Chapter 15: The Life I Owe Her

Nathan's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "What's wrong?"

"I need to head home," Lily said, reaching for an excuse. "The noise through my hearing aid is giving me a headache. I feel a little sick."

He agreed at once. "The gift I had planned for you already arrived you'll see it when you get home. I'll be tied up late tonight, so don't wait up. Drive safe, and call me once you're home."

She murmured her agreement.

Nathan looked at her with obvious affection and leaned in.

Lily turned her face away.

His brow furrowed.

"Everyone's watching," she said flatly.

He smiled it off, shrugged out of his coat, and settled it over her shoulders. "I'll have Ryan drive you."

Lily never expected the "gift" waiting for her to be this.

"Grandma!"

The moment she stepped into the living room, a wall of warm air hit her, flushing her cheeks and there, sitting on the sofa watching television, was her grandmother.

Eleanor looked up and gasped. "Good heavens! Look at this dress is that really my granddaughter under there? You look like you fell straight out of a fairy tale!"

Lily didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She gathered up her skirt and hurried over. "Grandma, how did you even get here? Weren't you freezing on the trip? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

Eleanor took her hands, fretting over her. "Look at you you're colder than I am. Nathan sent someone to fetch me. Said there's no proper heating back home and he was worried I couldn't handle the cold. Told them not to warn you ahead of time wanted it to be a surprise."

She glanced around. "Where is he, anyway? Why didn't he come home with you?"

Lily rubbed at the corner of her eye. "Still at the reception. There's a ball after, then some after-party he might not make it home tonight at all. Have you eaten, Grandma?"

"Oh, yes, plenty. The second I got off the car, Mrs. Collins had dumplings on the stove for me."

Eleanor pulled her closer, studying her face. "Sit still and let me look at you. You've gotten so much thinner since I last saw you. Has Nathan been unkind to you?"

"Though how could he be? That boy's adored you since you were both children. If anything, you're the one who's been too soft on him!"

Even her own grandmother, who'd watched Nathan grow up, couldn't imagine him hurting her.

Since Eleanor had only just arrived, Lily decided against mentioning the divorce yet.

If she said anything now, the old woman would march straight over to confront Nathan herself the last thing Lily needed with everything still delicately balanced.

Eleanor's instincts, however well-meaning, ran old-fashioned. She might try to talk Lily out of it entirely.

Better to wait the month out. Act first, explain later.

At worst, she'd get an earful once it was all done.

Lily leaned her head against her grandmother's shoulder, just like she used to as a little girl. "Grandma, stay here in Ashcombe with me a while. I'll take you to see Owen tomorrow."

"That sounds wonderful," Eleanor said, smiling. Then, "Oh where's Toby?"

Lily looked up at her.

Her throat tightened.

She told her grandmother everything.

Eleanor went very still.

Once it sank in, tears welled in her eyes, and she patted Lily's hand. "This is good news, sweetheart. His family wants him back you can't stand in the way of that. Blood's blood, no matter how the bones got set."

"I haven't told Nathan yet," Lily said carefully. "Please don't mention it either. Let's see how Toby adjusts first before it becomes a whole conversation."

"Of course, of course," Eleanor said. "But since you clearly love children this much, you really should ask Nathan about giving you one of your own soon."

Lily gently pushed her grandmother's hand away, steering clear of the topic entirely. "I'm going to go lie down for a bit."

Eleanor watched her granddaughter's retreating back and shook her head.

Kids these days.

Married two years, and dodging the subject like it's contagious.

Later that night, Lily grabbed her pillow and padded into her grandmother's room without a word, climbing straight into bed beside her.

"I'm an old woman," Eleanor scolded lightly. "You could at least knock."

But her actions said otherwise she was already tucking the blanket snugly around Lily's shoulders. "Just like when you were little. Grown enough to be a mother yourself, and still climbing into bed like a little monkey. Speaking of which when exactly are you and Nathan planning on a baby? Two years married now, it's really time you two"

She kept going, gentle and relentless.

Lily heard every word clearly.

But she nuzzled her chin against her grandmother's shoulder instead and said, "Grandma, what are you saying? I don't have my hearing aid in can't hear a thing!"

Eleanor fell silent.

In the dark, her eyes welled up again, and a couple of quiet sobs slipped out. "I never should have let you go with your father chasing after those monsters. You shouldn't have had to see what happened to him. My sweet, clever, mischievous girl she shouldn't have had to lose her hearing over it."

Lily's throat closed up.

Before Nathan's mother passed away, she'd entrusted him to Charles Ashford's care.

But Nathan, even as a boy, had been consumed with finding his biological father.

That obsession was what led them straight into the hands of traffickers.

They'd taken him.

Charles had raced after the van on the family motorcycle to save him, with Lily pedaling desperately behind on her bicycle, unable to keep up.

She'd watched, helpless, as the traffickers' van struck her father again and again until there was nothing left to save.

She'd fallen off her bike.

Crawled toward him across the pavement, screaming until her throat tore raw, her chest caving in on itself and then, suddenly, silence. Total, absolute silence. Every sound in the world had vanished the instant her father did.

She'd been deaf ever since.

From that day forward, Nathan never once brought up searching for his own father again.

From that day forward, the three of them Lily, her brother Owen, and Nathan had all been raised together by one exhausted, grieving old woman: Eleanor Ashford.

Lily took a slow breath and patted her grandmother's arm gently. "Go to sleep, Grandma."

Eleanor let out a tired, fond sigh and held her granddaughter's hand until they both drifted off.

The next morning, Lily's phone rang early Dr. Lee, calling from the hospital.

After running the full battery of tests, the specialists had unanimously agreed: Toby was a strong candidate for cochlear implant surgery. They wanted him brought in as soon as possible for the final round of evaluations.

Lily burst into tears of relief.

"Grandma, I'll take you to see Owen another day."

She skipped breakfast entirely and rushed straight to see Toby.

They took him to the specialty hospital and found Dr. Lee, his attending physician.

After the CT and MRI scans, Toby grew visibly agitated.

In the rush to leave that morning, they'd forgotten his hearing aid entirely leaving him unable to hear anything at all.

Losing your hearing somewhere unfamiliar, somewhere you already hate being that's terrifying for a child.

Lily scooped him up immediately.

Once inside Dr. Lee's office, she asked politely, "Doctor, now that the scans are done what's next?"

Before Dr. Lee could answer, the door opened again. A middle-aged woman in a matching white coat leaned in. "Dr. Lee, there's a consult report from the ER waiting on your review."

Dr. Lee gave Lily an apologetic smile. "Would you mind waiting here with him a moment?"

Lily nodded.

She carried Toby over to a nearby sofa and sat down.

The hearing aid in her ear had started emitting a faint, persistent beep, irritating enough that she pulled it out and rubbed at her ear.

The other doctor lingered near the doorway, gaze drifting toward Lily. "Goodness, she's lovely. Those eyes, that face like it was painted on. Someone's parents did very well."

Dr. Lee gave a knowing smile. "Pretty doesn't count for much, in her case.”