Surprise Lily by Sharelle Byars Moranville

Author:Sharelle Byars Moranville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2019-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

·· ten ··

LOUD knocking woke Rose into a room bright with sun. Her eyes were swollen slits. She tried to remember where she was. She rolled over and saw a small head with a froth of dark curls.

The knocking was still going on. Rose sat up as Iris scrambled out of bed. As Iris left the room, she glanced back at Rose.

Rose panicked, knowing it was Ama knocking on the apartment door. The window air conditioner sent a river of cold over her as she rushed to wedge a chair under the doorknob. She couldn’t face her grandmother.

Soon, there was a tap on the bedroom door. “Rose? Can I come in? Please?”

Tears seeped out of Rose’s sore eyes at the sound of Ama’s voice. She longed to run into Ama’s arms, but Ama had broken her heart.

“Sweetheart, let me in.”

The door opened a crack before the chair stopped it. Rose froze behind the door, out of sight.

“Oh, Rose. Please. I need to explain.”

The baby on the bed, naked except for a diaper, sat up and began to jabber.

Ama gasped.

As the baby babbled, she waved her hands and arms. Her delicate winglike brows came together in a scowl. Rose couldn’t take her eyes off her.

She felt Ama on the other side of the door staring too. Then Ama said, “Oh no.” She sounded like she’d come across a two-headed calf in the pasture.

Ama went away from the door and she and Iris began to argue about the baby and how Iris lived, their voices rising.

The baby squirmed off the mattress and stumbled across the room, tripping over stuff. She stopped in front of Rose. Sweaty curls matted one cheek.

Rose touched the child’s dimpled hand. The child studied Rose’s finger, pale against her skin, then Rose’s face.

“What’s your name?” Rose said quietly, under the sound of the shouting.

The child looked away as if she were thinking. “Illy,” she decided.

“Lily?” Ama’s favorite flower. Why had Iris named her that? Rose touched her chest. “I’m Rose.”

Lily pressed her face to the crack in the door, then looked at Rose with worry as if to say What’s going on out there?

Rose shook her head. She didn’t want to hear what Ama and Iris were saying to each other, but she couldn’t help it. Gently, she put her hands over Lily’s ears.

Ama was accusing Iris of not taking charge of her life. Of not being responsible! Of barely managing day to day. And now of bringing another child into the world. A child she could no more take care of than the man in the moon. Did Iris expect Ama to raise that child too? Well, she wasn’t going to! Hearing Ama carry on like that broke Rose’s heart all over again. And Iris was yelling that she had tried to tell Ama about Lily, but Ama wouldn’t listen. And, of course, Ama didn’t understand that sometimes you didn’t have perfect control of your life. Things just happened! And Iris was sorry she wasn’t perfect, but neither was Ama.

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