Page 15 of Sheltering Lily

“I do.” My mother smiled. “You’ve probably never heard this, but before I married your father, I was a dancer. Quite a good one, too. I had hopes of making it into an elite ballet company, but such things weren’t encouraged in my family. My father labeled my desire to dance a pipe dream, and I gave it up to become a teacher and later a mother.”

Interesting. That explained the occasional pirouette in the kitchen that I remembered as a little girl. When I thought about it, I could see that my mother had the grace and posture of a classically trained dancer. I couldn’t believe I’d never known this.

“Sometimes… Sometimes, I still wonder, what if. What if I’d taken the chance and gone to the audition that my parents talked me out of attending? Who knows? But I can’t complain about my life.” My mother’s wistful smile transformed and softened her face. “While you have the chance, you should explore your interests. Tell me about the art classes you’re taking.”

“I’m enjoying them. Painting is fine. I like watercolors more than oils.” There was something wonderfully freeing about working with watercolors. “But the sculpting class is my favorite. I love it that I can take a lump of clay and make it into something beautiful.”

Over coffee and a crisp apple tart, I talked of my art classes and told stories about Sofia’s antics, making my mother laugh.

“I miss having toddlers around the house. It was wild having eight children, but I loved the busyness and life it brought,” Mom said when we rose to leave.

As I drove across town to pick up Sofia, I felt I’d seen a different side of my mother, one hidden until today. Or maybe it hadn’t truly been hidden—maybe I’d just never taken the time to notice it, too caught up in my own thoughts and feelings. I got a little resentful sometimes when I thought of the way my parents had taken me for granted when I was growing up, always assuming that I’d be there to look after my siblings, but maybe I’d taken my mom for granted too, never really stopping to think about what she was going through. Certainly, there was more to her than I’d realized, and her support of my art classes was a pleasant surprise. It was comforting to have my mother on my side.

I made a quick stop at Carolyn’s mother’s home to pick up Sofia. Faith was always willing to watch Sofia, especially on days when she also had Austin. She insisted the toddlers entertained each other, which was probably true. Exhausting, but true.

By the time I strapped Sofia into my car and headed for Colin’s house, rain was coming down in heavy sheets, causing water to pool on the roadways. I drove cautiously, a habit when I had the girl in the car with me. It was quiet in the back seat, so I flipped the visor down, using the vanity mirror to check on Sofia. Her head was resting against the side of the car seat, and her eyes were drifting closed. She’d be asleep in no time.

I turned my attention back to the road, trying to dodge the largest of the puddles. Bright lights in the rearview mirror grabbed my attention. A car was barreling down on me from behind.

“Slow down, dude. It’s lousy out,” I muttered, my attention now divided between the mirror and the road ahead.

The car kept coming fast. I gripped the wheel tighter as I sped up, trying to keep ahead of the vehicle, its headlights large in my mirrors.

“Give me a break.” I flicked the windshield wipers on high, trying to see better, hoping for a place to pull off onto the shoulder and get out of this guy’s way.

The car was on my bumper. If I slowed even a little, I’d be rear-ended. I had to get off the road. Up ahead I saw a turn lane into a shopping center. I wrenched the wheel to the right, getting into the extra lane as fast as possible. The other car careened past, hit a huge puddle, and cascaded water over my subcompact.

I pulled into a parking space for a minute and relaxed my hold on the wheel. Pivoting in my seat, I could see that Sofia was fine, sound asleep, and unaware of what had happened. I felt shaky but put the car in gear and headed for home.

Colin

My phone rang as I drove home that evening. I hit the button for my car system to pick up the call.

“Vale,” I answered.

Steve’s voice came through the speakers. “Hey, Colin. I’ve got some news for you on that gray Camry. It’s not great news but it’s also not terrible.”

“How many hits?” I asked as I squinted through the rain-soaked windshield.

“Thirty-four gray Camrys between three and seven years old registered to males within thirty miles of your address.”

Not exactly a needle in a haystack, but it would take some time to run down all those possibilities.

“Can you email me a list of names and addresses?” Maybe something would register if I had that. I could also run them by Chance. His shop was the best garage in the area. If any of the guys on the list had gotten work done on their cars in the past few years, Chance and Mandy had probably dealt with them.

“Coming to you now. Anything else I can do?”

“Nope, put it on my tab. I’ll settle up with you soon. Thanks, Steve.” I clicked off as I turned onto my street. Out of habit I scanned the vicinity, almost hoping to see the gray car again. I’d get the plate next time, and maybe a look at the driver. The only car that stood out to me was Lily’s yellow one. I was happy to see she and Sofia had made it safely home despite the weather.

I let myself into the house through the front door and stopped when I saw Sofia and Lily napping on the living room floor. Sofia was half on top of Lily, pinning her down. They were beautiful together. My dark-haired girls. I’d started to think of them that way, and I had no right to. Sofia was mine forever, but Lily never would be.

I tore my eyes from them to take in the room. Animals cut out of colored pieces of foam were stuck to the windows. Toys were scattered all over, but there was a pattern. If I had to guess, I’d say they’d set up an obstacle course of some kind. They were napping under a makeshift jungle gym created from PVC pipe. More animals hung from the pipe on strings. They’d had a busy, messy day.

Lily’s hazel eyes opened, meeting mine. She raised a finger to her lips as if to shush me. The message I got was different. All my focus went to her mouth, the mouth I’d almost kissed and so desperately wanted to. I yanked my mind from that path, but my body was already too far gone. My groin tightened with desire, a desire that wasn’t going to be fulfilled.

I walked closer and lifted Sofia from Lily, being careful not to touch Lily more than I had to. Even the slightest brush of my skin against hers sent little shocks racing through me. I put Sofia on my shoulder and climbed the stairs with Lily right behind me. In the upstairs hall, she passed me to get Sofia’s bed ready. I was able to slip the sleeping child in without waking her. I stayed a minute to watch her and make sure she wasn’t going to wake up before I headed downstairs.

In the living room, Lily was gathering toys into a basket. I helped her clean up the floor, tossing items in the basket as well. When she went to peel the foam animals from the windows, I stopped her.

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