“It’s okay, Lilly. Shh, Angel. I’m here. Your mama’s here and everything is going to be okay. You’re safe.” Ethan whispered to Lilly as he stared daggers at Carla who rubbed her arm and looked at him in bewilderment. She was a petite woman in her twenties who looked remarkably like Julia. Matt certainly had a type.
“Who on Earth are you? How dare you lay a hand on me.”
“Calm down, Carla. This is Ethan, my…”
Ethan heard the hesitation in Julia’s voice as she searched for the right word to describe their relationship.
“I’m her boyfriend,” he said for her, “and I wouldn’t have had to touch you if you weren’t terrorizing Lilly. Do you want to explain why a child who knows you so well is scared of you? She is trembling in my arms.”
“Ahh, so you’re the infamous Ethan my husband told me about. Well that explains everything. I have nothing to say to either of you. As for the little brat in your arms, I have no idea why she behaves the way she does except to say she runs wild and is completely undisciplined. I was trying to help her up. My mistake. Next time, I’ll let her roll all over the dirty floor. She’s no longer my problem anyway.”
“Carla, she was never your problem and never will be. We’re done here,” Julia said.
Julia turned away from Carla and looked at Ethan. “Can we finish checking out, please? It’s almost time for Lilly’s nap.”
Ignoring Carla altogether, Ethan gathered Julia in his arms and kissed the top of her head, knowing Carla was watching them.
“Sure, beautiful. Let’s get home and put our girl down.”
Ethan followed Julia home although she insisted he didn’t need to. By the time they got to the house, Lilly was asleep. As Julia put her down for a nap, he brought in Julia’s groceries. He heard Julia coming down the steps and went to her. Ethan hated to leave, but she was right, he had much to do before tomorrow. It was going to be a busy week learning the hospital and getting to know his new colleagues on staff. But before he left, he wanted to make sure his girls were okay.
“How’s our girl?”
Ethan noticed Julia’s soft smile every time he referred to Lilly as theirs. Every time he held her, played with her, or kissed her, Julia’s face softened and that smile melted his heart. He wanted Julia to know how much he wished Lilly were theirs, but it wasn’t the right time. Anyway, it didn’t matter Matt was her biological father. If Ethan had his say and things went as well as he hoped they would, one day he would make Lilly legally his.
“She’s fine. Asleep. You know that woman must have done something to her for Lilly to behave that way. I feel terrible she was so scared. I wish she could talk to me and tell me what happened.”
Ethan reached for Julia. He brought her to him and held her close, breathing her in and rubbing her back.
“I know, Jules. I wish she could tell us what happened too. We’ll have to watch her for any usual behavior. It’s probably just the trauma of yesterday. It’s still fresh, but in time she’ll forget it.”
“I hope you’re right.” She hugged him and laid her head on his chest. “You’ve got to go and empty all those groceries before something goes bad.”
“Yeah, baby. I guess I do and I have to get ready for the week. Will you two be okay tonight?”
“Sure, we’ll be fine. We’re used to being on our own. Having you here is an added bonus and a blessing.”
Ethan looked into Julia’s eyes. He saw sadness creeping back in. He didn’t want to leave her. Spending time with her and Lilly came naturally. They were the family he wanted and Julia was the woman who roamed his dreams and held his heart. It was amazing how attached he was to them in such a short period of time. At times it felt like he and Julia had never been apart. Talking to her and being with her was easy and so, so good.
“Jules, you’re not alone, not anymore. I’m a phone call away and I’ll call you before I go to bed tonight. Okay?”
“Okay, Eth.”
“How about we do lunch tomorrow?”
Julia stiffened in his arms. Surprised, he looked down at her, raising an eyebrow.
“No lunch?”
“Ah, no. Lakes is like any other hospital. It’s a gossip mill and I don’t want to be the new topic of the day. Can we keep our personal life at home, until we know for sure where we’re headed? Please?”
He gazed into her troubled eyes and understood what she was asking. She wanted to be viewed as a professional, not another hospital affair to be gossiped about. He was okay with that, but he wasn’t okay with her not sure where they were going. He had to give her time, to have patience.
“Okay, Jules. No new hospital romance for the gossipmongers. We’ll keep it all business at work, but not because I don’t know where this is going. I do and so do you. Now, I’ve got to go. Bye, baby.”
Before she could say anything he kissed her hard, wet, and long so she wouldn’t forget him or the way he felt about her anytime soon. He drove home knowing he had plenty to do to get ready for the next day, but unhappy to be leaving Julia with time to think and time to doubt. Before he left he suggested Julia call Lexi and tell her what happened with Matt and Carla. It was time to get some expert advice. Lexi had plenty of colleagues who specialized in custody cases. Julia told him that’s what she intended on doing as soon as she put away the groceries.
Ethan kept busy all afternoon, first putting away the groceries, then doing laundry at the local Laundromat since he hadn’t figured out where or how he could hook up a washer and dryer in his mansion. After the laundry was done, he made his way back home and folded it, utilizing the laundry basket as a dresser. He had no real furniture and it was becoming a problem he would have to rectify soon. Finally, he started sorting the moving boxes until he found what he needed to take to his new office tomorrow. He loaded those into his truck and then called it a day.
It was almost 8:30 p.m. by the time he showered and changed for the night. He got himself a beer and although he had every intention of cooking, he settled for a sandwich instead. He checked his phone throughout the day and he hadn’t received any phone calls or texts from Julia. He itched to call her, just to hear her voice, but now he was worried about calling and waking up Lilly. He sent her a text, asking her to call when she was free. A minute later she texted back saying she’d call him as soon as she got off the phone with Aimee.
Ethan knew what that meant. If Julia was chatting with Aimee, it was going to be a while. He used the time to call and check on his parents. His father was already asleep and he spoke to his mother. He was tempted to tell her about Julia, but it didn’t seem like the right time and he thought he should talk to Julia before they advertised their relationship to the world.
Ethan sensed Julia still had some unresolved feelings where his parents were concerned. He couldn’t blame her. His parents were a handful back then, especially his father. When he was a kid he had no idea how to handle them. He ran interference between Julia and them on a regular basis, but it was never enough. He was caught in the middle never satisfying them or Julia. But that was in the past. He learned to handle them a while back and they now had a healthy respect for one another. He wanted them all to work out any old feelings that still lingered and put the past to rest once and for all.
Ethan didn’t like the world his parents lived in, where everything revolved around money and social standing. He tried to live in that world with Alyssa and that experiment was a colossal failure. Now he accepted their world was all they knew and all they wanted. They did their best, which often fell short, to accept his “lifestyle,” as they called it. That was their way and while he didn’t like it, he accepted it. He knew his parents loved him and wanted him to be happy and he hoped they would understand Julia made him happy. He wasn’t naïve enough to think they’d all fall in love, but he’d be happy if they came to a place of mutual respect and understanding.
Ethan was in bed wide-awake waiting for Julia to call, when she put him out of his misery an hour later.
“Hi. I’m sorry I lost track of time talking with Aimee. Is it too late? Are you in bed?”
Julia sounded anxious. He wondered what that was about.
“Jules, it’s fine. It’s not late and I am just lying around. Is everything okay?”
She sighed. “Yes, everything’s okay. I was worried you’d be angry because I didn’t call you back right away.”
“Baby, I’m not angry at all. Why would I be? I’m glad you have Aimee and the rest of your girls to talk to. Now tell me, what did Lexi say? Did you get to speak to her?”
“Lexi is going to give my information and my entire file, including all the dirt she has on Matt, to an attorney that deals in child custody matters tomorrow. She was glad I came to my senses, as she puts it. She said not to speak to Matt’s attorney myself if he calls, but to give him her number.”
“Okay, that’s good. So how is Lilly?”
“She was a bit clingy, but otherwise fine. She went down right before you texted. Did you get everything done that you needed to?”
“Yup, all ready for tomorrow. Are you ready for bed?”
“I’m in bed, but, as usual, I have too much on my mind to sleep.”
“Want me to tell you a story like I used to when you couldn’t sleep?”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
He hadn’t forgotten a single detail of their time together, but he didn’t tell her that. When they were young, he called every night and he could tell by the tone of her voice if she needed soothing. Sometimes his made up stories were short, other times they were long and lasted deep into the night. He would weave stories for her until her breathing evened and he was certain she drifted off, or on rare occasion, until Ella picked up the phone and told him to hang up.
“Yeah, I remember. Shut the lights, lie back, and I’ll tell you a special story, one I’ve been waiting to tell you for many years. This one I didn’t have to make up, though.”
He waited until he was certain she was lying still under the covers and then told her a story his Grandma Mildred told him the day she turned 71 and he was the only one of her family to turn up to celebrate with her. Not even her daughter, his mother, bothered to come and wish her only living parent a happy birthday. It was ten days after Ella’s attack and as was his usual habit on Saturday morning, Ethan dressed and went to have breakfast with his grandmother. He was her only grandchild and they formed a special bond from the second he was born.
Grandma Mildred was a warm, loving person, unlike the child she gave birth to, and he knew that day was going to be tough for her. It was the first birthday she’d be celebrating without his Grandpa Frank. Grandpa Frank died a year prior and Ethan’s mother stopped speaking to Grandma Mildred a short time after. That day, Ethan bought his grandma a small coconut cake, her favorite, and red and white mums. He went to celebrate her birthday with her, though he was heartbroken Julia wouldn’t see him.
The second she saw him, his grandmother knew something was wrong. He’d introduced Julia to her a few months after they started dating. He and Julia visited her together on a number of occasions. The women liked each other from the start and in many ways, Julia was the granddaughter his grandmother never had. When he told his grandmother what happened to Ella and then of Julia’s refusal to see him, she held him in her arms as he cried like a child. She listened, saying little. Then she dried his tears and told him she had something for him—the angel-winged, heart-shaped locket with the inscription embedded in its center. She told him she was certain if he gave it to his sweetheart, she would always remember him, know he loved her and one day, she would make her way back into his life. Grandma Mildred explained how the locket came to be hers.
In the winter of 1941, when Mildred was nineteen, she was in love with a young man named Charles Laraby. She’d been seeing him for a year behind her parents’ back and they planned one day to be married. When the United States entered World War II, he was drafted and she was beside herself. They, like many, decided to elope and when he returned from the war, they would tell her parents.
Mildred and Charles spent one night together as man and wife; that was all they had. As a wedding present he gave her the locket with his picture inside it. He told her she was his angel and no matter what happened he would always be with her. Charles’s final words to Mildred were, “Remember you are the love of my life and I’ll love you forever.”
A month after Charles went to war, Mildred found out she was pregnant. She was ecstatic and terrified. Mildred shared the news with Frank, Charles’s best friend who had a heart defect and could not join the war effort. Before leaving for war, Charles made Frank swear he would take care of Mildred. Frank and Mildred had grown close over the last month and were good friends.
Frank and Mildred each sent Charles a letter telling him of her pregnancy, hoping one of the letters would reach him. They never received a response. She was nearing her second trimester and was about to tell her parents about the pregnancy and her marriage to Charles, when she received word Charles was killed in the line of duty.
Mildred was devastated and fell in a deep depression. Only the thought of Charles’s baby growing inside her kept her from taking her own life. Still, she had no idea how to tell her family and she knew she couldn’t take care of the baby by herself. Her options were limited and she was running out of time. Frank was with her every step of the way, sharing in her grief and offering warm, strong arms to comfort her.
A few weeks after they received notice of Charles’s death, Frank sat her down and told her he wanted to marry her and give her and Charles’s child a home and a future not marred by scandal. At first, she refused. She told him she didn’t love him and he deserved better. Eventually he convinced her although he wasn’t her first choice, he still cared for her and marrying her would not be a burden, but a joy.
By that time Mildred’s parents suspected their daughter was in trouble. When Frank asked them for her hand in marriage, they agreed to a small quick wedding. When Ethan’s mother was born a little earlier than expected, everyone turned a blind eye.
Mildred and Frank built a wonderful life together and had three other children of their own. Over time they grew to love one another with a ferocity and a passion few ever experienced. Frank had given Mildred and her child a home and a great deal of love. In return, she loved him back for the extraordinary person he was. Frank and Mildred were married for fifty years and for all those years, she wore the locket Charles had given her. It became a symbol of true love for both of them.
Frank developed an aggressive form of lung cancer and although he fought it with all his might, he knew he was losing the battle and would soon be leaving his Mildred. Before he went, he wanted to do something special for her, something that would mark the incredible life they had together. Thus, for their fiftieth anniversary, he took the locket that meant so much to both of them and had it inscribed with the words, “RILY, forever” and he placed his picture alongside Charles in the center of the heart. He gave it to Mildred and told her he wanted her to know she’d given him the best life a man could ever dream of and like Charles, he loved her forever and beyond.
This, Ethan explained, was the locket his grandmother gave him to give to Julia on a cool May day when he sat at her kitchen table and wept for the girl he loved, but who wouldn’t have anything to do with him. His grandmother kept the pictures of Charles and Frank, and gave him the locket assuring him Julia would indeed use those wings to fly back to him one day.
She hadn’t been wrong.
Chapter Twelve
By the time Ethan finished telling his story, Julia was weeping. It was a beautiful story. She couldn’t believe he gave her Grandma Mildred’s locket. Julia treasured the locket because Ethan loved her enough to give it to her even when she was at her worst. To her it symbolized the story of their love, but she never dreamed it held the story and secrets of other grand loves, too.<
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She told Ethan how touched she was by the story and asked him if the locket should be returned to his mother. Although she couldn’t stomach the idea of being without her locket, she had to ask. It was the right thing to do, even if that woman had been such a misery to her. Ethan explained his mother knew nothing about the locket. The day his grandmother gave it to him, she was adamant Julia have the locket and his mother never know of its existence. Thus, it was in the hands of its rightful owner and that’s where it should stay until Julia handed it down to Lilly.
Ethan’s mother didn’t know Frank wasn’t her birth father until after his death. She was helping his grandmother go through some of Frank’s personal papers when she came across the letter he’d written to Charles before her birth. It had been returned to the sender and Frank had held on to it. Grandma Mildred did her best to explain to her daughter all that happened so long ago and why she and Frank never told her about Charles, but his mother couldn’t or wouldn’t understand and her relationship with her mother was deeply affected for good.
It was well after midnight when Ethan and Julia agreed it was time to hang up and attempt to get some sleep. Julia assured Ethan he gave her a sweet story to dream about and she was sure she could drift off. She lied. She stayed up the rest of the night thinking of Mildred, Charles, and Frank, and her own growing feelings for Ethan. She knew without a shadow of a doubt she loved Ethan. What she didn’t know was what was holding her back from saying the words.
At first she was unsure of his feelings toward her, but now there was no doubt in her mind. He adored Lilly and Lilly adored him. He knew all about Matt and their crazy relationship and instead of running, he was ready to do battle on her behalf. He was every woman’s dream—smart, successful, sweet, and sexy. What the hell was wrong with her? He was the love of her life and she should be jumping for joy he was back in her life and wanted her and all the baggage she came with. And for the most part she was. Still she kept experiencing fleeting moments of dread. It was her own fault. Guilt crept in on a regular basis, filling up all the open spaces and crevices of her mind. She didn’t tell him everything about the past and even a lie of omission was a lie. Relationships built on lies were doomed to fail.
R.I.L.Y Forever Page 14