Page 47 of The Me I Left Behind (Tuckaway Bay #4)

“Hi. May we help you?” Maggie said.

“Good day… Do you mind if I step in?” Her words were hesitant, as were her mannerisms.

“Of course not.” Maggie rushed forward. “Let me move a bag. We were just doing some cleaning.”

The woman took a few steps inside the door. “I noticed the door open. I’m… I’m the leasing agent for this unit.”

Carol piped up. “Leasing agent?”

“I brokered the deal between the person who leased this condo and the corporation that owns the building. I just realized….”

“Yeah, he’s dead,” Carol said.

The woman blinked. Twice. And stood still, as if she didn’t know how to respond.

Maggie stepped forward. “Yes, my husband leased this condo, so I suppose you knew him. Max Oliver? He is deceased now, so we are working with the condo manager to get everything tidied up so we can negotiate closing out the contract.”

“Husband.”

“Yes.”

“I see.” She gave a nod. “I can help with that. The lease, I mean. It’s what I do.”

“That would be wonderful,” Maggie said. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.” She reached into her bag, pulled out a business card, hesitated momentarily, and then handed it to her. “Call me when you are ready to talk.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

The leasing agent turned and left. Maggie glanced down at the card.

Lilly Colling, Real Estate and Corporate Leasing

“Lilly?” Fuck.

“Mom. What?”

“It’s her.”

Maggie sprinted out the door and spotted her down the hall, at the elevator. “Lilly. Wait. Please?”

Lilly turned and faced Maggie as she approached. As she grew closer, Maggie saw the tears in her eyes.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Lilly shook her head. “No. I’m the one who is sorry.”

Maggie angled closer and tried to focus. “I never expected to see you face-to-face.”

“Nor did I.” Lilly sniffed. “I thought you were the cleaning crew.”

Carol jogged up to the women. “You’re Lilly? I’m Carol. Do I have a baby brother or a sister?”

Maggie slowly turned toward her daughter. How long had she wondered that? Unexpectedly, Carol had narrowed things down to one simple question. She eased her gaze over to Lilly.

Lilly said nothing for a moment. Finally, she took a breath and exhaled, focusing on Carol. “You have a little brother,” she said softly. “He’s almost nine months old. Would you…?” She glanced at Maggie, then back again to Carol. “If your mother agrees, would you like to meet him?”

She looked at Maggie then. “I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”

Maggie lifted her chin. “Carol is eighteen and very much a young adult. She can decide.” She focused on her daughter then, who peered back with questioning eyes.

“I would like to, Mom. Is that okay with you?”

Maggie nodded.

“Mrs. Oliver…” Lilly started.

“Maggie.”

“Alright. Maggie. I am certain that I am the last person on earth you want to speak with, but I’m wondering if you would… I have questions, you see…and I have been concerned about you and the children. I know Max was not an easy man to be with and I….”

Maggie reached for Lilly’s hand. “We have things to discuss.”

“We do.”

“We will be here for a few more days. Just let us know.”

Lilly took a breath. “My address is on the card. Tomorrow afternoon? Say, two o’clock?” She looked at Carol. “Leo will be there.”

“Leo?”

Lilly smiled. “My son. Your brother.”

For the first time that day, Maggie actually felt something in her heart—if she could only pinpoint what that emotion truly was. “We’ll be there.”

Lilly held her gaze. “Take the passenger ferry over to Macleay Island, then it’s about a twenty-minute walk. Where are you staying?”

“Marriott, downtown.”

“I’m sure they can point you in the right direction.”

“We will see you tomorrow.”

The elevator dinged, and the door opened. Maggie and Carol watched Lilly disappear behind the closing doors.

“Well,” Carol said. “That was unexpected.”

“True,” Maggie agreed, turning. “Are you okay with this?”

Carol met her gaze and held it. “I am if you are. I think we need to do this. We both need closure.”

“Or maybe…” Maggie thought for a moment. “To open some doors.”

At a little before two o’clock the next day, Carol and Maggie stood outside the door of the island home of Lilly Colling. Maggie knocked and also pushed the doorbell. Footsteps sounded behind the door and after a moment, it opened.

An older, plump, gray-haired woman stood there, looking back at them.

“G’day,” she said. “You must be the family from the states. Well, come on in, then. We have tucker on the deck. Lilly’s orders. But I think it’s too cold out there.” She turned and headed up the stairs.

Maggie glanced at Carol and grinned. Carol pursed her lips, holding back a giggle. They followed her to the second level, where they stepped into a large great room, the kitchen area to the right, and a living area on the left. The wide glass doors opened onto a sunny deck overlooking the bay.

“Wow,” Carol whispered. “This is so pretty.”

“Do you think it’s too chilly to eat outside? The afternoon sun really warms the deck.” Lilly stepped into the room, holding Leo. “Good day, Maggie and Carol. Please meet Leo. I’m glad you are here.”

Maggie thought Lilly looked calmer, and a bit more put together, than she did the day before. After a night of mulling things over in her head, Maggie felt better about the entire situation, too.

Carol stepped toward Lilly, moving more quickly than Maggie. She felt like hanging back, letting her daughter take a minute to meet her new baby brother.

Fuck. That sounded weird. Reality can certainly take a turn, can’t it?

“Oh, I would love to hold him,” Carol said. “May I?”

“Of course. He’s just been changed, so he’s good to go.” Lilly handed him over and Maggie watched as her girl smiled and lifted Leo into her arms.

“Hey there,” she said, whispering. “You are a bit of a chunk, aren’t you?” Smiling, she glanced at Maggie.

“I made sandwiches and salads,” the older woman said. “On the deck.”

Maggie turned and smiled. “Sounds lovely.”

“It’s all cold. Everything’s cold.”

Lilly laughed a little. “She thinks it’s too cold to eat outside. Maggie, meet my nanny and long-time friend, Poppy. She took care of me growing up, and now she’s helping me take care of Leo.”

“Nice to meet you, Poppy.”

“And you.” She stared a minute, then said, “So, you were the one married to that nasty bloke. I feel for ya.”

Maggie stifled a smile. “I had filed for divorce.”

“Well, good on you. He was a piece of—”

Lilly intervened. “Poppy. How about you bring us a cuppa out to the deck? Maggie, come with me? Carol, you can stay here or come too, whatever you wish.”

“Are those Leo’s toys on the floor?”

“Oh, yes. He loves that ball. It’s good for him to practice sitting up. He’s such a plump sausage, and he rolls over a lot.”

Carol laughed. “We’ll be out in a few minutes.”

They had no sooner seated themselves at the patio table when Lilly started talking.

“Maggie, I want you to know that when I met Max, he said he was divorced. I would never have entered a relationship had I known that was not the case.”

Poppy brought the cups of tea and Maggie reached for hers.

“I also want you to know that I want nothing. I’m fine financially and can support Leo. Whatever assets Max had, those belong to you and your children. I do not want to cause trouble.”

Maggie paused for a moment, thinking, swirling the tea in her cup. “Lilly, you’ve worried about all this, haven’t you?”

“Oh, you don’t know how much. That video call at Christmas? When Carol saw what she saw? I was confused and mortified. But by then, I was in it deep.”

“And you had Leo.”

“Yes. He was only a couple of months old.”

Maggie thought back to that day. “Carol was shocked, of course. She told me the next day. Max told her not to tell me.”

“Oh, that was a horrible thing to do to her.”

“Yes, it was. But we got through it.”

“Do your other children know?”

She thought about Jason and Chloe, and how they’d been oblivious for so long. She was grateful for Lia and Alice and Julia, who were taking care of them this week at the Gull. What would she have done without those women in her life?

Did Lilly have women in her life to support her as well? She supposed Poppy was a tremendous support.

“They didn’t at first. They do now.” Suddenly, she didn’t want to belabor things.

“But they are fine now, Lilly. I don’t want you to be concerned.

Max was never the father he should have been to them.

I don’t think he was capable. And I’m going to be honest when I say that little Leo is better off without him.

” She met and held Lilly’s gaze. “And frankly, so are you.”

Lilly’s expression froze. “Did he ever hit you?”

She slowly nodded. “Yes. The last time he put me in the hospital.”

Lilly’s eyes closed. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “He grabbed me once, hard. Yelled and said terrible things. Threatened me. Scared the bull crap out of me. Then I found him with another woman at the condo.”

Maggie shook her head. “Lilly, that’s who Max Oliver was. He was only out for himself. Commitments were easy to break. All he really cared about was money and women. Lots of women.”

“I was so gullible,” Lilly said.

“Not as gullible as me. I agreed to all kinds of things I never should have.”

“How long were you together?”

“Twenty years.”

Lilly sighed.

Maggie set her cup aside and reached for her hands, clasping them and holding them within hers.

“Lilly, you are young. I dare say you are not much older than Carol, which honestly surprised me when I first saw you… But now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. Max liked young and vulnerable. Maybe you were easy to manipulate. I don’t know.

” She looked deeper into Lilly’s eyes. “But I think you were stronger than he thought. Stronger than me at your age, I’m certain. ”

“You’ve endured a lot. I think that makes you pretty strong.”

You have no idea the things I’ve endured… “Maybe so. I’m getting stronger.”

“So, we’re better off, eh?”

Maggie slowly nodded. “We are better off. And Lilly? As strange as this may sound, we share a bond. And I want you to know that I am here for you, anytime.”

Tears formed in Lilly’s eyes. “An unlikely friendship?”

Smiling, Maggie held her hands tighter. She glanced inside the glass doors to where Carol and Leo played on the floor. “In an even weirder way, perhaps an unlikely family.”

They chatted for a while longer, sharing information, and then having sandwiches. Carol joined them after a while, and Poppy put Leo down for a nap. Before they finished lunch, Maggie pulled an envelope out of her bag.

“I have something for you.”

Lilly looked surprised. “I can’t imagine.”

Maggie sighed. “Max left a trust fund for his children, and that includes Leo. I asked the attorney for a copy of the trust fund information so you could have it, and I gave him your name. I can put you in touch with him, if you like. The fund goes to Leo at age twenty-one. The children will each get one-fourth of the funds. It’s one reason I wanted to come here, to give you this personally. ”

Lilly shook her head. “But I told you I want nothing.”

“Exactly the reason you should take it. This is Leo’s future. If Max could give him anything, this is the best thing possible.

“Take it, Lilly,” Carol said. “Please?”

After a moment, Lilly gave them both a smile, and dipped her head in a nod. “Alright. Thank you.”

Carol reached for her mother’s hand, meeting her gaze. “Thanks, Mom,” she whispered.