Lily of the Valley

Chapter 9

Chapter Nine - Carter Home

The next morning, Evelyn came in to Lily's room to help her dress for the day.

"Morning, Mam. Did you sleep well?" Evelyn asked, setting a bowl of hot water down on Lily's vanity.

"Fine," Lily lied. Honestly, she hadn't slept a wink. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Jasper kissing her sister. Twice she had gotten up and ran to the window, opened it and threw up outside. Her night was anything but fine.

"Your father wishes me to tell you that you will all be going to the tavern for a special breakfast, and then he wants to return home and for everyone to go horseback riding through the Carter land, so Mister Connelly can see it all." Evelyn said all this as she helped Lily out of her sweat-stained nightdress, and began using a towel to soak in the hot water and wipe Lily's upper body. Lily registered all this, but stayed quiet, not feeling too good again. After Evelyn finished wiping her clean, she took Lily behind her changing screen and began tying her corset. She pulled on the strings, tying a pattern up Lily's back, and tightening the corset the farther up she went. She finally tied it all up at the top of the corset, then helped Lily into her underskirt and finally her dress, which was a bright yellow that contrasted with Lily's gloomy mood. Evelyn tried to brush Lily's hair out, but like every other day, it did not work. Lily went downstairs, Evelyn on her heels.

"Morning, baby girl!" Pa called to Lily.

"Morning, Pa."

"Evelyn tell you our plans?"

"Yes sir."

"Good!" They both waited while Genevieve and Momma came downstairs, followed shortly by Jasper. He looked beautiful as usual, but there appeared to be bags under his eyes, and the part of his eyes that were supposed to be white were actually red. Looks as if he didn't sleep that well either, Lily thought, and secretly relished in the idea that he was up all night thinking of her.

The whole family and Jasper walked into the tavern a few minutes later.

"Howdy, Carter's!" Charlie called out happily from behind the bar. "Hallo, Mister Connelly." He added quietly to Jasper, his eyebrows knitting together. Everyone said their hellos and Jasper nodded curtly in acknowledgement. They all sat down at a table and Charlie came over to take their order.

"I'll have the T-bone steak and eggs breakfast." Pa said. "With coffee."

"I also want coffee and just two waffles for me," said Momma.

"Coffee and steak and eggs sound great," Jasper said, his voice raspy and tired.

"I'll have coffee and the pancakes, eggs, and bacon plate." Lily said quietly, not looking at anyone.

"And I'll have the same as Momma: coffee and waffles," Genevieve said. As she made her order, Charlie and her kept eye contact and they didn't break until Charlie turned to go back to the bar.

Gen and Momma began telling Pa all about the wedding planning, since he hadn't been a part of it while busy with farm work. Those three talked throughout the whole breakfast, but Lily and Jasper remained quiet the whole time, never speaking or looking at anyone, just eating their food.

"All the plans got done so quickly, so we decided to bump the wedding date up to this Sunday!" Momma exclaimed all of a sudden and she immediately grabbed Lily's attention.

"This Sunday?" She asked, choking on her coffee.

"Yes, I'm surprised you're hearing about it just now. We had decided this yesterday after cake tasting. The Lineman's have another wedding out of town on August 17, so they couldn't prepare our cake and desserts. We figured it was all done being planned anyway, so we told them to have the food ready by Sunday." Momma explained. Lily felt her whole world shake and crumble. A lot can happen in the two weeks she would've had, but now she barely had two days! How was she going to live with herself if she had to walk Gen down the aisle, knowing she had kissed her fiancé, and that she wanted Jasper for her own?

She hadn't been able to admit it before, but

now that the wedding was so soon, it finally hit Lily. She loved Jasper. She had only known him for less than four days, but she felt a connection with him she had never felt before, and he felt it too!

But now there was nothing they could do about it.