“Lily, I heard you talking with Mom and it’s all a bunch of crap. You don’t have a problem with us helping, not really. You just want to learn to do everything by yourself because you’re scared. Luke left you, then Will died, and you lived far away from all of us. But you’re back home, and let’s talk odds. You have two parents and seven siblings. Plus, Gram, Jed, Auntie Delphine, and our cousins, and of course, there’s Jane, and don’t forget Luke is back. Unless the house blows up during a Sunday dinner or something wacked like that happens, we won’t all be taken out at once. You’ll always have at least one of us to lean on. Think about that and chill the heck out.”

I was probably being a little ridiculous, but I couldn’t help it. I felt anxious when I thought about all that I had lost. “You’re probably right,” I conceded. “But I don’t need you to spend the night, we’ll be okay.” Telling Rose she was right was the best way to end a disagreement. She could go on and on and on until she got her way.

“Okay, Lily. Have it your way. But promise to call me if you need me, no matter what time it is. You are nightmare prone. I don’t want you freaking out in the middle of the night when Gram’s house starts all that weird creaking and her neighbor’s asshole dog starts howling at the moon.”

“Fine. Deal,” I agreed. “I need to leave now anyway. If I can find my baby and wrestle her away from Violet. It’s almost bedtime.”

“What about my apple crumble?” she pouted.

“I’m full of all these snacks. Tell me how it turned out.”

I yelled for Dylan and went off in search of my baby and to distribute goodbye hugs and kisses to my family.

4

Lily