Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  While Blade set out to hang Thandie’s painting, she went to the phone to give Harper Jones a call. She’d kept in touch with Glory since her procedure, but not Harper and Revel. Lily regretted this, Harper was a good friend and she should’ve let her know what was going on. “Well, no better time than the present.” Taking her phone in hand, she made the call, hoping not only to make amends, but to talk Harper into a showing of her work.

  Blade set the stepladder in place, then sauntered toward Lily’s desk, whistling as he walked. He could hear her precise, elegant voice apologizing to Harper for not speaking to her sooner. “I should’ve called and I’m sorry. No, we don’t know anything yet. We have to give the treatment time to work.” There was a pause. “Yes, I feel good.” Lily laughed and the beautiful sound gave Blade chill bumps. “Oh, Glory told you? Yes, he is wonderful. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”

  Blade grinned, she was talking about him. With joy in his heart, he opened the drawer Lily had indicated. He saw the hammer, but he also something else. A burgundy leather-bound volume, a journal, lay toward the back. He picked it up, reading the words inscribed in gold on the front – My Wish Book. Blade sharply inhaled, his heart rate rising. This was it, the book she told him about, the place where she recorded her hopes and dreams, the things that she wanted above all others. He reached for it, then hesitated. Should he? Would it be wrong? To him, this was like a map to a treasure, the key to her heart, the way to make her every wish come true.

  Would he do that if he could?

  Oh, hell yeah.

  Blade took the book and tucked under his arm, then he took the hammer and smiled. He planned on devouring every word she’d written. If she caught him, he’d humbly confess. After all, his intentions were pure as the driven snow.

  “Marvelous!” He heard Lily exclaim as she unlocked the front door. “I look forward to seeing you and Revel soon. Yes, please bring Waco. If I could have a dozen paintings from each of you, that would be perfect. I’ll work up an announcement and a brochure. When you all arrive, we’ll make detailed plans and set a date.”

  Blade placed Lily’s Wish Book on a shelf in the back until he could hide away and read it. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he hung Thandie’s painting about the same time the love of his life finished her call. “All done! Sounds like your plans are coming together.”

  “They are!” She danced to where he was, turning in circles, her hands held up and out from her body, a graceful pirouette. “I’m so happy!”

  He caught her to him, the warmth and solidness of her body held to his was a great comfort. “I’m glad, kitten. I’m happy when you’re happy.”

  The bell over the door broke them apart.

  “Lily, where are you? Could I interest you in some lunch? I have some delicious girl-talk to share with you?”

  Bliss’s sing-song invitation drifted to Lily’s ears.

  “Go. Have a good time. Delicious girl-talk sounds too wonderful to miss.” Blade encouraged Lily as he stroked her hair. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked, feeling torn – wanting to stay with him and wanting to be with Bliss.

  He nodded. “Yes, there’s a half of a muffaletta in the fridge, I’ll eat that and put on a roast chicken for supper. I can also catch up with my agent and see if anything needs taken care of with the movie premier that’s coming up.”

  Lily’s eyes widened. “Oh, I want to know all the details.” She felt annoyed at herself. “I’ve been so caught up in my own drama, I forget you have a life separate from me.”

  Blade corrected her quickly. “I don’t have a life separate from you and I don’t want to have a life separate from you.”

  “Lily!” Bliss called, drawing near.

  “Now, go. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  Lily hugged him. “Coming, Bliss!” She kissed Blade’s lips, wishing she could linger for more. “I’ll be back soon and I’ll turn the sign to Closed while I’m gone.”

  “Have a good time,” he called as she left.

  With his lips pressed into a satisfied smirk, he raised his eyebrows, then set off to retrieve Lily’s Wish Book to read while he had the chance.

  … “Yes, he walked into my shop and right into my heart. I swear I recognized him at first glance.”

  Lily was captivated by her friend’s tale. “So, you’ve met Calder Davis before?”

  “No, I mean love at first sight.” Bliss hugged herself. “I’ve loved him before, in another life.”

  Tingles of awareness swept over Lily’s skin. “You believe in past lives?” She hated to even say the word reincarnation out loud. The term seemed to open oneself up to ridicule.

  Bliss laughed. “Oh, honey, I believe in everything. The whole mystical spectrum, the whole magical menagerie. Vampires. Fairies. The loup garou. Time travel.”

  Lily’s eyes bugged. “Vampires? Werewolves?” The other two things she listed were equally unbelievable. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” Bliss rose to pour them a cup of tea. “I’ll introduce you to one or both, sometime…if you’d like.”

  Lily laughed, feeling she was being teased by her friend. “If I took you up on it, you’d have a good time fooling me, wouldn’t you?”

  “Perhaps, you’ll never know until it happens.” Bliss spun in a circle and hugged herself. “Calder is neither a vampire or a werewolf, he’s something much more enchanting.”

  “What’s that?” Lily smile, Bliss’s excitement was catching.

  “A prince charming, a knight in shining armor, a dragon slayer!”

  “Wow, I must meet this man. I’ve never heard of such a paragon of virtue,” Lily teased.

  “Pshaw!” Bliss said the archaic word, then laughed out loud at Lily’s reaction to it. “Yes, Pshaw! You can’t talk, you’ve managed to hook the Sexiest Man Alive!”

  Lily nodded, conceding the point. “You’re right. Who am I to question a miracle, I’ve got one of my own.”

  And yes, she was greedy, she wanted not one miracle, but two.

  Lily wanted a happy ever after to go with the man of her dreams.

  …Back at the cottage, Blade set the oven timer, then sat down at the kitchen table to delve into Lily’s Wish Book. He smiled every time he read those words, his grandmother always had him make his Christmas list from the Sears Wish Book. The memory was a good one, he never tired of flipping through the pages to choose things he wanted to find beneath the tree.

  Now, he was about to find out what his Lily wished for. Blade opened the book as if it were a sacred tome. At first, he scanned through the pages, realizing she’d been keeping this journal since she was little more than a girl. The first entry was made when she was no more than eleven.

  Today, I learned that I am sick. I knew there was something wrong, but I never imagined it would be so bad. They say I have a brain tumor and I looked it up, people die from brain tumors. I don’t want to die. I want to grow up. I want to fall in love. I want to have a family. I want to live.

  Blade swallowed hard, he hadn’t realized how difficult this would be. As he leafed through the book, he saw she’d made list after list of things she wanted to do and to see. Some of them were funny, like the wiener dog races in Buda, Texas. “That’s just up the road from my ranch, consider it done.” And some were poignant, kiss the face of my first child. Others made him curious, win a chicken-foot tournament. Still, others made him groan with arousal. “You did this one, you vixen.” He read, give a man a blow job so good it blows the top of his head off.

  When he came to a section entitled The Wedding of My Dreams, he froze and read everything she’d written. Of course, there were pictures of a dress. Not all the dresses were identical, but they were the same style. A sleeveless ball gown with a fitted bodice and a full skirt. There was also a photograph of a church, a small, picturesque chapel in a little town called Clinton. Blade stopped and looked it up on his phone, it was located north of New Orleans.

  Lily had als
o listed flowers, songs, food, even bridesmaids. The colors she’d chosen were simple – natural, white, and sage green. He couldn’t help but smile at the photograph of the cakes she’d picked - the bride’s cake was adorned with lilies and the grooms cake was an armadillo. Below the photo was a note in her own handwriting, “I don’t know why I like this, but I do. I hope he’s from Texas.”

  “Damn straight, I’m from Texas.”

  The more he studied Lily’s hopes and dreams, the bigger the lump grew in his throat. There were notations for future anniversaries and even a honeymoon to Australia. “Outback here we come.” When he came to a list of children’s names, he touched the writing with his finger. “Two boys and a girl. Alexander. James. Iris.” He smiled and dashed a tear from his eye. But what struck him the most was the wedding, it was almost like she was trying to live it on paper because she didn’t think she’d ever have one in real life. A plan began to formulate in his mind. Taking out his phone, Blade decided to enlist some help. “All right, Flora, let’s see if you’ll step up to the plate and be the sister Lily deserves.”

  During the next two weeks, Blade and Lily stayed busy. “I can’t believe everything we’ve managed to do.” She threw her arms around his neck. “A picnic by the river, a trip to the zoo and the aquarium, we visited your ranch and took a trip to Galveston Island. What other surprises could you possibly have planned? You’re spoiling me, you know.”

  “Get used to it, this is just how it’s going to be from now on.” He kissed her full on the lips. “Me making you happy.” He’d called all of Lily’s friends and arranged for them to be in town this weekend. As far as his beloved fiancée was concerned, the girls were coming in for a spa day. If everything went according to plan, he would be giving Lily the surprise of her life.

  “Oh, you make me happy all right, especially at night.” She nipped him on the throat. “In bed. You’re insatiable.” Just thinking about Blade’s loving made Lily tingle between her legs.

  “Too much?” He studied her face. “Do you feel okay?”

  “I’m not complaining at all.” She nestled into his arms. “I’m just a little tired, but I feel fine.”

  He laid his head on her hair and frowned. “This hasn’t been too much for you, has it?”

  “No.” She placed her hand over his heart. “I’m having the time of my life.” Lily knew what he was doing, Blade was cramming just as much living into their time together as possible. Her appointment with Dr. Fields was next week and they would learn whether or not the treatment had worked. Whether she would live or die.

  “Good, then my nefarious plan is working.” Blade chuckled. “Is Dinah coming in today?”

  “Yes, we’re working on the Jones/Rainwater showing for the middle of next month.” Indulging in one more kiss, she disengaged from his warm embrace. “I wanted to have it sooner, but that was the earliest time I could make it all come together.” Lily frowned. “Everything and everyone seemed to be conspiring against me.” She let out a long sigh. “I guess no one else feels the sense of urgency that I do about things.”

  “Yea, you do tend to be a worry-wart,” he teased and she gave him a playful glare. He knew she worried her time was short. What she didn’t know was that all the parties involved from Dinah and Bliss to Waco and Harper were stalling her plans to make room for Blade’s big surprise. “Is there anything I can do to help you, fair flower?”

  “Fair flower?” she asked with a huff as she left through the door he held open. “Are you trying to butter me up for an illicit sex act?”

  “Always. I would really like to know what you’d consider illicit, though. Just in case I’ve been missing out on something.” He waggled his eyebrows and winked at her playfully.

  “Hmmm, well, we haven’t tried 69, yet.”

  “How remiss of me. Jot 69 down on your day planner for ten p.m. tonight.” Blade stayed two steps behind Lily. Damn, she looked good in those jeans. “It’s all my fault, you know.”

  “What’s your fault?” Lily asked as she stopped to smell some ginger lilies as they cut through the courtyard.

  “That we haven’t done 69. Anytime I’m going down on you or you’re going down on me, I lose control and can’t wait to bury myself deep inside of you.” He stepped ahead of her to catch the next door. “Tonight, we’ll start there and by the time I get crazy to take you, I’ll have made you come a couple of times, at least.”

  Lily giggled and swung around to hug Blade. “No fair, you’re turning me on and I need to work.”

  He took advantage of her nearness, to kiss her neck and fondle her delectable ass. “Well, don’t forget I’m at work with you, if you take a notion for a nooner or a quickie or whatever you want to call illicit office sex.” He nipped her earlobe on the word illicit.

  “Oh, we have got to find you something to do or I’ll never get anything done.” She steered him to the drafting table where Mirage was resting underneath the magnifying lamp. “You can hang Mirage, I’ve given up on finding the secret message.”

  With hands on his hips, he surveyed the mysterious painting. In light of everything going on, his wreck and Lily’s clinical trial, he hadn’t given due consideration to the amazing coincidences Abraham’s painting represented. The image of the original Lili, the paragon called Charlotte, whom his own Lily felt so connected to, and the other two figures who could very well be the woman he loved and himself. What did it all mean? He kept staring at the way the four scenes were laid out, one overlapping the other, a glimpse into life on a distant shore. Suddenly, he shivered, as if someone had walked on his grave.

  “I’m bringing the hammer.” Lily’s voice caused him to glance around. He was glad he’d replaced her Wish Book. A tiny smile tugged on his lips, he’d cheated and taken photos of the pages with his phone. It would take him a lifetime to fulfill all his Lily’s dreams, but that was exactly what he was signing up to do.

  He felt an electric tingle when Lily joined him. Keeping his eyes on Mirage, he followed his instinct. “You know what? If it’s okay with you, I’d like to take my hand at checking this out for a bit before I hang it up. I read an article not too long ago about a secret message Da Vinci left on the Mona Lisa. Do you mind?”

  “Not at all.” Lily slid a hand down his arm. “Look all you want to.” She went up on tiptoe and gave him a quick smooch. “Just don’t wear yourself out, I have my reasons for wanting you to be rested for later. 69 of them.”

  Her whisper in his ear made him hard. “Yes, ma’am.” Blade’s gaze followed her until she settled down at her computer near the front door. Once she was seated, he grabbed a stool and pulled down the magnifying lamp for a closer look.

  During the next hour, they worked in companionable silence, broken only by an occasional phone call and a couple of tourists who wanted to take a gander at what the gallery had to offer. Blade hunkered over the painting, carefully scanning the surface inch by inch. On the Mona Lisa, some sharp cookie had found tiny letters and numbers hidden in her eyes. He didn’t think anyone ever deciphered their meaning, but he was sure someone somewhere was still working on the puzzle. Honestly, he didn’t expect to find anything. Still, he would do almost anything to make Lily…

  “Holy hell,” he whispered. “Lily!”

  Lily finished typing the word she’d started, then rose to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” He chuckled and swiveled the stool around to face her. “You’re going to love this, it’s crazy!”

  “What?” She hurried to him, curious as to what he’d discovered. “You found something?”

  “I damn sure did, it’s nuts.” He raked a hand through his curly hair as he wheeled the stool around and adjusted the magnifying glass. “Do you remember the name Yuri called me? Arthur?”

  Lily was shaking. “Yes.” She felt weak. “I need to sit down.”

  Blade jumped up to give her his stool. “Here. Do you need water? The doctor?”

  “No.” Lily shook her head.
“I guess I’m just startled.” She passed a hand over her eyes, giving herself a moment to judge how she felt. “I’m okay. What did you find?”

  As excited as Blade was to make the discovery, he was more concerned about Lily. “Hell, this can wait. I’m more concerned about you. Do you want me to call Dr. Fields or Dr. Kimmel?”

  “No.”

  “Hold on, I’ll get water. You’re probably dehydrated, you didn’t have much yesterday.” He took off to the back to pour a glass.

  Lily sighed and smiled. “Is this how it’s going to be? You’re giving me too much power, you know.”

  “Here.” He returned with the water and placed it in her hand, urging her to drink. “If you think this is bad, just wait until you’re pregnant.”

  Lily almost dropped the glass. “Stop teasing and tell me what you found.”

  Blade hadn’t been teasing, but he didn’t want to say anything more until after his big surprise. “You just won’t believe this, you won’t.” He moved closer to her, angling the magnifying lamp so she could see through the large glass disc, surrounded by a powerful circular bulb. Even as he pointed to the message Abraham had left behind in the brush strokes forming the waves of the sea, he realized he was convinced everything was going to be all right. Lily would live. They would marry. They would have a child. Their being together was dictated by the universe and the universe didn’t make mistakes.

  “Just show me, already!” Lily playfully punched him in the arm. “The suspense is killing me!”

  He snorted, then chuckled. “All right, impatient kitten, look.” He moved the glass until he could zero in on the tiny writing. “Look.”

  Lily squinted, then realized that was unnecessary – because right in front of her eyes was something that made her heart pound. Slowly, she read it, trying to process what this meant. “Forever. Arthur Loves Charlotte Forever.”

  “I’m not sure what all this means, but somehow, it’s all connected.”

  Lily placed a hand over her heart, she felt like the hapless organ was about to beat out of her chest. “The man we saw in the garden with Charlotte was Arthur.”