Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Blog

Blogathon 2006: Chapter 26.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Though she wasn't at first willing to accept Lily's kind in her dining room, Sergio's wife finally allowed, under the argument that a well-paying guest such as Dove demanded some leeway, Lily to join Dove in the dining room to talk.

"Better here than in my room," he'd said to both Lily and Sergio's wife once the matter had been settled. "If this isn't that kind of dining room, then this certainly isn't that kind of hotel." Besides, what he wanted from Lily was to hear what she had to say and no more. He didn't need any knife in the heart, real or otherwise. All I did was kiss a girl, he remembered. That's all I did, that's all it took.

Lily was slow to start at first, unsure of herself out of the saloon.

"The Ruby Hills, Lily, tell me what you were going to say about the Ruby Hills."

Lily took a tentative drink from the tea in front of her, her eyes taking her to a place far from Sergio's hotel, a place where something had changed her and left her a name without meaning.

"I grew up in the Burning Hills," Lily started, her voice soft at first. "They were known for not being known, a place where nothing grew it seemed. But my sister and I - we grew. It was home and we loved it there. My father raised horses - bays, paints - they weren't much to look at because they had to work to find food, but they were beautiful to watch from a distance, running across the ground like a sea of life."

Her voice picked up strength. "That's where I wanted to stay, what I wanted to do, was raise daddy's horses. Even in the middle of all that dry, brown ground, that's where I wanted to live. I wanted to make something grow, wanted the hard work it would take. But things change."

She pulled herself back from the place she'd gone to, her eyes hardening around the edges.

"My full name is Lily Kilrone. I think you know my sister, Garnet."

< Start . Next >

Labels: blogathon