Loving Lily Lavender (19 page)

“Well, I wanted to wait to tell you until I knew more, but now I
think I know.”

“Know what?”

“Who it is that’s trying to hurt you. I think I know who the
stalker is.”

I gasped as what he was saying sunk in. He took my hand and led
me to the sofa to sit down.

“Remember when the Detective asked me if I thought it could be
someone I knew? Well that got me thinking. I didn’t tell you this because I
didn’t want you to be concerned unnecessarily, but there was someone who had a
crush on me during the filming of the first movie. I actually went on a date
with her, but she was so odd that I never asked her out again. She was also on
location in Toronto on the second film.

“When I arrived in Toronto with you, I noticed she was acting
cold to me, like she was mad. I didn’t think anything about it because the
truth is I really didn’t care.”

“Samantha!” I blurted out in exasperation.

“Yes.”

“So that’s why she said those things to me. She was trying to
make the friction between us worse. So why do you think she’s the stalker?”

“Well, remember how Detective Parker said he thought the person
who sent the flowers probably made them themselves?”

“Yes.”

“Well, when I was on my date with Samantha she told me that one
of her hobbies was making flower arrangements.”

“Why didn’t you say anything about it earlier?”

“Because it never occurred to me that it could be someone I knew
until the Detective asked me. Then I started thinking about it and made some
calls. I found out that Samantha has a white BMW that she rarely drives.”

“Oh no.” I put my hand over my mouth in disbelief.

“It gets better. The call I just got confirmed that Samantha is
currently working on a temporary job—here in North Carolina. Charlotte to be
exact.”

“Lucas, we’ve got to call the police.”

“Yes I know, but I wanted to tell you first. Honey, now that we
know, the police can investigate her and this should all be over with soon.” He
took me in his arms and embraced me tightly.

“Oh, I hope you’re right. Please be right.”

After a week had passed and they still hadn’t found Samantha, I
was becoming slightly anxious. The Detective assured us they had some leads and
were working as hard as they could to bring her in. Apparently, she had been
tipped off and hadn’t returned to her job.

So when January twelfth arrived, our one-month wedding
anniversary, I was determined not to let anything spoil it for us. I cooked a
very special dinner for two. We gave Cody the night off again so he could go
out with Meagan, though primarily so we could be alone.

After making love, Lucas and I were lying in bed cuddling, when a
thought occurred to me, though I don’t know where it came from. “You know,
Lucas, if there were to be an emergency in the middle of the night, it would be
awfully embarrassing to be caught naked. Knowing our luck, there would be a
camera crew ready to snap the shot.”

He thought about that for a moment and then said, “You know, you’ve
got a point.” We jumped up laughing and raced each other to our dressers,
pulling out our Snoopy pajamas and jumping into them as fast as we could.

“I win!” Lucas called, jumping back into bed.

“No fair, you only had bottoms to put on,” I pouted, jumping in
after him. We snuggled closely, rubbing each other frantically to warm up, but
soon we were settled down and fast asleep.

The next thing I recall was Lucas shaking me and calling my name
in pure desperation. I woke up in a daze, coughing.

“Oh, thank God,” Lucas said in relief as he pulled me into his
arms.

“Lucas?” I whispered. My voice was thick and my throat was so dry,
and why was I so cold? I soon realized that I was on the ground in our front
yard.

“Lucas, what’s wrong?”

“I was so scared. I couldn’t get you awake, and then I didn’t
think I was going to get you out.”

“Get me out? What are you talking about? And why am I on the
ground?”

“Lily, the important thing is that we’re okay.” He pulled me into
his arms again.

All at once my head cleared as I looked over his shoulder and saw
the reason for the emotion. Flames were pouring out of the upstairs windows and
smoke was shooting into the night sky. Our house was on fire!!

“No!” I screamed and jumped up quickly. Lucas grabbed me from
behind and held me. All I could do was scream as I watched in horror as flames
engulfed our home, my childhood home, and the home of our future.

Lucas came around in front of me and took my face in his hands.
“Lily, the important thing is we both made it out. Do you hear me? We made it
out, and we’re together.”

I nodded slowly in agreement as the tears blurred my vision. I
buried my face in his bare chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around me as the
weeping took over and my body convulsed.

I heard sirens in the distance and watched in shock as fire truck
after fire truck pulled into our yard. An ambulance followed closely behind, and
then a camera crew.

At that moment, I noticed Cody standing beside us. Funny, but I
hadn’t seen him there before. His head was bleeding and he was dark with smoke,
like Lucas and I. Had he been in the house with us?

It felt like forever, but in reality it didn’t take long before
the fire was out. We were asked some questions, but it was Lucas and Cody who
answered them. I couldn’t seem to clear my head. Soon the police arrived and
asked their own questions. I sat in a police cruiser, dazed and wrapped in a
blanket. My mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

Finally, Lucas climbed in the car with me. “Are you going to be
okay?” The expression on his face broke my heart.

“Yes, I think so. How did I get out?”

“Cody woke me, but I couldn’t get you awake. I picked you up and
carried you out, but when we got to the stairs, the fire was all around us. I
didn’t think I was going to get us out, Lily.”

“But you did get us out.” I reached up and touched his face.

“Yes, I guess I did.”

His expression turned light as he studied our clothing. “Well,
look at the bright side, at least we’re wearing our Snoopy pajamas.” We looked
at each other for a brief moment and then burst into laughter.

“Thank you, Lucas.”

He reached over and pulled me into his lap, cradling me. “Don’t
worry about the house, we’ll fix it.”

I just nodded and then I noticed Cody climbing into the back of
the ambulance.

“What happened to Cody?”

“Well, Cody said he got home around two o’clock and when he was
unlocking the door someone hit him in the head with something. When he woke, he
ran into the house and saw smoke. He ran straight up to our room to wake us,
but by then the top floor was ablaze.

“Did he see who hit him?”

“Vaguely. He described her to the police and it sounds like
Samantha.”

I gasped. “That witch set my house on fire!”

“Calm down, Lily, the police have sent officers to the airport.
They think she’s going to try to leave. It’ll all be over soon.”

“You said that last week, and it’s not over! She burned our house
down, Lucas, and you can’t protect us from her!”

“You’re right. I wasn’t able to protect you from this, like I
promised. I’m sorry, Lily.” He lowered his head in defeat.

“No, Lucas, no, don’t do that. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like
that. You saved my life tonight. You’re my hero, I hope you know that.” I took
his face in my hands and gazed into his eyes. “You are the bravest man I know.
I didn’t mean to hurt you. It was just my anger talking, see I told you I
wasn’t perfect. They’ll catch her and like you said, it’ll all be over soon.”

“I think it will be.” He assured me, his mood lightening.

“Well, what do we do now?” Suddenly my mind had become mush, and
I could no longer think clearly. All I wanted to do was climb into bed and
sleep for the next three weeks.

“We’ll stay at Meagan’s for now, and tomorrow, or I guess later
today, we’ll come back here and meet with the Fire Investigator and go through
the house to see how bad it is.”

When we got up later that morning, Meagan fixed us breakfast and
then I borrowed some of her clothes. Randall brought some over for Lucas and then
we headed to the house.

The damage wasn’t as bad as I had originally thought. Most of the
damage was to the upstairs. The Investigator said the fire was set upstairs in
the far left guest room. He also said she had taken out all of the batteries in
the smoke detectors, all six of them.

There was only a little smoke damage to the downstairs, which was
good. I felt relieved at that. I was also relieved to find my purse in the
kitchen, unharmed, which meant Lucas and I could go buy some new clothes. His
wallet was in our bedroom, thus was destroyed.

I was glad I was wearing the heart necklace Lucas had given me
for Christmas, and all of our wedding photos were in the den, which meant they also
survived. Lucas’s guitars were fine. Everything else could be replaced.
Although I have to admit I would greatly miss my Yoda t-shirt.

When we left, I felt a lot better about the house. Lucas had
already started making calls to line up a team, including a decorator, to
restore the house.

We decided to stay at a hotel instead of Meagan’s, because of
space, for one, and because Cody still insisted, until Samantha was caught, to
stay with us. His head was healing. He had to have some stitches, but he
thought it added to his intimidating look, and I had to agree.

It took the police three days, but they finally caught Samantha
trying to get on a flight to L.A. And get this, they found the batteries to our
smoke detectors in her car, six in all. I guess she wanted a souvenir; not
smart.

She was denied bail and with that chapter closed, we could
breathe a sigh of relief again.

We made the decision to go to London and stay with Lucas’s
parents while our house was being remodeled. Lucas had hired the best people,
locally, to do the job and paid them to work fast.

We hoped once we were in London that we wouldn’t see our faces
plastered all over every news station, like in America. It seemed that everyone
in America was fascinated with our story, and seeing Lucas and I embracing as
we watched our home go up in flames had only intensified that fascination.

Also it seemed that Samantha was a new celebrity, whether she
wanted to be or not. They were digging up her past, interviewing her family
members, and asking what went wrong?

I also did something I never thought I would do. I wrote a letter
to Samantha, forgiving her, and telling her I hoped she found peace. Lucas
couldn’t believe I did it. He said he didn’t think he could, but I knew, in
time, he would learn to forgive her as well.

We landed in London, and besides the long flight, and the
five-hour time difference, I was excited to be there. Before I met Lucas I had
never dreamed I would ever be able to visit London, and it was more beautiful
than I had imagined.

It was great to see his family again. It was hard to believe it
had only been a month since I’d seen them last.

Meagan had promised to check on my mom for me. Even though I saw
her before I left, I knew I’d still miss her like crazy. Somehow, being with
Lucas’s mom, Barbara, made me miss her more, though I wasn’t sure why. Lucas
said it’s because I’m reminded of what it could be like if she were well.
And
I thought I was the one who knew psychology
.

Lucas and I spent a lot of time together, even though he could’ve
spent time catching up with friends. Nicholas came over a lot, and so did
Abigail, her husband Anthony, and her toddler, Allie.

Allie was the prettiest little girl I had ever seen. It made me
wonder when Lucas and I would start a family. It’s not something we had talked
about, but it’s something his family couldn’t
stop
talking about. I
asked him about it one night after we had spent the evening with his family.

“So Lucas, when
are
we planning to start a family? I mean
we never talk about it. Maybe we should, so we know where we stand.”

“Okay, well, with all that’s been going on in our lives, including
all the near death experiences, I’d like to spend more time with just the two
of us, but if you were to get pregnant, I would be happy.” He looked at me and
smiled. “Does that answer your question?”

I smiled back at him. “Yes, it does. Actually, I feel the same
way, but you know I haven’t been taking anything to prevent it.”

“Yes, I know, and I don’t think you should. It’ll happen when the
time is right, and we’ll both be happy, right?”

“Right. Do you know how wonderful you are?”

“Well, I know how blessed I am. Does that count?”

“Yes, that counts.”

Lucas had insisted I see some of the glorious sites London had to
offer and so for the next few weeks that is exactly what we did. I was glad I
remembered quite a bit of my history.

One day he took me to the Buckingham Palace, but I was
disappointed that I couldn’t go inside. It seemed tours were only open during
the summer months.

I also toured the Tower of London.

“Did you know that Edward V was murdered here when he was
thirteen?” I asked, trying to impress him with some of my trivia, but I was
disappointed with his response.

“Of course.” He said it as if everyone knew that.
So much for
that
.

“Well, maybe I shouldn’t be here, with my tendencies to attract
murderers and all.”

“Honey, if you were going to be murdered, it would’ve happened
already,” he teased.

“True.”

He also took me to see St. Paul’s Cathedral and The British
Museum. It was an amazing experience for me. Everything was very beautiful and
unique. I couldn’t compare it to anything I’d ever seen before in my life.