The Unforgiven

By Hugo Spidalieri

The Unforgiven is the story of two women who meet in their childhood, spend their lives together, and in an act that takes place, it forever changes the course of their lives and people in it.

The story embodying the manuscript is the depiction of two young women of diverse ethnic and social backgrounds, brought together as young girls on summer vacation in their youth. The story chronicles the years of their lives spent together and apart and the love between them that becomes

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781640967267

Book preview

Chapter One

Through the open window, a late afternoon sun cast a warm shadow across the bedroom floor. A cool breeze wound its way through the air and into Atessa’s heart. For what seemed the millionth time, she found herself in that other life, the one she had left behind in search of hidden truths, all her years in between riddled with the lies of a restless youth. A voice whispered in her ear, and her mind lapsed from sleep into dreams.

We were happiest in those early years, she exclaimed to Lilly. He came along in a time when I was looking for a purpose in my life. Loving him gave me that purpose. I thought to myself if I were to fall in love with him, my life would surely be complete.

Lilly leaned back in the rocking chair in the opposite corner of the room, the rhythm of its movement keeping time with her thoughts. In another moment, only the memory of her presence remained there.

She crossed the room to where Atessa lay across the bed, sensing a storm about to pass. He stole my heart and gave it back to you, and you loved him for it without even knowing, she snapped. Sometimes I hate you for it. They both held onto the past for a moment longer and let the tears swell up in their eyes. Lilly let go a sigh, and then a sheepish grin came across her face that broke into laughter.

Atessa hit her across the back with a pillow in a gesture of relief. The two of them fell back on the bed, recanting older lives together. There was a quiet place in these memories where they could always return to rekindle the bond between them.

Across the piazza from the train station, the church bell tolled out in recognition of the noon hour. It was a cool autumn afternoon in the small northern Italian town of Brisighella. Tall cypress trees lined the street around the piazza, their shadow-light brushing against the cobblestones in gentle reprise.

In a passing moment, a young woman appeared in the doorway of one of the buildings. Locking the door behind her, she stepped into the street. In the reflection of the shop windows, her stark beauty enhanced each frame. She walked along with the stride of a woman searching for her place in time. Her long ebony hair was offset by deep gray eyes and an olive complexion. The slenderness of her frame begot a tenderness she exuded with each step she left behind.

As she walked, she thought of the circumstances that had brought her to this remote European town. She was barely an infant when she came to live with the elderly couple she affectionately referred to as Mama and Bobbo. Giovanni and Eda had watched over her as their own, seeing to her upbringing and education in all of the traditional ways. She was thankful for two such kind and generous souls. Though she never spoke of it, there was a restlessness within her that longed to let go of this place, of these people. A need in her that wished to be without the old ways, to reach out into her past, and recapture the life she was born to. A tear rolled down her cheek.

Lilly’s finger touched the tear on her cheek, catching the wish as it fell. She whispered something to herself and then rose and crossed to the window.

I would have given anything for him then, she extolled to the wind. It’s been so long and yet it seems only a moment ago that he held me in his arms and promised me forever.

All those times we were together, I knew his heart belonged to someone else. Though at the time, I had no idea it was you, Atessa replied.

I don’t believe that, not for a moment, answered Lilly. He ran from heart to heart without ever a conscience for his actions. I used to think that one day, one woman would trip him up and it would be all over for him. You were that woman, she pointed in Atessa’s direction. He came to you in that lost way he approached all of his feelings, and you took him in… at first out of pity. But he won your heart. And he did it in the most devious of ways—on the embers of my love for him.

I don’t think it was that way at all, came Atessa’s response. He was kinder to my heart, in some ways more than any man I have known. All those weeks he cared for me after the accident… well, I loved him even more for that.

And where did it get you? He abandoned you in a foreign country with no means of support. And if not for me, you would still be lying there destitute in some hospital bed. And all that nonsense about his time had come to go. I never quite understood that, and to tell you the truth, I doubt I ever will.

She and Atessa had shared many of the same heartbreaks together over the years. No two friends were more like sisters to one another than they. Lilly cried for months when Atessa passed away; cursing her for once again getting the last word and leaving her to face the end all alone. Lilly did not do well alone. She often wished that she had at least one child of her own to look after and one to look after her in her later years. But somewhere along the way, time took a turn in an opposite direction. When Ethan died, his brother, Thomas, had contacted Lilly and given her a box with certain of his belongings that were passed down to her in his will. Among them were his letters from an ill begotten past; and with them began her journey back in search of the child she had never borne.

Lilly came from the Far East as a little girl to live with her Aunt in the small suburb of Brecksville, Ohio. She grew up learning to play dress-up and had an affinity, from a young age, for poetry. The kind that Atessa would refer to as ethereal.

Atessa grew up in a small village in Westchester County, New York. Scarrrs-dale Lilly would call it, trying to imitate the high society people who lived there; but Atessa was not one of them. Each summer for as long as either of them could remember, Atessa would come to spend her vacation with her Aunt Beth and Uncle Thomas while her parents vacationed in Europe.

What kind of name is Atessa anyway? she asked when they first met that afternoon in the park.

I don’t quite know where it comes from, to be honest.

Who’s asking you about honesty? Lilly snapped back. I just wanted to know about your name. Lilly had a way with words that was always getting her into trouble, and sometimes worse. Well, it sounds pretty uppity to me. Lilly reached her hand out to the then little girl on the swing beside her. My name is Lilly! I am seven years old and I live with my Aunt Lee. My parents sent me to the United States to go to Yale. I’m not sure where that is or what I’m supposed to do when I get there, but I guess I’ll figure it out when the time comes.

Atessa laughed at her in the way she would always come to in the years ahead. My name is Atessa, and I am nine. I spend my summer vacations here with my aunt and uncle.

Well, Tess, you and I are going to be best friends.

My mother doesn’t like people to call me that.

I figured something like that, that’s why you’ll always be Tess to me.

There, on a summer afternoon in that small park, two little girls from nowhere in particular played until sunset. And when it was time to go, Atessa placed her arms around Lilly and hugged her the way best friends do. Lilly responded in kind. It was an embrace that would last a lifetime.

Lilly stood in front of the mirror and, in her reflection, saw Atessa eclipsing her years. She turned and looked at the empty bed.

Tess, I miss you so, she whispered. She felt the emotion of the moment swell in her heart and thought of all the unfinished lives that the two of them had now left behind. She had kept this room just as Tess had before she had gone away. Lilly could not bear to think of it any other way. From time to time, she would come here to sit in the rocking chair and take refuge from the time between them that had slipped away…

In the schoolyard, Atessa would spend hours teaching her to play hopscotch. Lilly would argue at what a stupid game it was. Atessa would scold her most appropriately for not paying attention, and continue the lesson. Even at the tender age of nine, Lilly noticed the lady in her. She was a small child with long chestnut hair past her waist and gray-blue eyes sunken in a bronze-like complexion. She would always wear her hair up in one of those fancy French braids, and Lilly was forever tugging at it—and her—to let it down. Thinking back now as she fingered the strands of hair in the brush on the dresser in front of her, she was always trying to get her to let her hair down… in one way or another. She laughed and thought to herself how she missed teasing that little girl. Atessa may have been nine years old and a proper little lady from Scarsdale, but Lilly was seven going on thirty-three, and she never let her forget it.

Ethan Philips was also a Yale student whom Lilly had met while in her sophomore year at the college. He was a political science major whose minor was Lilly. And Lilly was dedicated to the tutelage of his earning his degree in this course. He was a bit rough around the edges for Lilly, what with his Boston upbringing and all. But Lilly would change all that. And change him she did. She got him reading poetry by Schultz and listening to New Age music. Before long, Ethan was following Lilly’s heart into the depths of Kierkegaard. He adored Lilly. Every moment with her brought him such pleasure, so much so that his father threatened to cancel his tuition support. It was here that Ethan drew the line. It was here that he always did.

Atessa had been away for the semester studying art at the university in Florence when Lilly and Ethan had met. Lilly wrote her long letters about him, and they spent hours on the phone indulging in Lilly’s fantasy. It was Christmas break when Ethan and Atessa chanced to meet. She was flying in from Rome, and he was on his way to Colorado to go skiing. Trapped in O’Hare Airport in one of the blizzards that Chicago was famous for, they met at the airport hotel, each trying to rent the last room. Finally, Atessa caved in.

I’m tired and hungry and cold and there isn’t another hotel room in the city! We’re both adults here. Ethan nodded in agreement. Let’s just share the room. The desk clerk looked at them both in query. Ethan again nodded in agreement, and in the next moment, Atessa found herself in a hot shower, drifting off in her mind amidst the steam and the water streaming down her body.

It was never meant to happen. But later that evening over room service and small talk, a moment began to unfold. He spoke to her in a way that was so familiar to her, almost as if she had known him all her life. What ensued left her both breathless and ashamed. He could not have been more gentle with her. From the moment he touched her, she knew. Her heart let go a sigh that had spent all its years tightly curled up in those French braids she wore. The night wore on between them, and when morning finally came, a circle had closed and a heart had been broken. The ringing of the phone jarred Atessa from her sleep.

Tess? Where are you? I had a hell of time finding you. Why didn’t you call me? I was worried sick about you.

Slow down, Lilly… I’m barely awake! Not to mention that my body thinks it’s three in the morning.

Ethan awoke and sat up in the bed. Who are you speaking to? he whispered.

"My sister," Atessa replied.

Who was that? Lilly sparked.

I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. She could feel her face becoming flush as Ethan buried his head beneath the covers beside her. I have to go now, she blurted at Lilly, her voice bursting into a higher octave. Father’s plane will be arriving at noon. Pick me up. Bye… The phone dropped to the floor. Rising up to meet her lips, he paused to introduce himself.

In all the commotion, I don’t believe I caught your name. Mine is—

Atessa’s finger pressed against his lips to silence him. And in the next moment, her own lips erased any further words from his thoughts. Your name is ‘here,’ and mine is ‘now,’ and that is all we ever need to know. He simply smiled into the moment and finished her sentence with another kiss.

Atessa stared out the window of the plane, recanting the intensity of those moments to the passing clouds.

In the courtyard of the convent, Constance ran barefoot in the fountain, her skirt pulled up around her waist, her voice filling the air with laughter. Sister Octavia looked on from a few feet away as the young girl spun around and abruptly stood still.

What am I going to do with you, my child? You certainly have a bit of the devil in you… God forgive me for saying so.

Constance stepped from the fountain, letting go of her skirt and reaching for her shoes. I do apologize, Sister, but I simply just couldn’t resist.

Yes, I’m sure you couldn’t, she replied as she looked up toward the sky. Mind your manners now and tend to your studies. But before you go, please help Sister Stephania hang the wreaths on the chapel doors.

Yes, Sister, right away. I will be happy to.

Lilly greeted Atessa at the airport, almost unable to contain her excitement at seeing her again.

Tess… Tess… over here, she said, her arms waving in mid-air. Atessa spotted her, and within moments, the two of them were hugging and crying, their faces filled with smiles and tears.

I missed you so these past few months. If not for the telephone calls and your letters, I would have never managed. Lilly carried Tess’s bag to the car, and off they drove toward Lilly’s Aunt’s house. The two of them were spending the Christmas holiday with Lilly’s family. Atessa’s mother and father were in Australia. Atessa didn’t seem to mind, though; and besides, she would rather be with Lilly.

Lilly held the photograph of her and Atessa from her college graduation up to the light. In their eyes, she spied the promise of two young women about to go out into the world. It was a world that would take them miles and years apart, but one that would never leave them outside each other’s hearts.

Ethan Philips Sr. was a man of stature, wealth, and most of all, breeding. While he understood the needs of a young man, he also recognized that there was a time when the toys of youth had to be put away in favor of duty and responsibility to one’s heritage. Ethan Philips Jr. could not have disagreed with his father more. To the complete disdain of his father, he had brought Lilly home to a family gathering one weekend with barely the mention that he would be attending in the company of a woman. From the looks of it, the other guests were none too pleased as well. Ethan’s mother, on the other hand, though rarely one to disagree with her husband, found Lilly both charming and refreshing. After the party, she took Ethan aside to speak with him.

She is lovely, Ethan. Wherever did you find her? It does my heart good to see you so happy, and a mother can tell when her children are truly happy.

Yes, Mother, she is quite something, isn’t she? I am totally captivated by her!

Then came the look on his mother’s face that Ethan knew all too well. The one that usually began with the words, You know, Ethan, followed by, that your father only wants what is best for you.

His mother continued on cue, You must consider the family and how your actions reflect on it. While love is important, so is loyalty and honor. Could you not accommodate both?

Ethan looked at his mother, for the first time in his life aghast! Mother, how could you even conceive of such a notion?

How do you think your father and I have remained happily married for all these years?

Mother! Father has—

Ethan’s mother placed her hand over her son’s mouth, and in a flushed tone, simply replied, No, Ethan darling, not your father… me!

Ethan took his mother’s hand and looked into the eyes of the woman who had nursed him as child, bandaged his scraped knees as a youngster, and compassionately listened to his first intimate encounter with a woman in a Chicago Hotel. He had always thought his mother quite liberal and worldly. Now, to his own dismay, he was finding out just how much.

And so began Ethan’s years of betrayal to his heart, and later, a return to his conscience that he could no longer live without; one that would tear him away from Lilly’s heart in a way he could never have imagined and compelled him once more to seek out Atessa—a woman whose focus was always running toward him but blurred by the vision of Lilly, yet from whom his sense of duty and loyalty he could not escape. And run to her he would, across the miles of years that had lay between them, to seek forgiveness from this one soul that he felt would truly understand the torture of his plight. The only person that could grant him absolution and the courage to at last have Lilly all to his heart, without exception.

Atessa attended Wingate Junior College for girls in her mid-teens. Lilly would call it a fancy name for nothing more than a high priced boarding school. Lilly attended Brecksville Junior High. Though apart, they still had the summers, and Tess’s room was always there for her whenever she arrived.

On a visit to New York for Tess’s sweet sixteen party, Lilly was amazed at what pomp and circumstance surrounded the matter. Atessa’s parents loved Lilly and encouraged them to remain close. Though a little razzle-dazzle for Lilly’s taste, neither of them had a mean bone in their bodies. When the time came for Lilly to apply to college, Atessa’s father made the appropriate call to ensure that Lilly’s transcript and application were given the proper consideration. Atessa’s father especially loved Lilly.

I can see that you and my daughter have a special bond that comes along only once in a lifetime. You must nurture this bond and be forgiving and grateful, all at the same time.

Lilly didn’t fully understand what he meant at the time, but she promised him to always be there for Atessa to always watch over her and love her as only a sister could. Lilly would keep this promise to Atessa’s father without exception.

Lilly placed the vase with the single white rose in it on Tess’s grave. She continued to keep her promise to her father… even through death. Constance stood beside her, her arm folded together with Lilly’s, the black veiled hat hiding her tear-stained cheeks. Reaching into her purse, she held out the picture to Lilly.

You have come full circle, she said. And with that, a light rain began to fall, washing away the sins of the past into older lives reborn.

Sister Octavia saw the young girl huddled on the floor, a small puddle of blood on her skirt, sobbing uncontrollably. She knelt beside her and took her in her arms.

This is God’s way of telling you that you have become a woman, my child.

Constance looked up from her tear-filled eyes. What does this mean, Sister? I am afraid.

There is nothing to be frightened of, my child. They sat for a while longer on the tile floor of the convent kitchen, and Sister Octavia told Constance about life and the joys of womanhood.

Constance thought of this moment now as she walked from the gravesite. It had taken her years to find forgiveness for the past.

Lilly looked at her now and saw the last moment of Tess’s life flash before her eyes. To herself, she whispered, I am so sorry, Tess… but I kept my promise. Constance pulled her closer as if in silent reply.

When Lilly’s aunt and uncle passed away, they left all their worldly belongings to her. Having had no children of their own, Lilly had become their offspring. Lilly’s mother had asked her to come home to the family business when she finished college, but Lilly declined, saying that there were other opportunities she wanted to explore and that she had found a home in the United States and wished to stay. Her parents knew better than to argue with her, and deep down, they knew she was well cared for in her friendship with Atessa and the love of her family. For this, they were grateful and wished their daughter well. Besides, the house that Lilly had grown up in was now her home, and she felt a responsibility to preserve its past as well as all the new memories it held.

Atessa’s father watched over Lilly as if she were his very own daughter. As far as he was concerned, he had two little girls, and he counted his blessings that their hearts were inseparable. So when the time came for Atessa to go off to work at the university in Florence, her father saw to it that Lilly was given due consideration in the production division at Bantam Publishers. Lilly saw to it that Atessa’s father received an advanced copy of all books about to top the best sellers list.

Lilly’s first assignment led her straight into the turmoil of Ethan’s heart. While editing a book on famous New England cultural influences, she ran head on into Ethan’s family heritage. In order to verify certain material, she decided a meeting with Ethan’s father would be in order. In proper business fare, he granted her the interview and was quite taken with the scope of her intellect. She, on the other hand, read nothing from him but the distance of generations that had lost touch with their humanity. In the end, Lilly felt sorry for this man, and even more so for his son. She never mentioned the meeting to Ethan, but she came away from it with a better understanding of the torment that must have possessed his soul. She could forgive him anything in this dark place.

Once, while on vacation on the Isle of Sicily, Lilly revealed to Atessa the depths of her feelings for this man that rattled her heart like the wind. Atessa never approved of her romance with Ethan, given to the fact that he never remained with Lilly long enough to make a commitment to her, and yet her life was clearly his own.

I will miss him when he’s gone, and months will pass with not so much as even a phone call. Then one day, as if it was only last night that we had seen one another, I will find a bouquet of roses on my desk with a note that says ‘I cannot thank you enough for every moment of our lives that we are together.’

How can you fall for such dribble? Isn’t it obvious to you that he has someone else waiting for him on those long sojourns away from you?

You don’t know what you’re saying, Tess! I told you about that time with his father!

You certainly did. The two of you exchanging mixed metaphors over tea, never really saying what either of you came to say, and then each coming away with a totally distorted sense of the other’s reality!

Take that back, you hear? That’s a cruel thing to say.

And the way this upper crust Yaley treats you… like that’s any better?

Lilly began to cry, and Atessa realized that she had gone too far. I’m sorry, Lilly. I never meant to trample your feelings. Please say you forgive me.

Can I help it if my heart has fallen in love with a man who is always running away from me to get back to me?

What are you saying? Tess looked at her in that quizzical manner that always stumped her when Lilly plunged into surreality without warning.

Well, you’re a fine one to talk, Tess! Holding out for a man whose name you have never bothered to ask, who comes and goes in your life like a thief of hearts, and who you claim you could spend your whole life waiting for, just on the promise of a tomorrow that comes without warning!

You’ve got me there. And you’re right, I don’t care when that tomorrow arrives. I just know it will.

Aren’t we a couple of sorry saps with our hearts on our sleeves? she sighed as she squeezed Tess’s hands, wringing out their emotional disparity to the passing breeze.

Lilly sat up abruptly, taking Tess by surprise.

What? Tess stared into her gaze.

Speaking of this sordid affair with your heart, you owe me from that time in Chicago. You thought I forgot… I don’t forget.

You just can’t let a girl have her momentary brushes with indiscretion without painting it red, can you?

Your words, not mine, smirked Lilly as she mimicked counting numbers on her fingers. "Momentary brush with indiscretion, you say. And what do you call the other five times over the past seven years? Wait, let me guess… well, I guess you’re right, paint me red… what would Mother Superior say of her star pupil now?"

So I’ve had a few more brushes with indiscretion than I would care to remember.

A few more? At this rate, you’re going to redefine the expression ‘practice makes perfect.’

Well, suffice it to say—

Here we go with the brush off line, Lilly chimed in.

That the evening in Chicago was one I will never forget.

You did at least have the courtesy to tell him that you were a virgin.

Lilly! A lady never kisses and tells.

Lilly pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose, just enough for Tess to see the tops of her eyes. Tess knew this look all too well. She picked up the book she had been reading and snapped at her sarcastically, Remind me not to teach you anymore games. Especially those concerning the heart.

Lilly stepped from the gravesite, opening her umbrella to shield her from the rain. But it would not protect her from a broken heart.

It began on her fifth birthday, and for each year thereafter, Constance would wait patiently for the package that would arrive from the United States. Sometimes it contained clothing, other times books; but always the letter. The words were slightly different, but the thought was always the same.

My Dearest Constance:

I hope this note finds you well and happy. Not a day goes by that I do not think of you. I know that it’s wrong of me to intrude on your life in this way, but it is the only way that I can tell you that you are always in my heart.

L

It was always signed in the same way.

Constance held the cotton dress up to her shoulders for Eda to see. Both she and Giovanni knew that one day they would no longer be able to keep their little girl from the answers she so desperately sought. They were a simple people, but they loved this little girl as if they had brought her into this world themselves. It would be hard on them when the time came, but they would be ready. In ways they could never imagine, they had been ready from the first day they had brought her home. Their little girl was becoming a woman right before their eyes, and soon her rite of passage would come, and it would be her time to go. Home is where the heart is… and hers was in another time and place long ago.

It was two days before Christmas Eve, and Lilly sat at the kitchen table in her aunt’s house, sipping a cup of tea. She looked at the clock on the wall and thought to herself that the world was fast asleep in the land where promises were kept. No sooner had this thought occurred to her, the phone in the hall began to ring. Tess’s voice was shrill amidst the noise, and Lilly could barely make out what she was saying.

Where are you? she yelled above it.

I’m at JFK. There’s some celebrity arriving and the place is a madhouse.

What time will you be here tomorrow? You are still coming for the holiday, aren’t you?

Of course, I am. I should arrive at Cleveland-Hopkins around noon. Listen, my car is here to take me to the hotel, and I don’t want to be late for the ballet. I’ll see you tomorrow. I have so much to tell you… Lilly?

Yes, Tess.

I love you.

I love you too, Tess.

Lilly hung up the phone and returned to Tess’s room. She remembered that call as clearly as if it had happened only a moment ago. She sat on the edge of the bed as she had done a thousand times before when Tess was about to tell her a story about her travels. She listened to the silence as if at any moment, Tess’s voice would come to life in its arms. It had been so very long since she heard that voice out loud, but in her heart, it remained the sweetest whisper.

Atessa stood outside the Plaza Hotel, waiting for her limousine to take her to the ballet. As he stepped out from the silver Rolls Royce, Atessa’s head was turned slightly away, and if not for someone brushing against her that made her turn, she would have missed him entirely. They both stood there for what seemed an eternity, a few feet from one another, frozen in each other’s glance. Atessa moved her lips to speak, but before she could utter a sound, his arms were around her and his lips were pressed tightly against her own. The doorman smirked, cleared his throat, but went unnoticed. When it was over, she could barely collect her thoughts, but enough to say, Hello.

Hello, Ethan replied in gentlemanly fashion. They were obviously at a loss for words, and finally, Ethan broke the silence. I was just heading out to the airport to catch a flight for the mid-west, and then on to Colorado for some skiing. May I give you a lift somewhere?

Why, thank you. I was heading uptown to the ballet and well… yes, of course… I would be most grateful.

Wonderful. It will give us a chance to catch up on old times. If you’ll bear with me for a moment, I just need to check out and we can be on our way. Please, join me. He gestured her to walk with him inside. Ethan proceeded to the front desk, and as he extended his hand to the clerk with the key, Atessa reached out her own and clasped it in his.

Ethan stepped from the plane at Cleveland-Hopkins, through the terminal gate, and into the waiting arms of Lilly, five and a half hours later than when he was scheduled to arrive, and only a two-hour layover remaining until his connecting flight to Colorado.

Where have you been? snarled Lilly in disgust. Have you forgotten how to dial a phone?

Please don’t, Lilly. I’ve had a long day with Father, and if not for you, I wouldn’t be here at all.

A momentary smile crossed her face.

I’m truly sorry I loused up your plans, but there was simply no avoiding it.

Well, all I can say is you missed out on a good meal and the chance to finally see my cute little house.

I promise, the next time I’m passing through, I’ll make it over.

Ethan, take me to Colorado with you. I’ll call Tess and tell her not to come.

Lilly, you know I can’t do that!

She pouted as he continued, I’ll be back in six weeks, and I promise I’ll take you away somewhere, just the two of us.

They sat in the airport coffee shop and reminisced awhile about the time they met back in college.

"Did I tell you I was chosen to do the final edits for the new David Atkinson book, The Echoes of a Whisper?"

That’s wonderful, Lilly! When do you start?

Right after the Christmas holiday. He’s flying in from Seattle with the first draft of the manuscript for me to look at. I promised Tess I would introduce him to her. The two of them would be perfect together, being so romantic and all. Besides, this Don Juan of hers that just keeps chasing her skirt all around the globe—

Enough, Lilly, leave the poor woman alone.

Whose side are you on anyway?

Why yours, of course.

Right answer!

They walked around the airport for the remainder of Ethan’s stay, and shortly thereafter, he bid Lilly goodbye and boarded his plane for Denver. Lilly went home to cold leek soup and hot apple pie.

Tess! It’s eleven o’clock in the morning. Are you going to sleep the whole day away?

Lilly stood at the bottom of the stairs, apple pie in hand and a white mustache across her upper lip. Finally, in dismay, she climbed the stairs to Tess’s room. And in a whirlwind entrance, she ripped the comforter from the bed, leapt atop her, and pinched her on the ass! Tess must have jumped ten feet in the air, hitting her head on the bedpost as she came down, when Lilly spied the mark on her neck and yanked her toward her.

Easy there, what are you trying to do? Kill me before my time?

And what, may I ask, is this? Wait, don’t tell me. You got hit with a flying ballet slipper while tripping the light fantastic?

Atessa’s face turned flush, and Lilly’s eyes rolled back in her head as she let go a sigh.

"You didn’t! You couldn’t! He