Lily; The Portal Sundered: #samplesunday

A quiet moment from the middle book of my Portal series, The Portal Sundered. This is the scene that got me thinking more about Lily’s past, and some of the secrets she might be hiding.

Kate idly reached out for the leather spine of the book that had caught her eye. It was old. There was no title on the cover but the leather was embossed with a floral design. The pages inside were thick rough paper and were covered with carefully mounted photographs. She had the first pages open when Lily came through with the tea. Lily put the tea mugs down with more force than she intended, spilling some of it.

“It’s only an old photo album.” Lily shrugged and reached out for the book.

“Is this one your Mum, Grandma even?” Kate asked as she pulled the book away “You have to be related, you are the spitting image of her!” Lily reached out again to take the album from Kate and stopped. Her face was frozen and unreadable. Kate frowned but Lily composed herself quickly.

“No, that’s the Aunt I inherited this place from. You can see that’s the back door behind her.” Lily pointed out the door frame and the metal lantern that still hung there. “She was a farmer’s wife. He had sheep and sold the wool. She used to sit and spin in the kitchen, by the fire.” Lily’s eyes glazed slightly as she found the image in her memory. Her eyes dropped to her own hands. She shook her head to clear the past.

“She is very like you.” Kate observed, looking thoughtful. “Or maybe you are like her. If this photo wasn’t so old I’d swear it was you.” Lily startled at that but Kate didn’t see it she was absorbed in examining the picture. Kate turned a few pages and her eyes wandered over the pictures there. “There are some strong genes in your family Lily. Most of these women could be you.”

“Fresh tea?” Lily asked.

“You just made one.” Kate replied, pointing at the steaming mugs on the table, but still engrossed in the photo album. “I don’t suppose there would be any biscuits?” Kate asked hopefully as she looked up. Lily shrugged at the tea, grinned widely at the mention of biscuits and got up to go through to the kitchen to fetch some. Kate frowned slightly at Lily’s unusual distraction. Then she went back to browsing through the photo album. Now and then she glanced up. The house was relatively unchanged although modernised.

Lily rooted through the kitchen cupboards for her tin of biscuits. It was reassuringly heavy as she’d baked the day before. As she turned back to the dining room table she caught Kate looking at her with a quizzical expression. Lily followed Kate’s eyes as she looked from the picture in front of her back to Lily standing in the doorway clutching an elderly biscuit tin. Lily’s head was canted to one side and her hair was loosely held up by a large clip at the back of her head. Strands had escaped and wafted round her face.

“Did you do that on purpose? Kate asked. She held up the album and Lily felt like she was looking in a mirror. Her own face looked back at her, leaning on the doorframe, hair pinned up, clutching the old battered biscuit tin. The similarity stopped there. The woman in the photo had a long sleeved ankle length dress on with a white lace edged apron over it. She was smiling broadly and her cheer radiated from the image, frozen in time. Lily’s face was creased in the edges of a frown and her jeans were torn at the knee. A plain white, slim fitting t-shirt clung to her torso and left her arms bare. The face, tin and posture were almost identical. Lily shrugged and stepped away from the door-frame, breaking the moment.

“Can we please put that away now?” Lily softly asked Kate, placing her hand on the album. “I don’t like looking at old photos. There are too many people in them that we can no longer see.” Kate looked up to see the plea clear in Lily’s eyes and nodded. She took up the album, carefully closed it and slid it back onto the shelf.

“Sorry.” Kate said as she reached for her tea. “I love old photos. I just can’t resist them. I have all my family’s old albums at home. I’ve been wondering about seeing if I can put them into a family tree one day. But it’s all very complicated.” Kate sipped at her tea. Lily remained tight lipped on the other side of the table.