Laura felt the tension completely ease out of her as Nate went to sit on the couch. He reached forward and gently pulled his daughter between his legs. Together, both of their identically dark heads bent, they looked at the album.
Victor moved to join them as Laura stood uncertain.
“I think,” she said and all eyes turned to her, “I’ll go and help Lily and Maxine.”
“You do that, love.” Victor gave her an encouraging wink but Laura waited for Nathaniel’s approval.
The tips of his mouth moved up nearly imperceptibly and he nodded once.
She needed no more encouragement and she nearly ran out into the hall.
Eight years ago, Lily Jacobs had come into their lives and everything had changed. Laura couldn’t have explained how it happened if someone was forcing her to do so with a gun pointed at her head. It was simply a matter of fact that Lily was supposed to be with them, part of their family.
She belonged.
Then something terrible happened (and Laura was trying very hard not to think of what that was as it was too painful to bear).
Now, not just Nathaniel, but they all had work to do to win Lily back, win her trust and bring her back to her rightful place.
As she approached the back of the house where she saw the kitchen, her steps slowed when she heard the voices.
Laura was not the type of person to eavesdrop, indeed, she found the very idea appalling. But something about Lily and Maxine’s hushed voices, their tone, made her stop. She pressed herself against the wall unseen and she listened.
“Lily, talk to me,” Maxine was urging, “tell me what’s happened.”
“Nothing,” Lily answered and even Laura, who could not see her face, knew it was a lie. It was also said in a tone that clearly stated she was not discussing it.
“You didn’t tell me he was that good-looking,” Maxine said and Laura heard the noise of carrier bags rustling.
“Yes I did,” Lily returned
“You… did… not. He’s impossibly handsome,” Maxine noted.
“Maxine, I don’t want to talk about this,” Lily stated firmly.
“Unbelievably handsome,” Maxine was undeterred, “you didn’t do him justice when you described him.”
“Maxine! I’ve waxed poetic about Nate’s looks for years!”
At that, Laura smiled to herself and leaned a little closer to the door, careful not to get close enough to be seen.
“You still didn’t do him justice,” Maxine muttered.
“I’m not talking about this,” Lily snapped, clearly losing her patience.
“Then we’ll talk about why you’re blushing.” Maxine was like a dog with a bone, she was not, Laura thought delightedly, going to let it go.
“I’m not blushing,” Lily denied and, Laura thought, lied.
“You are!”
“Maxine, drop it.” Lily’s tone was full of warning.
“No. What happened? Did he say something? Do something? I hope he did something,” she said fervently.
“Maxine –”
“Lily, sweetling, you can tell old Maxie.”
“He kissed me!” Lily uttered in a disbelieving whisper.
This was met with silence and Laura, surprised herself at her son’s forward behaviour, leaned even closer to the door to hear Lily’s reaction.
Finally, Maxine broke the silence. “Did you kiss him back?”
“No! Yes! Well, not the first time,” Lily answered.
“He kissed you twice? How late was I?” Maxine asked in a muted-shout.
Lily didn’t bother responding to that.
“Was it nice?” Maxine pushed.
“Yes it was nice. It was always nice with Nate,” Lily said this in a voice that made it clear she was not happy that it was nice.
“I’ll bet it was nice,” Maxine muttered. Then she shot off a set of rapid-fire questions. “Did you talk? Did he explain? Did he say anything?”
Silence.
Maxine pressed on. “He must have said something, must have told you why he didn’t come to you.”
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.”