Bad Son Rising (29 page)

Shaking his head, Zac thought for a moment before answering, “I’m sure he could be easily resurrected if the situation required.”

“With me?” Lily looked alarmed.

“Never with you, Lils. I’d die for you and I would seriously fuck up anyone who tried to hurt you.”

Lily’s arm tightened around Zac’ waist as they continued to walk.

“So don’t worry so much,” he said into her hair. “Two years will go really fast. We’re both going to be so busy with school. And nothing is going to happen to us. Have faith in me, Lils. Have faith in us.”

“I’m trying, Zac. I really am. I just hurt every day without you last time.”

“If I could get back every day from Brazzaville to Wee Burn, I would. But I can’t. I just have now and tomorrow to show you how much I love you. And I’m doing the best I can. Do you have any doubt that I love you?”

Shaking her head no, her French braid swayed from side to side.

Playfully, he tugged on her braid, tipping her head back, “Good. Just remember that, Pocahontas. Before you know it, we’ll be together forever.”

“So, I’ve been thinking,” they were walking back after her shift at Maguire’s.

“What have you been thinking?” Zac looked up at the star-filled night sky.

“I’ve been thinking I could withdraw from Hopkins and apply to the med schools at UC San Francisco and Stanford. Both are great med schools. I got into Hopkins which is number one for internal medicine, so I should be able to get into UCSF, which is number three and then Stanford, which is number ten, could be my fall back school.”

Zac stopped dead in his tracks and faced Liliana, putting a hand on each shoulder. “No,” he shook his head, his eyes boring into hers.

“We can be together. I can just go to med school out there.”

“How old were you when you first started dreaming of going to Johns Hopkins Medical School?”

She didn’t answer, but also didn’t break his gaze.

“I’ll bet you were a little girl. Am I right?”

Lily remained silent, continuing to stare into Zac’s eyes.

“You’re not giving up that dream, Lily. Trust me, that will come back and haunt us, time and again. It will eat at us and it will destroy us.”

“Zac, it’s not a big deal. The number three program in the country is still phenomenal.”

“UCSF wasn’t your dream, Lils. Hopkins was. Hopkins is.”
How do I get through to her?
he wondered.

“Maybe my dreams have changed. Maybe the little girl dreams don’t work for me anymore. Maybe I want you to be part of my dreams,” she was getting upset.

A couple was coming toward them on the path, and Zac ushered Lily to the side so that they could pass. Waiting for them to be out of earshot before he continued. “I am a part of your dreams.”

“We’ve lost so much time, Zac,” her eyes pleaded with him.

Pulling her in for a tight hug, he buried his face in her hair, taking in her scent. “I want you to try and look at it this way, OK. The time we were apart made us realize how real this was between us and getting over each other, well, that just didn’t happen. I know I love you, Lily, and no, I don’t know the future, but if I were a betting man, which I am, I’d bet I’m still going to love you two years from now. But I’m going to be loving you with a master’s degree from a prestigious program and on my way to being able to take care of you.”

“But I don’t need you to take care of me, Zac. I’m going to be well compensated as a physician.”

“I need to take care of you, Lils. I need to know that I can take care of you. That you can count on me.” He wondered if she understood it as they walked the rest of the way back to MooreHaven in silence. For as strong and capable as she was, he needed to be able to take care of her. He wanted to take care of her.

Berto and Marit Castillo were on their way to Zambia, with plans to fly back home in mid-August through Washington, DC, so that Marit could spend a few days helping Liliana set up the little condo she’d rented off the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Marit wanted to make sure Lily was settled in and organized before classes began.

As first time guests out on Fire Island, they joined the Moores at their beach house for a few days of relaxation, before embarking on the long, exhausting journey to Lusaka, Zambia.

“I can’t believe my daughter is a bartender,” Berto confessed to Schooner Moore with a tinge of pride in his voice.

Schooner laughed, “Mine’s a waitress. She goes to MIT and slings clams in the summer.”

As they sat on the deck, enjoying the breeze off the ocean, “They seem happy, the kids.” Berto noted, referring to Lily and Zac.

“They are,” Schooner concurred. “I think they are really good for each other. They complement one another very well. Zac is crazy about her.”

“Do you think this is serious?” Berto knew that Schooner had spent a lot of time with them over the summer.

Nodding, “Yeah, I do. Zac adores Lily. It’s wonderful to see him put someone else first.” Turning to Berto, “He’s very protective of her.”

“They share a bond none of us will ever truly understand. It’s one thing to say you’d die for another person, it’s another thing to actually put your life on the line for them and then watch it all unfold.”

Nodding, Schooner conjectured, “My guess is that in a period of just a few moments those two quickly segued from childhood to adulthood and lost a lot in the process. It’s been a long haul back from Hell.”

Agreeing, Berto concluded, “I’m glad they have each other.”

“I know Lily is concerned about being apart, but Zac’s not going anywhere. His plans for the future are all centered around her.” Schooner had watched his son, and not only did he treat Liliana with love and respect, he put her first, in everything. Her happiness was of the utmost importance to him. Her happiness made him happy.

Berto smiled as he stared out over the ocean, “I can rest easy, Schooner, knowing your son is taking care of my little girl.”

There is nothing like an oceanfront clambake on a summer’s night in the northeast, and that is what the Moores planned to celebrate the Castillo’s visit. Once the sun goes down and the breeze kicks in with the tide, sweatshirts and hoodies come out, as the cool air chills sunburned cheeks and sun-chafed lips.

Marit had continued to give Zac the cold shoulder and he decided it was time to take a different tact with her. Step one was that he was no longer going to call her Mrs. Castillo. By allowing her to be aloof, he was giving her power he didn’t want her to have.

“Marit, is there anything I can get you to eat or drink?” he approached her at the railing of the deck where she stood alone watching the ocean.

“No, I don’t think so.” She never looked at him or thanked him for the offer.

Nonplussed, he remained by her side, quietly taking in the view.

“Johns Hopkins has always been her dream,” Marit was the first to speak.

Score. Never speak first.

“We want the same thing for her, Marit. So, I need your help.”

The older woman turned to him, her brows knit together, distrustfully.

“I wake up in fear every day that Lily is going to announce to me that she’s withdrawn from Hopkins. I’ve told her on multiple occasions that under no circumstances do I want her following me to California. She needs to go pursue her dream.” He ran a hand through his thick hair pushing back the irreverent lock that had an affinity for his forehead.

“And what do you want of me?” her tone was leery.

“Convince her she needs to go to Baltimore and that anything different would be a mistake.”

“Of course it would be. How can she trust you after the way you hurt her?” Her eyes narrowed as she delivered her verdict.

Outwardly smiling as if she had just given him her blessing to marry her daughter, Zac locked eyes with the woman, “We’re on the same side here, you do realize that, don’t you?”

Without waiting for a response he turned, calmly striding across the deck and into the house.

Watching, but not being able to hear the exchange from where she was seated, Mia saw the look on her stepson’s face as he made his way to the house. Excusing herself from her guests, she followed Zac indoors.

Leaning with his shoulder against a wall, he appeared deep in thought as tapped the heel of his left foot repeatedly against the floor.

Standing before him, she asked, “Are you OK?”

He shook his head no without even looking at her. “She’s never going to forgive me for hurting Lily. She just doesn’t get it. I couldn’t leave her there. I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe. It was the only thing I could think to do to get her out of there. I could not leave her there, Mia. Why doesn’t she understand that? I did it because I love Lily.”

Reaching out, Mia rubbed a hand up and down his strong upper arm, “I know,” she said softly, “I know.”

“I’m not the enemy. She and I want the same thing for Lil. I want her to go to Johns Hopkins in the fall. I don’t want her not to go to her dream medical school because of me.” Zac looked distraught.

“You up for some slightly dirty pool?” Mia smiled at him.

Laughing, “You’re seriously asking me that? We can go past slightly, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Good,” Mia was smiling her devil smile, “You didn’t come out of this unscathed either. She needs to recognize that.”

Zac nodded. His whole life was demolished and building it back to where he was today took work, determination and courage. He fought his ass off to get it all back and have the strength to move forward.

“Here’s what I want you to do. Tomorrow morning when I’m out there with her having coffee, I want you to come join us, wear a bathing suit and a shirt and bring a towel. Sit down and have coffee and then tell us you’re going for a swim. Take your shirt off and leave it on the chair. Grab your towel and go. I’ll take it from there.”

Zac looked at Mia with an amused look on his face. “Wow,” was all he could say.

“She needs to see how you have suffered. And what she sees once you take your shirt off is just a fraction of what you endured. Liliana did not go through trauma and heartache alone and she needs to understand that her daughter is here today, alive, because of you. You deserve every last ounce of her respect, and I think we just need to bring it home for her by showing her how real it was for you and for our family.”

Turning to go rejoin her guests, Mia was stopped by Zac calling her name.

“Mia,” his eyes welled up, “I love you.”

Smiling back at her handsome stepson, “I love you, too.”

Carrying an oversized beach bag stuffed to the gills and a backpack that felt like it had been filled with rocks, Zac walked Lily over to the entrance of the security line.

“Notice how I’m still your schlepper,” he kidded.

Lily tried to smile, but her emotions would have no part of it. Looking up at Zac, her eyes sad and pleading, “You know, I didn’t tell you this, but all summer long I had this fantasy that we would get to the airport and you’d get on the security line with me and pull out a plane ticket and tell me that you were coming with me to Baltimore, and that you’d applied to the Whiting School of Engineering at Hopkins.”