Lily's Mirage (Hell Yeah! )

by Sable Hunter

  “I would think so, yes,” he agreed. “So, who was this Arthur and why do you know so much about Charlotte and not about the man she loved?” Blade couldn’t shake the idea that this was momentous. He took a deep breath. “Who was this Arthur character? You’ve never heard of him before?”

  “No, I don’t remember ever seeing that name mentioned in any document of Charlotte’s that I’ve found.”

  “Hmmm.” Blade couldn’t explain why all of this made him feel uneasy, but it did. “Odd. If they married, if they found love, if they were together, why wouldn’t there be a record of it?”

  Lily shivered and started to speak, but her words were cut off by the tinkling bell on the door.

  “Lily Bastien! I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays!”

  Blade glanced up just in time to see a large, flamboyant man in what looked to be a pink band director’s uniform come strolling in holding a snow cone in each hand. “What the…?”

  “Be nice, he’s wonderful,” Lily whispered to Blade from the side of her mouth, just before she rose to greet her friend. “Gene! You’re home!”

  “I am! Vegas was wonderful, but there’s no place like home.” He bowed from the waist and presented Lily with one of the frozen treats. “Coconut-pineapple for you.” Turning, he looked Blade right in the eye. “Tutti-frutti for your friend.”

  Blade wanted to tell the strange dude that he wasn’t the fruity one, but when he saw the obvious affection for Lily in the other man’s face, he accepted the snow cone and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Blade, this is my friend, Gene Pratt, we call him Sweet Gene, he owns the most beloved snow cone truck in the Big Easy. Gene, this is Blade Jensen, Blade…”

  “Oh, I know who Blade is, who doesn’t know Blade Jensen?”

  Gene’s appreciative tone and the way the man looked him up and down almost made Blade blush.

  “Stop it, he’s taken.” Lily whacked Gene on the arm good-naturedly as she took a bite of her cone.

  Blade smiled, appreciating Lily’s possessive nature. “That’s right, sorry dude. Do I detect an Australian accent?”

  “Ha!” Gene chortled. “Is that what you detect?”

  Blade didn’t know what to say and Lily enjoyed seeing him struggle with her friend’s unique sense of humor. “He’s just messing with you, babe.”

  “Yes, I’m from down under, mate.” Gene put an arm around Lily. “I’ve been trying to get this beautiful woman to take a trip home with me for years.”

  Blade nodded. “Well, I think I might have a plan to get her there.” He winked at Lily, then turned to Gene. “With your help.”

  “Just let me know what you need, I have connections. All my family still lives out near Alice Springs. You could stay at my family’s station, just say the word.”

  “I appreciate that, Gene,” Blade said as enjoyed his snow cone. “This is good.”

  “Yea, mine is good too.” Lily licked her lips. “Gene doesn’t stint on the syrup.” She and Blade continued to consume their treats, but she couldn’t ignore the way her friend was staring at her. “What?”

  “How are you feeling?”

  Lily rolled her eyes. “Glory called you, didn’t she?” When she read the guilty look on his face, she grabbed a tissue and wiped her mouth. “Gene! You came home early, didn’t you? Just to check on me. I know you were supposed to stay with your cousin for a month and it hasn’t even been three weeks!”

  Gene held up his hands in defense. “Sue me. I wanted to be with my friend in her hour of need.”

  “This isn’t my hour of need and I’m not alone! I hate that you cut your trip short for me!”

  “Aw, babe, don’t fuss at your friend because he cares.” Blade put an arm around Lily. “You’re easy to love.”

  “Yes, she is.” Gene covered her hand. “Now, tell me, how are you? What do you know about the results of your clinical procedure?”

  Lily didn’t want to talk about herself. She shook her head, thinking how wonderful it would be if not acknowledging her problem could eradicate it. Letting out a soft breath, she acquiesced to his concern. “I feel well. You know I’ve never experienced much pain from this…” Lily refused to name her curse. “The polio virus that’s been administered into the glioblastoma is a silent predator. Supposedly, it summoned my autoimmune system to battle the cancer that my body has nurtured so faithfully all these years.”

  “So, you don’t know, you can’t tell if it’s working?” Gene pushed for an answer.

  Lily felt her heart dip in her chest. “No, I can’t tell.” She pasted a too bright smile on her face. “I guess we’ll let it be a surprise.” A surprise with momentous consequences.

  Life or death.

  Love or loss.

  A future or an end to everything.

  Gene cleared his throat, then stood upright in all his weird splendor. “I don’t like surprises. I prefer sure things. So, I will believe in your full restoration and if faith can make it so, it shall be so.”

  Tears came to Lily’s eyes, she felt humbled. If the love of Blade and her friends could make her well, she would be well indeed. “Thank you, Gene.” Lily put her arms around the man whom some shunned and hugged him close.

  “You’re welcome.” He returned her hug, then patted her awkwardly on the back. “I didn’t come to see you just to bring you a snow cone and good wishes. I just came from Grief Share and there’s someone who could use your special brand of consolation. Someone you know.”

  A chill ran down Lily’s spine. “Who? I haven’t heard about anything happening…” She tried to think. “Did it happen while I was away on the island? Or while I was sick?”

  “You wouldn’t have heard about the accident, it didn’t happen in town. There was an apartment fire in Baton Rouge, two of Ma Dyer’s grandchildren are dead. Gayle and one of the boys, Lamar, I think was his name.”

  “Oh, no. Poor Ma.” Lily couldn’t even imagine her heartbreak. She glanced at Blade, seeing the empathetic pain as he revisited his own loss. “She can see the future…” Lily shook her head, the thought that the old woman might have foreseen the deaths of her grandchildren and been helpless to stop it was almost unbearable to contemplate.

  “She did see it, she saw the way the fire would start…” His voice faded out. Seeing Lily’s shock and anguish, he paused, hesitating to continue.

  “Why didn’t she do something? Why didn’t she warn them?” Her voice was tinny, weak. Even as she asked the question, Lily could remember asking Ma Dyer to never hint of any future that she might see for her. She didn’t want to know the details or the exact day. The old lady only tried to change her mind once, saying that sometimes knowing the future was controlling the future – but Lily insisted and the seer abided by her wishes.

  Gene hung his head, knowing this part was going to be hard for Lily to hear. “When Ma Dyer had the vision, she panicked and fell, breaking her hip. She couldn’t get to the phone. She laid there knowing what was happening and couldn’t get help for herself, much less for her family.”

  Blade felt a pang of helpless regret. Since meeting Lily, he felt like he’d entered another realm, where the supernatural was natural, completely normal. What if he’d had the opportunity to know about Katy’s abduction and death beforehand? This wasn’t something he would’ve even considered at the time – he hadn’t believed in psychic abilities or spirits or…past lives. “If she could foresee the fire, why didn’t she know to protect herself from the fall that broke her hip?”

  Gene held out his hand for the empty paper snow cone cups. Once Lily and Blade placed them in his palm, he wadded them into small balls. “I’m surely not an authority on the subject, but Ma and others I’ve talked to tell me the information they receive isn’t complete and it doesn’t originate with them. The glimpses into the future or the past come from some unknown source, some fount of knowledge and the people who serve as a channel don’t get to pick and choose what they know and what they see.”


  Lily hugged herself as frissons of unease peppered her skin. “I’ll go down to the center this afternoon and arrange to meet with her. I’ll certainly do what I can to help.”

  “I want to help too.” Blade volunteered. “I can certainly relate to this type of loss.”

  Gene narrowed his eyes and studied Blade’s face, as if just now remembering who he was speaking with. “Yea, I’m sure you’ll be able to help. I heard on the news that the police have the woman who took your daughter in custody, awaiting a trial.”

  “Yea, I’m relieved.” Blade wondered at the inner calm he felt while making the understatement. Maybe, he was finally able to move on. He glanced at the woman responsible for his healing. “I’m ready to begin my future with Lily.”

  The whole conversation put Lily on edge, especially Blade’s eternal optimism. “We don’t know what the future will hold.” She moved to the front to turn over the Closed sign. “Right now, let’s just deal with the present.”

  13

  “I just can’t believe they’re gone!” Ma Dyer wiped her eyes with a tissue. “I failed them! Why would fate give me the message to aid my grandchildren, then make it so I was helpless to save them?”

  Lily and Blade sat on either side of the hospital bed. The break had been serious enough to require surgery, so the poor woman hadn’t been able to even attend the funeral services for Gayle and Lamar.

  “I don’t know, Ms. Dyer.” Blade touched her arm to comfort the older woman and when he did, she jerked, her eyes closing and her mouth opening in a gasp.

  “Oh, my God!” Fresh tears began to flow. “You lost someone too. I see her. I see you. I feel what you felt.” Ma Dyer let out a wail of despair.

  Lily looked at Blade, imploring him to step away.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make things worse.” He moved across the room to sit in a chair next to the wall.

  Lily wanted to hug her friend, but she was almost afraid to touch her. She didn’t want to bring Ma Dyer more pain, if she could see what was in store for Lily. “This wasn’t your fault, you know. You’re not to blame.”

  “I could see it happening!”

  The cry of despair tore at Lily’s heart. “I am so sorry, I can’t imagine what you’re going through.” She could remember Glory’s encounter with Ma Dyer, when she’d read Gayle’s letter to her grandmother, sitting in St. Louis Cathedral. “You loved your grandchildren and they loved you.” Lily searched for words of comfort to offer. “Love doesn’t die. Love goes on. Love is eternal.” With her emotions running high, this moment mingled with her own fears and feelings for Blade. She also wondered at the meaning of the mystery with Charlotte and Arthur. She struggled with Abraham’s vision into the past and maybe the future. “You’ll be with your grandchildren again.”

  “Oh, I know.” Ma struggled to find the button to raise the bed. Lily did it for her. When she sat up straighter, the old woman looked from Lily to Blade, then back to Lily. “I don’t doubt my faith or the power of love. I just wanted to spare them pain. I wanted my grandchildren to have the future they deserve, to not miss out on the joys and sorrows of life. I could’ve prevented this, if only…”

  “You once told me that if you know the future, you can control it.” Lily cleared her throat, wanting to make very sure she said her piece with the greatest care. “Maybe we’re not supposed to control it, maybe there’s a reason beyond what we know, what we have the wisdom to discern.”

  “A higher being, a greater purpose?” Ma Dyer phrased her words as a question, but she didn’t expect an answer. “Why? Why did this happen?”

  “If we knew the answers to that question, I guess we’d be gods.” Lily took a deep breath, then did what she’d determined not to do. She laid her hand on Ma Dyer’s arm. “You’ll see your grandchildren again. They aren’t gone, they’re waiting for you.”

  “Yes.” Ma Dyer nodded. “Soon.” She glanced down to see Lily’s hand, then up into Lily’s eyes. “If my glimpses of the future can’t help the ones I love, of what use could they possibly be?”

  Lily trembled under the older woman’s gaze. “I don’t know. I wish I knew. I’m just glad I don’t have the sight. It must be a terrible burden to bear.”

  “At times, certainly.” She frowned, the memories of her horrible vision hanging around her neck like a millstone. “At times, when the portent is favorable, the fortune you tell can encourage someone to stay strong, to persevere.”

  Lily stared into Ma Dyer’s eyes, trying to discern if the old woman’s words were personal, tidings meant for her ears, or just an observation.

  Stop it, she scolded herself. Lily knew she was vainly searching for hidden meaning for her own fragile future. Closing her eyes in resolve, she raised her head heavenward for a moment, before offering to, once again, share the grief of her friend. “I know you’re hurting, I know you erroneously blame yourself and I know if our positions were reversed, you’d say these same words to me.” She gave Ma Dyer a serene smile. “Cry for them. Mourn them. Just know they have not ceased to exist and your time with them is not over.”

  Blade watched and listened, imagining what Lily was feeling. Wanting to offer some type of condolence or apology, he stepped back to the bed. “Ms. Dyer, I’m so sorry if my being here made things worse. I don’t know if I can offer you any words that will give you any comfort, except to tell you that you’ll never forget, but it will get easier.” He put his arm around Lily. “The key is to find someone to love, not to replace the ones that we lose, but to honor their memory by continuing to live this blessing we call life.”

  Ma Dyer seemed to accept Blade’s pronouncement, nodding her head. “Thank you, I think I need to rest now.”

  Lily promised to return the next day. “I’ll drop by and bring you one of Gene’s cherry snow cones, your favorite.” She tried not to dwell on Blade’s advice, she knew he was saying his love for her had helped him with the grief he felt for Katy. Lily couldn’t help imagining how he would console himself if she…

  “Ready to go?” Blade kissed her on the cheek as a nurse came in to check on Ma Dyer.

  “Yes, I’m ready to go home,” Lily agreed. “We still need to hang Mirage. If you’ll take care of that, I’ll make shrimp etouffee.”

  “Fine.” He offered his arm as they made for the exit. “Just so long as you don’t forget the appointment we made later for,” he stooped to whisper in her ear, “illicit sex.”

  Forget? How could she forget?

  For the rest of the evening, Blade made sure she thought of nothing else.

  He praised her after he’d returned from hanging the painting. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. Your portrait should hang in the gallery.”

  He flirted as she served supper. “I can’t wait to get you behind closed doors, I’m going to enjoy every moment.”

  He teased as he helped her dry the dishes. “You want me, don’t you, kitten? You can already feel my kiss between your thighs.”

  He hinted, looking at the clock while he checked the doors and windows. “Just another half hour and you’re mine.”

  By this time, Lily was past ready. Simmering with desire, she grabbed Blade by the hand and led him up the stairs. “I’m yours right now, why wait.”

  “Why, indeed,” Blade murmured as he playfully pinched her on the bottom to hurry her along.

  Lily squealed and giggled as she flung open her bedroom door and began tearing at Blade’s clothes. “I want you in my mouth.”

  Blade almost went to his knees. “Not until I get my lips on your pussy.” He held his arms in the air as she stood on tiptoe to push his shirt over his head.

  “You have my full cooperation,” Lily said, just before she nipped him on his right pec.

  “Is that all I get? Just your cooperation?” he teasingly snarled as he pulled her dress over her head and tossed her on the bed.

  “Oh, you want more?” Lily sat up in bed, pulling off her bra and panties. “I’ll give you all y
ou can handle, Jensen.” She patted the bed. “Come here. Lie down.”

  Blade was so excited, his cock was hanging heavy between his legs. “What’ll you give me, if I do?”

  “The time of your life,” she whispered, a sultry, sexy, fuck-me-hard look on her pretty face.

  Blade didn’t doubt it. His whole life was wrapped up in Lily Bastien. With chest heaving, he laid down on the bed, waiting to see what she’d do. “Prove it.”

  Lily gazed at Blade lying there on the blanket like a pagan god. Wide shoulders, broad chest, washboard abs and a fascinating trail of hair starting at his navel and ending… “You’re every woman’s dream, Blade, an honest to God curl-my-toes temptation.” Licking her lips, she watched his cock rise before her eyes, filling and expanding to an impressive size. Curling her fingers around it, she smiled at him. “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Flattery will get you more orgasms than you can handle, beautiful.” He grinned, reminding her of their conversation when they first met. Tapping his lips, he suggested, “How about we start with a kiss?”

  “I guess I can manage a kiss.”

  Cupping his face with her hands, she bit at his mouth. “You’ll do more than manage.” With a hungry growl, he pulled her flushed face closer to his and opened his mouth for her kiss, nibbling at her lips. As her mouth moved against his, lightning shot clear through him. Lily tasted as sweet as wild honey, filling him with pure, perfect lust. Blade traced the inside of her lips, teasing her with his tongue. His cock throbbed, hard to the point of pain. More than anything, he longed to consume her, love her, mark her as his own.

  “Remember what we’re here for,” she teased when she pulled back for a breath. “Before you get all carried away.”

  Blade pushed her hair back from her face, noting that her creamy white skin was flushed with excitement. “Carried away? Me?” He tugged her hand, urging her to move. Once she was half on top of him, those gorgeous breasts of hers were right his face, swollen, the berry-red nipples swollen and begging for attention. “Ah, Lily-mine,” he whispered against her breast, unable to resist stroking the puffy peak with his tongue, loving her with his mouth.