Page 73 of Lily's Eagle

Frank and Miriam step out of the first car, followed by Darius, Rick and Sharina from the one next to it. Many others get out too, all looking very gruff, most carrying weapons. I think I even caught a glimpse of Ariana, being supported by a tall black haired woman, but they are both lost to view by the men taking the lead. Soon the wide lawn is teeming with people, the tension almost palpable.

“What is the meaning of this?” Frank demands. “Why are you here?”

He’s wearing a freshly pressed pair of dark blue jeans, white leather cowboy boots and a sleeveless, bead decorated leather vest over a white button down shirt. Miriam is in her usual jeans and hot pink fleece, her hair frizzy like she tried to comb it out but gave up half way. Sharina just kind of floats there beside them like the dream walker she is.

“My men and I came here to make sure my daughter is safe,” Cross says, indicating me. We’re flanked by Tank, Ice and Rook now. “It seems you have a problem. We’ve solved that too.”

The men and women gathered before us start grumbling and cursing and showing every sign of not being happy with the way Cross spoke to them. But none of them are reaching for their weapons, so at least there’s that.

“And which problem might that be?” Frank asks. He might be frail, but he’s a take charge type of guy, and I can clearly see why he’s the chief.

“Let me through,” a woman says loudly, before anyone can answer. The grumbling crowd parts for her, but with a lot of jostling and grumbling.

And then suddenly there she is, standing between the crowd and me. My mother Rose. Her long hair is hanging down her back like a sheet of obsidian, her short leather skirt, patent leather stilettos and short fuzzy jacket over a very see-through red shirt looking as good on her as it ever did. Only her face betrays that she’s not a young woman anymore. But she’s still as beautiful as she always was.

I’m standing there with my eyes and my mouth wide open, and she gives me a little wave and a sheepish smile, before turning to the crowd of our people.

“I called them,” she shouts. “I asked for their help protecting my daughter. Talk to them. Please.”

More grumbling follows, but she turns her back on them and comes to me, smiling softly. She nods to Cross, who takes over speaking to Frank and the rest of them, while Rose walks up to me.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Lily,” she says taking my hand and looking deep into my eyes. “I told you that you can’t ever come back here, didn’t I?”

I haven’t had as much contact with her after she left me with Cross as I might have wished, but yeah, whenever we spoke, she did tell me not to come home. But poverty and misery were always her main arguments for that and they weren’t enough to dissuade me. Plus, coming from her, who left the Rez at an early age and didn’t come back very often, I didn’t pay much attention to it.

“I took you to your father so you’d be safe, Lily,” she says. “I know I haven’t been much of a mom to you, but I did that one thing right.”

“Yeah, you did,” I say, kind of harshly, kind of whiny, because with my mom, I’m always torn between loving her and hating her. The loving side is winning right now, as it usually does.

Cross is talking to Frank and the rest of them, Eagle by his side along with Tank, Ice and Rook. The conversation seems to be going well.

“It was to keep you safe,” she says. “From Mitch.”

I just stare at her, unable to choose the question that I most want an answer to.

“I dated him briefly when I came back after your grandparents died,” she explains. “I don’t know how much you remember of that.”

I shake my head. “Nothing at all.”

She grips my hand tighter and leads me a little further away from the crowd which has grown louder and angrier for some reason. Maybe she should be talking to them, not to me. But I do want to hear this story.

We stop by the first of the cars. “Anyway, one evening, Mitch wanted to meet me out in the middle of nowhere, by a house right at the edge of the reservation, the house he said we’d live in after we were married. I went along with it, even though we were not nearly close enough to consider marriage, but I figured at least we’d have a roof over our heads for awhile if we went there. It was one hell of a drive, but everything is around here, and I had our stuff all packed in the back of the Mustang anyway, since it was either Mitch and his house for us, or somewhere far away from the Rez. See, I wasn’t going to just leave you here for some distant auntie to raise you.”

She looks at me kind of pleadingly, her eyes teary. I smell alcohol on her breath.

I’m pretty sure I know what house she’s talking about. Mitch is in there with Scar right now. But I don’t want to stop her talking, so I just say, “It’s fine, Mom. Go on.”

She clears her throat softly. “So we finally find the house, there was no one around, the place was dark, the sky was dark, and I really didn’t want to be there. Then I saw Mitch, standing by a car parked near some trees, wearing all black. I should’ve known something was wrong then, but I went to him anyway, with you in tow, since I’ve never been good at picking men. Well, except your father. I picked fine with him. Maybe that’s why I didn’t stick around.”

She chuckles darkly, but the smile disappears off her face almost immediately.

“When the guy Mitch was with went for you, I fought him off. I fought them both off and we ran. Mitch yelled threats after us. Told me neither of us better show our faces on the Rez ever again or we’d both be dead. But even if he hadn’t said all that, I’d never be back. Then I drove you straight to Cross, the one place I knew you’d be safe. There was no place for me there tough. Do you remember any of that?”

I remember driving through night and the next day and ending up at the gates of Sanctuary. I remember Cross’ surprise when she told him who I am. I remember him recognizing me, and I him, the moment our eyes met. And I remember her driving away.

“I dream about it,” I tell her. “But I don’t actually remember it happening.”

“Good, that’s good,” she says shakily and gives me a tight hug, the smell of alcohol and her strong musky perfume burning my nose. I hug her back just as tightly.

---