Page 86 of Watercolor Skulls

“When she lowered herself, I rushed forward, leaning over to see her perched on the pipe below.” Her hand trembles as she lays it gently on rail. I place a hand on each side of her, standing with my chest pressed to her back. Cautiously she leans over, we both stare at the churning water below.

Her hand dangles over the rail, reaching. “I didn’t know what to say.” She wiggles her fingers in the air. “It was then I noticed her necklace. I asked her about it.”

She pulls her hand back quickly.

“You saved her that day.”

Her face raises to the sky, she closes her eyes. “No, she saved me that day.”

We stand quietly, the world rotating around us.

“My father sent me away the week she died. Demanded that I accompany my mother on a trip to Paris.” Her body trembles against me. “She…she…” Lily cannot get the words out. Her heart is exposed, bloody and raw.

“She came back,” I finish for her.

She nods, her hands scramble along the railing seeking mine. I lift my hands and place them over the tops of hers, pressing them securely over the rail.

“I’ve got you, sunshine,” I reassure her.

“We had a plan…we had a plan. I don’t know why she changed her mind.”

Lily breaks down in my arms. I protect her from onlookers with my body. No one really pays much attention except for one person. The officer I met yesterday. He watches from afar. A frown upon his face. The man must have the soul of a saint, to walk this bridge every day, looking for broken ones.

I tip my chin to him in reassurance. He nods back.

“After she left I tried to follow through on my own, but I just couldn’t do it. The thought of running alone was too much. Then my father announced my wedding.” She sucks in a ragged breath. “I begged him to reconsider and when he wouldn’t…”

“You came here,” I finish again.

Her head turns left, then right as she takes in the length of the bridge. “I came here,” she repeats, she straightens her shoulders. As the salty breeze nips at her hair I sense a shift in her demeanor.

“I came here,” she says again. “And I lived. I lived.” She tilts her face to the sun, a beautiful smile forming on her face. “I lived.” She laughs. Then she surprises me by turning in my arms. “I lived.” She wraps her tiny hands in my beard and pulls me close to her. She mumbles over my lips, “I lived.”

Lily kisses me, her tongue diving into my mouth. She kisses me with the kind of sheer abandon that only someone who has hit rock bottom can. The wind picks up, whipping her hair around our heads. She giggles as she pulls away.

My shoulders drop, the sun suddenly shining brighter, warming me from the inside out.

She stares into my eyes as I drown in hers. It took twenty shades of brown for God to come up with the sheer perfection of her eyes. Warmer than a cup of cocoa in the dead of winter, richer than a sip of coffee first thing in the morning.

“I promised her I would let you love me.” She blinks, and a tear rolls slowly down her cheek. I brush it away with my thumb, then press it against her plump bottom lip. I drag my thumb across her lip before leaning down and kissing her.

When I pull away I ask, “Are you going to let me?”

“Yes.” She smiles before turning back to look out over the bay. “The minute my hands left the bridge I regretted it.” Lily drops her head. “I don’t want to die, Dan.”

“But you did?” I ask sincerely, no judgement in the question.

Her gaze roams over the glittering water. “I wasn’t thinking about dying.” A crease forms between her brows. “I just couldn’t figure out how to live.”

Sighing, I hug her from behind.

“When Ifell,” she stumbles on the word. “I realized I had made a terrible mistake. One I didn’t think I would come back from.”

“I’m so glad you got a second chance.”

“Me too.” She lays her head back on my chest, relaxing fully into me.

I let her take all the time she needs as she processes everything. Several hours pass before she looks at me. “I need him to pay for everything he’s done.”

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