Lily didn't realize she was holding her breath until her parents' voices reached her ears. "What?" they exclaimed in unison. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeak. It was worse than the first day of school. Then all she had been dealing with was twenty six-year-olds, all eyeing her suspiciously, and now she was dealing with the shocked and disappointed faces of her parents.
"Why would you do that?" Rose asked.
"I—I thought it was the best thing," Lily stammered. "I—"
"And when were you going to tell us?" Jack demanded. Even Cal was surprised by the harshness of his voice.
Lily lowered her eyes. "I was waiting for the right time," she said quietly.
A reply was on the tip of Jack's tongue, but Rose took his hand before it could come out. She laid it flat on her lap and traced the word wait and then please on his palm. Shame washed over him. "I'm sorry," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. She squeezed back.
Lily met his gaze. "I know I should have said something sooner," she said, "but with everything that was happening, I just couldn't. I wanted to wait until after things settled down with Dylan and Eva." She let out a short, joyless laugh. "I guess technically things have settled down with them."
"And why'd you do it?" Jack asked.
"Don't tell me you actually care!" Cal exclaimed. "Just a moment ago you sounded ready to—"
"I know how I sounded," Jack said, pronouncing each world slowly and carefully as though he were talking to a small child, "and that was really just the shock talking." He focused his gaze on Lily. "I'm not mad. Neither of us are. Just tell us why, Water Lily?"
"Well, I decided I was wasting my time. I wasn't learning anything I couldn't teach myself for free—and faster—and to be honest, it seemed like such a bourgeoisie luxury when there's so much work I could be dedicating myself to."
Jack glanced at Rose; she wore a thoughtful expression. "I understand how you feel," she said slowly. "It's as though you're watching the world go by, and you can't be a part of it."
Lily nodded eagerly. "That's exactly it! I—I'm reading about the things that are going on, and I'm part of some of it, but it's such a tiny part. It isn't enough. It used to be, but it isn't anymore."
Cal stared at Jack and Rose. "And you're going to accept that?" he asked incredulously. "You don't care—"
"Oh, we care," Rose said coldly. "We care a great deal about the futures of our children. That's why we're accepting Lily's decision to live her life the way she wants to. That's why we accepted Dylan's decision to marry your daughter in spite of who she was." Cal's mouth twitched. "We didn't have to overlook her connection to you," Rose said. "And you haven't given us any reason to, but she did."
Jack placed his other hand over hers. "You should see his expression," he said.
"Does it look like he's holding a drawing of a naked woman?" Rose asked. "Because I remember what that one looked like."
Jack held in a chuckle. "He just looked pissed off then. Now he looks confused on top of pissed."
"You two really are perfect for one another!" Cal spat.
Jack and Rose both grinned brightly. "Thank you," they said in unison before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
"I fail to understand how a woman as well brought up as you could have turned out so common," he said, his face wrinkling with disgust.
"She was mailed to the wrong address," Jack said without missing a beat. "She was supposed to be with me all along."
"We should go," Deirdre said, standing up. She turned to Cal. "Now," she added. Ignoring his scowl, she said, "Thank you for telling us what happened, Lily. I hope it won't be too much to ask for you to let us know when they return."
As soon as they were gone, Lily moved toward the door. "No," Rose said. "We're not finished. We still need to discuss a few things."
"But I thought you said—"
"We did," Jack said. "And we meant it. That wasn't just to annoy him into leaving. If we'd wanted to do that, there were plenty of other things we could’ve done."
Reluctantly, she sat down. "I gave away the rest of my scholarship money," she said, "in case you were wondering."
"We were," Rose said. "And how are you paying for your apartment?"
"I'm splitting the rent with two other people. We pay for food collectively as well. I have a job at the library, and that covers everything I need plus there's all the books I can st—borrow."
"Steal, borrow, sometimes it becomes the same thing without you even realizing," Jack said. "Just make sure there isn't a name written on anything you borrow."
Lily sensed he was speaking from experience, but her desire to leave the kitchen—and her parents' questions—was stronger than her curiosity. "I'm not doing anything dangerous," she said. "With the Party, I mean. If that's what you're worried about."
"I can't say we don't get worried," Rose said. "And I know how frustrating it can be, feeling like you're trapped, like if you don't do exactly what's expected of you, the world will come to an end, but don't run too far in the opposite direction too fast."
"I won't," Lily promised. "I know what I'm doing. Really." She gave each of them a quick kiss and then hurried from the room, breathing a sigh of relief as she went. It was over. She had told them.
"What was that about running too far in the opposite direction?" Jack asked.
"I just don't want her giving up too much without thinking," Rose said. "She won't be able to get it back."
His eyes probed her face. "You gave up everything two days after you met me," he reminded her. "Your entire life changed forever."
"For the better," she said, laying her head on his shoulder. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me." He put an arm around her. "And I knew exactly what I was doing," she said. "I knew what would happen if I got off the ship—either ship—with you."
He smiled into her hair. "I remember how it felt when you first said you were getting off the ship with me. I couldn't believe you'd really said it, that you could really mean it."
She hugged his middle. "As though I could have left you. I was pregnant with Dylan by the time I said that."
He couldn't help but laugh. "I thought we decided that happened a few weeks later?" he asked. "When we spent the night camping under that willow tree. Remember?"
"How could I forget?" she asked, sighing.
*****
Dylan couldn't stop smiling. His food sat on the plate untouched, growing colder by the minute, but he didn't care. Across the table, Eva was eating so quickly it seemed like she was barely pausing to breathe.
"Aren't you famished?" she asked. "I feel like I haven't eaten in days. I feel like I haven't tasted anything in days."
Who needs food when I can look at you? he thought. "I guess I'm not that hungry," he said. "But I'll eat."
"Don't you just feel so much better?" she asked. "Don't you just feel like you could fight the world?" Her eyes sparkled. "I sound crazy, don't I? I'm raving. I—I'm just so happy!" She reached across the table and took his hand. "Thank you," she said solemnly.
"For what? Marrying you? Yeah, you really had to manipulate me into it," he joked.
"I mean it," she said. "Thank you for loving me despite…despite where I came from."
He laced his fingers through hers. "Eva, my loving you…I don't care who your parents are or who they were," he said. "I don't care that we didn't grow up the same way. I don't care that our fathers would happily kill each other—" She laughed. "I care about you," he said, kissing her knuckles. "The beautiful, talented, kind person that you are. And I would've married you eventually, no matter what."
"You sure about that?" she teased. "What if my father hadn't given up his robbery staging ways?"
"That wouldn't have stopped me," he said, a trace of Jack in his voice.
Eva's cheeks reddened under his gaze. "When should we go back?" she asked.
"When do you want to?"
"Not yet, if we can help it," she said. "It's barely been a day, and I'm sure my father—"
"Is fighting with mine," Dylan said. "It doesn't matter if he doesn't like us being together, though." He ran his thumb over the empty space on her left hand. He didn't have the money for a ring yet. Soon, he promised himself.
"It doesn't matter what anyone thinks," Eva said, smiling.