Chapter Three
As Katherine Mayfair laid in bed she had thought of what Lily Miller had told her, that her daughter was not only physically abused, but sexually abused as well. Thinking about it made her sick to her stomach and an overwhelming sense of guilt overtook her. Guilt that she did not protect Lucy well enough. She also thought of what she was going to tell people when they came back. Katherine had never thought of it before, people were going to ask questions, especially if they actually did the math, and people might figure out who Lucy's real father was, which she wasn't going to allow to happen. She wasn't going to ruin her friendship with Susan again over this.
Katherine got out of bed and got dressed for the day before heading out of her hotel and making her away to Lucy's house. She regretted not checking the weather because it was actually snowing outside. She hurried to her rental car and drove to Lily's, she knew it was early, but they weren't home. Just then someone pulled up to the driveway. It was Lucy and Lily with some shopping bags. Katherine stepped out of her car and Lucy smiled. "You must be freezing, come let's get you inside and warmed up." Lily told her as she invited Katherine inside. She turned on the fireplace and Katherine sat in front of it. "I hope you don't mind, but Aunt Lily and I guessed your size." Lucy said. This left Katherine confused as she took out some warmer clothes and snow boots for Katherine.
"Even though you're not going to be here for much longer Lucy and I thought that you shouldn't freeze." Lily told her with a laugh. "I don't know what to say." Katherine said as she looked at them. "It was no trouble at all." Lily told her. "This way if you come to visit in the winter again you won't freeze next time." Lily laughed. "Thank you, I really appreciate it." Katherine said. "You should go try them on first before you go thanking me." Lily told her. Katherine stood up and went into the restroom to try on the clothes and snow boots, they fit perfectly. Not the most stylish thing out there, but they suited the job just fine. She came out in her new clothes and tried on the coat. "Everything fits perfectly. Thank you again." Katherine told them before taking off the coat.
Suddenly someone came into the house, taking off their snow boots and placing them on the boot dryer. "Hey honey, how was work?" Lily asked her husband as he took off his coat. "Exhausting." he replied. "Oh? We have company?" Liam asked as he looked at Katherine. "Well sort of, come I'll explain over breakfast." Lily told him. Lucy followed them to the kitchen, as did Katherine. Lucy and Lily started to make french toast, which was Lucy's favorite. Lucy hummed as she cooked. Katherine sat down deciding that they probably didn't need help, though she did enjoy cooking with Lucy they would have plenty of time to do that.
Once Lily and Lucy were finished they sat at the table. The kids were at school already so it was just the four of them. "Liam, this is Katherine Mayfair, she's Rachel's biological mother." Lily started to explain. "Lily, I'm pretty sure Marina is her biological mother, you know this as do I." Liam told her. "No, Marina kidnapped this poor woman's newborn out of the hospital after she murdered the real Rachel. This girl here is Lucy Mayfair." Lily explained. She went on to what Katherine had told her as Liam listened to the whole thing. "I am so sorry for what Marina did to you." he told her. "Thank you." Katherine replied as she took a bite of her food.
Even the french toast, a simple enough recipe was fantastic. "So Lucy, why did you start cooking and baking?" Katherine asked her. "Oh Lucy has been in the kitchen since she was in diapers. So was I in fact, my mom was always trying to make the next generation of slaves." Lily laughed at this. "I'm sorry slaves?" Katherine asked her as she stared at her in shock. "Oh ha ha Aunt Lily, very funny, don't scare Ms. Mayfair." Lucy told her. "Alright well not slaves, but all the cleaning and dinner had to be done and on the table by the time my parents arrived home from work. My mother raised Lucy to be this way as well." Lily explained.
"Lucy got so good at it that she actually has won a few trophies." Lily continued as she took another bite. She chewed and swallowed before her next question. "Have you ever heard of the Kids Baking Championships Katherine?" Lily asked her. "Yes I have, I've seen a few episodes, why do you ask?" Katherine asked her, curious as to where she was going with this. "Well Lucy was one of the winners in the show a few years back. She made this geode crystal cake that was delicious and extremely gorgeous." Lily said as she took out her phone and looked up a clip for the show. It showed a young Lucy presenting a fantastic three tiered pink geode cake with sugar crystals as the actual crystals. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Katherine smiled and looked at Lucy who was blushing. She couldn't believe how much Lucy was like her. Dylan didn't like cooking or baking, which was fair because she wasn't biologically her child, at least not the current Dylan anyways. Lucy looked almost exactly like Katherine did when she was her age. "Well that was delicious ladies, I'm going to take a shower and go to bed. Can you tell the movers to keep it down?" Liam asked. "Yes I will do my best. Lucy you can sleep in the guest room tonight." Lily told her. "Oh ummm actually, Lucy will be staying with me in my hotel room tonight, we have an early flight to catch." Katherine said. "Oh well alright, oh and before I forget, here is that recipe you asked for." Lily told her as she handed her an index card with the recipe. "Thank you again for this." Katherine said as she placed the index card in her purse for safekeeping.
Once the movers arrived they carefully packed Lucy's things, especially her fragile things, but about halfway through them moving things Midna started to bark at Katherine. "Why is she barking Lucy?" she asked to turn around to Lucy and saw her falling as Midna ran over to her to break her fall. "Lucy!" Katherine exclaimed as she ran over to Lucy and panicked for a few moments as she convulsed on the floor. She then remembered what Lily told her and started to time the seizure on her phone. About three minutes later Lucy came out of her seizure. "Lucy! Thank god you're alright!" Katherine said as she hugged her. "See...Midna is a special dog, she's a service animal, that's why she's non-negotiable. She's trained to sense my seizures, break my fall, and alert anyone nearby that I am having one." Lucy said weakly. Katherine helped her up and took her to the guest room to take a nap. Midna was also trained in other things, but they weren't as important as the seizures as the seizures happened more frequently.
"Lucy just rest alright? I'll help the movers finish up, just rest." Katherine said as she kissed her forehead and smiled. She had been so worried about Lucy, how could Lily be so calm when she was freaking out internally? Katherine shut the door to the guest room with Midna laying beside Lucy and helped to tell the movers finish up. Her room was empty now, but Katherine decided to vacuum over it while Lucy was resting. Lily came downstairs as Katherine was putting away the vacuum. "Oh I hope you don't mind, but I vacuumed Lucy's old room out." Katherine told her. "No not at all. Where is she?" Lily asked. "She's taking a nap, she had a seizure." Katherine replied as she looked at Lily who was holding two small packages. "Oh well could you give her these? They just came in the nick of time for her. I've already got a forward on all of her mail to your house from the address you told me last night." Lily informed her. "Oh thank you, I had completely forgotten." Katherine said as Lucy opened the door.
She had been asleep for about an hour before realizing that she fell asleep with her contact lenses in. "Lucy, did we wake you?" Katherine asked her as she turned to her. "No, I just realized I fell asleep with my contacts in." Lucy said to her. "Your contacts?" Katherine asked her. She didn't realize that Lucy wore contacts. "Lucy is as blind as a bat without some form of glasses or contacts. She wears contacts because her lenses are so thick that even with plastic frames and high index lenses they still hurt her." Lily explained. "Anyways I'm going to rinse my contacts and put in eye drops." Lucy said as she walked to the bathroom. Once she was finished she came back out.
"Okay Lucy, why don't you finish packing the stuff in your bathroom and get Midna's leash ready." Katherine told her. "Oh okay." Lucy said as she went to finish packing. She placed everything into her suitcase and put on Midna's leash. Lucy then carried everything out to Katherine's rental car. She had already said her goodbyes to Sam and McKenna the night before. Before they left Lily woke up Liam to tell Lucy goodbye. They each hugged Lucy. "Goodbye Lucy, and good luck." Lily said to her. "Call me when you get there so I know you've arrived safely." she added. "I will Aunt Lily. Goodbye Aunt Lily, goodbye Uncle Liam." she said as she waved them off. She got into the passengers seat next to her mother and buckled her seat belt as Katherine got in and did the same.
Once they got to the hotel Lucy placed her things on the other bed. She opened her backpack and took out the two packages that she had ordered. She had really only ordered one of them, the other was a Christmas gift from her Discord community. Lucy opened up the first one, the Christmas gift. It was only a week early and it's not like her mother knew it was a gift. She took out a small box with beautiful packaging and slid the seal off of it. Removing the top Lucy noticed a small bag inside with the logo of the maker. She then took the small bag out and slid out the object. Her gift was an Oberon Gosling ocarina. It was pink and purple with hints of teal and looked like a watercolor galaxy. She placed the Gosling around her neck, it was tiny and incredibly light for something made of ceramic.
"Was that one of your packages?" Katherine asked her. "Yeah, it was a Christmas gift a Discord community I'm in." Lucy told her. "What's Discord?" Katherine asked her curiously. "Ah well it's like Skype, but infinitely better. More tailored to gamers, but you can really make one for anything. For example, I have a special one with Amelia." she told Katherine with a smile. "Amelia? That name sounds familiar, I know you've told me, but I can't quite remember." Katherine said as she racked her brain trying to remember that name. "Amelia is my sister...or was my sister. I still haven't told her that we aren't sisters...trying to explain it in a way that she won't think I'm pranking her. We could all facetime I guess?" Lucy shrugged.
"I'll help you explain." Katherine told her. "Great, thanks I really appreciate it." Lucy smiled. Katherine noticed her new necklace. "That's a strange looking necklace." Katherine told her. "Well that's because it's no ordinary necklace. This is an ocarina." Lucy told her. "But it's so tiny...does it even play?" Katherine asked her. "Of course, let me read the fingering chart for a sec so I can memorize the scale." Lucy said as she looked at the fingering chart for a second. "Ah so it doesn't do the high E, but it does do a low B...interesting..." Lucy noted out loud. She quickly played a scale and noticed the breath pressure was a more even slope. "Ah, this is an even breath pressure...I see, let me try again." Lucy said out loud before playing the scale perfectly and then playing a song she had memorized.
"That one is a bit higher pitched than the other one." Katherine noted. "Well the other one was an Alto C, this is a Soprano C." Lucy said. She then went to the other package and opened it. "What is that?" Katherine asked as she saw something in a clear plastic box. "Oh this? This is called a Coda." Lucy told her as she opened the box. Inside was a gray bag with the insignia of the item and some papers inside. Lucy opened the gray bag and took out the Coda. The Coda was black all over with a white mouthpiece. Lucy took out a pre-measured cord and made a few knots in it to make the object slide. "Is it another ocarina?" Katherine asked her after noticing the mouthpiece. "Close...the Coda is a vessel flute, much like an ocarina is, but the Coda is an EDC with two chambers, it even comes with a silencer to practice without disturbing people." Lucy told her.
"EDC?" Katherine asked her. She had vaguely heard that term before...somewhere. "EDC stands for Every Day Carry. This thing is supposed to go with you everywhere. It's made from polycarbonate to be virtually indestructible. This thing has two chambers on it to allow for more notes to be played." Lucy explained. Katherine had zero idea on what she was talking about. Lucy took out the paper which told her how to play the instrument and the notes. Memorizing them rather quickly Lucy played a scale. "Hmmm I see, it's very similar to a double ocarina...a double ocarina has two chambers as well. I'll show you when my things arrive if I remember to." Lucy said as she knew Katherine would be confused. Even with the explanation Katherine was still confused.
Lucy placed everything into the bag for the Coda, including the fingering charts and placed it in her pocket. "Lucy, are you hungry? It is about dinner time." Katherine told her. "Yeah, what are you in the mood for?" Lucy asked her. "You can decide." Katherine smiled. "Well, how about pizza and then later some ice cream? There's this great pizzeria not too far from here and we can go to the dairy for some ice cream. Best ice cream ever. It's made fresh with milk from their cows." Lucy informed her. "Why not?" Katherine smiled. Lucy got on her coat and they left to go eat.
Lucy had been right once again, this pizza was very impressive. Lucy ordered pepperoni and they both shared it. "You're right Lucy, this tastes really great." Katherine told her. "See I told you, I mean mine's slightly better, but it's still really good." Lucy smiled. Once they finished eating Katherine paid and then they went across the street to the ice cream place. Katherine smelled their waffle cones being made as they stepped up to the counter. Lucy looked for what she wanted and decided on cookie dough. Katherine decided to get the same thing. She paid and then they sat down to eat their ice cream. It was delicious. In fact it was the best ice cream she had ever had. "Wow this is so good. The waffle cone is a bit hard though." Katherine said. "Yeah, Disneyland still has the best cones in my opinion, but I've made a really good clone recipe though." Lucy replied.
Once they had finished they left back to the hotel. Lucy took out her seizure medication and took two pills before she got into the shower. Once she bathed she put on a nightgown and laid on the bed. While Katherine was in the shower, Lucy took out her contacts and fell asleep. Midna laid next to her in the bed and was asleep as well. Katherine got out of the shower and saw that Lucy had fallen asleep. She tucked her in, kissed her forehead and laid in bed as well. She had her daughter back, she was ecstatic, but also quite sad too, her daughter had been through so much and she was still quite young, it wasn't right for them to do that to someone so young. Katherine tried to clear her head. She watched Lucy sleep for a while before turning off the light and falling to sleep as well. They had an early flight to catch after all.