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Donna Meets Lily -
Chapter 24
Hangovers and Lily's Visit
Donna awoke holding her head. God, what a hangover you're punishing me with!
She sat up in bed and looked over at the other side. Oh no! Who is that? I don't remember coming home with a guy?
She looked over and gently moved the blanket away from the person's face. Fearing to see some strange man that she had picked up in the bar. It would not have been the first time in her life that that had happened. It just had not happened in years.
"Rebecca!"
"Donna!"
"Oh my word! What are you doing here?" Donna said immediately shushing herself and holding her head because her hangover was so bad.
"I think I decided to stay because Harry was asleep and I knew I wasn't in the shape to drive us anywhere," Rebecca said.
"So, how did we get back in my apartment?" Donna wondered.
"Oh, I know what happened. That hot Latino guy was hitting on you and you told him he wasn't Harvey and he was kind enough to put us in a cab and told us to sleep it off," Rebecca volunteered rubbing her own head in the process.
"Why the hell would I have done that?"
Suddenly Donna's doorbell rang way too loudly. She had taken this dinky apartment after she had gotten her first paycheck from the theater. It was smaller than the apartment she had in New York. Donna still felt she may not be remaining here permanently, so she did not want to blow all her income from PSL on a swanky apartment.
Donna looked at Rebecca and thought Who the hell was that? A man's voice suddenly could be heard. It had a distinctive Spanish accent.
"Donna? Are you ok?" The man asked as he banged on the door one more time.
Donna looked down and was thankful she had had the werewithal to put on her pajamas before she fell into bed. Rebecca was dressed in only her slip from yesterday as Donna's pajamas would probably swim in length on her.
"Here put this on, Rebecca."
Donna threw her sweater to Rebecca which she caught and immediately pulled over her head covering her lacy bra.
As Donna tied her sash around her bathrobe, she called, "Ok, mister, hold your horses."
Donna opened the door and standing there was a very dark haired, olive skinned man with scintillating glistening blue eyes.
"Fernando? That was you last night that put us in the cab?" Donna asked happy and relieved that she recognized the man.
"No, that was my cousin Estefan. We have a tendency to fool females into thinking we're the same person."
Donna shook her head before responding.
"W-w-wait! This Estefan is your cousin? Why was he so familiar with me?" Donna said allowing Fernando to step into her small but comfortable apartment.
"I guess because I talk about you constantly," Fernando said. Fernando was the man that Donna sat next to on the plane on the way back into LA. She sobbed all over Fernando and he was kind enough to give Donna his handkerchief and his card. He was a therapist and he was more than happy to be Donna's sounding board. Donna gave him her number and said she would be better company next time they met. Already let this guy down, well, his cousin, not Fernando exactly.
"Well, if you are not ok, I've got the best hangover remedy. Green vegetable juice specifically kale and spinach." Fernando proudly placed two bottles on her kitchen table.
Donna painfully walked toward the two green bottles and said, "Thank you, but no thank you. I'm just going to make myself my dark French brew coffee. "
Rebecca walked from the bedroom then and Fernando's eyes open wide. "You go both ways?" Fernando asked.
"No!" Donna said and then laughed. "No, I definitely don't. Rebecca is my understudy and my pal. We just happened to pass out together here. She's has a husband and I'm still stuck on my guy in New York."
"Harvey Specter." Fernando said remembering Donna's sobbing on the plane.
"Yes, Harvey. I don't want to talk about him right now, though. My head will hurt worse. I just want a cup of coffee and curl up with a good sad movie."
Rebecca quickly dressed and said, "I called Harry. He' s coming to get me so I can retrieve my car."
"Ok, let me see you out," Donna said meeting Rebecca at the door and gave her a hug. "Say hi to Harry for me."
"Sure will. See ya tomorrow for 1st show," responded Rebecca. Donna followed her to the door and then she hung on the door as Rebecca went down the few steps to the front door of the building.
Donna turned around to still see Fernando sitting at her small dining table.
"Thank you, Fernando, for coming to make sure I'm ok. I'm just going to take a shower and curl up with a movie." Donna said urging or coercing Fernando into leaving. However, he was made of sturdier stuff.
"Donna," Fernando said walking over to the door next to Donna. He took her hand.
"How about I take you to a Fiesta for my brother and his wife. It is their 10th wedding anniversary and they are really making a huge party out of it."
"Fernando, I don't really..." Donna begged.
"Nonsense. You can fade into the background and no one will notice or someone will pick you out and you'll have a great time. Come on. I know you're not the type to sit around when there's life going on all around you."
Donna looked down for a minute and thought. Who does this chump think he is? I accidentally tell this guy my troubles and he thinks I'm his special friend he can whip out at parties? I think not.
"Look, Fernando, that is great, but I need to take a raincheck. I need to get some stuff done around here and I do have an early rehearsal tomorrow."
Fernando shook his head and then he handed her a piece of paper with the address and his phone number should she change her mind.
"Ok, thanks, but I hope you won't be too disappointed if I don't come."
"No problem. No worries. I won't hold a grudge if you don't."
Donna was in her shower this time when the doorbell rang. She barely heard it over the loud echoing water fall.
"Who the hell is it now?" Donna lamented aloud. She shut off the water and pulled a towel from her rack and wrapped it completely around her body.
"COMING!" Donna shouted as she finally made it to the door.
"Lily!?" Donna could not believe her eyes.
"Hi Donna! It's nice to see you. Can I come in?"
Donna blinked twice and then told her once prospective mother-in-law to come in.
"You caught me in the middle of a shower."
Lily looked at her watch and noticed it was 1:00 pm.
"I was doing Yoga and I got up late as it is my one and only completely day off."
"You have a job?" Lily asked wondering if maybe she made a mistake flying 3000 miles to see the woman that her son really, really needed but was too stubborn with whom to talk .
"Yes, I have the lead in the Shakespeare Company called Shakespeare in the Park. I'm playing Catherine in The Taming of The Shrew right now. We only have about 4 more performances left and then I'm not sure what I'm going to do."
"How about..."
"Lily, we can talk in just a minute. I need to get some clothes on." Donna pleaded trying to escape for a short minute to gather her thoughts and comtemplate what Lily's visit could mean.
"Of course. I really want to speak with you."
Donna said nothing but walked into her tiny bedroom and found some additional yoga pants and a tank top and returned to see that Lily had found the coffee and poured herself a cup and sat on the couch.
"I hope you don't mind. It's my favorite brew dark French roast," Lily said holding up her cup to show Donna.
"No, make yourself at home," Donna said.
"How's Harvey?" Donna asked. "He hasn't called me or texted me, so I'm assuming he's not sick, right?"
"No, Harvey is not physically sick. However, his heart is hurting from his mistake and your leaving."
Donna poured herself another cup of aromatic brew, added her favorite creamer and one sugar; and took a seat next to Lily on her couch. She curled both feet under her as she sat watching the woman who had given birth to her one true love. Her true love who had an abandonment chip on his shoulder the size of Gibraltar.
"Lily, does Harvey know you're here?" Donna asked before Lily began her speech.
"No. He doesn't. He probably would not appreciate it if he did. So you won't tell him, will you?" Lily asked hoping to be spared from another twenty year separation from her eldest son.
"Let's see what happens first," Donna said being truthful. She was not lying to the woman. She was happy to see her, but she could not decide whether she was glad that Harvey did not know his mother was there or that she was not. Donna did not want to be in the middle of a family feud. She spent too many years fighting against it and then finally convincing the man she loved that he deserved to be with his biological family as well whether he encompassed her in that circle or not.
Finally, taking a sip of the her coffee, Lily intrepidly began.
"Donna, why did you leave again? Before you ask, Harvey glazed over the details but he told me enough that he practically threw you out of his apartment the day after he proposed to you."
"Well, he wouldn't let me explain that I wanted to come back temporarily to do this part and see if anything came out of it."
"There are rumours that producers are looking to make a remake of the movie and want you to reprise your theater role?"
"Oh good Lord, Lily, my director keeps throwing that out as a seduction tactic. I really don't think seriously that if they are looking to do a remake that they want a woman as old as me to play Catherine. Besides they would probably want to die my hair which I am sorry I would not tolerate."
"Are you sure? Because Harvey seems to think that it was the main reason you left and the reason why you may stay permanently." Lily took another sip of the brew.
Donna smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Harvey. You know I want to marry him so badly that I can taste it, but as I explained in my letter...did he read it to you?"
"Yes, but I did not hear everything," Lily responded.
"As I explained in my letter to him, I wanted to put my mark on something. If we are blessed with children, I want them to know more about me than just being mommy or daddy's secretary. I want them to know that their mom was her own person and not just stood behind daddy and supported him. I want Harvey to know that I am more than the sum of my parts that support him. Through the years with his dependency on me that I more or less encouraged, he has forgotten that I am my own person with my own interests."
Donna took a final sip of her cup and then rose and asked Lily if she wanted more.
"I will make a big pot this time and then we can talk some more and, perhaps, you will understand why I can't just go back and forgive him unconditionally this time, this fast."
Lily shook her head and repeated the statement that so many people have stated about Harvey and Donna's love.
"You, two, make love extremely complicated. But I think I understand," Lily said sighing heavily and rose from the couch to join Donna in the kitchen area.
After they had sat down with large mugs of the steaming French roast, Donna said, "Well, we met in that bar and his first thought was that I wanted to sleep with him. He already had a reputation of being a womanizer and had had many of the single girls under his belt."
"I take it was more than that," Lily said smiling.
"Well, he is a handsome man and I was attracted to him, yes, it was. I was intrigued with him and I knew that he was going back to his old firm eventually. I had come to New York to be an actress. In order to stay in New York, I attended secretarial school after studying theater in college and found a job as a secretary in the D.A.'s office pool. I figured Harvey was a free spirit finding his way like me, so I knew that if I worked and did my best for him that he could do some favors for me. As a matter of fact, that is how I proposed myself to him."
"And he went for it?"
"Sort of. We talked about things and I warned him about a shady deal that he finally was able to resolve after 12 years."
"You mean how Marcus got the money for his restaurant." Lily saw the expression on Donna's face. "Yeah, I knew about it. I inadvertently heard from other sources."
"Then you know how awful Harvey felt about that."
"Yes. So when you started to work for him what happened then?"
"I took care of him and he took care of me as best he could in those days. Not like now with material items and special favors. He wanted to sleep with me in the first few years, but I told him that "I didn't sleep with men I worked with."
"Oh, so that rule came up back then..."Lily said.
"Yes, it did," Donna said and took a good long sip and examined Lily surreptitiously from the top of her voluminous coffee mug.
She put it down on the coffee table and leaned back on the couch again. Crossing her arms under her breasts.
"Ok, Lily, come clean. Why are you really here? It's not to hear my side of Harvey and mine history."
"Well, I guess I came here to see if you are suffering as much as Harvey and to warn you that his new secretary has no qualms in taking advantage of Harvey in his vulnerable state."
Donna lowered her head and said,"Number one. Rachel text me a picture of Missy and I have to say she must have been in a disguise when I hired her because she sure as hell didn't look like that!"
Lily smiled at the comment.
"Number two. Harvey is not that fickle when he has pledged his loyalty to someone."
"Donna, I caught Missy on his lap kissing him. He didn't look like he was having any loyalty issues. As a matter of fact he wasn't thinking of being loyal to you at all. Who knows what would have happened had I not walked in on them."
Donna shook her head.
"Ok, now I see what's going on here. I am supposed to drop whatever I want to do to save Harvey from himself. I'm sorry, Lily, that's how I wound up in this predicament. Harvey is Harvey and he will do exactly as he pleases whether he thinks about me or not."
"Well, if he does become involved with another woman, how will that make you feel?"
"That I suppose all this pining between us was really never meant to mean anything more," Donna said and raising her shoulders.
"What if it were Scottie?"
"It's not Scottie you're worried about, Lily. Scottie loves Harvey but he hurt her way too many times for her to go crawling back to him. I know that now. She begged me to say yes to Harvey's proposal, too."
Lily scooted closer to Donna on the couch and took her hand. Lily looked into her face and saw the lines under Donna's eyes and the puffy cheeks and the red rims around the beautiful emerald eyes.
"What if I could promise that Harvey regretted how he behaved and that he cannot wait until you come back and wear his ring on your third finger left hand?"
"Lily," Donna said as she really thought about how much she missed him and how if she could have both her acting career and Harvey's love she would even give up the hope of having children.
"What is it, Donna?" Lily asked as she stroked Donna's cheek which was moist from a tear that fell during their conversation.
"I want to go home so badly. This is going to sound so stupid, but all I want to do is to walk into Harvey's office and fall into his arms and have him hold me and I hold him. I miss him, but I can't go back without finishing what I started here."
Suddenly Lily's phone rang. She removed her hand from Donna's and checked the number. She looked up at Donna.
"I'm sorry. I have to take this. It's one of my students who has missed a lot of classes."
Wiping her own cheek, Donna rose uncurling her legs and picking up the coffee mugs went to the kitchen area.
Donna could only overhear Lily's part of the conversation. Donna tried not to listen, but there was not much space to give Lily privacy. Some of the words that Lily uttered did not sound like she was talking to one of her art students but someone more familiar.
Donna quickly sped to her bedroom and closed the door.
Meanwhile in the living room, Lily hung up her phone. She found a notepad and a pencil on Donna's table and left her a quickly written scrawl.
Donna,
I had to leave. Call me later. My son and you are not done.
Love
Lily
(an hopeful prospective mother-in-law)