Читать книгу A Love That Binds - Rochelle Chase - Страница 3

The bus ride back to DC seemed to go quickly. Lilly still hadn’t said much, although I was relieved that she had more colour in her face and looked a little brighter. She had attempted to eat more, and the sleeping pills had helped her throughout the last few nights, so she didn’t seem too exhausted. Ms Mitchell had given Lilly a book to read and hoped it would keep her occupied on the drive back. I managed to zone out and listen to my playlist for most of the trip. I knew that it would be a hard road ahead and I needed to stay strong.

When we arrived back at Brightonfield, my mother was waiting by the front gates for us. She was very emotional and had tears in her eyes as soon as she saw Lilly. My mum had already picked up a few of Lilly’s belongings from her house, as she knew it would have been too soon for Lilly to even walk through her front door. We said our goodbyes to Ms Mitchell and a few of the other girls before we drove off.

“Okay girls, what would you like for dinner?” my mum asked us as we turned into our driveway.

“I’m thinking pizza,” I replied as I looked over towards Lilly, hoping that would cheer her up. She didn’t respond and appeared to be lost in her own thoughts. I carried our bags inside and left Lilly alone for a while.

“She just needs time, darling,” my mother said. “I’ll go spend time with Lilly, why don’t you take a bath before dinner? You’ll feel much better afterwards.”

She was right. I lit a candle and soaked in the tub for over an hour and forgot about everything.

The next few days flew by. Lilly had settled into her new room and adjusted into our family a lot quicker than we had expected. I even heard her laugh a few times at my father’s silly jokes.

One evening at dinner, my dad announced he had something very important he wanted to discuss.

“Lilly, how do you feel about us adopting you?” My father paused for a second as he looked over to my mother. “We want you to know that we are your family, we’ve always considered you a second daughter, and we think it’s important to take this step.”

Lilly looked amazed and taken aback. She stood up and threw her arms around my father.

“I would love that,” she replied in a quiet voice.

I felt very proud to have such great parents. Even under such traumatic and stressful conditions, they knew what to do, they made the right choices.

“Excellent, that settles that!” My father cheered and raised his glass as we enjoyed the rest of our dinner.

The following week in the early afternoon as I was pottering around my room, the phone rang and my mother yelled out to me.

“Jess, phone call for you, it’s a boy.”

I knew who it was and rushed to take the call. Ten minutes later, I walked out into the lounge room. Mum and Dad were sitting on the sofa watching television and Lilly was lying on the floor, sketching. She loved to draw and I was glad to see her keeping herself busy.

“So, how is Joe?” Lilly asked as she continued to sketch what looked like a quirky figure.

“He’s good, he asked me to the movies this Saturday. I said I would think about it,” I replied hesitantly, still not sure how I felt.

“Well, the answer is yes, if you are wondering. You can go,” my mother assured. “Lilly told us about how caring he was towards you both. Your father and I would like to meet him when he picks you up, though,” she added as I looked over to her in surprise.

“If he picks me up. I haven’t said yes yet,” I replied as I sat down on the lounge and curiously admired Lilly’s sketch.

“Go out with him, Jess, he’s a good guy. Go and have some fun,” Lilly insisted. “But first, stay there and let me sketch you, okay?” she said as she turned over a fresh page.

Even though it had been a horrific week, I felt fortunate. I had great supportive parents and my best friend was now going to be my sister.

“These sketches are good, Lilly, you’re really talented,” I said, looking over her shoulder as she sketched. I was so impressed with how quickly her art had improved and progressed over the past few weeks.

“Thanks, Jess. I’ve always dreamt of having my own art show one day,” she said as she smiled and admired her own work.

Lilly had been through a lot and I was proud of her. She still had dreams and I was so glad she did.

The weekend couldn’t come around soon enough. Saturday arrived and Lilly was almost more excited than me. We spent more than an hour picking through my closet, trying to decide what I was going to wear for the all-important first date with Joe. Lilly was my fashion advisor, making the decisions for me when I couldn’t.

“Come on in, Joe, it’s nice to meet you.” I heard my father invite Joe in when he arrived.

Lilly helped me curl my hair while my parents chatted with Joe.

“Have a nice night, kids. No later than eleven, okay?” my father advised, before we walked out the door.

“Of course, Mr Gardener. I’ll have Jess back on time,” Joe replied.

We went to Toscana, the local pizza restaurant on Second Street, before the movie. As we ate our dinner, I got to know all about Joe. Though we had spent time together at the camp, we hadn’t really talked about ourselves or our lives because we were too busy paddle boarding. Joe was nineteen, two years older than me, although he looked and acted a lot older. We chatted about our families and Joe talked about his law degree and his dreams.

“I’m studying to be a lawyer, Jess. I have three more years to go, then I’m going to marry you,” he said confidently, and we both laughed.

“Let’s just get through our first date first, shall we.” I liked Joe’s outspoken nature. He said what he felt, no matter how crazy it sounded.

After the movie on our drive home, Joe talked more about practising law and his dream to have his own firm in DC. He also wanted to have branches in New York and Chicago one day. He was very ambitious and passionate about law. He asked me what I wanted to do and I told him that I hadn’t fully decided. He sensed I felt a little awkward not knowing, and was a real gentleman and didn’t push the topic.

“It will come to you, Jess, you’ve plenty of time to decide,” he said as he placed his hand lightly on my knee.

I felt the warmth of his hand and a tingle went up my spine.

When we arrived home, Joe walked me to the front gate and looked at me intensely. “I can’t wait to see you again, Jess,” he said as he leant in to kiss me.

I wanted to see him again too. We kissed for a few minutes until we heard the neighbour’s dog start to bark furiously. We both laughed as we said goodbye.

I walked inside with a huge smile on my face. My father was sitting in his chair reading his papers and looked up.

“Ten thirty, I like this boy already,” Dad exclaimed. “And I’ve heard of Joe’s parents from around the neighbourhood. The Granger’s are respectable people, Jess.”

“I like him a lot, Dad,” I said as I kissed my father on the forehead before heading off to my room. I checked on Lilly before I went to bed, she was sound asleep. She had soft music playing so I tip-toed in and turned it off. Lilly’s floor was covered in sketches and I spotted a beautiful drawing of me amongst them. I smiled as I closed her door, she was becoming real artist.

My mum had booked Lilly to go into group counselling and she was due to attend once a week for at least six months. A few of the families who had also lost their loved ones in the plane crash were also attending. Lilly was grateful to my parents for everything they had done for her. They had arranged everything to be packed up from Lilly’s home and they had put the house on the market for sale as well.

Soon we were back at boarding school and studies were getting harder as we were coming into our final exams. Before we knew it, we would be finished and ready for university. Lilly had her heart set on completing an arts degree and I planned to major in business and finance. I had spoken to Joe a few times over the last few weeks and we had planned to meet up on the weekend before exams. I couldn’t wait to see him and was counting down the days.

One afternoon just before my final class in the afternoon, I heard Claire calling out to me in a raging panic.

“Jess, come quickly, it’s Lilly, she’s throwing up in the toilets.”

Claire was a friend of ours from class and we shared a room together in the boarding house. I quickly ran to the bathrooms with Claire to find Lilly bent over a toilet bowl, moaning.

“Are you okay, Lilly?” I asked, concerned, as I tried to move her hair away from her face.

“I think so,” Lilly replied breathlessly. She wiped her mouth as she walked over to the tap to drink some water. Suddenly she stopped short, clutching her stomach. “Oh no,” she moaned again as she ran back into the cubicle.

I waited with Lilly, holding back her hair as she threw up again, as Claire ran off to find the school doctor. They came back and the doctor took Lilly away to his rooms to give her a full check-up. I waited outside the rooms, a little concerned yet sure it was probably nothing serious and most likely a twenty-four-hour stomach bug. The food at the school canteen was not of the greatest quality and other students had been known to come down with the stomach bug quite often.

A little while later, Lilly walked out of the doctor’s rooms looking distressed. Her face was covered in tears.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I quickly stood up, worried about what Lilly was about to tell me.

“Jess, I’m pregnant! How can this be?” Lilly was in shock, again.

I froze for a moment. I knew how. This was because of that night, the night with Jarrah. Everything Joe had told me about Lilly and Jarrah flashed back through my mind. I knew why Lilly was pregnant and now I was going to have to tell her, and she would know I kept it from her. I had no idea how to tell Lilly, but I had to tell her something. She looked so confused and deeply horrified.

Lilly didn’t say a word. She sat down and listened to me as I tried to explain to her what I thought could have happened. It was such a shock that even I found it hard to believe that Lilly was pregnant.

“Please, Lilly, you have to understand, no one really knew exactly what had happened that night. We weren’t sure and we couldn’t ask you, you had just found out about your parents and …”

Lilly interrupted before I could say another word and placed her hand on my knee. “It’s okay, Jess, please calm down, I understand why you didn’t tell me. I’m not mad at you. I could never be mad at you, you’re my best friend. I know you were just trying to do what you thought was right, you were trying to keep me safe. But what am I going to do now?” Lilly looked at me with tears in her eyes, helpless. No one could have ever imagined the events that had taken place, but it happened, and now we were going to have to get through this, together.

“I don’t know, Lilly, but we are going to have to tell my parents.” I guessed that at least they would be supportive.

“I know, but I’m scared.” Lilly was shaking as she spoke. “I just can’t believe I’m pregnant, Jess,” she said as she shook her head in disbelief.

“It’s going to be okay,” I assured her. It had to be okay. We had no choice but to make things okay.

When we told my parents, they did end up being very supportive and suggested to Lilly that she wait a few weeks before she made any decisions. Lilly needed time to let everything sink in and so she kept busy. She spent every spare moment she had sketching and painting. She entered her paintings in all the available art comps and soon became a finalist in one of the local competitions. We all went along to the opening and then celebrated with dinner afterwards at Zaytinya’s, a popular Mediterranean restaurant on 9^thStreet.

It was a Thursday evening and Zaytinya’s was buzzing with people enjoying after-work drinks. There was dancing and you could hear the band playing hip hop music in the adjoining bar.

My father ordered a bottle of Bordeaux as soon as we sat down at our table, made a toast and congratulated Lilly on her recent success.

Lilly thanked my father and told us she had made a decision about her pregnancy.

“I’m going to keep my baby,” Lilly said as she proudly looked down at her belly that was still not noticeably showing.

There was silence at the table before my mother spoke.

“Are you sure, Lilly? This is a big decision and you have your whole life ahead of you,” my mother stumbled, trying to be careful with her words.

“I’m certain,” Lilly answered, “I don’t expect you to agree with my decision but I’m not changing my mind and I hope you will still support me, the baby can carry on the Stone surname, and that’s that.” You could hear Lilly’s conviction in her voice. She had made her decision and we had no choice but to accept it.

“Okay Lilly, of course we will always support you, we are here for you, for whatever you need,” my mother said as she reached out and took Lilly’s hand.

“Lillian Stone, my dear, you’re a very courageous young lady,” my father added as he looked over at my friend and smiled.

“So, I’m going to be an auntie,” I said as I looked over at her, both of us with tears in our eyes. This time they were tears of joy, because something special had finally come out of this. Lilly was going to become a mother.

Two weeks of exams went by swiftly and before we knew it, school was over. We didn’t start university till early the following year. Lilly planned to attend the first semester and then take the second semester off, just before her baby was due.

Lilly didn’t attend the end-of-year party. She was concerned that the other girls would notice her protruding stomach and make comments behind her back. I tried to convince her that our friends weren’t like that, but she had already made up her mind to stay home. Most of the girls had hotel rooms booked close to Brightonfield so we didn’t need to worry about driving back. I had invited Joe and was looking forward to seeing him and having a fun night.

“So, we have a room?” Joe whispered in my ear while we were on the dance floor. He looked very handsome in his tuxedo and I was proud to have him as my date.

“I have a room,” I replied cheekily.

We were both looking forward to spending our first night together. We left the party around two and walked back to the room. As Joe opened the door, he looked at me with his deep blue eyes.

“Are you sure?” Joe quietly asked as he kissed my hand.

“Yes,” I replied. I was ready, it was time. We made love for hours and finally fell asleep early in the morning when the sun came up.

“Good afternoon, beautiful,” Joe said as he watched my eyes slightly open.

“Is it late?” I asked as I rolled over to check the time. It was four in the afternoon.

Joe kissed me and smiled as he looked at my body under the sheets. “It was amazing last night, Jess, you’re so beautiful, I could stay with you here all day.”

I felt the same; Joe made me feel like I was the only person in the world that mattered. We ordered room service and ate it in bed. We both didn’t want our weekend to end, but I had to be home that evening and Joe had to drive back to his parent’s campsite to help with a group arriving the following day.

When I arrived home, Lilly was excited to hear all about my weekend.

“You and Joe, oh my god, way to go Jess,” Lilly exclaimed after I told her about the night earlier. She was in high spirits as she was excited about becoming a mother and she was beginning to show.

“You know, Jess, it’s been a crazy few months and I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m really happy. I’m happy to become a mum. The worst has happened, but something beautiful has come out of this. If it’s a girl, I’m calling her Grace, and if it’s a boy, I’ll call him Jack,” she said excitedly.

“I’m happy you’re happy, Lilly, you’ve managed to rise above through so much,” I replied. I was so proud of Lilly, she deserved to be happy.

We spent the holidays at home in DC. Lilly painted most days and Joe visited often. We went out to the movies and dinners and enjoyed our time together. We were sitting in the lounge listening to music one afternoon when Joe finally came out with those three little words I had been waiting to hear.

“I love you, Jess,” he said as he smiled.

“I love you too, Joe. This has all gone so fast, it’s only been a few months since we met,” I answered. That was the first time I heard myself say those three words that scared me.

“Let’s get married next year, Jess, why wait?”

Joe looked serious when he asked me this and I was flattered, but I didn’t know how to respond to him. I still felt too young for marriage. I think I was also afraid of love – my parents had been such great role models, I found it hard to believe their kind of love could actually ever happen to me, and besides, it was just too soon to think about it.

“Okay, let’s not get too excited, let’s just enjoy loving each other for now,” I replied.

Joe wasn’t afraid to say what he felt and I admired that in him. Unlike me, he wasn’t scared of love.

Lilly walked in carrying all her brushes to the kitchen sink and she spotted us cuddling.

“You two lovebirds make me sick. Get off the couch and come outside. I’m painting and need subjects. How about the lovers?” Lilly laughed as Joe and I followed her outside.

Joe went home after dinner that night. My parents had decided a while ago that they really liked him and they had started to include him in almost all our family get-togethers. I watched from the window as my father walked Joe out to his car. They looked deep in conversation.

“What was that all about?” I asked my father curiously as he walked back inside the house.

“Nothing, just male talk, he’s a good man, Jess,” my father replied, with no intention to tell me anymore.

Lilly and I sat up late that night and watched a movie. We had our usual ice cream, tea and cookies. Lilly’s belly had grown and she looked too cute in her oversized pyjamas.

“I have so many cravings lately, Jess, my appetite is out of control,” she said as she shoved a large spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

“Well, you are eating for two,” I laughed as I placed the cookies closer to her so she wouldn’t need to move.

Lilly’s family home was sold not long after Christmas and her parents had a significant life insurance policy that was approved as well. Lilly now had enough money to purchase an apartment when she was ready to leave and she would still have plenty of funds left over.

“We would like you to stay and live with us, at least for a few years,” my mother said to Lilly one evening after dinner. “You’re still so young and we don’t want you to have to go through this alone. We’re your family now and we want to help you with the baby. We can turn the office into the baby’s room!” My mother was getting excited to have a baby in the house.

Lilly was pleased and grateful for the support. I knew that she would have been able to support herself alone if she wanted to, but at the same time, why not accept help when it is offered?

The first week of university was full on, and the classes were very long and tiring. I had enrolled in some challenging courses and wanted to complete a dual degree in finance and business. Lilly enjoyed her art classes and made new friends easily. One evening after her counselling group, she walked through the door with a twinkle in her eye.

“I’ve got a date and I’m six months pregnant, how cool is that,” she said excitedly as she struggled to sit up on the kitchen bar stool.

“Oh my gosh! Who is he?” I asked, intrigued.

Lilly talked about the boy she had met at therapy group over dinner. His name was Michael and he had lost his family too. His parents were both reporters and they were killed in the Afghanistan war many years ago. I certainly considered myself very lucky to still have both my parents with me, when I heard these stories. Michael had an older sister and they both lived with their aunt in Georgetown.

“Invite Michael over, we would like to meet him before you go on your date,” my father insisted. He was happy for Lilly, but he was very protective of her, especially after everything she had already been through.

Luckily, Lilly agreed that inviting him over to meet everyone would be a good idea, and she invited Michael over one evening before their date, as my father had requested.

“Michael will be here any minute. Oh god, Jess, look how fat I am!” Lilly panicked as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“You look beautiful, Lilly. You’re pregnant, you’re allowed to be fat,” I assured her.

“Can I even have sex at this size?”

“Who’s talking about sex?! It’s just a date,” I said in surprise as Lilly laughed.

“I’m only kidding, but it would be funny, my first conscious sexual experience at this size.” Lilly had managed not to lose her sense of humour with all she had been through. “I’m nervous, Jess,” she said, still noticing her oversized belly in the mirror.

“You’ll be fine, just be yourself,” I assured her as I handed over her purse.

When Lilly arrived home from her date, she was beaming.

“I think I’m in love,” she exclaimed as she walked in the door. We were all sitting in our lounge room, eager to hear everything.

“So soon, after one date?” I asked.

“Michael’s adorable. He took me to Gianni’s, the fancy Italian restaurant in the city. It was just perfect. We danced and then went for a long romantic stroll afterwards. It was like a fairy-tale,” Lilly said excitedly. You couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.

“Let’s just calm down and take it one step at a time, you’ve got a baby on the way,” my mother said, concerned.

“He’s excited for the baby, he loves children and he’s invited us all to his 21^stbirthday next weekend at his aunt’s house,” Lilly added, ignoring my mother’s comment. Lilly had no intention of taking it one step at a time, she had clearly fallen hard.

Michael’s 21^stwas the following Sunday. He had mentioned to Lilly that I could invite Joe. Michael was studying to be a doctor and his older sister had just completed her psychology degree.

We arrived early for Michael’s 21^st. There were fairy lights lit up all around the house. There was a long, extravagant table set for dinner in the main room and the bar was set up outside by the pool. Michael had organised a band and had invited thirty people for dinner, with more friends to arrive later.

“Thank you for inviting us, what a beautiful home you have.” I heard my mum talking to Michael’s aunt when we arrived. We were the first ones there, which gave us the opportunity to get to know Michael’s family before all the guests arrived.

After dinner, Michael made a toast and gave a short speech, and then the dancing began. Michael hardly left Lilly’s side the whole night and they both looked so happy together.

Joe and I were sitting outside by the pool enjoying our cocktails.

“Can you believe how quickly life changes, Joe?” I said as I looked at Lilly and Michael cuddling on the dance floor.

“You’re right. Let’s not waste another second. May I have this dance?” Joe asked as he stood up, eager to go to the dancefloor, and then we danced the night away.