Chapter Twenty-one
Lily and Mari went into the parlor—which had been restored to its usual configuration of furniture—to discuss a few bits of information she wanted to extract from Horatio’s youngest daughter. The secret daughter she had never known about, not even an inkling.
The mere idea frustrated her to no end, but there was nowhere to put her anger at her brother. She’d just have to stuff it down.
“I hope you don’t mind and that you don’t think I’m being pushy,” Lily started out. “But I have a couple of questions for you that are very important to me.”
“I’m sure you’d never be pushy, based solely on how you’ve acted since I met you. Go ahead and ask your questions. I’ll tell you what I know.”
Lily grinned. “Well, I’m wondering what your favorite flower is and your favorite color.”
“My favorite flower?” Mari’s brows furrowed as if she didn’t quite understand the question.
“Yes. Do you have one? A favorite flower, that is?”
As she watched Mari puzzle through the answer to that question, Lily couldn’t help but notice how much she looked like Victoria. They both had thick, silky dark hair. Victoria had gotten her hair color from both of her parents. While Victoria’s eyes were very blue, like Horatio and Lily’s, Mari had gray-blue eyes.
Both of Horatio’s eldest and youngest daughters had slim, athletic figures. For Victoria, this attribute came from Isabella, her mother. Lily wondered if Mari’s mother had looked like Isabella. Was that why Horatio had been drawn to her? That was information she’d likely never have the true answer for. But she could certainly speculate.
Lily would have to be careful to be sure she knew who she was talking to. While Victoria and Mari’s faces were quite different up close, looking at them in profile or from the back, they were quite similar. The good news was that they definitely looked like sisters.
Mari appeared to be stumped on deciding what her favorite flower was. Perhaps she’d never been asked that before.
Lily said, “If you don’t know what your favorite flower is, I have a book that you could look through and pick one.”
“May I ask why you want to know?” Mari looked as if her curiosity had been piqued by why Lily wanted to know this apparently secret information.
Lily smiled. “Well, it’s kind of for a surprise that I have in mind for you.”
Mari’s eyebrows went north. “I see. Okay. Well, then, I won’t spoil your surprise. I will assure you that my favorite flower is not a marigold, even though that’s my name. It was my mother’s favorite flower, obviously. She always thought they looked cheery, yet strong.” Mari shrugged as if she wasn’t certain about the strength or cheeriness of marigolds.
“I figured as much. But that’s okay. I want you to pick out whatever flower you like the best.” Again, Lily was taken with how much Mari looked like Victoria. They could definitely be taken for full sisters, though they’d had different mothers.
Horatio had so loved Isabella, with her dark hair and porcelain skin.
Both Kelly and Sunshine had lighter hair, as if her brother had specifically fallen for women who did not look like Isabella. He must have broken that pattern for Mari’s mother.
Mari looked up into the air as if thinking about all the flowers there were. And there were quite a few lovely flowers.
Lily was content to give her the time to consider. She was not the sort of person who needed to fill a silence with chatter.
After few minutes, Mari said, “I guess I would have to say that my favorite flower is the dahlia. I like that they are bold, bright and vivid. And my favorite color is probably purple. I have other colors that I really like, depending on what the item is, but I love all shades of purple, no matter what.”
Lily clapped her hands together. “Perfect. Dahlia it is and I like all the shades of purple, too. This will be wonderful. I’ll let you know when I’m finished.”
“I can’t wait to find out what the surprise is,” Mari said.
“Good. Thank you so much for telling me. I will let you get on with your day, Mari. And can I tell you, I can’t wait to get to know you better. It’s long overdue.”
Mari smiled, reached out her hand to take Lily’s. Thinking better of it, she drew the older woman into a hug. “I feel exactly the same way. I can’t wait to get to know you and all of my sisters much better. I agree, it’s long overdue.”
Lily was overcome with all kinds of unsorted emotions, but she tried not to cry all over her newest niece. She had a design in mind for the quilt she planned to make for Mari, just as she’d made unique quilts for all the girls. She couldn’t wait to get started.
She planned to embroider a towel set with dahlias for Mari’s room, as well. She couldn’t wait to get started on that, either. Maybe later today she’d start the towel set. That project would be faster for her to complete. She’d see how the day went.
Once Mari had gone back to her room, Lily went to see how Becky was doing with cleaning the dining room from the breakfast service. She was pleased to see the girl was almost done.
“After you finish and put the dishes away in the kitchen, you can go on home, Becky. Thank you, as always, for staying late.”
“Don’t you want me to do any cleaning or dusting around the lower floor this afternoon?” Becky asked.
Lily hated to tell her no, but she needed to be firm on Becky’s hours this month. “There’s no need, but thank you, Becky. There is still family business being conducted in the parlor, so no need to dust or clean this week. Next week, though.” At least Lily hoped she could afford to pay Becky to clean next week, once all of her nieces and Miles were gone.
“Okay, thank you, Miss Lovelock. I’ll see you tomorrow morning for the breakfast service.”
“Yes. Thank you as well, dear. See you tomorrow morning.”
Normally, she would’ve gone into her small office to pay bills and take care of whatever chores were on her to-do list for the day. However, she was feeling somewhat tired. Honestly, she’d been feeling tired all this week.
Every day seemed to be filled with a little more activity than she was used to. It was to be expected, since Miles was here and all of Horatio’s daughters were here, along with Kelly and Sunshine and her brand-new niece, Mari. Kelly was heading home to Philadelphia, for which Lily was grateful. The others hadn’t let her know their departure dates yet. It was a lot. It was understandable that she was extra tired this week.
It didn’t help that it was difficult to pay the bills when there was not much money left to pay them. She was in a terrible position, using her savings to basically shore up her business and make payroll each month. Horatio had left her the business, but he had to know she had been losing money.
Business had been shrinking at a steady pace for several years. She had done everything she could think of to save money and cut back to the essentials.
Lily closed her eyes and sighed. Today was not the day to face her difficult business options. She was just too fatigued.
Lily made a mental note to chat with Miles Lang before he went back to Philadelphia. He had to know what her finances for the Lovelock Inn looked like. Perhaps he had some suggestions for her on how to turn things around.
She climbed the stairs and went to her bedroom to rest up.
She unfolded the afghan that was at the end of her bed, wrapped it around her shoulders and lay down on top of the quilt, her favorite, that covered her bed. It wasn’t one that she had created. It had been a gift.
It was a beautiful wedding gift that she probably should have returned, since she didn’t end up getting married.
In the rush of everything else that had happened during that dark time, the handcrafted quilt had been preserved and put away with several other things she probably should have returned. Instead, they had been forgotten.
Lily had found the quilt in a box in the attic a few years back. Seeing it brought a rush of memories both good and bad, wistful and sorrowful. But she decided that the quilt had lived in darkness long enough, so she put it on her bed and had enjoyed it ever since.
Lately, she’d been taking a morning nap right after breakfast, along with her regular afternoon nap. It wasn’t that she had to have a nap twice a day, but Lily found that she felt so much better if she took fifteen or twenty minutes to rest a couple of times a day.
Sometimes she didn’t even sleep. Sometimes she just let memories of her life float through her mind. Other times, she had quite vivid dreams, even if she didn’t rest for long.
Everyone told her, “Old age isn’t for sissies,” and she sure believed it.
As she rested, Lily thought back. Seeing Victoria made her instantly think of Isabella.
Lily’s mind went to her favorite memories of her best friend. She went all the way back to when Victoria’s mother was alive, young and happy. When Isabella was madly in love with Horatio, about to marry him in a grand wedding, Philadelphia style. Their wedding had been beautiful, but Lily’s memories went back further, to when they were planning that lovely day.
“What do you think of this dress, Lily?” Isabella asked, referring to the maid of honor dress. They had looked everywhere for that certain special dress that was perfect and complimented the gorgeous dress Isabella had chosen.
“I love it. It’s the best one we’ve found so far.”
They had taken care of every detail of Isabella’s wedding, completely swept up in the excitement of Isabella and Horatio’s special day. The next year, when Lily got engaged and Isabella was pregnant with Victoria, they had that experience to help them when they handled all the planning and details for Lily’s wedding.
As neither of them had mothers to help them, they relied entirely on each other.
Lily’s mother had died of cancer when Lily was ten. Isabella’s had died in childbirth. She was the only child of a well-to-do Philadelphia businessman who had been so crushed by his wife’s death, he never remarried. To Lily’s knowledge, anyway.
Lily and Horatio’s father, Silas Lovelock, absolutely did not approve of Isabella as a match for his second son, at least not at the outset.
Isabella’s father, Vincenzo Vercelli, was very rich, but his family was considered “new money.” That was not the same as the Lovelock family’s wealth, which had been handed down through the generations for over a century.
Horatio was the second son. Lily’s eldest brother, Sebastian, would be the one the family business was passed down to. Sebastian had been working with Silas for years to learn everything there was to know about running Lovelock Enterprises so he could take over from their father when the time came. And that meant Horatio was allowed to marry the girl he loved without too much grief.
Silas had spent a few months trying to dissuade Horatio from the marriage but he would not be talked out of it. He loved Isabella and no one else would do.
Since Isabella was best friends with Lily, she’d always thought that helped tip the scales in the couple’s favor. Lily was grateful. She and Isabella were like sisters anyway. Once Horatio and Isabella were married, she and Lily were officially sisters. Lily had been delighted.
In a time when big, fancy wedding dresses with lots of ribbons and bows had been the norm, Isabella chose simple and what she considered elegant.
Her idea was that less was more. Her wedding dress had been modest.
It was a long-sleeved, body-fitting sheath with a skirt that fell straight down from her hips to a narrow hem at her feet. There were only a few embroidered embellishments along the V-shaped neckline. She did decide to have a small train, which was all the rage at the time.
After their well-attended wedding was splashed all over Philadelphia’s society pages, Horatio and Isabella had gone on a multi-country European honeymoon, spending time in Scotland, England, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Her favorite country had been Switzerland.
A few months after the wedding, Isabella confessed to Lily that she must have conceived on that extravagant honeymoon trip. Victoria was born well before their first wedding anniversary. She was a beautiful, blue-eyed, dark-haired baby girl and Lily loved her the moment she laid eyes on her.
Isabella had not had an easy pregnancy or labor. Everyone, including her doctor, was relieved when Victoria was finally born healthy and perfect.
Lily didn’t know it at the time, because it wasn’t Isabella’s way to share anything negative. She only found out later that Isabella’s doctor told her she should not try to have more children. He said another pregnancy would be a risk to her health and that she’d been extremely fortunate with Victoria’s safe arrival.
If Horatio knew that information after Victoria’s birth, he never told anyone. Lily only found out because, when Isabella’s second pregnancy ended in miscarriage, she happened to overhear Isabella’s doctor tell her the dire warning once more.
“Your heart is not strong enough to carry another child to full term, Isabella. I will say it again: You were extremely lucky with your daughter. This miscarriage has been hard on you. I recommend strongly that you don’t attempt to have another child.”
Isabella told her doctor, “I was an only child, because my mother died in childbirth. I had hoped that my daughter could have a sibling. I don’t want her to be all alone.”
“Then you would do well to look into adoption,” the doctor had said, and exited the room without another word.
Lily hadn’t thought about that overheard exchange in quite a long time. Later, it made so much more sense to her. At the time, she felt terrible for Isabella, because she knew her sister-in-law truly and deeply wanted another child. She had wanted half a dozen children.
Lily also knew that the Lovelock family had absolutely no interest in adoption. They cared about the true bloodlines of their sons above all else.
Isabella was still on Lily’s mind as she sank deeper into her favorite quilt and let sleep take her exhausted body.