Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  “A cold spot?” Lily ventured, growing a bit more comfortable. The conversation hadn’t taken the direction she’d been afraid it would take.

  “Ah, my favorite part, I’m glad this happened.” Yuri cackled out a laugh. “Julie isn’t always reliable, but when she is…” The old woman shivered. “You can’t ignore her.”

  “Julie?” Blade asked, around a bite of his beignet.

  “Yes, Julie, a lovely young octoroon, who lived in this very house with her wealthy Creole lover. They were very happy here. Julie possessed everything she’d ever dreamed of wanting, with the exception of a wedding ring.”

  Blade reached over and grasped Lily’s hand, moving the ring on her finger beneath his thumb.

  “The handsome young noble loved his gorgeous concubine, but society at the time forbade their marriage. Their union was unthinkable, his family would’ve never permitted it, but their circumstances didn’t quell Julie’s longing for a wedding. She pressed him on the matter each time they were together, begging and begging him. He would always put her off and pacify Julie with expensive gifts, trying to get her mind off the one thing he couldn’t give her. One night, one cold night in December, Julie made another anguished plea. She begged her lover to marry her and take her to Paris, where they accepted biracial couples and their marriage would be legal. The Creole, who was entertaining some of his card playing buddies that evening, told the young woman that he would indeed marry her if she could prove she loved him above all things.”

  “What did he ask her to do?” Blade asked with great interest. Lily had heard this story many times. She rubbed her arms, wondering if the long dead Julie was in attendance at their table.

  “He asked her to remove her clothing and spend the night on the roof of the building. She was stunned, but when the young gentleman left to join his companions, Julie did as he asked. While the men played cards in front of a blazing fireplace, she stripped off her clothing and went out on the rooftop to wait for him.”

  “Oh, no,” Blade mumbled and his concern for the woman who lived so long ago touched Lily’s heart.

  “Yes, while the Creole entertained his friends, he forgot about Julie. The story is told that he never thought she’d take him seriously. Julie waited out in the cold, freezing air for her lover to come find her, but he never came. When the man finally came upstairs in the early morning hours, it was to find the bedroom empty and her clothes laying in a pile next to the balcony doors. With a hammering heart, he went out on the rooftop and found her naked, dead body in a corner, waiting patiently for him to find her. Legend goes that the Creole gentleman died of a broken heart a short while later.”

  “I didn’t think it got cold enough here for someone to die of hypothermia,” Blade muttered, his eyes downcast. “Poor woman.”

  “Oh, it seldom does now, but in years past there is historical data telling of a time so cold on the Gulf coast that Galveston Bay froze solid and all of the palms were killed on Galveston Island. So, it doesn’t freeze often, but every once in a while, a winter will come that brings frigid temperatures.” Yuri looked out the window. “There is a great deal of energy on this street, the La-Laurie house is just a few blocks away. So much pain.”

  Lily knew the house she mentioned, where the woman had tortured the slaves in her household. The house and the tale had been the focus of a popular television program in recent years. Blade drained his tea cup and handed it to Yuri. “What do you see?” He cut his eye toward Lily. “And don’t say anything that might upset my fiancée.”

  Yuri looked at Lily and nodded. “I understand.” The old woman turned the cup upside down on a napkin. “Turn the cup all the way around once with your left hand.”

  Blade glanced at Lily and raised his eyebrows, causing her to cover her mouth to suppress a giggle. He did as she asked, then Yuri placed her hand over his while it still rested on the cup. She rested her hand there for a moment with her eyes close, then she pushed Blade’s hand aside and picked up the cup, turning it three times counterclockwise. “Now, let’s see what we can see.”

  Lily trembled and Blade seemed to sense it, for he ran a warm hand over her shoulder and up to cup the back of her neck.

  “Well, the clouds that shrouded your life seem to be dissipating.” She looked to his left. “The little spirit who hovers near you is ready to say her goodbyes.”

  Blade jerked his head around to look and of course, nothing was there. “God, I don’t…” he began, but Yuri lifted her hand.

  “This will heal you. A message. She says that she’ll wait for you and the next time you’re together she’ll read you her favorite bedtime story, On The Night You Were Born.”

  Blade’s head dropped and Lily laid a comforting hand on his arm. “She loved that story, we’d read it together, then I’d tell her about the night she was born.” He turned to lock eyes with Lily. “I never told that story to the press.”

  “I see the woman who harmed your daughter dying in prison.”

  The stark statement took both Blade and Lily by surprise.

  Yuri was on a roll, she didn’t stop to let them catch their breath. “You will find peace.” She cleared her throat and it was obvious to Lily that the woman wanted to say something about their relationship, but was holding back for Lily’s sake. “You will find a purpose. You will have years of contentment.” She smiled. “You will have more children.”

  Blade took out his wallet. “Well, this has been well worth the price.”

  “Stop.” Yuri held up her withered hand. “One more thing, the most important thing. New Orleans will not let you go. Your roots are here.”

  Blade frowned. “Sorry, no. I’m a Texan, born and bred.”

  Lily saw old Yuri smile and she wondered at what she was about to hear. “Your roots go beyond this life. You’ve lived here before…Arthur.” Her eyes moved from Blade to Lily and back to Blade. “Some loves are so great, it takes more than one lifetime to live it all.”

  12

  “Who in the heck is Arthur? Do you think the lady had a mini-stroke and forgot my name or something?”

  They’d taken one last loop down by the river on their way home. Night had fallen and ripples of moonlight danced over the water. The stars were so big and bright, Lily felt as if she should be able to reach up and touch them. The southern night was warm and languid with just a touch of breeze moving the air. “I have no idea, but…” Lily hesitated to say more.

  “No idea but, what?” Blade pressed her to finish her sentence, giving Lily a squeeze around her waist.

  “I’ve often thought I might’ve lived before, possibly even that I was Charlotte.” She laughed, brushing her hair from her face. “Foolish, I know.”

  “Not foolish at all.” Blade raked his hand through his hair. “It’s just more than my poor brain can process. When is a ghost a ghost and when is it not?”

  Lily giggled at his consternation. “Science hasn’t figured out if there’s even life after death, I don’t think the two of us are going to figure it out.”

  When they came to the gallery, Lily let them in and Blade reset the alarm once they were inside. Holding hands, they maneuvered through the darkened gallery, lit only by the accent lighting on the different displays. As they came to the courtyard, a heaviness seemed to pervade the air. “Hold on.” She touched his shoulder, recognizing the odd aura that often presaged the appearance of one of her visitors.

  “What?” he whispered.

  Lily took two more soft, slow steps into the interior of the garden. When she saw what she expected, Lily squeezed Blade’s hand. “Look.”

  Blade stared into the gloom until he saw what Lily was speaking about. Even though he’d seen the woman on St. Philip’s Island, this was something else entirely. He could see a couple holding one another in the midst of the courtyard, the man cradled the woman to him. Although he couldn’t hear what they were saying, Blade could tell the man was whispering words of love to the lovely lady in his arms. As he stared, hi
s eyes became more accustomed to the shadows and he could see an opalescent glimmer surrounding the two people. I love you, Charlotte. I’ll always love you. I would die for you. There is nothing in this world you need to fear, I promise to care for you as long as I live.

  Blade felt a tremor of wonder cascade over him. Was he hearing the man’s words or just imagining them?

  Without realizing, he took a step forward and when he did, they faded from sight.

  “You did see that, didn’t you?” Lily whispered.

  “I did.” Blade nodded, adrenaline rushing through his system. “I did.”

  “I’d seen her alone several times, but just before I came to St. Phillips, I saw them together.” Lily’s voice turned wistful. “He loves her so much. You could feel it, couldn’t you?”

  “Yea.” He turned to her. “I can feel it.” Sweeping her up into his arms, Blade strode on toward the cottage. “I can also feel how much I love you.”

  “Blade, I’m too heavy, you’ve been in an accident,” Lily protested.

  “Hush, I’m on a mission.” He kissed her and kept walking. When they came to the door, he held her at a proper angle to undo the lock, then he purposely set off for the bedroom.

  “What are you going to do?” Lily hoped she knew the answer, but she’d never tire of hearing him say it. As she waited for him to speak, she rubbed her hand over his face and chin. The contrast of her palm rasping against his afternoon scruff sent chills trickling over her nerve endings. Lily recalled in exquisite detail how that sandpaper stubble felt against her breasts and between her legs, an irresistible reminder that he was male and she was female.

  After kicking open her bedroom door, he placed Lily on the bed. The air grew as charged as it’d been in the garden when they’d caught a glimpse of the past. That same skittering, sizzling, electric energy warmed his body, causing his cock to grow hard and heavy between his legs. “I don’t know what the rest of the world is going to do, but I’m about to make love to my fiancée.”

  “Fiancée.” She parroted the word as if the repetition would make it more real somehow. “I like the sound of that.” As he stood next to the bed undressing, Lily was mesmerized by the perfection of his body, the Greek-god musculature of his torso, the happy trail she was always so happy to trace with her tongue and the magnificence of his engorged manhood; the sight of which made liquid heat pool between her thighs.

  She gasped in surprise when he went to his knees, gripped her ankles and tugged her over to the side of the bed, slipping off her shoes, then sliding his hands slowly up her calves until he could undo her stockings from the garter and slip them off her legs…one at a time, his lips trailing kisses over her sensitive skin. Lily shivered as he continued to undress her, unveiling her body and bestowing kisses on her neck, breasts, and thighs. As he held her gaze, his hand cradled the side of her face, his thumb caressing her cheek and lips.

  Flattening her palms to his chest, Lily reveled in the beating of his heart. He was so alive, so vital. When he bent his head, touching their foreheads together as before, it was Lily who muttered the sweet words his little girl had uttered, “One-eye, one-eye, one-eye.”

  Blade chuckled, their breaths blending. “One eye, one heart, one soul, one life, one love.” He kissed her gently, his lips lingering, his tongue teasing. “I want to be one with you, Lily.”

  Lily loved his kiss. She loved him. “I want that too.”

  Tiny sparkles of happiness danced across her skin as he made a place for himself, inserting a thick thigh between hers. There was an intensity, an earthy sensuality to his touch as he caressed her face. “I didn’t realize how lonely I was before you came into my life.”

  “I was lonely too, but I was afraid to get close to anyone.” She moved her hands over his shoulders, loving the strength of them. “Until you.”

  Blade placed a gentle hand on her hair to guide her head back to expose her neck to his lips. The fevered kisses he pressed there were unlike others he’d given her, these were less controlled – wilder. This was a man expressing his need for his woman and Lily wanted to fulfill that need, his every need. Lily arched her throat, accepting his kiss, welcoming the press of his lips and the graze of his teeth with a blissful hunger. When he growled his own excitement, she responded with her own whimper of need as everything within her answered the primal call of his desire. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she offered herself to him. Blade could no more resist her sweet surrender than he could deprive his own lungs of air, he moaned his satisfaction as he pressed his grateful cock into her velvet heat. Thrusting. Stretching the tender tissue, coaxing his way past the initial resistance that always met him when he began to work his way in.

  “Oh, yes, Blade!” She bowed her back, pushing her breasts into his chest. Digging her fingers into his strong back, she urged him to her so she could whisper in his ear, “I love this, nothing has ever felt so good.” Lily felt overwhelmed, wishing she could touch every inch of him at once.

  “And don’t forget, it’s me making you feel this way. Me.” Blade shook his head from side to side in ecstasy.

  He lowered his body to capture her lips and rode her high, his chest pressing against her breasts, her nipples deliciously tangling in the golden mat of hair.

  Lifting her hips, she took in more of him, inviting him deeper, the ecstasy almost more than she could handle. “I won’t forget. Don’t you forget me. Okay?”

  Bracing himself over her, he touched his forehead to hers once more. “I’m going to be at your side, I won’t get the chance to forget you. I love you.”

  “Show me,” she whispered, nipping his shoulder, loving the burn of his thick cock as it filled her again and again.

  Show her? Like a man possessed, Blade began pounding in to her, worshiping her body. Palming her breasts, kissing her lips, burying his throbbing cock over and over again into her tight channel. Searing flares of bliss burst within her, her muscles spasming in erotic hunger with every stroke. He’d broken through a barrier of pleasure she hadn’t known existed.

  “That’s it, kitten, tighten around me, squeeze me.”

  Lily’s pussy clasped his cock rhythmically, giving her as much pleasure as it gave him.

  “Oh, fuck, baby, that feels so good,” he moaned. “I want to do this with you every day of my life.”

  Masterfully, he took her higher and higher. The way he talked to her. The delight of skin on skin. The force of his body as he fucked her, mated with her, made love with her – all of it mounted and mounted until she cried out, “I’m coming, Blade!” Her muscles grasped him, just the way he liked.

  “Yes! Oh, God! Fuckin’ perfect,” he growled out his release, muttering softly. “Oh, sweet fuck, I’m coming. This is so good.”

  Lily prolonged their pleasure, moving her hips, milking his cock as his warm cum pumped inside of her. Their bodies kept moving – slowly, softly – as if they couldn’t bear for this to end.

  “You slay me, Lily,” he whispered. “There is no one for me but you. No one. When I’m inside you, nothing else matters.” He kissed her tenderly. “That’s how this is supposed to feel, like the world could be spinning off its axis and I wouldn’t care.”

  Lily folded her arms around him, cradling him close, cherishing him with every beat of her heart. “Thank you for giving this to me, Blade. All of this. Love. Time with you. I can’t bear to imagine not having known you, not experiencing this, not feeling this way with you.”

  “We’re meant to be, Lily. Us. Together. Never doubt it.” He pulled her into his arms and closed his eyes, willing his heart’s desire to be so.

  Lily awoke feeling good. She decided not to question it, or speculate on her condition. Taking one day at a time seemed the safest course of action. “Blade, I’m heading over to open the gallery!” Today, she intended to put into motion a plan that she’d conceived months ago, to host a showing for Harper Jones and Waco Rainwater, two brilliant artists who specialized in painting their own beautiful co
rner of the world.

  “Hold up, I’ll go with you. I finished patching the drywall.” Blade had taken his role of housemate seriously. Since regaining his strength, he’d prowled about the house and taken it upon himself to fix and repair little things Lily had compiled on her version of a honey-do list. A leaky faucet. A missing shingle. A squeaky hinge. A loose floorboard.

  Lily waited gladly. She loved having him around. “Great, you can hang a new painting for me.”

  “Mirage?”

  “No, I want to keep it down for a little while. I contacted Thandie and she sent me one for a Gullah exhibit I want to set up. It’s a test of sorts, we’ll see how people respond to it and if I get a good response, we’ll do a full showing. Dinah has the Cummings showing ready to go and today we plan Harper’s and Waco’s. Lots to do.” She knew she was rattling, she was just happy.

  “You’ve got a lot on your plate, don’t overdo it. Okay?” Blade walked up and came to her for a kiss.

  “Okay.”

  “Good, I’ll be glad to hang Thandie’s piece. Are you still looking for the secret message on Abraham’s painting?”

  “Yea, I can’t help it. My curiosity knows no bounds.” Lily rested against him briefly, drawing strength from his solid form.

  “I don’t blame you, I’m interested in what might be there myself.” He took the keys from her hand, set the security system, and walked Lily over to let them into the gallery’s backdoor. “Just point me in the right direction and I’ll get to work.”

  Once inside the gallery, she gave Blade Thandie’s painting and showed him where to hang it. “I think I’ll add some Gullah handwoven sweetgrass baskets and several sea glass necklaces.”

  “You’re so creative, I like your style, beautiful.” Blade winked at her as he went to fetch a stepladder from the back. “Where’s that special little hammer you use?”

  “Look in my desk, I think it’s in the top right-hand drawer.”