Chapter 11
Tina slowly walked down the stairs of Llanfair…her home. The past few days had been rough; all she could think about was Lily and how much she had hurt her. Not wanting to run into Lily, Michael, and Marcie somewhere in town, she had stayed inside and locked herself in her bedroom. Jessica, Kevin, and Natalie had been popping by to see Viki and gazed up the stairs every chance they could to see if there was any sign of their aunt, but besides Viki and Todd, Tina excluded herself from everyone.
Slowly, she pressed her ear against the walls and tried to listen for any visitors that might have been in the kitchen that morning, such as Clint. Ever since Dorian left him for David, he had been confiding in Viki more often. Slowly, Tina cracked a smile. Had she not been constantly brooding over her family, she would have been playfully teasing Viki about the growing bond between the two. When she did not hear any voices, she ventured into the kitchen.
"Good morning!" Viki greeted brightly. She was dressed in a rose, silk dressing gown and looked elegant compared to Tina's pink, fuzzy bathrobe. A cup of coffee was in one hand while this morning's addition of The Banner was in the other. "Oh, reading my articles after they're published is the best part," she sighed happily eying one of the stories of a recent car accident. "So, did you sleep okay? Can I get you coffee or anything?"
"No, thanks," Tina mumbled sitting down across her sister. "When are CJ and Sarah getting here? They told me that they'd be here as soon as they can!"
"Honey, they're probably tied up with something right now, but I'm sure when they get an opportunity, they'll be on the first flight to Llanview. Are you absolutely sure that you're not hungry? I can make you breakfast or—"
"No, Viki! The only thing that I'm 'absolutely sure' of is I need to apologize to my daughter without her having a break down!" She buried her face in her arms and looked back up again. "I'm sorry, Viki…this must be so hard on you of all people. I know a lot of your loved ones lean on you for support. It's just…I want Lily to meet you; actually meet you, acknowledge that you and Todd are part of her family as is…" She sighed again and rested her chin in her hand.
"David?" Viki finished for her taking off her glasses.
"Yes," Tina agreed helplessly.
"Did you call him to tell him yet?"
"No…I had every ounce of determination to…I just looked at that antique phone on my bedside table, but when I went to pick it up, I'd see Richard's face on it taunting me, telling me that he was a better father than David will ever be."
"Do you believe that?"
"No! Of course not! I mean, David may be a real jackass and careless at times, but look at him! I saw him with Dorian the other night…he really cares about her; and Adriana and Kelly and…Blair. Viki, if David loves Blair like a daughter, he'd adopt a hobo in a minute…"
"Tina," Viki interrupted gently taking her sister's hand, "maybe this would be a good time to call Michael and Marcie and see if Lily is ready to meet with you and talk to you about the mistakes that you both made…and then you can tell her that David is her biological father."
"I…guess you're right. I've been running away from my problems for too long, and that's how it all started right? I mean, if I hadn't run away from Llanview, maybe David and I would be raising our daughter together? Oh, who knows? All I know is that I need my daughter to hear my side of the story…if she doesn't forgive me after that, then so be it, but I need her to know how sorry I am and how much I love her!" At that, she started to sob uncontrollably. Viki quietly walked around the table and took her sister in her arms.
"Do you want me to talk Michael and Marcie?" Viki asked cautiously. "You know, in case Lily answers the phone, maybe it would be better because she does not know that I'm her aunt."
"O-o-okay," Tina stammered through tears. "Please, just bring my baby home!"
Lily awoke that morning to the voices of John and Michael; both were hushed and low, but Lily could tell that they were talking about her because if they were discussing anything else, their voices would be merry and laughing. "Whoop-de-do, the same old conversation again," she thought as she climbed out of bed and pulled on a sweatshirt. "'Is Lily going to have a breakdown? What can we do for her?' Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before." She slowly opened her door, making herself jump when it unexpectedly creaked.
She was not the only one that was startled. John and Michael both turned around in surprise but relaxed when they saw Lily standing at the door.
"Morning, sweetie," Michael greeted kissing the teenager on the forehead.
"Morning, Michael. Morning, John."
"Hey, kid," John replied with a grin. There was an extremely awkward silence between the three of them that was interrupted with the phone ringing.
"I'll be right back," Michael said taking the cordless phone into the kitchen. Lily stared at him for a moment, looking as if she had sucked in the Earth's supply of air, and exhaled heavily as she sat down on the couch.
"So, how are you feeling?" John asked sitting down next to her.
"Good, I guess," Lily lied, failing to look at John to make her fib convincing. "I'm a lot better."
"Well, you look like Hell, kid, putting it bluntly," John replied playfully. "So what's up?"
"No, it's nothing, really," Lily protested glancing at the kitchen as if she was making sure that Michael was not about to emerge from there.
"Yeah it is," John insisted cracking a smile. "I know you don't want to worry Michael and Marcie, but they're not here right now; Mike's on the phone, and Marcie is taking Tommy for a walk, so right now, it's just you and me, so are you going to tell me what's bothering you because I'm all ears."
"Either way, you'd get it out of me, so I guess I have no choice." Lily sighed before continuing. "I don't know, I think…well, you saw my mom last night. She really wants me to live with her, and—"
"Do you want to live with her?" John interrupted.
"I don't know; I really don't know, John. Part of me wants to forgive her, but the other part is telling me that she'll hurt me again. I don't know what to do!"
John paused for a moment. "You know, when I'm working on a case and there is no where to go, no lead to act on, I always go with my gut feeling; my instinct. It tells me which way to turn."
"How do I do that?"
"Okay, the first thing you do is close your eyes. Yeah, that's good. Now, picture yourself living with Tina, and then picture yourself living with Michael and Marcie. Which picture is happier?"
"Living here, by far," Lily admitted, "but…Mom is alone right now, and I don't know if I should give her another chance."
"What does your heart tell you?"
Lily did not know how to answer this. Deep down, her heart told her that she did love her mother; they could be a family again, she knew they could! But what about Michael and Marcie? They had put so much aside to make sure that Lily was happy, and—
"If you're worried about Michael and Marcie, don't be."
Lily looked at John in surprise. Did he just read her mind? "How did you—"
"It's part of the job, kid." John tapped the side of his head and grinned. "Michael and Marcie love you like a daughter, and I'm sure that if you chose to live with your mom, they would not mind. All they want is for you to be happy."
"I guess—"
"Lily." Michael came back into the kitchen with a grim look on his face. "That was Viki Davidson on the phone. Umm…your mom is with her right now. Viki wanted to know if you wanted to talk to your mom…Tina wants to tell her side of the story. I told Viki I'd call her back when you made your choice."
"M-my mom wants to talk to me?" Lily stuttered. Why was she so nervous? She had been thinking of forgiving her mother…she just wanted to act on it first.
"You don't have to," Michael said quickly. "Viki said that Tina would prefer whatever you're comfortable with—"
"No," Lily interrupted, surprised at her answer. "I want to see my mom. I need to see her. It's better this way…"
"Good girl," Michael smiled kissing Lily's cheek. "I'll be right back…you're doing the right thing, Honey." He disappeared into the kitchen again. Lily buried her face in her hands.
"What am I going to do now?"
"Why? You don't want to go talk to Tina?"
"No…I mean, yes, I do, but—"
"You don't know what she's going to tell you."
"Yeah." Lily stared into the darkness of her two palms when she felt John's strong arms engulf her into a hug.
"You're really brave, kid, there's no denying that."
"I don't feel brave, John"
"You will, Lily, you will. No matter what goes on today, Michael and Marcie are going to be here for you. You're never gonna be alone, kid, no matter what."
"How do I look, Viki?" Tina was standing in the living room of Llanfair checking her reflection in the mirror that was mounted over the fireplace. She had been nervous all afternoon. What would Lily think of her when she heard the whole story?
"Viki went into the kitchen ten minutes ago," Todd replied. He was lounging on the couch reading The Banner. "Tsk, Viki, your stories are way too soft—"
"How do I look, Todd?" Tina gave her hair another pat.
"How the hell am I supposed to know? What is this, a reunion with your daughter or your senior prom?" Todd chuckled to himself. "That chick is my niece. That's—"
"Hilarious, I know."
"I was going to say 'quite funny' but hilarious works." Tina looked as if she were going to slap Todd when the doorbell rang.
"Damn it, that's them. Viki! What am I supposed to—Viki!"
"Honey, I'm coming!" Viki looked slightly exasperated but nevertheless had a warm smile on her face as she went to the door. Tina looked around nervously and sat down next to Todd.
"How do I look?" she mouthed to Todd a final time.
"Fine!" he mouthed back with wide eyes. He put the newspaper down on the coffee table and smirked in the direction of the hallway, where Lily would soon be emerging from.
"Hello!" the two siblings heard Viki exclaim from the other room. "Hello, Michael, hello, Marcie! Hi, Lily, you look nice today!"
"Thank you, Mrs. Davidson," a tense voice answered. Tina looked as if she were about to run out of the room, but Todd had gripped her shoulder and held her down.
"Well, why don't you come in?" Viki ushered the threesome into the living room.
Tina gasped when she saw Lily; she could not help it. When she first saw her daughter a few days ago, she could not get a good glimpse of her, but now…"She's so beautiful!" Tina thought. "My baby grew up so fast!" Lily tried to avoid her mother's eyes and instead fixed them on Todd, who was looking at her with great interest.
"Looky here, we've got the Brady Bunch," he remarked looking from Michael to Marcie to Lily. "All that's missing is Little Tyke, but I think we can manage without him right now. What's up, Lily?"
"Nice to see you again, Mr. Manning."
"Aw, now we don't need to use formalities, do we? You can just call me Uncle Todd, kiddo."
Lily looked around her; nobody seemed surprised by that remark except for her. "Mom—?"
"Umm, honey, Todd's not playing around with you," Tina replied quickly. "Todd…and Viki are…my brother and sister."
Lily felt as if the world around her was spinning fast. How could Todd and Viki be Tina's siblings? That meant that she had a bunch of family in Llanview, didn't she? "Mom…I'm missing something here. What don't I know?"
Tina sighed and looked around the room. "Sit down, honey," she replied patting the seat between her and Todd. "We have a lot to talk about."
Lily's eyes burned from crying so much; she had heard this story a thousand times in her head…heck, she lived through it herself. But something in the way her mother told it made it that much harder to endure; it was the feeling of a mother failing.
"And I love you and CJ and Sarah so much, and I never wanted to believe that any of you were dead, but the newspaper article! I missed you all, and if you can ever forgive me…I know I failed to protect you in the past, but I want to make up for that. I want to be a mother to you again." By this time, Tina was sobbing openly, and Lily felt the urge to say something.
"You didn't fail, Mom," she whispered. "All of those lies you told were to protect us…what more can I ask for in a mother? Richard was manipulative, and if he had found out that I wasn't his biological daughter…he would probably kill you all before I was ever even born! We can't let Richard take anything from us any more, even if he's rotting in Hell right now. It will only make him more satisfied. Mom, all we can do now is be together as a family, show Richard that no matter how much he tried to hurt us, we are still happy."
Tina burst into another round of tears. "I love you so much Lily…I'd give up my own life to save you…"
"I know, Mom…I love you too."
Lily, Michael and Marcie were just about to leave Llanfair; Tina had agreed to let her daughter stay with the couple until they figured out other arrangements. Slowly, Lily said good-bye to her family.
"See ya 'round, kiddo," Todd grinned ruffling his niece's hair. "I know you don't want to leave your awesome uncle, but you know, Llanview is a small town, and we'll see each other everywhere. I owe you a cheeseburger from Rodi's."
"Okay, Todd, I'll hold you to that," Lily replied with a smile before turning to Viki, who still had tears in her eyes.
"Oh, good-bye, sweetheart! Be good for Michael and Marcie, and if you need anything at all, anyone to talk to—"
"Aunt Viki, I'm going to be, like, five minutes away," Lily giggled. "I'll come and visit tomorrow or something."
"Oh…silly me, okay." Viki hugged Lily yet again and kissed her cheek. "You still need to get reacquainted with your cousins! Jessica, Natalie, and Kevin all want to see you again, I'm sure!"
"Honestly, Viki, you're going to see her before she gets married," Tina smiled from the corner of the room. She approached her daughter. "Tonight we'll go out to dinner, okay? Pick a place, and we'll be there. I'll pick you up at six thirty, so you'd better not be—"
"Tina!"
"…Late."
David Vickers and Dorian Lord had entered the room; David looked as confused as ever, and Dorian just looked like she wanted to gloat. Lily quickly turned to Tina, who had a pained expression on her face.
"Mom, they're not…I mean…I'm not related to them in any way, am I?"
"What is this, some sort of reunion?" David asked looking around at the people in the room. Tina quickly inserted herself in between David and Tina.
"David, you might want to sit down," she said nervously trying to sit the headstrong man on the couch.
"Hey, it's Tina Lord Jr.!" David exclaimed, making Lily giggle. Although she had met David a few days ago, Lily knew that he was not the brightest star in the sky. "So what's the big news, Tina, the Yankees are playing right now, and—"
"Lily, you'd better sit down too."
"Ooh, this is important!" David rubbed his palms together and licked his lips as if he were hungry for more information. "Can you tell me so I can get home before Jeter's up?"
"Okay…David…remember when we were married? And I left Llanview two years after we got divorced?"
"Mom, what does that have to do with anything?" Lily interjected, but her eyes became very round. "Richard Patterson wasn't my father," she thought. "But no…no, David couldn't…he just couldn't…"
"David…I want you to meet your daughter; Hillary Patterson."
