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The delight that danced in his gray eyes every time he looked at his son.
Because there was no denying it. Not with pale Lily sitting at his side.. With the two of them next to each other like that, it was clear that Liam was the perfect blend of them both. Gray eyes, golden skin, straight nose, wicked mouth...that glorious dimple. They were all mirrored on the faces that looked at us with hesitation as we sat down across from them.
Liam tucked his long legs under the table. "Okay. Tell me," he said shortly. He steepled his fingers and bowed his head, ready to listen.
For a moment I wanted to dart away. It was too much, too intensely personal and private. Liam was such a proud man, to see him laid bare like this was brutal.
Until he reached out and caught my hand, pulling me close to his side. "No more secrets," he whispered, like a mantra. He clutched my hand under the table.
Darius looked at Lily, who haltingly began.
"I was fifteen. He was seventeen. My friends back then, we liked to sneak away from the stupidity of the Main Line, go party with the kids in Overbrook and West Philadelphia. He was at one of those parties."
"I loved her immediately," Darius interrupted, looking at faded Lily like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and I swear she bloomed under his gaze.
She sat up straighter, the color returning to her pale cheeks. "When I got pregnant," she swallowed and darted a glance at Liam, "Dahlia demanded I get an abortion. I refused. Then she demanded that I tell her who the father was." She lifted her chin in the precise, prideful way Liam lifted his. "But I refused to do that too. I knew she would do everything she could to ruin Darius's life...."
"I had a scholarship," Darius explained. "I was going off to college. I had no idea this was all going on. No one told me."
"So when the baby...you...were born, Dahlia took you," Lily went on. "She did...something, I don't know what...that took over parental rights. Then she had me shipped off to this awful reform school."
I hid my hurt gasp behind my hand.
Lily's blue eyes, so clear and bright, were glittering with tears. "I was away from my love, my friends...my baby. The girls there, they all had similar stories. All of us, we were all hurt and damaged, and putting us together that was...was like lighting a powder keg. Drugs were everywhere." She looked down, ashamed. "And I was fragile." Darius put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly. "Heh-heroin was an escape from the pain, Liam. Every time I was sober, I remembered your eyes, the same as Darius's. I remembered the feeling of you growing and moving inside of me. Every sober moment hurt worse than anything." Her voice trailed off, and Darius held her fiercely. She took a shuddering breath. "So I stopped being sober."
For the first time she looked directly at me. I recognized the look in her eyes. She was finally telling her story, and though she wasn't proud of it, she was proud of being able to tell it.
"Overdosing was the worst thing I could have done, because it gave Dahlia the reason she needed to step in and take over. When I came to in the hospital, it was like I had become a non-person. A danger to myself, that's what they called me, so no one listened when I said I was ready to live now, that I wanted to go home to my baby. They shushed me and ignored me and carted me off to the facility."
"You came back when I was four," Liam broke in softly. "I can still remember it. You came in the house and I was disappointed you were so old. I thought getting a sister meant I would have someone to play with."
Lily covered Liam's big hand with her tiny one. "You had grown so much. I last saw you when you were still covered in goo, and here you were this walking, talking little person. And oh, the shit you gave me. I could already see Dahlia's poison had gotten to you. What could I do? I already was battling despair, even before I came back. I was stuffed with so much despair and regret that there was no room for being a mother left in there. Dahlia told you I was your sister, and I believed her when she said it was for the best." She smiled softly. "I did try to play with you though."
"Then you disappeared again."
"Being under Dahlia's roof...." Lily choked off a laugh and spread her hands. "I'm an addict. I always will be. But back then I was too fresh and raw to face my past head on. I ran back to heroin as an escape."
"But then you came," Liam nodded at Darius.
"I was home from college when Lily came and told me," Darius nodded. "She told me not to come, not to interfere with Dahlia, how she would ruin me...." He cast his eyes down, "But you're my son. And if I couldn't be your father in name, at least I could be present in your life...." His voice caught, then he looked up with a smile. "Protecting you."
Liam made a muffled sound behind his hand. All three of us reached for him at once, but I was closest. And it was my hand that he took, kissed and then laughed out loud against. "In twenty-four hours, I've gone from having a secret sister and a hellacious mother to having a loving mother a doting father and the best woman in the world at my side." He shook his head in disbelief, "What now?
"You go forward," I told him. "You three reconnect, get to know each other as a family. Learn to trust each other," I smiled at Liam, remembering what he had said earlier. "Make a better past with no more secrets."
"I liked you from the beginning, Shay," Darius rumbled.
I shot him a look. "Could have fooled me! With your scary shades and slamming the brakes on us whenever I kissed him. I thought you hated me!"
"Hey, I had to know that I could trust you with my son."
"You can, Dad," Liam said softly, cupping my face in his hand. "You can trust her with anything. I do."
Epilogue
Mrs. Young nodded into the phone. "Thank you. Yes dear. Have a lovely day."
I beamed at her from across the brightly mopped floors. "Another order?"
She leaned back and stretched. "I'm not sure I'm cut out for this pace any more. I'm too old for success, dear."
I laughed. "I brought you on to make arrangements, not answer the phones."
She cocked her head, her old eyes twinkling. "And I have that big order still...."
I grunted in recognition. "You've been working on that forever." It was true. Mrs. Young received a mysterious call before the store was officially opened and had been working in the back, in secret, ever since.
"It's almost ready, too," she beamed. "My best work ever."
I smiled back at her, delighted to see the shine back in her eyes. It made me feel so good to do this for her, relieve the stress of business and let her go back to what she loved, arranging flowers. "So go to it."
She huffed as the phone rang again. "I would, dear, but someone needs to man these phones of yours."
"I can do that," a shy voice piped up.
I looked over to Lily, where she stood near the doorway to the back room. The mop was still clutched in her hands. She was so proud to be gainfully employed that she hadn't stopped mopping since I hired her. My floor was spotless.
"Okay," I thought a minute. "Sure Lily, you can do that." I lunged for the phone, now on its fourth ring. "Next call is yours," I mouthed.
But when I inhaled to give the greeting I had agonized three nights before perfected, and impatient voice cut me off. "We're just finding parking. I swear, PWA had Chestnut shut down between Broad and 16th for no apparent reason...."
I grinned at Jasmine's frustration. "You're not missing anything, honey, relax. Grand opening is tomorrow night. Tonight is just friends and family and we wouldn't get started without you."
Jasmine was still mumbling curses about the Philadelphia Water Authority as I hung up. "Girls are on their way," I told Kit.
He clutched his plastic wine glass harder. "They better be if they was any chance of there being any Riesling left." He fluttered over and kissed my cheek. He smelled like cologne and sweet wine. "I'm so proud of you. And nervous for you. But mostly proud."
I laughed. "I couldn't have done any of this without you," I told him sincerely.
But his e
yes were on the front door. "And I couldn't have done it without loverboy," he swooned.
I looked up to see Liam at the front door. A puff of warm spring air accompanied him as he strolled in, surveying the shop with wide gray eyes.
I rushed up to him and he caught me up in his arms, swinging me around before kissing me, hard. "Oh Shay, baby girl, you did good."
I laughed and poked him in the chest. "And you looked good," I teased picking at his jeans and casual button down.
"Focus here, Shay," he grinned at me, showing that dimple that was always my undoing.
I snapped back up from leering at him. "Focus on what?" I teased back. "Is there anything else that matters in the world besides the way your ass looks in jeans?"
"Oh get a room you two," Kit huffed.
"Why, when we have the whole store here?" Liam pulled me to him and pretended to grope me to Kit's evident disgust. "Surely my girl being the owner means something, right?"
Owner. It still didn't sound right. It sounded unbelievable, in fact. But no I, no we, had done it.
When Liam pulled his money from his family's holdings, he needed a new venture to invest in. This...whole incredible thing was actually his idea.
I surveyed the bright shop with so much pride my heart could have burst. The DIY stations, the classroom, the little library rack bursting with books on flower lore. We had already been written up in both Philadelphia Weekly and the Inquirer as the hippest "florist with a twist."
"Shay, I moved the tables into the back, they were crowding the fire exits," Darius rumbled from behind me. He was in charge of setup for the opening tomorrow and was taking everything a bit too seriously.
