CHAPTER SIXTEEN
If Lily had thought things would change after that day with Nate, she had been sorely mistaken.
It had been almost three weeks, and she had only seen him from a distance at church.
He'd moved out of the manor the week after they'd gone car shopping, and when she'd asked her doctor if he'd called, he had said no.
Sweat slid down her back, soaking the waistband of the shorts she wore.
It was way too hot for her to be out here, but she wanted to help Will.
He'd approached her to see if she'd give him a hand setting up a surprise dinner for him and Amy.
It looked like Will was ready to take a second shot at marriage.
She was happy for them. Since she'd returned to the manor, she and Amy had become good friends.
Amy was much like Megan in her approach to Lily's MS. Both of them treated her like she didn't have it, but never questioned her if she had to back out of something.
"Maybe you should go back to the manor," Will suggested as he came to where she was hanging a lantern on a tree branch. "It's way hotter today than I thought it was going to be. And you've been out here for hours."
"I want it perfect for you and Amy," Lily told him. "And I'm doing okay."
She had purposely come out early so that she could work slowly.
Will had taken Amy and Isabella on a shopping trip to Minneapolis the day before, which had gotten Amy out of the way so they could do most the preparations before they’d gotten back a short time ago.
Laurel was in charge of the food. Violet had planned to help with the decorating, but one of her kids had come down with some sort of bug overnight, so she'd had to stay home with her.
It had meant some extra work for Lily, but she was happy to do it for them.
"It looks beautiful," Will said as he glanced around. From what he'd told Lily, this clearing held some sort of significance for them.
Lily brushed a bead of sweat from her cheek. "Let me just finish this up and then it's all yours. I think Laurel will be here shortly with the food."
"And you'll bring Amy out here?" Will asked.
"I'm going to try. That girl of yours can be a little inquisitive." Lily smiled. "But I'm going to do my best to make sure she doesn't suspect anything."
“She went into town right after we got back to help Julia pick out something for the baby. Isabella tagged along, so I think we’re in the clear for a little while.”
After Will had helped her hang the last lantern, they began to light the candles inside each one.
White tulle was strung from the branches of the trees, and Will had set up a stereo for some music.
The last thing to be decorated was the intimate round table Will had carted out to the clearing.
Lily spread a tablecloth over its surface and set a small floral arrangement with candles in the center.
All it needed now was the dishes and food.
She heard a commotion and turned to see Laurel and Matt come into the clearing carrying boxes.
"The food has arrived," Laurel said with a grin.
It didn't take long for them to set the table with the dishes Laurel had brought and then place the meals under silver domes.
"It smells heavenly," Lily said. "Is there more at the house?"
Laurel laughed. "You know me too well."
After making sure everything was how Will wanted it, they left him alone in the clearing, pacing around the table. Back at the house, Amy was talking with Jessa when they walked in. She looked at them and then asked, "Where's Will?"
"He said he had to do something. He'll be back in a few minutes." Lily felt her pockets and then frowned. "Oh rats."
"What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"I was out for a walk and think I dropped my phone somewhere." She looked at Amy. "Would you come with me to see if I can find it?"
"Sure." Amy stood up. "Where were you walking?"
"I took that path out past Jessa's greenhouse."
Amy nodded. "That's the one that goes to the clearing where we had Isabella's party. We'd better go before it gets any darker or we won't be able to find it tonight."
Lily allowed Amy to take her hand and pull her toward the back door.
She tried to ignore the tingling in her legs and the weakness that was spreading from her lower back downwards.
There was no doubt she was going to pay for what she’d done today, but right then she just wanted to get Amy to Will and then she’d deal with it.
"Supper will be ready when you get back," Laurel called after them.
"I heard lots about the party," Lily commented as they walked toward the path. "Will said you did an amazing job planning it."
"It was a ton of fun. Hope I can do another one next year for her."
"So you’ve made up your mind to move here?" Lily asked.
Amy glanced at her. "I don't know. I want to, but I'm not sure what's in Will's mind about our future just yet. I don't want to rush anything, but I can't just stay on indefinitely at the manor."
"You know that's not a problem," Lily said. "You're always welcome here."
As they drew closer to the clearing, soft music could be heard through the stillness of the early evening air. Amy paused and looked at Lily. "Is that your phone?"
Lily shrugged. "Maybe someone is calling it."
They continued down the path, Amy leading the way. As she came to the clearing, she stopped dead in her tracks. Lily gave Will a thumbs-up and slowly stepped back from the woman who would no doubt soon be her sister-in-law.
"Hey, beautiful."
Lily swallowed hard and blinked away tears as she heard Will greet Amy.
Turning, she began to retrace her steps back to the manor.
With each step, tears began to fill her eyes.
After walking slowly for a couple of minutes with blurred vision, she stumbled over a root and fell to her knees.
Grateful that she was a distance from the clearing, Lily leaned forward to brace her hands on the rough ground.
Her intent had been to push herself back up to standing, but instead her shoulders hunched forward as she tried to keep her sobs from becoming audible to the couple who were so joyfully moving forward in their life together.
With her gasping breaths loud to her own ears, Lily made the effort to gain control and get to her feet.
As she took a step, she knew that she'd done far too much and exposed her body to way too much heat.
Added to that was her inability to sleep well over the last three weeks, and she knew she was well on her way to an exacerbation at the very least or quite possibly an attack.
The trembling in her legs made each step more difficult.
Lily grabbed on to the surrounding trees, ignoring the pain as small, sharp branches jabbed into her palms. She was determined to make sure Will and Amy wouldn’t hear her before calling for help.
The last thing she wanted to do was ruin their moment, but she knew getting back to the manor on her own wouldn’t be possible at that point.
~*~*~
Nate knocked on the front door of the manor, looking around at the cars parked in the driveway. He knew it probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done, but he'd volunteered to deliver Lily's car once it arrived.
Apparently Lily had been in to sign the necessary papers and get it licensed but there had been damage done to it en route so they'd had to take the time to repair it before releasing it to her.
He'd been staying away from her once again, but when his buddy at the dealership had let him know that it was ready to go, he'd offered to take it out to the manor.
It just seemed fitting after he'd been with her when she'd picked it out.
And after a few weeks of keeping his distance, he had to admit, he just plain wanted to see her.
The door swung open to reveal Lance standing in the foyer. "Hey, Nate. How's it going?"
"Not too bad. I just brought Lily's car out for her. Is she here?"
Lance motioned him in. "She should be back in a couple of minutes."
Nate joined them in the kitchen where it looked like they were preparing food. "I don't want to interrupt your supper." He laid the keys on the counter. "If you could just make sure Lily gets these."
"You don't have to rush off," Jessa said as she swayed with her baby in her arms. "She'll be right back."
Nate shifted from one foot to the other. Maybe it was just as well she wasn't there. "I should get back to the garage."
"You planning to walk?" Lance asked.
"No. One of the guys should be on his way to pick me up."
Lance glanced down as his phone rang. He pulled it from his belt and stared at the display. "Lily?” He paused, his brow furrowing as he listened. “What's wrong?"
Nate's heart stuttered to a stop and then started up again at an alarming rate.
"Let's go," Lance motioned to Nate. "Lily needs help."
Without hesitation, Nate followed Lance out the back door and took off at a run in the direction Lance indicated. It seemed to take forever to find her on the path even though he knew it was just minutes.
He spotted her slumped on the ground, her face in her hands. "Lily!"
She glanced up at him, her face ravaged by tears. Immediately she covered her face again. Nate had already scooped her into his arms by the time Lance joined them.
"What's wrong, Lily?" Lance asked.
"Just did too much. Too hot," she said, her head resting on Nate's shoulder.
He wondered if she could hear how hard his heart was pounding.
He was scared out of his mind. The fact that she hadn't resisted his efforts to help her spoke more to her physical state than anything else.
The others met them on the back porch as Nate climbed the stairs.
Jessa opened the door to let them into the kitchen.
Nate set her down on a chair. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"