Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  Bliss and Dinah both began to talk at once.

  “She didn’t see things, Flora. I saw Charlotte too,” Bliss interjected.

  “Ghosts are very real. Just because you’re a skeptic doesn’t mean Lily is crazy.” Dinah stood up to hand Flora a tissue.

  “If Lily said she spent time with Blade Jensen, I believe her,” Glory said, rising to come to Lily’s side.

  Dr. Kimmel had his arm around Flora and the other three girls were still defending Lily’s experiences. Lily, magazine still in hand, was still staring at Blade’s likeness. She blinked her eyes, because the photograph in front of her was starting to blur. She closed her eyes, then reopened them. Now, the letters on the page were moving around. A sharp pain in her head made her cry out. “Oh, no,” she moaned.

  “What’s wrong?” Glory rushed to her. “Do you need something?”

  “It’s my eyes, my head.”

  Dr. Kimmel gently released Flora and came to her. “Is it your vision, Lily?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, “everything’s going blurry.” She placed her hands in front of her eyes. “I feel sick.” Someone gave her a little bedpan and Lily threw up the water she’d drank earlier. “Oh, God, I’m going blind.”

  Dr. Kimmel hit the buzzer to call for help. “Her brain’s swelling. We’ve got to get her in surgery pronto.” Everyone stood to their feet and watched the horror before their eyes. Lily’s head was thrashing back and forth on the pillow.

  “Is she going to be all right?” Flora cried through her tears.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know,” was all Dr. Kimmel could say as he urged everyone back so the doctors could do their work.

  Lily was crying. Her head felt like it would split it two. This was it, this was what she’d feared. She’d made a mistake. She was going to die. “I can’t see, I can’t see.”

  Closing her eyes, Lily wept. There was no use to open them, she was blind.

  Lily’s phone rang three times, then went to voicemail. Blade called six times in a row and each call ended the same way. “Fuck!” He was in agony and not just from the injuries he’d sustained in the car accident. Blade felt like he’d been ripped in two. He needed to be in three places at one time. He’d tried to just get up and walk out, but his body wouldn’t let him. He was in too much pain and he was as weak as dishwater. Yet, staying at the hospital and recuperating wasn’t nearly as big a priority for him as identifying his daughter’s murderer and finding out what happened with Lily.

  Failing to get ahold of Lily, he fell back on the pillow, panting, trying to get his breath. “All right, Kenner, you’re next.” Lifting his phone, he hit the PI’S contact information. This time, he had some luck.

  “Blade, my God! Where are you?”

  “Kenner, I’ve had a damn wreck.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Hell, I’m laid up in a hospital bed with broken ribs and Lord knows what else. I don’t know how in the hell I’m going to get to Chicago to see that line-up. If I ever get out of here, I need to get to Lily. She’s deciding whether to be in a clinical trial or not and I was supposed to be with her while she learned her options.”

  “Who’s Lily?”

  Blade cursed under his breath. “A woman I’ve been seeing, she’s special. I need to get to Louisiana, she’s not answering her phone. She may be sick.”

  “How about Ruth Carlton and the line-up? The legal amount of time they can hold her without being charged is almost up. If we don’t do something, they’re going to let her go and she’ll disappear again.”

  Blade stared at the ceiling. “Is there any way we can do this via the internet? Send me pictures or something?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” Kenner cleared his throat. “Blade, I thought this was what you wanted.”

  “It is, it is.” Blade slammed his IV free hand down on the mattress. “I do want it, but Lily’s here and Katy’s…gone. I can’t lose Lily too.”

  “Look, let me call the police chief and see about getting some photographs. I’ll explain the special circumstance. Just as soon as I talk to him, I’ll head down to you. If it’s Carlton, you can identify her from the remote line-up, then we’ll go find Lily together.”

  Breck Kenner’s suggestion made Blade feel better. “All right, just get here as fast as you can. I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this and I feel as helpless as a baby.”

  “Just get to feeling better and I’ll be there before you know it,” Kenner promised.

  As soon as he hung up with the PI, he tried Lily’s phone one more time. Straight to voicemail. With a disgusted grunt, he covered his eyes.

  “Mr. Jensen!”

  Hearing his name called loudly and unexpectedly caused Blade to jerk his head up – just in time for a photographer to snap his picture. “Oh, hell. Get out of here! Have some decency!” After learning his identity, he’d asked the medical staff to help him maintain some privacy. Apparently, the news had leaked and by tomorrow that picture would be everywhere.

  “The blindness was caused by swelling in the brain,” Dr. Kimmel explained to the waiting women, who stood outside Lily’s room with pale faces.

  “From the polio?” Bliss asked, her arms clasped tightly across her chest.

  “No, from the brain’s inflammatory response to the polio. Her immune system was attacking the tumor.”

  “Will she see again?” Flora kept wiping her eyes, which were overflowing with tears.

  Dr. Kimmel put a reassuring arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders. “Now that the pressure is off her optic nerve, she should.”

  “And the cancer?” this time Flora’s question was whispered as if his answer could cause her pain.

  “It will be a few weeks before we know for sure if the treatment is working.” He opened the door of Lily’s room and waited for them to file in ahead of him. There was a collective gasp to find Lily laying so pale and still, a swath of bandages around her head.

  “At least they didn’t have to cut her beautiful hair,” Dinah spoke softly, talking just loudly enough to be heard over the drone of the television hanging on the wall.

  “No, they just removed a small section of her skull to relieve the pressure on the optic nerve.”

  Bliss’s eyes widened at Jay Kimmel’s explanation. “Will it grow back?”

  He smiled. “Oh, yes. The skull mends just like any other bone.”

  “She looks so lost and alone,” Flora almost whimpered.

  “She’s not alone, she has us.” Glory was adamant in her observation. “And if that report is any indication,” she pointed to the television, “she has someone else in her corner.”

  “Oh, my stars and garters! Look!” Bliss exclaimed.

  They all turned toward the television where a reporter was showing pictures of Blade Jensen. One of those shots was of him and Lily on the dance floor. “They seem to have eyes only for each other, folks. We don’t have any idea who this mystery lady is, but she was nowhere to be found when our ace journalist followed a tip and found Mr. Jensen recuperating from a car accident in a small South Carolina hospital.”

  All the occupants of the room, save for Lily, turned and stood transfixed at the news segment. Flora turned back to look at her sister. “She was telling the truth and I…and I…”

  “Of course, she was telling the truth! How could you ever doubt her?” Glory was offended for Lily. “Have you ever known her to lie?”

  Flora appeared to be flummoxed. “No, but the idea of her meeting and being with Blade Jensen was just so far-fetched. She’s never dated that often and I was afraid her tumor was causing her brain to play tricks on her, making her wishful thinking seem to be a reality. I read where that happened to someone with a glioblastoma…” Her voice trailed off at the censuring stares of Lily’s friend. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

  …Over the next thirty-six hours, someone from Lily’s small group of family and friends kept a constant vigil. Bliss and Dinah kept the Curiosity Shop and Ch
arlotte’s Gallery open, but they took turns with Flora and Glory to ensure someone was always at her bedside.

  Early on the second day of Lily’s comatose state, the welcome bell of Charlotte’s Gallery rang with ragged urgency as the door was opened, fell closed, then reopened.

  Breck Kenner held the door as Blade Jensen maneuvered his big body through the opening on a pair of crutches. “Easy, big guy.”

  “Lily! Lily!”

  Dinah was standing on a ladder, getting ready to hang a new painting when she heard the commotion in the front. “Be right with you!”

  “Where’s Lily?”

  Holding on to the ladder, Dinah made her way to the bottom. The man approaching her needed no introduction. “You’re Lily’s Blade.”

  Blade breathed a sigh of relief, he was in the right place. “Damn straight, I am. Will you tell her I’m here?”

  “I’m Dinah Renaud, Isaiah’s sister.” She didn’t offer him her hand, seeing both of his was occupied by holding his crutches. Taking in Blade’s bruised and battered appearance, she offered an expression of her concern. “I’m glad to see you’re on your feet. We learned about the wreck on television.” Seeing his exasperated expression, she quickly told him what he was waiting to hear – only it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “She’s not here. Lily’s in the hospital.”

  “What? Where? How do I get there?” Blade’s blood pressure shot straight up.

  Breck Kenner stepped forward. “A local hospital?”

  “Yes, Oschner.” Dinah gave them directions.

  “So, she went ahead with the clinical trial?” Blade frowned. “I thought she was going to wait.”

  Dinah shrugged. “There was a lot of confusion and she got sick.” Seeing Blade’s distress at her words, she wanted to apologize. “I’m sorry, perhaps you need to speak to the family.”

  “What’s wrong?” Blade could tell from the woman’s face that all wasn’t right with Lily.

  “She did have the procedure, but there was a complication.”

  Blade didn’t wait to hear more. “Let’s go. Now. Fast!” he bellowed at Breck, who turned to help him out the door.

  Dinah ran to aid them. “I think Lily’s sister is with her. My sister and I are taking turns relieving Flora so she doesn’t have to stay there the whole time.”

  “Well, I’m here now. I’ll take care of her.” Blade hurried as fast as he could, remembering to say thank you as he left. “I appreciate you and all you’ve done for Lily, Dinah. Thank you.”

  As Blade Jensen hobbled away from the store, Dinah Renaud followed him with appreciative eyes. “Wow, Lily. Just wow.”

  … “Slow down, Jensen. Right now, you’ve just got a wrenched knee. If you fall and break something else, you’ll just end up back in the hospital.”

  “Well, I won’t have far to go, Kenner. At least I’m already here.” After receiving directions from the nurse’s station, Blade made his way down the long, tiled hall.

  “Do you get attention like this everywhere you go?” Breck glanced back at the group of nurses and aides who were following them at a prescribed distance, not unlike a group of lovesick teenagers, even though most of them were middle-aged or older.

  “Yep, welcome to my world. That’s one reason I fell for Lily, she saw me, the real me, not some fake persona.”

  Breck pressed his lips together, he’d almost made some offhand remark about ‘poor unlucky Blade and his league of admirers’, but remembering what had happened the night before stopped him. They had worked together with a police IT tech and Blade had identified the woman who’d killed his little girl. An obsessed fan, Ruth Carlton, would finally be brought to justice.

  “Her room’s over here, Blade,” Breck called his friend back, who’d passed the correct door in his worried state.

  Blade stopped and turned awkwardly, his face clouded with concern. When he stepped into the room, he only had eyes for the beautiful woman lying so still in the bed. “Lily?”

  Flora had buried her head in a book, but the man’s deep, anxious voice caused her to jerk upright. What she saw caused her heart to clench in her chest. Big Blade Jensen was bent over her sister, gazing at her face as if she was the dearest thing in the world to him. “Oh, my Lily. What happened to you, my love?”

  Clearing her throat, Flora stood. “She…her brain swelled in response to the treatment and they had to operate to get pressure off her optic nerve.”

  “Optic nerve? She was having trouble seeing?” Blade pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down beside Lily, holding her hand. Breck hung back, staying respectfully silent.

  “Yes, after the procedure, she could see for a little while…and then her vision blurred and her eyesight faded.” Flora was having a hard time forming the words needed to explain her sister’s situation. “When she wakes up…”

  “When? How long has she been out?” Blade kissed Lily’s hand.

  “Going on forty-eight hours.” Flora looked at Blade and started to cry. “I’m so sorry. I have done something horrible.”

  “Hey, buddy,” Breck said from across the room. “I’m going out to the waiting room. I’ll check with you later.”

  Blade nodded, then his gaze slid to Flora. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry. When she came home with this story about meeting you on the island and how you and she…” Flora’s voice broke. “She demanded we wait on you to make any decision and when you didn’t come or call…and she had no shred of proof that you’d spent time together…” Flora hung her head and her shoulders began to shake. “I talked to the doctor and we…I…we…told her that she’d just imagined you, hallucinated you. We told her the time she spent with you wasn’t real, everything she remembered was just a product of the brain tumor.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  The anguish in Blade’s voice tore Flora apart. “She’d seen things before that weren’t there.”

  “No!” Blade yelled. “She told me about seeing Charlotte in the gallery. She saw a ghost on the island too.” An audible growl rose from Blade’s throat. “But you know what?” He didn’t wait for Lily’s sister to acknowledge his question. “I saw her too. Plain as day. Lily wasn’t hallucinating anything!”

  “I…didn’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “Lily sees things clearer than anyone I’ve ever met. She saw me, the real me.” Blade felt tears rolling down his cheeks. “Did she believe you? Did she believe our time together was just a dream? That I didn’t love her?”

  “I’m not sure.” Flora wiped her eyes with a tissue. “She just knew you weren’t here. I think she called your agent or manager…or something. They wouldn’t talk to her.”

  Blade glared at Flora. “As you can see, I had an accident or I would’ve been here beside her from the first! I would’ve helped her decide what to do. I promised her I’d be here.”

  Flora came forward, intent on convincing him of Lily’s faithfulness. “She insisted on waiting for you. She tried to wait…but she got weak and sick. We were afraid to keep putting it off. If there was a chance she could live, we thought she should take it.”

  “Of course, I would’ve encouraged her to try anything and everything to save her life. I love her.” He looked up at Flora, trying to see some resemblance between the two women. He could see some around the eyes, but Lily was so beautiful, sometimes it took his breath away to look at her. “So, why isn’t she awake? Is this normal?”

  A slight tap on the door drew both their attention. “Dr. Fields?” Flora was surprised to see the Director of the Tisch Brain Tumor Center.

  “Hello, I’m just checking on our patient. May I come in?”

  “Please,” Flora said, extending her hand, “welcome. Blade, this is Dr. Fields, head of the Duke clinical trial. Dr. Fields, this is Blade Jensen, Lily’s…”

  “Hello.” Blade rose to greet the doctor, leaning on his crutches. “Lily belongs to me.”

  “I remember.” Dr. Fields smiled. �
�She made that very clear, she insisted on talking to you before agreeing to participate.”

  “I would’ve been there, but I was delayed. Car wreck,” Blade muttered, watching Dr. Fields watching Lily. “How is she? What can you tell me?”

  “Well…” Dr. Fields glanced at her chart on his tablet. “I just checked her latest brain scan and X-rays, the swelling has dissipated, everything looks good.” He glanced up at Blade. “I don’t see an obvious medical reason why she isn’t conscious. We’re going to do some more tests and watch her closely.”

  “No reason? Do you mean she doesn’t want to wake up?” He let his eyes rove over her small body, noticing some magazines. One of them caught his eye, one with his own visage on the cover with another woman. The picture was old and staged. Knowing what Lily’s sister had told her, he had a sick feeling that Lily might’ve given up. “Oh, hell, no,” he whispered under his breath.

  “Oh, no, I didn’t say that,” the doctor uttered, “patients stay in comatose states for many reasons. Sometimes we never know why. I speculate that the body knows a little more healing is due.” At Blade’s worried look, he continued. “There are several things we can try, but let’s let nature take its course for the moment, sometimes that’s the best we can do. If…when Lily wakes up, it will be a few weeks before we know if the treatment has been effective.”

  Blade didn’t like what the doctor said and he sure as hell didn’t approve of what her sister had done. “I’d like to be alone with her, if possible.”

  Flora looked guilty and the doctor nodded. “I’ll check back in with her a little later. I’m going to stay in town for a couple of days, until there’s some change in Ms. Bastien’s condition.”

  “Thanks.” Blade nodded.

  “I’ll…be back,” Flora mumbled. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Jensen.”

  He didn’t give Lily’s sister the absolution she was looking for – not yet. The idea that Lily might’ve thought for a moment that his love for her hadn’t been real tore a hole in his soul. His actions were probably rude, but he just stood still and waited for Flora to leave, shutting the door behind her.