Page 18 of Honest Neglect

By the time I was done, Leroy was sitting in the armchair next to the window, and he looked stunned. I wondered if he believed me. But if he had dealt with Mark before, he must have known just what he was capable of.

“So the best thing for you now is to stay here,” he told me, as though he wished there was any other way he could get through this. I knew he didn’t like the idea, but there was nowhere else we could go. Oakville wasn’t safe for us, and Mark and Tony didn’t know we were out here.

“Thank you,” I replied with a nod. “We’ll start putting together a plan as soon as we can, and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

I hoped, anyway.

“You and Lily?”

“Yeah, I want to keep her close,” I replied. “She’ll want to take off back to Oakville and deal with them now, but there’s no way I’m going to risk letting her back into their orbit. They kidnapped her once, and if they get their hands on her again...”

I couldn’t even entertain the thought. I knew I couldn’t risk it. She had only just made it out alive the first time around, and they would be even more brutal and swift in dispatching her.

“I guess I should let her know,” I sighed. “And figure out where her mom’s going to stay. She’s recovering from an operation, and she really needs to be at home right now.”

“We’ll do what we can,” Leroy assured me with a nod. “Whatever it takes. If it puts those McCarthy men behind bars, it’ll be a good thing for this community.”

I headed back through to the kitchen, and Lily raised her eyebrows at me as soon as I entered the room. I put an arm around her, squeezing her close to me.

“So Leroy and I have talked,” I explained. “And we think it would be a good idea for Lily and me to stay here for a while.”

“Of course,” Grace replied, and she got to her feet. “I’ll go and start preparing the guest room. It’s not much, but it’ll be enough to keep you safe while you’re here.”

“Let me help,” Lily offered, but Grace shook her head.

“You stay here and rest,” she said. “You’re going to need it, if what you’ve told me is true.”

Lily smiled at her thankfully, and then looked up at me.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she murmured to me. “We really need to make a move against them, after what they did to me...”

“We need to rest and recoup,” I replied, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “And this is the safest place for it. Leroy served in Vietnam. If there’s anyone I trust to stand a chance against Mark and Tony, it’s him.”

“I think I need to go back,” Diane interjected, and we all looked over at her.

“Diane, there’s room for you here,” Leroy offered, but she shook her head.

“No, I need to go home,” she replied. “Barry can stay with me for a while. And it’ll be good to have someone on the ground, close to Frank so we can keep up with any more information that comes out. I can pass it back to you, keep you updated.”

“I don’t like the thought of you there alone,” Lily protested.

“I won’t be there alone,” she pointed out. “I’ll be with Barry.”

I cocked an eyebrow. Oh, so she was confident in having Barry around like that? It was clear the two of them were getting closer, but this would be a step up for the relationship.

“You think he’ll be able to help you? With your hip and everything?” Lily pressed.

“He’ll do just fine,” she promised her. “But I need my own bed. I don’t want to be away from you, but I...I can’t let them drive me out of my home. I just can’t.”

Lily leaned over to give her mom a hug, pulling her in close like she never wanted to let her go. I wished there was some way I could keep the two of them together, make it safe for Lily to go back to her mom’s place with her, but the situation was as it was.

“I’ll come and visit you,” Lily offered, but Diane shook her head.

“No, you need to stay here, where it’s safe,” she replied, and her voice cracked as she spoke. “I can’t stand the thought of something happening to you, Lily. I was so sure I lost you, and I can’t...I can’t face that again, I just can’t.”

Diane’s shoulders slumped, and she suddenly looked a whole lot older than she actually was. The weight of this stress and fear had aged her. I couldn’t imagine the havoc it was wreaking on her health right now, how hard it must have been for her to believe everything was going to be okay when she had come so close to losing her daughter.

“I’ll drive you back to Oakville,” Leroy offered.