaustion. "I missed you, Bob. Enjoy the new toys." She handed over the keys and went into the dispatch office before going home to sleep.

<<@>>

Thirteen days before Christmas...

Ian Hastings sat in his living room staring between the baby crib delivered earlier in the day, and the tall Christmas tree Lily decorated it before she left. He picked up his vodka over ice and gulped it, correcting himself, Before I threw her out after learning the truth.

The giant bow at the top seemed odd to him, but it matched the ones on the banister. Reaching to refill his drink, he knocked the bottle off the table, and it shattered on the ceramic floor. Swearing profusely, he stood and went to get a towel. Carefully, he picked up the glass pieces and began to mop up the spilled alcohol. Moving the sofa to clean under it, he was shocked to see an elaborate leaded crystal star on the floor. One of the long points was covered in dried blood. From the smear on the floor, it looked like it had slid to where it rested. Turning, he looked at all the clear acrylic stars on the tree, then he noticed something he hadn't before. There were several bent or broken branches on the back of the tree and a few ornaments had dried blood drops on them. Turning up the lights to full, he noticed the wall was scratched as though the tree had fallen against it then slid down, scraping it. Behind the tree, the lowest pane of glass in the french door was cracked like something hit it or someone kicked it.

He called Carlotta. The third time it went to voice mail in a row, he got a message that he had been blocked from calling the number, so he called his mother.

"Ian, darling, it's after midnight."

"Mom, I need to talk to Carlotta about what happened to Lily," Ian insisted.

"Oh, she quit with some crazy excuse. She said we covered up that a criminal attacked Lily in your home to get rid of her. I would call INS on her family, but its Christmas," Hillary sounded angry. "I had to hire a service to clean before the Christmas Eve party."

"Mom, there's blood in my house on the tree Lily decorated. It looks like it fell over. Did Carlotta fix the tree when she packed Lily's things?"

"I honestly don't know... Ian, why are you worried about the stripper? She tried to con you and we found out the truth," Hillary tried to soothe her distraught son. "Maybe you should stay at the mansion, or on the boat, and I'll sell that house for you. You can start fresh somewhere new."

Gritting his teeth so he didn't bite her head off, he declined as politely as he could. "It's okay, Mom. I'll see you Christmas Eve. Bye." He hung up before she could object.

Looking at the dried blood on the star, he laid it on the table and went to his office. Carrying his laptop back to the kitchen and putting it on the island bar, he logged into their online medical charts. He was grateful Lily always kept all her logins and passwords in a small notebook. After reading the notes on Lily's emergency cesarian section and how the object that impaled her missed the baby by two centimeters, he started freaking out. Lily almost died on the operating table and the doctors were forced to do a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding, followed by a ten-day hospitalization. Ian panicked because other than the live birth notes, he didn't have access to his daughter's records, so he tried to call Lily.

"Please answer, please answer," he muttered.

"We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again. This is a recording."

He swore then he called Andrew next.

"Did you know?" Ian demanded hotly at his brother mumbled hello.

"Know what?" Andrew groaned, "Dude, it's 1AM. I have court in the morning."

"Screw that. Did you know Lily had surgery after our Christmas tree fell on her? She was impaled by an ornament and had an emergency c-section. That's why my daughter was delivered five weeks early... Because of an accident!" Ian yelled at his brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Andrew declared, "I swear. I didn't know anything about an accident."

"You saw her in the hospital!" Ian roared.

"Look, she was asleep, she woke up, signed and fell back asleep. When I went back, the nurse told me I was no longer family and to get off the ward. No one told me she had surgery," Andrew tried to defend himself, but the memory of how pale and frail Lily looked suddenly took on a much more worrisome meaning.

"Lily almost bled out and died after they delivered our daughter."

Andrew shook his head to try to clear his thoughts, "Where is this coming from? How do you know any of this is true?"

"I found the star for the top of the tree covered in Lily's blood under the sofa then I noticed the tree and wall were messed up. I got online and read her Redi-Doc chart. My wife could have died and I wouldn't have been there because you lied to me! I want to talk to the damned P.I. Mom hired. Mom told me Carlotta quit because she thought Lily was attacked in our home and our family covered it up. Did that fukker hurt my wife to get rid of her for Mom?"

"No! He was from a reputable firm and we had nothing to do with any harm to Lily or her baby... Are you drunk? Is that why you're making all these crazy, paranoid accusations?"

"Fukyou! I want to know what really happened to my wife and my daughter!" Ian snarled. He typed rapidly and sent a messenger link. "There's the log in for Lily's Redi-Doc chart, read it yourself."

"She's not..."

Throwing a canister across the room, Ian interrupted, "She is my daughter, and I don't even know her name... My family could have died and now I can't find them. Lily's phone is disconnected."

"That's not what I was going to say," Andrew snapped, then breathed in deeply to keep from yelling at Ian. "I was going to say, she's not your wife anymore and they baby's name was Eva or Ava, I think."

"You screwed up my life, just like when you introduced me to Carly! You and Mom! Find her." Ian hung up then put his phone down quickly, so he didn't throw it too. He picked up the star and started shaking so badly he almost dropped it.

Realization of the magnitude of his mistake felt like a punch in the gut then he rushed over and vomited in the sink. Sitting on the kitchen floor after, he groaned, "Ohgawd... Ohgawd. Lily, I'm so sorry."