"Fine, if you want to pretend this is a social visit, we can pretend," T Ray mocked as he sat down in the Boatwright living room. Lily looked across at him from where she stood, suddenly no longer feeling the least bit afraid. She had her momma's whale pin on her shirt, Zach's dog tag around her neck, and most importantly three mothers who loved her. There was nothing for her to be scared of.
That is, until T Ray noticed the pin on her blouse. A wild look in his eyes she'd seen every time she did something that deserved the grits lit up more intensely than she'd ever seen. She screamed as his hand slapped her across the face, pushing her back into the Mary.
The large red handprint was still there as she stood on the front porch, surrounded by her mothers as she watched her father leave. When T Ray's truck had disappeared, June put her arm around Lily's shoulders, "Come on, let's get some ice on that."
She was still in the kitchen, alone by then, however, when Zach came in to get a drink. He'd been out with the hives that morning. June had gone with Neil. August and Rosaleen were upstairs, working on something, leaving Lily alone but content with her ice pack and honeyed bread. She never really felt alone anymore.
She smiled at him as he came in the door, for the moment forgetting the stinging of her injured cheek. For a split second, he smiled back, that is until he realized what she was holding up to her face and why. Within a few seconds he was inches away from her, inspecting the growing bruise and demanding to know what had happened.
"T Ray came to get me," she explained. As Zach stiffened abruptly beside her, she continued, "He left. He's not going to come looking for me anymore. I'm going to live here with Miss August."
Zach immediately brightened, "Really?" At her nod, he appeared to almost bounce in his seat, so much excitement welling up in him he couldn't contain it. Finally, it burst out and he kissed her soundly on the mouth. Lily's face was practically glowing with her incandescent smile when he pulled away. Returning the expression, Zach nodded toward her eye, "Are you sure you're all right?"
Thinking of her mothers, her home, and the boy across from her, Lily nodded, "It was worth the ache."