The Seeds Of A Daisy: The Lily Lockwood Series: Book One (Women's Fiction) (31 page)

“For God’s sake, Fernando, the man was blind. He was holding on to his seeing eye dog.”

“Oh. I didn’t notice,” Fernando mutters.

“Okay, chill out, both of you,” I command. Were they for real? In all the years I’d known them, I’d never heard Fernando and Auntie D. exchange a harsh word.

Suddenly Auntie D. starts laughing, points to Ferny, and says, “I didn’t notice’…Ferny, the damn dog was the size of a small horse!” She is laughing uncontrollably, and it is contagious. Fernando starts laughing, and I follow suit. Before long, we are howling and can’t stop. Any gesture one of us makes to control ourselves sends the others into deeper fits of laughter. When Tommy walks into the room, he looks more than a little surprised to find three hysterical hyenas surrounding a dying Daisy.

I
hear a burst of laughter spill out of David’s room as I’m walking toward it. I walk in and see he is sitting up in bed, holding court. Hannah is sitting on the side of his bed, holding his hand. Robbie is on the other side, leaning back in his chair so that its front two legs are off the ground and its back is tipped against the wall.

They turn to look at me. The laughter and the banter abruptly stop. Robbie jumps a little, moving the chair off kilter, and he falls to the floor—hard! We all look at each other and explode with laughter. Robbie stands up, his handsome face blushing.

“Bro, that’s so funny,” David says. He is breathless from laughing. “You should see your face.”

Robbie’s face gets dead serious. He looks his brother in the eyes. Without blinking once he says, “Funny? How so?”

Hannah looks uncomfortable and says, “Robbie…what’s going on?”

Robbie looks at his mother with the same serious, almost angry expression on his face and says, “Mom. He’s a big boy, he knows what he said.” He turns back to David. “What did you say? Funny, how?”

David looks a bit sheepish and replies, “Just…ya know, you’re….you’re funny.”

“What do ya mean, funny? Let me understand this, ’cause, I don’t know, maybe it’s me, I’m a little messed up maybe, but I’m funny how? I mean, funny like I’m a clown? I
amuse
you? I make you laugh…I’m here to amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?”

The two Rosen boys start laughing. I catch on that they are reenacting the famous Joe Pesci-Ray Liotta scene from
Goodfellas
.

Hannah is still in the dark, and keeps looking from one son to the other. “What is going on?”

Robbie puts his arm around his mother, leans down and gives her cheek a quick peck. “We’re just fooling around, Ma.”

Robbie turns his attention to me, and I look at those eyes again. Why do I find it hard to breathe normally around him?

“Lily, want to sit down?” he grins.

“I don’t think so. That chair is dangerous. I’d like to keep both feet on the ground, and off my butt.”

That sends the brothers into another round of laughter. I think about the room I just left. Ferny, Donna, and I in fits of laughter, and now here I am laughing with the Rosens. I feel a wave of guilt come over me. I’ve been laughing off and on for the past hour while my poor mother lays dying. I am a terrible person.

Hannah picks up on my mood change and walks over to me. “How are you doing, sweetheart? I know this is a very trying time.”

“I’m doing my best to hang in there. The reality of it, well, it comes and goes in waves.”

“That’s understandable. Have you eaten anything?”

I wonder if food is the age-old mother’s answer to all problems. Not that Daisy was ever like that. She would suggest shopping as a cure-all for any ills, not eating.

“No, I haven’t eaten since I saw you. Guess there was too much happening.”

Hands on her hips, Hannah Rosen takes full control of the room. “Well, that will never do. Robbie, c’mon, we’re taking this lovely young lady for a good hearty meal.”

I do not feel like being social. I just want to go home.

“That’s so sweet of you, Hannah, but my car is in the shop and I already called a service to pick me up. They should be here very soon. I’m beyond tired,” I add.

She looks at me for a few seconds, than puts her arm around my waist. “I’m going to go back to the hotel. Robbie will take you home.” She looks at Robbie. “And get her something to eat on the way.”

“The house is way too far, it’s all the way out east,” I protest.

Robbie looks at me and says, “Lily, let me drive you home. It’s the least I can do.”

My heart is beating time and a half, and I nod my head in agreement.

Hannah claps her hands. “Okay, that’s settled. I’ll take the car that you have waiting for you back to my hotel.”

“Hey, what about me?” David complains.

“You get to stay here with all the pretty nurses and heal. I’ll be here first thing in the morning to make sure you’re behaving yourself.” His mother kisses him on the top of his head, puts her arm through mine, and we head toward the door.

A doctor walks in. He’s young, probably a resident. He’s smiling as he approaches the bed. What a novelty that is, a doctor who walks into a hospital room and smiles—it’s a sight I haven’t seen once since I’ve been here. He introduces himself and his smile broadens.

“Well, Mr. Rosen, we have some fantastic news for you. You and your donor are a match, and we’ve determined that you’re stabile enough to undergo surgery. We can schedule it as soon as the donor dies and the kidney is available!”

Everyone is understandably happy, but immediately dials down their relief because they know my mother is the donor. I excuse myself, quickly walk out of the room, and stumble into the ladies room, across the hall. I lock the door. My legs buckle and I end up on the white tile floor, which must have recently been mopped, because the smell of ammonia fills my nostrils and burns my eyes. I am rapidly losing control, as if I am free falling and have no clue where and how I am going to land.

I remember one summer when I was about nine years old. It started out like every other day that August. As soon as I wolfed down the blueberry pancakes Grams had lovingly made from scratch, I grabbed my favorite Little Mermaid towel and ran out of the house and down the grassy hill. As soon as I hit the shoreline, I kicked off my sandals and jumped into the water.

My mother followed me out of the house, coffee mug in one hand,
New York Times
in the other, and sat in the Adirondack chair in the backyard.

“Lily, be careful not to go in too deep,” she called after me.

“Gosh, Mom, I know! Why do you always have to tell me the same things over and over again? Geez.” I’m sure I rolled my eyes and stamped my snotty little foot.

My Mom smiled. “That’s part of my job description as Lily Lockwood’s mother. You don’t want me to get fired, do you?”

I shook my ten-year-old’s head in exasperation, turned my back to her, and, in defiance, ran out into the deep water until my little feet no longer touched the ground. Almost immediately, I felt the pull of a very strong undertow.

I looked up and saw a massive wall of a wave coming toward me. Within seconds, the wave hit and took me on its wild ride. I was tumbling over and over like a helpless rag doll, not knowing which way was up or down. Suddenly, I felt a strong hand grab the back of my bathing suit hard and lift me out of the swirling chasm. Of course it was my mother. She lifted me up, and I wrapped my arms around her neck, and my legs around her waist.

When we got back to the shore, she gently placed me on the sand, but I didn’t want to let go. I never wanted to experience that feeling of being so unsafe and so out of control again. And yet, here I was, so many years later, just as terrified, just as disoriented, just as helpless. This time there is no Mom to grab hold of me and place me firmly on the ground again.

There’s a knock at the restroom door. “Dear, it’s Hannah. Are you okay, honey?” I jump to my feet and stare at the door.

“Please, darlin’, open up a minute; I’d like to speak with you.”

I wipe my eyes and slowly open the door. Hannah walks in and locks the door behind her.

Without skipping a beat, she opens her arms. She is like a huge powerful wave of love and comfort that immediately pulls me toward her. I put my head on her shoulder and cry. The grief I have been trying so hard to control wells up until I can no longer hold it back. We stay like that for a long while, and then Hannah puts her hands on my face.

“Darlin’, I know this is the worse time in your life. I can’t imagine how hard this is for you. But I give you my word from the very bottom of my heart that we are here for you, during this time and for as long as you need us. We are family now.”

I smile and thank her. She is a kind and sweet woman. Even though she and Daisy are so different in their mannerisms, style, and stature, I felt certain that my mother would immediately take to Hannah, as I have.

“Now, after spending time with those two hooligans,” she nods in the direction of David’s room, “you may not want to have anything to do with
our family.” She smiles, her blue eyes twinkling. I laugh; she takes my hand and leads me out of the ladies room.

When we get back, the celebratory mood is depleted, and both guys seem genuinely upset. Robbie jumps up out of his seat. “Lily, we’re so sorry. That was really insensitive of us.”

“We feel like jerks,” David adds.

“Listen, I understand,” I say. “No worries, truly—I’m just a bit tired and overwhelmed. You guys aren’t jerks.”

“I don’t know about that. You may want to reserve your opinion until you get to know them better,” Hannah says. That breaks the somber mood, and we all laugh.

“Now, Robbie, take Lily home, and don’t forget to get her something to eat, and drive carefully; it’s raining cats and dogs out there.” She kisses both of us.

It’s such an odd turn of events. As Robbie and I ride down the elevator to the lobby I realize that only a couple of days ago, I didn’t know any of them existed, and now, here they are, treating me like family. They genuinely feel that way, I’m certain.

I’m grateful to have met them—but family? The only family I have is my mother. Of course I know Auntie D., Tommy, and Ferny love me, but Mom and I are a team. We make up the family and always have.

Like the Southern gentleman he is, Robbie tells me to wait inside the lobby, out of the rain, while he brings the car around. When he pulls up in his old BMW, I think how very different this world is from Beverly Hills. In LA, when the valet pulls up with your car, most Angelenos, at least the ones from Beverly Hills all the way to the west side, would know exactly who you were, where you lived, and what tax bracket you belonged to before you even got behind the wheel. It’s as if they—I should say we—have a special wealth calculator chip implanted in our brains. It seems odd to me now, here in New York, but nobody thinks twice about it at home. That’s just the way things are there.

At first we drive in silence. It has been a very long day, and we are both exhausted. I watch his strong hands grip the wheel and for a brief moment I wonder what his hands would feel like touching my body. I shudder a little.

“Lily, are you cold? I can turn up the heat.”

“No, I’m fine.” What would he think if I turned to him and said, “Actually, Robbie, I was wondering what it would feel like if your hands were caressing my naked flesh.” (I am going to hell for sure!)

We continue to drive in silence. I notice that from time to time, Robbie glances at me as if he is checking to make sure I am still all right. Sitting next to him, I feel comfortable and safe.

We exit the expressway, and within ten minutes we are driving slowly on the dark country road, passing farms and vineyards. The quiet thump, thump, thump of the tires on the pavement and the sound of the steady rain on the roof of the car lull me into a half sleep.

I close my eyes and think of Robbie and what a strong man he is. Not that he’s a gym rat necessarily—although he looks like he has a killer body. I am thinking about the kind of strength that comes from within: strength of character that few, if any, men I have ever been involved with possess. He seems to move through the world with ease. He exudes confidence and a quiet strength. He’s definitely the type of guy I’m sure Daisy would approve of.

My thoughts are interrupted by another huge roar of thunder. I open my eyes in time to see an enormous lightning bolt zigzag across the dark sky. It startles me, and I jump a little. Robbie touches my shoulder. “You all right?”

I chuckle. “When it comes to lightning and thunder, I have to admit it, I’m a wuss. I mean it, if I’m not shaking under my bed, I’ll at least have my pillow over my face the entire night!”

He looks amused.

“I am such a baby during a really bad storm. To this day, when I’m at the farm and there’s thunder and lightning, I run into my mother’s room just like I did when I was a kid. As a matter of fact, she knows me so well that she has the covers pulled down so I can just jump in.” I laugh, but then suddenly it hits me. That will never, ever happen again. Robbie gives my arm a gentle squeeze.

“The lightning and thunder were so bad, I ended up sleeping under my bed last night,” I confess.