Chapter 13 - Olivia Comes Home)
Emma ran outside.
"Lily!"
No answer.
Charles searched the garden.
Olivia ran toward the driveway.
The gate stood open.
Emma's panic became physical.
She could barely breathe.
"Lily!"
Then a tiny voice came from behind the tool shed.
"I'm here."
Emma rounded the corner.
Lily sat on the grass.
She was crying.
In her hands was a phone.
Vanessa's old phone.
"Where did you get that?"
"Mom left it under my pillow."
Emma crouched.
"What did she say?"
Lily showed her the screen.
A recorded message had been opened.
Emma pressed play.
Vanessa's voice.
"Lily, sweetheart, everyone is lying to you. Emma wants to take you away. Grandpa wants to give you to Olivia because he feels guilty. But I'm your mother. I am the person who stayed."
Lily looked at Emma.
"Is she coming back?"
"I don't know."
The recording continued.
"If you want to stay with me, go to the garden gate at four tomorrow afternoon. Do not tell anyone."
Emma stopped the message.
Olivia and Charles arrived.
Lily stared at Olivia.
"She says you'll take me."
Olivia knelt several feet away.
"I won't take you anywhere without telling you what's happening."
"Do I have to live with you?"
The question hurt.
Emma saw it.
Olivia answered gently.
"Not today."
"Ever?"
"I hope someday you'll want to."
"What if I don't?"
Olivia swallowed.
"Then we'll figure it out."
Lily stared at her.
"Mom gets mad when I say no."
Olivia's voice nearly broke.
"I'm not Vanessa."
It was the first time she had said Vanessa's name to Lily without anger.
Lily looked at the two rabbits in her hands.
Then she asked, "Did you really write every birthday?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I couldn't talk to you."
"Did you know what I looked like?"
"Sometimes."
"How?"
Olivia looked at Charles.
He seemed confused.
"I found photographs online," Olivia said. "School events. Neighborhood pages. Once your grandfather posted a picture before Vanessa made him remove it."
Charles looked ashamed.
Lily thought for a moment.
"Did you see my missing tooth?"
Olivia smiled.
"The bottom one?"
Lily nodded.
"I saw."
It was the first small bridge between them.
That evening, Olivia stayed for dinner.
Nobody discussed custody.
They ate spaghetti.
Lily asked Olivia whether she liked horses.
Olivia said she had once fallen off one and refused to ride again.
Lily laughed.
It was the first time Emma heard her laugh around Olivia.
After dinner, Charles entered the living room carrying a folder.
"I need to tell you something."
Olivia looked at him.
Charles sat across from her.
"I found the original affidavit."
Her face hardened.
"The one you signed?"
"Yes."
"Why show me?"
"Because tomorrow Margaret is filing it with my sworn statement."
"What statement?"
"That I lied."
Olivia stared.
Charles continued.
"I will tell the court you returned. I will tell them Vanessa misrepresented your condition. I will tell them I later learned your consent was disputed and did nothing."
Olivia's eyes filled with anger.
"Do you think confessing now fixes it?"
"No."
"Do you think I forgive you?"
"No."
"Then what do you want?"
"Nothing."
She laughed bitterly.
"Everyone wants something."
Charles nodded.
"Then I want Lily to have the truth even if the truth costs me my relationship with her."
Lily stood in the hallway listening.
Charles saw her.
He did not stop.
"I chose fear over you," he said. "I chose comfort over Olivia. And I let Vanessa become more controlling because admitting what I saw would mean admitting what I had done."
Lily walked closer.
Charles looked at her.
"I should have protected you."
She asked, "Are you going to jail?"
Everyone went quiet.
Charles answered carefully.
"I don't know."
Emma knew no one had said anything about jail.
Lily had probably heard the word somewhere.
"Did you do a crime?"
"I may have signed something that wasn't true."
"Why?"
"Because I was scared."
Lily looked down.
"That's not a good reason."
"No."
She moved toward Olivia.
Then surprised everyone by sitting beside her.
Not touching.
Just close.
Charles began crying.
Lily looked at him.
"You can cry."
He nodded.
"Thank you."
"But I don't forgive you yet."
His face crumpled.
"You don't have to."
Lily leaned against Olivia's arm.
Olivia froze.
Slowly, carefully, she rested one hand beside Lily rather than around her.
Emma watched both of them.
Something healing was happening.
Small.
Uncertain.
Real.
Then the doorbell rang.
Charles answered.
A process server stood outside.
He handed Charles an envelope.
Charles opened it.
His expression changed.
"What?" Emma asked.
He handed the papers to Olivia.
Vanessa had filed an emergency petition seeking immediate sole custody of Lily.
Her statement accused Charles, Emma, and Olivia of conspiring to alienate Lily from her legal mother.
And she had requested that Olivia be prohibited from contacting Lily until a hearing.
May you like
The hearing was scheduled for Monday morning.
Three days away.
