Page 57 of The Lady and the Footballer
She was well aware that the connection they shared was not one she was going to find with another.
The only person she had truly confided in was Mrs. O’Connor, who understood, yet, was also cautious of the situation.
“He is more of a man than any I have ever met,” Lily told the cook as she sat on her usual stool and watched her. She wished she could help to keep her hands busy, but her mother had once found her peeling potatoes and had told her if she ever found her doing such a thing again, she would forbid her from ever coming down here. “I would never have thought that would mean anything to me – until him.”
“He is a footballer,” Mrs. O’Connor said.
“It is more than that,” Lily insisted. “It is how he treats me like I am worth more than anything he has ever held in his arms. He respects me, considers my opinion, listens to me when I have an idea, and makes me feel that I matter just as much, if not more, than any other.”
“Sounds like you just might have a keeper, then,” Mrs. O’Connor said, looking over her shoulder at Lily with a kind smile.
“Don’t I wish it,” Lily sighed. “He is kind, sees the good in people, and protects those he loves. I never feel safer than when I am with him.”
“I know that feeling,” Mrs. O’Connor said with a reminiscing smile. “And it’s better than almost anything else. Is he worth giving up everything for?”
“Yes,” Lily said without hesitation. “But it’s not up to me. So many others would be affected if the truth of what is between us emerges. Colin. His family. The football club. Those who work under him at the mill. I don’t have a solution. I only know that a stolen moment with him is worth more than a lifetime with another.”
Mrs. O’Connor looked at Lily with pity but said nothing else as they heard her name being called from above. Lily gave Mrs.O’Connor a quick hug before hurrying up the stairs. She had nearly missed dinnertime.
“Good evening, Mother, Father.”
Lily was joining her parents for a rare night when all of them were dining at home.
Usually, her father was at one engagement or another, or her mother had led all of them or just her father out for a social event.
“Lily.”
Her father sat there, stone-faced, while her mother drummed her fingertips on the table, a frown covering her face.
“Is something the matter?” Lily asked as some dread lined her stomach.
“That is for you to tell us, Lily.”
“Very well.”
Please do not be about Colin, she prayed.Anything but that.
“Have you been seeing Colin Thornton behind our backs?”
All hope washed away like a bucket had been poured on her head.
She tried to decide as quickly as possible what she should say. Should she deny it? Admit to a partial truth?
Her pause, however, was far too long and far too telling.
“Lily Evans, so help me, if you have—” Her mother began, but her father held up a hand to stop her as the footmen brought out the first course, their crisp footsteps and swift movements cutting through the tension in the air.
“He is a friend,” she told a half-truth, looking at her father imploringly. “You asked him to look out for me when I was near the mill, and that is what he has done.”
“I see,” her father said, his nostrils flaring. “Then why were you caught with him in a compromising position?”
Lily straightened. “Who would say such a thing? It’s a lie!”
Well, a partial lie. Lord Nathaniel had caught her in Colin’s arms, yes, but they hadn’t been doing anything compromising. At least, not at that moment.
Her parents exchanged a glance.
“There have been rumors,” her father finally said.
