Secret Sister Signs

1965: Even After All This Time

"Lily, calm down, please. I-I can't understand what you're saying," Lucy said into the phone the next evening.

"Oh Lucy!" Her sister sobbed. "I don't know to do! He hasn't been able to repay the loan in months! He just keeps squandering all of our savings trying to get more money! He's a fool, I tell you!" She cried. "A fucking fool!"

Lucy flinched and nervously ran her hand over her heart. "I know things are a little difficult for you right now, dear -"

"Could you...please send some more money?" Lily sniffled. "I'll keep it hidden this time where he won't find it and then I'll go the bank myself with this month's payment."

"Lily...I don't really -"

"C'mon, Lucy! I need some help! We're so behind on payments! I can't miss another one! I've been working extra shifts and everything just to save up! I'm killing myself out here!"

She sister flinched. Lucy worked as a waitress at a local diner, so she wasn't exactly swimming in cash. But the desperation in her sister's voice made her heart ache. She had to save her Lily. She could...she could...what could she do? "I'll do whatever I can," she softly replied. "But I'll have to call you back tomorrow, dear," her heart was churning.

After they hung up, Lucy sat frozen in her chair in the dark, silent living room. Bear whimpered and kept nosing at her foot with his silver muzzle. She slowly rose and started walking around her house, thinking, thinking, thinking... She ran her hand along the wall, thinking, thinking, thinking... Like a faithful shadow, her old dog followed her. Every room she drifted through, she seen memories. They weren't so colorful, mostly faded, but they were there, still a part of her, a part of the house. She stopped in the kitchen, staring out into the backyard, and remembered a time when Marcos asked her to dance at the garden party she hosted for Lily.

She smiled and sadly shook her head, wishing she would have said yes instead of no...then she wandered into the sunroom, again remembering Marcos, in here was where he had first asked her to go out with him. She saw herself shake her head disgust; she had been so appalled by his flirtatious charms at first. She grinned faintly despite the guilt and longing that trickled through her heart. In the room that Lucy had giving him, she remembered how he kissed her hand and how that kiss had stayed with her for the rest of the day.

She once again touched her hand, achingly wishing to recapture that feeling.

And last, she was outside, standing on the porch, just like she had been ten years ago. She had told Marcos that she didn't want any more adventures. And he had asked to court her, and...she had said no. She had thought about that night for years. It wasn't too often that Lucy regretted something, but she regretted that more than anything...

Lucy wiped at her eyes, willing herself not to cry. But she did when she remembered kissing him, not on the porch that night, but back in Africa. Their kiss tasted like freedom and still made her heart flutter. Oh, this house! It had too many memories for her. Too many painful ones of Marcos...the love of her life she had pushed away.

"I can't live in these memories anymore," she whispered painfully.

It's time for a change, she thought, time to let go of some old memories and make some new ones...somewhere else.

***

Maybe people weren't so wrong about her when they called her crazy. She felt like what she was doing was crazy, but she couldn't bring herself to bother with logic just then. She tapped her knucklers on Marcos Gemlings' hotel door. He opened it and looked shocked; she couldn't blame him. "Lucy?" His bright green eyes were wide.