Lilly complained, “Oh God! What crawled in my mouth and died?” She opened her eyes and saw Hillary’s parents.
Hillary spoke quickly, “You can go to my room to sleep. It’s the afternoon.”
“No, I’m not tired anymore. I think I’ll finish scrubbing the patio.”
Mrs. Carruthers said, “That really isn’t necessary. We have a fine staff.”
“Lilly, these are my parents. Mom and Dad, this is Lilly O’Dwyer.” Hillary spoke rapidly, moving from foot to foot.
“Hello,” Lilly said smiling, and she pointed to Hillary with her thumb. “The closer it gets to the wedding, the faster she speaks, and since about two a.m., she’s been half dancing when she walks. She’ll be flying low tomorrow.”
Mrs. Carruthers nodded and said, “Lilly, if you come with me, I’ll show you where to freshen up. Then you can help me with all the errands Hillary has assigned me. We’ll leave Hillary with her father.”
Lilly followed Mrs. Carruthers, “She gave you jobs, too? All she needs is a bull horn and a whip!”
Lilly turned around and smiled at Hillary. Their exit was interrupted as Mrs. Rutlin came out. “Mrs. Carruthers, your sister and brother-in-law are here.”
They all went into the house to meet the Lahnis.
Mrs. Rutlin told Hilary she had called the nursery, and they would be there momentarily. She also said, “Mrs. McCarthy called to confirm, and the caterer wanted the exact number. I told him one hundred, since you received confirmation for ninety. I thought perhaps one of Jay’s friends might bring his own party.”
The implication that Jay was a boor with boorish friends didn’t go over anyone’s head.
Hillary shook her head and led her cousin Lisa and Lilly up to her room to compare gowns. Hillary had her gown made had Lilly’s made also. Lisa, who attended Smith, was clean-cut.
Hillary asked, “Where’s Frederick?” And turning to Lilly, she added, “Frederick is Lisa’s brother.”
Lisa scowled, “He’s downstairs by now. He followed us from Boston.”
Lilly knew from the devilish look in Hillary’s eyes and the embarrassment in Lisa’s that there was more to this story.
Hillary said, “Frederick is the family skeleton. But he’s out of the closet. Frederick is gay, but not your everyday, anybody gay person. He works in a club in Boston as a female impersonator and ends his act with a strip tease.”
Lilly was shocked.
“He’s really nice,” Hillary went on. ”Actually, he’s my favorite relative. Let’s find him and walk on the beach.”
In the next hour, Lilly went from being repulsed to thoroughly liking Frederick. He kept them laughing with his funny stories about the club and halfway-out-of-the-closet people. Lilly thought he was the handsomest man she had ever met.
The next afternoon, after the wedding, Lilly returned to her mother’s summerhouse on the bay side, seven miles from Hillary’s, which was on the ocean side of East Hampton. Lilly thought all the excitement had been therapeutic. She had hardly thought about Tony, let alone cried about him, in three days. She opened the back door and saw Mike McGrath sitting in the kitchen between Colleen and Francine.
Mike was drinking soda when Lilly walked in. He saw her scan the room for Tony.
Colleen, oblivious to the effect of Mike’s presence, said, “Mike, this is my sister Lillian. Lillian this is Mike McGrath. He goes to Greeley, like you.”
Lilly answered, “Yes, I’ve seen him. Excuse me.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer, walking in from the living room, intercepted her. “Lillian, how was the wedding?”
“Fine. Beautiful, really,” Lilly answered, edging toward the hall.
“Lillian, you didn’t wear that? It wasn’t one of those hippie gatherings?” Mrs. O’Dwyer said, referring to the halter-top and granny skirt.
“No. After the reception, we all went swimming,” Lilly said, still edging toward the hall.
“In May?”
“Yes, the ocean was cold, but it was nice. Excuse me.”
“Lillian, can’t you even talk to me?” Mrs. O’Dwyer asked.
Lilly reentered the kitchen and stared at the refrigerator door to hide her embarrassment.
“The flowers were pretty,” Lilly faltered.
Mrs. O’Dwyer asked, “Lillian, did you drink?”
“A sip of champagne to toast them, then no, Mom.”
“All right.” Mrs. O’Dwyer dismissed her, then called, “Oh, Lillian, I saw Tony della Robbia the other day. He was with the prettiest girl. He’s not moping around.”
Lilly blushed and tried not to look at Mike’s face. She said in a composed voice, “That’s nice, Mom. Excuse me, I have to get dressed. I’m going out to dinner.”
Lilly held her head high and left the room. She stopped at her mother’s room, shut the door, and dialed Hillary’s house. She asked to speak to Frederick.
“Frederick, I have a big favor to ask. When you pick me up, could you pretend to my mother this is a date and we’re not meeting everyone else at the restaurant. I’ll explain later. Oh, and be straight.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer sent Kelly to ask Lillian to sit with the family during dinner. Lilly came out, with her hair in a loose bun and wearing a pretty dress with spaghetti straps. She sat at the table and kept her head down.
“Lillian, Mike attends Greeley. Do you know him?’
“Greeley is a big school. Besides, sophomores don’t hang out with seniors.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer turned to Mike. “Perhaps you know the Reardon sisters, Kathy and Paula. They go with my sons, Patrick and Daniel. I’m sure they are the reason the boys are not here.”
“Sure. I’ve gone to school with them since kindergarten at PS 31.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer glanced at Lilly and froze. “Lillian! Where did you get that dress?”
“I bought it last summer.” Lilly had her defenses ready.
“Are you wearing a bra?” Mrs. O’Dwyer asked
Lilly couldn’t answer.
“You aren’t, are you? Not with those straps. Get changed.”
Lilly whispered, “It’s the only one I have here, besides …” Lilly took a deep breath, “I don’t need one.”
The doorbell rang, and Kelly jumped to answer it. Lilly and Mrs. O’Dwyer stared at each other. Frederick followed Kelly to the kitchen.
Mrs. O’Dwyer stood and told Lilly, “Wait here. I’ll get a shawl.”
“Are you ready?” Frederick asked in his most debonair tone.
“My mother’s getting a shawl,” Lilly said, standing and walking to him.
“It’s warm out.”
“It’s because she doesn’t have a bra on,” said Francine.
Lilly shrugged. “She’s afraid I’ll jiggle and you’ll go insane with passion.”
Frederick laughed a deep belly that was contagious. He leaned to her and whispered, “I could lend you one.”
Lilly giggled, then whispered, “Strapless?”
Frederick leaned back, “Why … yes.”
They were both were laughing when Mrs. O’Dwyer returned with a shawl. “Wear this.”
When she returned home, Lilly waited in the girls’ bedroom for Colleen. She had known that Colleen had gone out with a Mike, but she hadn’t known it was McGrath.
Colleen came in, and Lilly asked, “How did you get hooked up with McGrath?”
Colleen smiled. “Lillian, I didn’t know he and Tony were best friends. You never have your friends over except Hillary and Eileen. On my eighteenth birthday three weeks ago, Mom let me use the car and it broke down. Remember? The fan belt? Mike drove up, and he fixed it with my pantyhose so I could get home. We got to talking … ”
“I just couldn’t believe it when I saw him. How didn’t I know?”
“You’ve been preoccupied with the wedding and … Tony. Don’t be mad at me. He’s such a nice guy. How long have you known him?”
“Two years. He is a nice guy. I’m sorry I jumped on you.”
“Has he had a lo
t of girlfriends?”
Lilly looked into Colleen’s face. “Not too many,” she lied kindly.
“Lilly …” Colleen had never called her Lilly before. ”You’ve had boyfriends and I’m two years older, and I’ve never been out with anyone. I mean …”
“Colleen, I sure don’t know about guys, if that’s what you mean. I’ve never dated anyone but Tony, and that’s down the drain.”
“Why? What happened? Mike doesn’t even know,” Colleen said
“Maybe no one knows because it’s no one’s business,” Lilly retorted.
The next morning Lilly woke early. She dressed and went to the kitchen where she found Mike reading the back of an air freshener can.
“That’s exciting literature,” Lilly said.
“Hi, Lil.” Mike looked sheepish. “Can we talk?”
“Sure. The general store opens at seven and usually sells out of the Sunday Times by nine.”
They walked quietly for a while. Mike said, “Lilly, I didn’t know you and Colleen were sisters. Colleen said her sisters had all gone to Holy Sacrament. You never came up. Tony never said a word.”
“That’s ’cause Deidre and Bridget and Ann went there. I like Greeley. It’s so big and such a mix of people. Holy Sacrament is white, upper-middle-class, Catholic girls, homogenized.”
Mike laughed.
Lilly said, “We have to have an agreement. I’ll never ask about Tony, and you’ll never tell him about me.”
Mike nodded. “OK, that’s fair. Besides I’ve always liked you. I saw what you did for Randy the other night.”
“Oh, yeah. Don’t tell Colleen about that. She’s straight.”
“She is not. I’ve smoked a couple of joints with her. Besides I already told her.”
“Colleen?”
“Yup, Colleen.”
Lilly was quiet the rest of the day. She felt awful. She lay on the living room sofa when they got back to Yonkers. Mrs. O’Dwyer asked where it hurt. “My throat is killing me.”
Lilly was too ill for school on Monday. It was the fifth anniversary of the accident. Owen’s med school roommate came with flowers to pay his respect as had become his custom. He was now an ear, nose, and throat man. Lilly was sleeping in an armchair when he arrived.
“Playing hookey?” he kidded, indicating Lilly to Mrs. O’Dwyer.
“She has a sore throat.”
“I could take a look. Perhaps an antibiotic is called for.”
Mrs. O’Dwyer woke Lilly.
“She has a roaring case of tonsillitis. I’ll bet she’s had tonsillitis for months.”
Lilly said, “My throat has been sore.”
He offered to remove them for free. Mrs. O’Dwyer would only have to pay for the hospital overnight. He called Bronxville Hospital and came back. “You’re in luck, little lady. You’ll have them out tomorrow. She’ll be home Wednesday.”
While Lilly was in the hospital vomiting swallowed blood, Tony was thinking of her. He and Frank had had a fight. Frank had been half mad at Tony over Lilly for months. Suddenly, it had boiled over the night before.
Frank had said, “Well what do you expect. You broke her heart. She had to face it and keep her mouth shut. A couple of your whores beat her up once, and you didn’t even know. I’m the one who had to hold her hand and get her past it.”
Tony was speechless.
Tony and Lilly were in the same study hall period Tuesdays and Fridays. They also had the same forty-minute lunch period. Tony thought Lilly could avoid him at lunch, but when she wasn’t at study hall, he knew she was not in school. He had missed her more than he was ready to admit. They were both avid readers and often traded books. Lilly was the sounding board for his dreams, and she always helped him figure out his family. He wanted to see her. He had decided to get back together with her after she saved Randy’s hide, but now she wasn’t around. Mike wasn’t any help. Tony didn’t want to call her house and appear too anxious, because he wanted the reunion on his terms.
He saw her Friday. It was a strange spring day, raining for a little while, then brilliantly sunny and warm. It looked like it would rain through lunch, so Tony headed to the gym. He glanced outside and saw the sun, so he veered off to come out of the school through a side entrance usually used by sophomores. He stood in the doorway looking across the large lawn to the bleachers, and he saw Lilly.
She was standing, glaring up at a junior named Pete. She looked beautiful. He stepped out of the doorway and caught the tail end of their exchange.
“You think you’re too good for anyone, bitch.” Pete was holding Lilly’s arm.
“Listen carefully, worm. You have to learn to tread water before you jump in the deep end. Now, let go of my arm unless you’re tired of that hand,” Lilly said hoarsely.
Pete saw Tony watching them and dropped her arm. She put her head up and paraded to the bleachers. Tony decided that perhaps this wasn’t the best time to approach her. He found Mike and sat and watched her.
Lilly couldn’t speak after the exchange with Pete, so she sat with Eileen at the bottom of the bleachers. Eileen had volumes of gossip to relay, and all Lilly had to do was nod. She hadn’t seen Tony in over a week and felt hungry for a glimpse of him.
Lilly sat through Art waiting for the bell. She walked slowly to study hall and entered a few minutes late. The desks were arranged in a U-shape. Tony was sitting with the senior guys. Lilly walked to the other side.
The study hall teacher had already taken attendance and said, to show annoyance, “Welcome back Miss O’Dwyer. Did you have a nice vacation?”
“Very.” Lilly’s smile was saccharine sweet. She sat and read Rolling Stone for a while. It started to rain, and it grew chilly in the classroom with the windows open.
The study hall teacher didn’t notice. He had a nameplate he carried from classroom to classroom that said, “Pender, Neil Gates.” The students called him Pencil Neck Geek.
Tony couldn’t keep his eyes off Lilly. She seemed so nonchalant. Maybe he had misjudged how much she cared. She put down the newspaper. Her nipples were pushing against her tee shirt. Tony stared, until he saw movement with his peripheral vision and realized the other guys were staring at her. She was reading the math on the board from a trigonometry class. Tony read the board too.
She had only seen Tony from behind when she came in. She wanted to look up but didn’t want to appear too anxious. She glanced over and saw the guys ogling her. She looked to either side to see what warranted such looks, then looked down. She picked up the paper and shrank in her seat. She was blushing, a god-awful blush. She gratefully noticed that Tony was reading the board. He planned to corner her at the bell, but Lilly rushed past him and through the building as though it were on fire.
Tony worked that afternoon. He was thinking of how to bump into Lilly, but decided he had to call her. Then he remembered he had a date that night with a girl from the previous weekend. He scowled and toyed with the idea of standing her up. But he thought back to the year before when Lilly’s sister Ann had been stood up and was mortified, and decided he’d stick it out with Lana that night. She was pretty enough, but she lacked zip. They had gone to a dull party given by a fool who was disgustingly drunk. Lilly would have said his pilot light had gone out or he escaped from a fish hatchery. Lana thought the fool was cool. Lilly could be bitchy, but she was a challenge.
Tony was to pick up Lana between eight-thirty and nine. She lived in Bronxville. He decided to take her to the movies and then walk her home. He’d leave his car with Frank. If they walked, she couldn’t expect him to take her anywhere after.
Mike and Colleen were meeting another couple in the park, then going to a party in Eastchester. Mike didn’t have a car, so he counted heavily on friends. He didn’t think it was appropriate to double with Tony since Colleen and Lilly were sisters. He had an uneasy feeling that Colleen could be a wedge between himself and Tony.
They were sitting on the ridge watching for the other couple when they saw Lilly
, carrying a bag, walking on the path below them. Colleen told Mike that Lilly had gone to the hospital to set her former roommate’s hair. She was walking as though she were carrying all the heartache and pain of the hospital with her. Mike tapped Colleen’s arm and nodded to the other end of the path. Tony was walking towards Lilly. Colleen and Mike could see the exchange when Tony and Lilly met, but they couldn’t hear it.
Lilly looked sad. Tony didn’t want to upset her. “Hello, Lilly. How are you?” he said.
Lilly looked up and then quickly at the ground. “OK. How’s Pops, your mother, and Frank?”
“Fine. You sound hoarse.”
There was an awkward silence. Then Lilly said, “Take care.” And she started to walk away.
“Lilly …” Tony spoke imploringly. “You shouldn’t have been embarrassed this afternoon. You’re so beautiful. People will stare.”
Tony put his hand on her back. She turned to him. Their eyes touched. He picked her up, and they kissed again and again. He rubbed her head tenderly, and murmured, “I’ve missed you. Don’t leave again.”
Lilly nodded, crying tears of relief.
Tony continued, “What a waste of time. Another month, and you’ll be in East Hampton, and then I’ll be gone.”
She jerked away, “You’re still gonna leave? Of course you are You don’t love me. Well, baby, if you can leave me in September, I can leave you in May.”
Tony stood, shocked. She knelt to pick up some of the rollers that had scattered, stood and half ran past him.
He called, “You’re something … you’re really something.”
He strode giant steps in the opposite direction to the Bronxville entrance.
Lilly only made it about ten yards, and then she ducked behind a huge oak tree on the side of the path. She fell to her knees and sobbed, both hands covering her mouth to stifle the sound.
Witnessing this burst of emotion had brought Colleen and Mike to their feet. They glanced at each other and sat down.
“They are tearing each other apart,” Mike said.
Colleen asked if they could walk Lilly home.
Mike said, “Sure,” and stood up.
Colleen said, “Not now. She’s so proud. Let’s walk a minute.”
A Yonkers Kinda Girl Page 8
