by RM Walker
“We’re in the way, I have to go.” Lily opened her door.
“Still good to meet up after tea, Lily?” Jake called out.
“Yeah, just come over when you’re ready. Thanks, Matt.” She got out, closed the door, and darted around the front.
Matt lowered his window. “Oi! You didn’t give me a kiss goodbye.”
She turned from opening the door and blew him a kiss before going in.
He pulled forward slowly, watching Drew in the mirror. A little bit of him had wanted her to come back and kiss him so Drew would see. But mostly he just wanted her to kiss him again.
“She gone in?” Nate asked, and Matt moved the phone from the dash to the seat.
“Yeah. Wendy’s behind us, I’d like to make him wait.”
“Git.” Nate snorted. “What was he like today?”
“An asshole, but he kept his distance. Where are you all?”
“We’re at my place. Are you coming here, or do you want to go to yours?” Nate asked.
“Dad’s in London,” Matt said. “Up to you.”
“Yours will be quieter. I can see you. We’ll meet you outside.” Nate ended the call as Matt reversed into the road, ready to drive back out.
Without Lily, it would be a rush to see who could get the front seat. The three of them had been like six-year olds ever since he passed his test.
The front door flung open, and the twins came tumbling out. It was one of the few times he saw them compete against each other. The bastards would conspire with each other for one of them to win over him or Nate, but not when it came to the front seat. They weren’t one person then.
Josh stumbled and yelled he’d twisted his ankle, but Jake cackled with laughter and threw himself into the coveted seat.
“Shame on you, Jacob!” Josh got into the back with Nate behind him. “I could have broken my leg. You didn’t even stop to help me.”
“It was a diversionary tactic that won’t ever work.” Jake turned to gloat. “We feel each other’s pain, idiot.”
“I hid it from you to spare you the agony.” Josh whined and grunted when Nate smacked his shoulder.
“You two can’t be parted. I think I should sit in the front and leave you to hold hands in the back.”
Josh smacked his knee. “I’ll hold your hand instead.”
“I’m not holding your hand.” Nate snorted. “I have no idea where it’s been.”
“Just picking my nose.” Josh rubbed his hand over Nate’s face, starting an all-out scrap between them that had Jake reaching back to defend Josh.
“Pack it in!” Matt hollered.
They passed Lily’s cottage, and he glanced over, but there was no sign of her or Lynda. “We haven’t told Lily when we’re picking her up tomorrow,” he mused.
“We’ll sort it later tonight with her,” Nate said.
“We can’t do anything till after lunch,” Josh said. “Dad needs us at the garage.”
“Do we give her our presents tomorrow or individually?” Matt turned left towards the Manor.
“Individually. I suppose Wendy’s going to give her a present,” Nate grumbled.
“We need to give him a chance,” Jake said.
Nate snorted rudely. “No, we don’t.”
“Yes, we do.” Josh backed his twin up. “We can’t stop her from getting to know him, she’d end up hating us if we tried.”
Matt stopped outside the newly installed black iron gates and pressed a remote on his keyring. “What I don’t get is—”
“Bloody hell, Uncle Harold guarding the crown jewels or something?” Jake exclaimed, gaping at the imposing gates.
“What don’t you get, Matt?” Nate prompted.
“She won’t trust Jonas, but she’ll trust Drew. Jonas didn’t know he’d hurt her, but Drew scared the shit out of her deliberately. Why’s she happy to sit in his house and drink tea but thinks Jonas is the devil incarnate?”
“She’s made excuses for Drew. Well, he made them, and she believed them,” Jake said.
“He’s given her a reason for everything he’s done,” Nate added. “He shifted the blame for scaring her onto us, making it look like she needed protection from us. He’s a clever son of a bitch, and he’s up to something. But she’s as stubborn as a mule, and the more we insist he’s a bastard, the more she’ll dig her heels in.”
“But why won’t she just trust us when we say to watch him?” Matt switched off the engine and leant his chin on the steering wheel, staring ahead.
“She’s been alone all her life, never had anyone to tell her when she’s wrong or give her a different outlook. She has no idea how to work as a team with anyone. Look how long it took her to accept her magic,” Nate said.
“Well, yeah, but that’s not something you’re going to accept overnight,” Jake said. “It would be like me telling you aliens are real.”
“They are real.” He’d spent enough time looking at the satellite images of the area to see all the weird markings and stuff.
“No, they aren’t.” Nate snorted. “But, if you brought me concrete proof of their existence, then I’d believe you. I wouldn’t be burying my head like Lily did.”
“How about if we said you’re the alien, and we could prove it?” Josh asked him. “Because that’s pretty much what we did with Lily.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. She’s accepted what she is, and she agreed to talk to Jonas tonight,” Nate replied.
“Which brings us back to what we’re saying,” Josh said. “We’ve got to be careful how we talk about Drew in front of her. We need to try with him as well.”
“She’s so damn excited to have a father that it’s clouding her common sense. She’s been drawn to him from the start, even built a bit of a rapport with him. We can’t be the wedge between her and him. She might choose him over us,” Jake finished.
“We don’t know what he really wants. We need to protect her,” Matt insisted.
“And we will. But we’re never going to find out what he’s up to if we’re on the other side of the fence, chucking rocks at him,” Josh said.
“Bugger.” Nate slumped in his seat.
Matt took the keys from the ignition. “You’re right. We don’t need to brown nose him, but we need to be civil to him. We need him to think that we’re okay with him now that we know he’s her father and not a lecherous old bastard.”
“We can’t forget he’s a powerful witch either,” Josh said. “We don’t want to get his back up before we can figure him out.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Matt agreed. He’d do what it took to keep her with him and safe.
Broken glass
“Was the house nice?” Her mother handed Lily the plate to dry.
“We didn’t get a chance to look around. Too many lectures and the play went on forever.”
“Are you staying in this evening?”
Lily dried the last plate and put it away. “No, I’m going to see Jonas with them.”
“Jonas?”
“He’s an old teacher of theirs, lives in town.”
“You’re not seeing him then?” Her mother pulled the sink plug.
“Not tonight.” She didn’t want to fight. Things weren’t the same between them anymore. She’d never had to watch what she said to her mother before. She’d never felt like she was walking on eggshells around her. But now, it was like there was a huge black cloud hanging over them, threatening to tear them apart. She was losing her mother, and it was killing her.
“What about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow I’m with the boys. They’re taking me to the Bootlegger for my birthday.”
“Your birthday! I forgot your birthday. I’ve had your present wrapped for weeks. Oh god, Lily, I’m so sorry. I was going to take you to a little Italian restaurant I found in town. How could I forget? It’s your eighteenth as well.”
“It doesn’t matter, there’s been a lot going on recently, and I’m not surprised we forgot.” Except everyone hadn
’t forgotten. Her boys hadn’t forgotten.
“I’ll book it for tomorrow night.”
“You can’t. I won’t be here,” Lily reminded her. “The boys are taking me out, remember?”
“You see them every day. At college and then again in the evenings. I hardly see you anymore. They can see you another night, I’ll take you out.” She put the last plate away and turned to Lily.
Lily switched on the washing machine. “Now? We’ve just eaten.”
“No, tomorrow. It’s only a pub, they can take you there any time. It’s not as if they’ve booked a table.”
“Mum, they arranged this weeks ago. I’m not turning my back on them.”
“You’re not turning your back on them. Matt will understand.” She folded her arms.
“No. I’m not cancelling it. We can go out Sunday, can’t we?”
“Don’t worry about it. When you can fit me in to your busy schedule, let me know.” She crossed to the kitchen door.
“What’s wrong with Sunday? Sunday would be all right, wouldn’t it?” Lily tried to push away the guilty feelings her mother’s words instilled.
“I said it’s fine. Drop it.” Her mother went out and up the stairs.
Lily rubbed at her forehead, feeling sick. Why was everything so hard? She wouldn’t let the boys down, but she was disappointing her mum.
A knock sounded on the door, and she went to answer it.
“Happy birthday, Lily.” Drew stood in the doorway, a big grin on his face, and a shiny box in his hands.
“Oh!” She stepped back in surprise.
He took it as an invitation and came in, shutting the door behind him. “Here, this is for you.”
She hesitated before taking it from him. “Thank you. You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to. I’ve never been able to before. You’re my daughter, my responsibility. A responsibility I wanted badly but was denied. We’ll never get back what we’ve lost, but we can try and build something. It’s not too late.”
Hope mixed with sadness shone in his eyes and her throat closed. She was torn, pulled in three directions with no idea which way to go.
“Go on, open it.” He nodded encouragingly.
She removed the lid, revealing a silver framed photograph of a young woman. “Is that her?”
“This is Sarah.” He gently touched the photograph of the golden-haired woman. She was laughing into the camera, pure joy shining from her face. It was clear to see she was in love with the person behind the camera.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but she was pregnant with you here.”
Her heart twisted in her chest. This was her mother, her real mother.
“She’s—” Regret, sadness, and loss swept over her, threatening to drown her.
“She’s beautiful,” Drew said. “You have her dimples and her smile.”
Her throat ached with unshed tears for a mother she’d never known, for a life she’d never live.
“She loved you so much, Lily. She’d be so proud of the woman you’ve become, despite everything you’ve been through.”
Tears blurred her vision. She hadn’t been ready for the sense of loss to be so overwhelming.
“I didn’t want to hurt you.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I just thought you’d like to know what she looked like.”
“I did. I do.” She swallowed. “Thank you.” She met his gaze. The hurt, love, and longing for a woman long dead was easy to see on his face.
“I just wish—” He took a deep breath. “I just wish she was still here.”
Lily placed the box on the narrow shelf underneath the mirror and took a step forward. She touched his arm, bringing his attention from the picture to her. “Thank you,” she whispered. She took a step closer, her heart in her mouth. He met her, taking her into his arms, her head against his chest and her arms around his waist. His heartbeat soothed her as he held her, his cheek resting on top of her head.
“What the hell is going on?”
Lily yelped as she was wrenched away from Drew. Her arms flailed, and she hit the photo frame. It hit the floor with a crash, the glass shattering on impact.
“Get off her!”
Her mother’s grip on her arm was painful, but she ignored it as she stared at the ruined picture. “You’ve broken it.”
“It’s only the glass, it can be replaced easily.” Drew’s voice was calm, but it did nothing to soothe her rising anger.
“You have no right to be here. Get out! Get out now and leave her alone. Don’t you dare touch her,” her mother shouted.
Lily wrenched her arm free and rounded on her. “He has every right to be here. He’s my father.”
“Sweetheart, calm—”
“Don’t you dare call her sweetheart.” The livid tone of her mother’s voice matched Lily’s fury.
“He can call me whatever the hell he wants to call me. How dare you? How dare you keep him from me? You broke the only picture I have of my real mother. The mother you forgot to tell me about for eighteen years.” Anger, hurt, and the unfairness of it all welled up inside her, consumed her.
“Lilith.” Her mother gaped at her, her hand on her heart.
“Stop, Lily.” Drew’s voice was low and commanding. “Don’t say something in anger you’ll regret later.”
“Just get out. You cause trouble. You always have, and you always will. If you really loved Lily, you’d leave all this where it belongs—in the past,” her mother snapped.
“It’s not the past for me,” Lily retorted. “I don’t know who my parents are. I don’t know who I am. I want to know. I want to know him.” She pointed to Drew as he picked up the broken picture frame, shaking off the glass.
“Look, it’s all been a bit much. Let’s get this glass cleaned up before someone hurts themselves on it.” He straightened up.
“Are you threatening us?”
“Mum, you’re being irrational,” Lily cried.
“You have no idea how dangerous he is.”
“Lynda, you’re holding onto something that never even existed.” Drew’s voice deepened. “I was never a danger to Sarah or Lily.”
“Then why did she leave her with me?” she shouted, pointing at Lily. “Why isn’t your name on her birth certificate?”
“Stop it. Just stop it. Both of you.” Lily held her hands up.
Drew caught her hand and ran his fingertips over her palm. “I’m glad your burn has healed. And so quickly, even for my ‘goo’.” He ignored her mother.
“Well, that’s...that’s...yeah.” Lily cringed, pulling her hand free. She’d forgotten about the burn from the candle.
“What’s he on about? Has he hurt you?”
“It’s nothing, Mum. I hurt myself, but Drew healed me.”
“Are you sure I healed you?” Drew lifted a dark eyebrow at her.
“You put the goo on.” She avoided his gaze and took the frame from him. A scratch was etched across the picture, slicing through Sarah’s nose and eye like a jagged scar.
“You’ve ruined it.” She held it out to her mother. “You broke it, and you’ve ruined it.”
“I can get another one. I’ve got a whole album full at home.” Drew tried to take it back, but she pulled it away.
“I’m sorry—”
“You’re jealous,” Lily snapped. “You never wanted me to know about her because you knew she’d take your place.”
“I never wanted to take her place,” she denied.
“You never wanted me to know about him because of what I am.” Anger, hurt, and betrayal whipped up inside her.
“No. No, it wasn’t like that.”
“You made me take those tablets to repress it. You lied, saying I’d never lead a normal life, that I had no dad, that you’re my mum. You hate magic, you hate me.” The fury inside her burst out of her in a scream.
Icy wind whipped around them making the door rattle. The mirror fell from the wall, smashing into a thousand pieces at their feet.
“Stop.” Drew’s voice thundered around her.
She jerked, and the wind died down.
“This is why I made you take the tablets,” her mother whispered, taking a step back from her.
“No harm has been done that can’t be cleared up,” Drew soothed. “Lily, your aunt doesn’t hate you. She wouldn’t have spent the last eighteen years looking after you if she hated you. She’d have dumped you the moment your magic started to manifest itself.”
His words didn’t register over what she’d done. She’d made the wind whip around them, made the mirror fall. She hadn’t known she was doing it, and she had no idea how she did it. Her mother feared her, and she saw why.
Drew caught her shoulders with his hands. “I want you to take deep breaths.”
“I did it,” she mumbled.
“Yes, you did. You got angry, but it’s okay.”
“How can it be okay?” She pulled from him and stumbled into the living room. “How can that possibly be okay?”
“Because now you know.” He followed her. “You know what you are, and you’ll learn to control it. I won’t leave you alone again, I promise you. I won’t let this family control you anymore.” He caught her shoulders and pulled her into him.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his jumper, breathing in deeply. He smelt of dark forests, smoky bonfires, and safety.
“What the hell?” Nate’s voice echoed through the room.
She sighed, took a deep breath, and stepped back from him. Matt and the twins stared at her as if she’d grown three heads, while Nate glared at Drew.
“Let me take the picture and the frame away, I’ll get it fixed and bring it back to you.” Drew touched her arm. “As for the other, don’t worry about it. Come over when you get a chance, and we’ll go over it, okay. Together, Lily; you and me. Okay?”
She searched his eyes and nodded, seeing only concern in their dark depths.
He smiled, taking the photo from her fingers. “Good girl.” He turned to face the boys. “I’m leaving now. Take care of her.”
Nate opened his mouth to say something, but Drew walked past them. He picked up the frame and went out of the front door, closing it behind him.