Page 129 of Lilly

"If you didn't think I'd agree to it, then you shouldn't have suggested it to him. It'd be rather cruel to get his hopes up, only to have them come crashing down."

"His hopes have already been crushed. You don't allow him to do anything. To be his own person. He's afraid to even talk when you're around."

"He's a child. Children should be seen and not heard."

"He needs to be able to express himself. He doesn't even know what he likes and doesn't like."

"Why are you so concerned about my son?"

"Because it's clear he's not happy. The poor boy is miserable. His father won't even take him to a baseball game."

She starts to laugh but then stops herself.

"Why is that funny?"

She clears her throat. "What time will you be back?"

"Four-thirty or five."

"No later than five. We have to attend a dinner party this evening and Conner needs time to get ready."

"He'll be back before five." I walk up to her and lower my voice. "Don't think this means you're safe. I'm simply doing something nice for your son. It has nothing to do with you."

She backs away. "You've made yourself clear." She pauses. "Although if you kill me, you'd be taking Connor's mother away, and isn't that just like Garret losing his mother? You'd be no different than me, Pearce. Taking a boy's mother away. Knowing how Garret suffered, how could you do that to Conner?"

"I'm ready," he says, bounding into the room, a wide smile on his face. He was wearing a button-up shirt before, but he's changed into a polo shirt. He probably doesn't own a t-shirt. Collared shirts only. It was a rule when I was a child as well.

Katherine watches us leave, a smug grin on her face. That grin means something, but what? What is she hiding now? Is she trying to anger her husband? I assume he won't be pleased with me taking his son to a game.

This has turned into a very odd afternoon. I came here to threaten Katherine, which I did, but I didn't expect to be taking her son to a baseball game. I'm supposed to be flying home. But the boy seemed so sad, so depressed, so lifeless. And when I mentioned the game, he became so excited, a spark of happiness lighting up his face. This may be his only chance to go to a game, unless I can convince Katherine to let him come to California.

Why did I offer that up? I'm sure Katherine will say no and now he has his heart set on it. I'll have to convince her to agree to it. I know Lilly would like to see her half brother. And I'd like to see Conner again. He's a nice young man and reminds me of myself as a boy. Maybe that's why I feel so much compassion for him. I always wanted someone to come and rescue me from that life. To tell me that things didn't have to be so bad. That I could be happy. Maybe I could be that someone for Conner. And if not, at least he gets to go to a baseball game.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lilly

"You should've seen how fast this guy threw the ball!" Conner says, more excited than I've ever heard him sound.

When he called me, at first I thought it was someone else. Instead of his usual slow, formal speech pattern that rarely rises in pitch, he was talking fast, his voice lifting as he told me about certain parts of the game.

My dad was in New York yesterday and took Conner to a baseball game. It wasn't planned. In fact, my dad was supposed to fly home yesterday but instead he went to see my mom. He wouldn't tell me why, but I'm guessing he was reminding her once again to stop trying to use me for her own personal gain. While he was there, he talked to Conner and ended up taking him to a game.

When my dad told Rachel and me this, we both looked at him in total confusion. Why would he take my half brother to a baseball game? He explained how sad Conner seemed and how his face lit up when my dad asked him if he'd like to go to a game. Conner had confided in my dad that he likes sports but isn't allowed to watch or play them. My dad said it was a spur of the moment decision and he never thought my mom would agree to it, but for some reason she did. I'm assuming she just wanted to get Conner out of the house. He's been there all summer, which I'm sure is driving her crazy, even though he just sits in his room all the time. She's probably counting the days until he goes back to boarding school.

"It sounds like it was a good game," I tell him.

"It was the best!" he yells.

"Conner!" I hear my mom knocking on his door. She's so loud I can hear her through the phone. "Be quiet!"

She's telling him to be quiet and yet she's ten times louder. She used to do the same thing to me. If I got excited and raised my voice, she'd yell at me, saying ladies should be quiet and demure, not loud and boisterous. But Connor's a boy and she still won't let him make noise so, as usual, her logic doesn't make sense.

"Be as loud as you want," I tell him. "Don't listen to her."

"You know I can't do that," he says. "You know how she is."

"Yeah, but you're older now. You don't have to do everything she says."

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