by Amie Nichols
“Why oh why do you provoke her like that?” Miss Finnegan says brushing some hair out of my eyes.
“I’m fine. I just want to get some sleep,” I tell her and lay back in the bed. Miss Finnegan lays the sandwich on the bedside table and leans down she kisses my forehead.
“Okay dear, you get some rest. I guess there is a bright side. She’s leaving again in the morning,” she says with a smile, then turns and walks out of my room. It’s a cloudy day and I can hear thunder rumbling in the distance. I close my eyes, and before I know it I’m asleep.
I awake around six a.m. to Jane yelling at Mckayla again. Telling her to hurry it up and if they miss their flight there was going to be hell to pay. Even though I’m happy she is leaving, I’m nervous about seeing Luke. After the other night, and him leaving me on the side of the road, my imagination has run wild. Does he still have feelings for me or did he realize I was just a foolish girl? What was he thinking?
I step into the bathroom and look into the mirror. The sight I see in the mirror horrifies me. The whole right side of my face is swollen and bruised black. I don’t want Luke to see me like this, but I have to talk to him.
I hurry in the shower and dress fast. I try to cover up the bruise with makeup but it’s no use, so I take care to sweep my hair to cover my black eye. I hadn’t heard any screaming for a while so it’s a good sign that Jane is gone again.
Walking to the front windows I see Luke’s truck is in the driveway. My heart starts racing and my mouth goes dry. Why would just seeing his truck do this to me?
Miss Finnegan is nowhere to be found when I walk through the kitchen and step out onto the back patio. I feel my palms getting sweaty.
I notice Jeffery on the old riding mower near the back of the property, but I don’t see Luke. I start to walk around to the front of the house when I notice him. He’s trimming the hedgerow that lines the front of the house. He has his shirt off and his sweat glistens on his tanned skin. His muscles ripple as he moves with grace, sweeping the electric trimmer along the top of the tall hedges. I lose my breath for a second when I see him. He doesn’t notice me at first and I stand there staring at him. All of a sudden I want to run away.
When he finally notices me, the look on his face is angry. He sets down the trimmers and walks my way putting his shirt back on. “Jesus Christ Lilly, your eye,” he says taking my face in his hands. His thumb brushes my bruise lightly. The pain of his light touch on my blackened skin makes me twinge.
“I’m sorry,” Luke says dropping his hands to his sides.
“It’s fine. I’m so glad you’re here, I wanted to talk to you.” I try to look in his eyes, but he turns his head. “What’s going on? I need to know what is going on here,” I tell him searching for a reaction from him. There is so much pain in his eyes as he turns his back toward me.
“Lilly,” Luke says then stops for a second. “I’m leaving tomorrow for Shreveport. I am going to a tech school there,” he says to me. I think I see a tear escape his eye before he turns and starts to walk away.
“What?” I’m stunned. My heart rate speeds up as I start to realize he is going to be gone and I’m not going to see him anymore. “Why? What did I do? I don’t understand. I thought you had feelings for me?” I scream. “Why are you leaving me?” Desperation starts to rise as everything sinks in. He’s leaving and my world feels like it’s closing in around me.
“Lilly, you did nothing,” Luke whispers his back still to me. “If you only knew what I was feeling,” he whispers softly then starts to walk away from me.
“Luke, please don’t leave me!” I yell, warm tears streaming down my face as I drop to my knees. All I want is to feel safe in his arms like last night. I’m stuck here and helpless. The first time I felt any hope and now it’s gone. He’s going to leave, forget all about me, and there is nothing I can do.
“Come here,” Luke says now with his hands on my shoulders trying to help me up. He wraps his arms around me and I am in his embrace. I feel so safe again, safer than I have ever felt in my whole life. He can’t leave me here with her.
“I have to. If I stay it will be bad for you, my dad, and me,” Luke whispers onto the top of my head.
“Promise me, Lilly, if you ever feel that you can’t do it anymore that you go straight to Dad,” Luke says it with so much conviction that I feel like I have no choice but to nod in agreement.
Luke’s fingers run through my hair, his thumbs by my ears. He lifts my head up to face him and gently places his soft lips on my bruised cheek giving it a feather light kiss. “A kiss to make it better,” he whispers as his lips leave my cheek. My whole body is on fire when I feel him start moving away from me.
“No!” I yell, my voice muffled as I bury my face into his hard chest.
But he works his way out of my arms and starts to walk away from me. His pace quickens and all I can do is stand there and sob. I hear the roar of his truck and watch as he speeds down the lane. His truck disappears as it races through the live oaks and is then gone from sight.
Sobbing uncontrollably, I stand there for what seems like forever. I feel a hand on my shoulder. Startled I jump, and turn to see Jeffrey standing next to me.
“It will be alright dear, I’m sorry but it’s for the best,” Jeffrey says trying to console me, but the tears won’t stop streaming down my face.
“Why is it for the best?” I scream. “I’ll never see him again,” I sob into my hands, my black eye burning from the tears as they make their way out of my swollen eye. Jeffrey wraps his arms around my shoulders and turns me back toward the house leading me slowly.
“I knew if he came back he would stir up your feelings again,” Jeffrey mumbles watching the ground as we walk. “He just had to see you, and now he’s made it even worse for you. I’m sorry, Lilly, it was selfish of him, and he knows that now.” He continues till we reach the back of the house.
“But why does he have to leave?” Still sobbing, I turn to face him wanting some real answers.
“Lilly, he will kill Jane. I don’t know how many more bruises he could take seeing on you.” Jeffrey grabs my shoulder firmly raising his voice looking straight into my eyes. “Do you understand he has to be far away? None of us can live with what he would do to her. I can’t let my son do what I know he will do in only a matter of time.” I see the fear in Jeffrey’s eyes as he tries to make me see this is the only way.
“I have promised him your safety,” Jeffrey continues, “I will be here watching after you. Miss Finnegan and I have both promised him.” His face solemn, I can see Luke in his kind, good eyes. I realize this is just as hard on him, making his son move across state so he doesn’t do something that would change his life forever.
“Okay,” I sob not being able to think of anything to say right now.
“You will be free of her soon. All you have to do is make it through a couple of years,” he says trying to make it sound like no big deal. Two years and I’ll be free.
Once I turn eighteen, Jane is going to have my name legally changed so that I will no longer have the Sumnor name to embarrass her with. She could kick me out and not get in trouble for it either. I have no doubt in my mind if she could have found a way to get rid of me legally, without making herself look bad, she would have done it a long time ago.
Chapter 5
LUKE
“Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuck!” I punch the steering wheel over and over as I drive farther and farther away from Lilly. I slam on the brakes and the truck screeches to a halt. Getting out I try to find something, anything I can to throw. I scream at the top of my lungs, my fists clenched as I fight the urge to go back.
I can’t believe I am leaving her, leaving her to that horrible abusive woman. No one will do anything and Elliott has told my father that there is nothing anyone can do. Any attempt will only lead to bad things for me, my dad, and most importantly Lilly. I could just snap the witch’s neck in her sleep. I don’t care what happens to me. At least she will be safe,
and she wouldn’t have to put up with the horrible abuse. The constant pleading from my mother and my sister to not do anything stupid is the only thing keeping me from killing Jane Sumnor.
“She is handling things fine, Son.” My dad keeps telling me. “She is strong and unbreakable. We will make sure there is never too much she can’t handle. She already ignores the hurtful words. She’s really good at it actually.” My father pleaded with me not to return. That it would only make things worse for her, and he was right. The sight of her crying uncontrollably as I drove away will haunt me forever.
But I had to see her. I had to know if what I had been feeling was for real. I’ve tried hard to forget about her and I just can’t. Going out with girls to try and get my mind off of her was disastrous. The things I would do with them made me feel horrible, like I was cheating on her. There I was making out with some girl, and all along all I could think of was Lilly. Was she being yelled at, was she being hit? Getting drunk was the only thing that would make me forget, but the next morning it would be even worse.
The moment I saw her in the window, the love I felt for her only deepened tenfold. Those eyes that smile and her laugh that’s so innocent, beautiful. She’s just a girl of 16, but has the body of a woman. Oh my god her body is amazing. It’s even harder now. I felt something a few years ago when she was 14, but nothing like I feel now. Jane would have me thrown in jail if she ever caught us together and if I stay here there is no way in hell I’d be able to stay away from her.
What kind of a man leaves his love to this abuse? What kind of man doesn’t do anything to protect the one thing in life that means everything to him?
“Letting her go now is the best thing you can do. Soon, Son, very soon she will be free.” My father keeps saying. So I have to trust, I have to trust in what they are telling me. I have to trust that she is unbreakable, strong, that she will fight through. I have to trust with every fiber of my being that my Lilly flower will be ok.
Chapter 6
Present time
It was less than two years actually. Those years were filled with many more bruises, a broken arm, and a concussion at the hands of Jane. It all ended suddenly the night of the fatal car crash a week before my 18th birthday. Although I did mourn the loss of my absentee father, no tears were shed for Jane. Good riddance is what I said to myself at her funeral, and I did not feel any guilt about my thoughts.
Six months have passed since the night my life changed forever. I have done a lot of growing up. Becoming one of the wealthiest women in the country came with a lot of responsibility. I’ve had help from my lawyer Elliot, Emma’s father, and Emma herself, I've seemed to be handling things pretty well.
Miss Finnegan and Jeffrey still work for me of course. They both have been given huge raises. They are my family more than they are my employee’s.
Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of Luke, having not seen him since he left this yard two and a half years ago. Jeffrey never talks of him and I am left only to my imagination. I’ve often wondered if he has found himself a gorgeous super model girlfriend and never given me a second thought. He did not come after the accident, so I am sure his feelings for me were nothing more than a school boy’s crush.
In the past few months Emma has set me up on two blind dates. Even though the men were good looking, polite, and fun to be around, there was no chemistry. Remembering the way I felt when Luke was near me is something I will never forget, and I am not sure if I can ever settle for anything less.
But Luke is coming to work for me now. Jeffrey tells me that he is done with school and jobs are hard to find. I offered him a job as a full time handyman. He also mentioned he was looking for a cheap place to stay, not wanting to move back home, so I turned what was once old slave housing 100 years ago into a little guest cottage. He can stay for free until he finds a place I insisted to Jeffrey. It’s the least I can do for his family. He’s been so kind to me over the years.
I sit at the island in my kitchen drinking some sweet tea and flipping through a magazine as I wait for Emma. She and I are going to New Orleans for the afternoon for some shopping. I had the decorator put on a fresh coat of paint in the kitchen to give it a brighter feel, but there is still work to be done with light fixtures and some other odds and ends. The family room that is just off the kitchen, which once was a stuffy dark room, is now warm and inviting with a very large flat screen television hanging on the wall and large overstuffed comfy furniture.
“What you up today, Lilly?” Jacob, my live in bodyguard comes into the kitchen. I hired him a few months ago at the advice of Elliott when there were some signs of an intruder. Jacob had set up some security cameras. We have seen footage of who we think is a man, but it’s dark so we are not sure, walking in the timber that lines the plantation. Since he has put more surveillance along the property line we haven’t seen anything. Jacob wonders if it was just a squatter looking for some place to live. Even though there hasn’t been a sign of anything for over a month, I still feel a little safer with him here.
Jacob is ex-military that works for a very elite security firm. He’s short, just a few inches taller than me, but very muscular with dark black hair and very attractive. He has a dragon tattoo on his right arm that goes from his wrist to above his elbow. It has the prettiest blues and greens, and the tail of the dragon loops around his arm. He is here 24/7, and even though the firm would send someone out if he left to take his place for a night, he doesn’t leave. He has told me he has nowhere to go so why leave.
I keep trying to get him to go out and have some fun, but his answer is always, “I will sometime.” I do enjoy his company at night when the rest of the staff has left. Since Miss Finnegan goes to bed so early it is nice to have someone else around to watch TV with, or play games, or to just talk. We have spent many nights up talking into the wee hours of the morning. We have become very close. He feels like the big brother I’ve never had. He knows all about Luke and my feelings for him. He has been great just listening to me go on and on about him.
Jacob had a girlfriend when he went into the military, but after a six month tour he came home to find out that she had been cheating on him with one of his friends. Since then he’s had no interest in looking for another girlfriend. She really broke his heart. It’s obvious it still pains him by the way he talks about her.
“Good Morning, Jacob. Emma and I are going to New Orleans for some shopping,” I tell him giving him a huge smile while he pours himself some coffee and sits next to me.
“That’ll be fun. Girls gone wild, huh,” he says returning the smile. “I’ll be gone most of the day. I’m going to Baton Rouge to pick up some upgrades for the security main frame,” Jacob says taking a drink of coffee.
I hear Emma come through the front door and shout to her that I’m in the kitchen.
“Hey sexy bitch, oh and Jacob,” she teases kissing both of us on the cheeks. Reaching between us she grabs my tea and takes a big drink. “You look hot,” Emma coos.
I’m wearing cut off jean shorts and a light pink tee. My brown wavy hair is hanging passed my shoulders. Emma is constantly trying to boost my self-esteem, even though I tell her it’s not necessary I secretly like it.
“Stop it,” I say blushing as I hear the doorbell ring.
“She’s not wrong,” Jacob says grinning at me knowing that I hate compliments.
I walk to the front door and am shocked when I open it. Adeline Grace is standing there. My mind goes back to the article and what she said about me. I haven’t seen her since the funerals. We did not speak, but I did get plenty of nasty little looks. I still chuckle at her comment that all of the estate should go to Jane’s charity. They’re a segregated group of women who only allow women of a certain status type to join. I would be surprised if any of the money actually went to a true charity.
“Well, Adeline Grace, if this isn’t an unpleasant surprise,” I smile sweetly at her and I hear Emma giggle beside me.
“Lill
y,” she greets looking me up and down. I’m sure she’s disgusted at my clothes and wish I was wearing something more revealing. “Are you going to ask me in?” She stands there with her lips pursed.
“Well I wasn’t going to, but I guess you can come in.” I roll my eyes and move from the door as she steps into the foyer.
“I’m so pleased to see you haven’t changed any of Jane’s magnificent décor,” she says looking around at the atrocious foyer. It is one of the worst in the house. The walls are painted gold and burgundy, dark marble floors with gold flecks streaking throughout, and the ceiling tile is an awful faux gold.
“It will be redecorated soon. I was thinking down home southern feel.” I wink at Emma knowing this statement alone would be enough for her to fly off the handle. Surprisingly she keeps her composure and doesn’t say a word, but I can tell her body tenses.
“For the life of me, Adeline, I cannot think of one reason why you would be here,” I say to her. I hear Emma cough to disguise her giggle.
“Well as you know, Jane’s charity has suffered greatly since her death.” I can tell she truly is fighting off tears at the thought of Jane’s death, and Adeline seemed to live and breathe for Jane. “I’ve come to ask you to reconsider your donation. Our letters have gone unanswered except for the one,” she says with disgust in her voice.
I did respond to one of their money requests telling them I would donate money if they agreed to release the restrictions of who was allowed to join regardless of income, and that I had to see proof of where the money was going. I received one letter after that that informed me their donations were anonymous, which is the way Jane wanted it, and in respect to her wishes they were going to keep it that way.
