Lily and Rufus: With all of my heart

Chapter 6 - Flowers

Rufus pov:

I was walking down the streets with flowers in one hand and my phone in the other. Lily and I had went to one of my concert yesterday and kissed, but I had been a true gentleman and walked her home. Sure, we had a lot of history, but we were not going to get together again. Even though it felt like we both wanted that. I was headed home to Dan and Vanessa, since they had 1 years anniversary today. My phone suddenly rang and without looking at the display I answered. 

"Hello, Mr. Humphrey. This is Judge Queller speaking. Am I interrupting?" A man with a deep voice said. 

"Ohh, no sir, you dont." I paused and stood still on the path right outside Dan's building. 

"Good. Since you're not living in Boston, it was difficult to get in touch with you. You left so soon after the funeral." The judge said. My heart beat faster. Why did he need to get in touch with me? 

"I understand if you are a little confused, but it is actually pretty simple. Scott, your biological son passed away a week ago. And in his will, he wrote your name specifically." My brain was spinning around. What was going on here? 

"Isabella was given to her mother, but she signed a paper saying she no longer wants to take care of her. She is way to busy and young to do that, which is very understandable, right?" He paused and then continued without letting me get a word in the conversation. 

"She has to live her life without a child, and therefore Isabella is yours now. That is was Scott wanted." The judge then stopped talking and waited for me to answer. I was about to throw up. I had no idea of what was going on. 

"I'm very sorry, Sir, but I have no idea, what you are talking about. Who is Isabella and what does all of this has to do with Scott being dead?" My voice was shaking. The judge then explained everything again and I couldn't say anything. I was quiet and speechless. We hung up and I ran. I ran all I could. I had to go see Lily. This was absolutely crazy. 

Vanya greeted me by the door again, but by the look on my face he realized that now was not the time to small talk. He opened the door and let me in. I ran to the elevator and went to the top floor. Inside I saw Lily with Serena, Nate and Eric with his boyfriend. They were sitting at the sofa, drinking tea and eating cake. When they heard me they all looked up. Serena smiled at me and Eric nodded his head as a gesture. Lily on the contrary looked angry. 

"Lily, I'm sorry to interrupt, but may I have a word with you?" I asked nicely. She looked at me and then around before standing up leading me to the kitchen. 

"Rufus, I told you yesterday. You have to stop seeing me. You and I are over." She sounded so different but I didn't care. What I was about to say, would change everything. And she wouldn't get rid of me that easy. 

"Lily, I'm sorry you feel this way. I just got a phone call from a Judge, who are handling Scott's case. And it seems like you and I got something to share" 

Lily looked at me with surprise in her eyes: "What is it, Rufus? I'm really not in the mood for anything, so you can have it all on your on." She sounded annoyed, but I knew it was just a facade. 

"I'm pretty sure, you'll change your mind, if you would just listen to me." I said and grabbed her arm to make her look at me, which worked. "Lily, Scott gave us..." and then we were interrupted by Serena and Eric, who both decided to leave with their dates. Lily released herself from my grib and went to the door to say goodbye. I was sweating and nervous and waiting like these definitely didn't help. I wandered back and forth, until Lily came back. 

"Rufus, I think you should leave too. I'm very tired and I'm sure, you can handle this on your own." She pointed towards the door. But I was not giving up now. 

"Lily. Please stop. It is hard enough telling you this, so please listen. It is very complicated and I want your full attention." I didn't wait for her reaction but went on. "Scott gave us something, when he died. He wrote it in his will. If anything would happen to him or Clara, he wanted us to be there." Lily looked at me. 

"Who on earth is Clara? Rufus, are you drunk or something?" She sounded nervous too. 

"No. I'm scared, Lil. I don't know what to do." My voice was shaking and suddenly I'd lost all of my courage. 

She grabbed my hand and said: "Take a deep breath. And then look me in the eyes and tell me. Just like you told me the truth, when we were married." She smiled and it worked. 

"Scott. Scott gave us his daughter, Lily." I sighed. My heart rate slowly went back to normal. There. I had said it. Lily was looking like a ghost. 

"What?" She sat down. "I don't understand. What daughter?" She looked at me like she was about to cry. 

"It is a long and complicated story, but to sum up, Scott had a daughter with this young girl. He wrote in his will that if anything was ever going to happen to him, he wanted us to have the child. You and me, Lily." I bumped down next to her. Lily was crying. 

"We can't do that, Rufus. We're living to different lives now. We can't take care of a child." She kept on crying. 

"So what? You are saying that we have to give her up for adoption! Never in my life!" I didn't want to sound so hard, but I was a little mad. I knew we had to different lives, but we would have to rearrange that from now on. 

"Rufus..." Lily sobbed. "I just can't" She looked towards the ground. I stood up and walked out the door. Maybe Lily wasn't going to do, what Scott wanted, but I surely was.