Frank's Last Words
Halloween Fingers
Two Months Later
“She looks great Carrie, you have to admit it.” Said Tre as he watched Lily walk off along the road to the dance studio, her huge bag slung across her. He watched her put headphones into her ears and wondered what she was listening to.
“Yes, yes she does and of course I’m glad its just that I…well,” Caroline said coming to wrap her arms around him and to join him watch Lily.
“Its just you wish she hadn’t gone to her Dads to recover don’t you?”
“Well…yeah,” she said, “but I can’t fault him, he was in constant contact with me, I think they all enjoyed having her over there and I think he made her see a little sense. Do you think she’ll be OK when she finds out about Frank?”
Tre shrugged. “I don’t know Carrie, she’s going to find out sooner or later but you made the decision, you wanted her to get better first before being told anything. When are you going to tell her?”
”I think tonight. She was still a little jet-lagged last night.” She said in a quiet voice.
“It’ll be OK you know.” Said Tre hugging her tight.
Caroline just nodded wishing she could go with her daughter to the dance school; she’d have loved to have gone with her but she’d insisted on going alone.
**
Walking to the studio Lily couldn’t concentrate on her music, because once again, like nearly every waking moment she was thinking of him. She hadn’t ever heard from his parents so presumed that there was still no change, for poor Frank must still be lying there on the hospital bed surrounded by monitors and wires and not moving.
She’d loved to just go and visit him but she didn’t want to see him like that, she couldn’t face it.
She couldn’t face seeing him lying there, all she wanted was to see him alive again, to see him smiling at her widely and she’d give anything to see and hear him play his guitar.
She just about carried on in England; her father had talked to her and made her realise that she’d got responsibilities now that Madame Zola had left everything to her.
Yes, she’d left her everything. She’d given her the dance school and had left her everything she’d ever owned. She’d only found this out the day after Madame Zola had died but hadn’t quite taken it in then, hadn’t wanted to take it in because all she thought of was Frank constantly. But after being with her father she realised how lucky she was to have such a gift but knew she couldn’t return to the school after what had happened there so had arranged for her mother to find some contractors to do the place up, to knock out the dressing room where Zach had killed himself and where he’d tried to kill Frank.
And now, now she was going to see it for the first time she thought as she turned the corner and came across the huge wrought iron gates that had been cleaned. Her heart raced, the place looked deserted but it looked slightly different to the old building, it was new and fresh and clean.
Glancing up she saw it; it replaced the old sign of Madame Zola’s. It was a white sign and in dark blue writing she read the words Lily’s School of Dance. They jumped out at her, making it all seem real at last.
She smiled hoping that this would help her a little get through what was happening to Frank and suddenly she was glad she had it and couldn’t thank Madame Zola enough.
**
It smelt freshly painted and had been modernised and updated, everything bright and white with splashes of navy blue here and there but she couldn’t wait to go to the top studio, the whole of the top floor that overlooked the neighbourhood, surrounding houses and buildings, parks and fields. She’d wanted three of the walls to be windows and the fourth to be mirrored and as she opened the door she gasped because they’d done it, it was exactly as she wanted it she thought as she popped her head in the door, it was magnificent and brought a smile to her face. Her mother had been busy, she was so grateful and didn’t know how ever to thank her.
The dance school was to reopen tomorrow. Some of the pupils had decided not to return after what had happened here but there were plenty of new ones willing to learn from her as without her even realising she’d become well known in the area for being such a great dancer and all the little girls wanted to be just like her. She couldn’t wait to get her teeth into it again, it would take her mind away from Frank, may be just a little.
She knew it was a little because how could she forget him entirely?
She never would.
She remembered how some guy had asked her to go out on a date in England and she’d started shaking and not known how to react. She hadn’t handled it very well and this had set her back, it was stupid but she just thought she still belonged to Frank. How long was this going to last? She didn’t want to dwell on Frank lying still in the hospital bed because if she thought too much about him lying there she knew she wouldn’t cope again and she had responsibilities now, to Madame Zola and all the girls that were going to learn from her.
Going to the corner of the studio she took off her sweatshirt and jogging bottoms and did up her ballet shoes, dark navy blue ones, almost black, her favourite colour. This was to be the new uniform of her school, dark blue leotards and matching accessories, just like the one she was wearing now. It was low, low at the back and showed her scorpion tattoo off she noticed in the mirror as she pinned her hair up into its loose bun and smiled to herself, for it would never be as tidy as Madame Zola’s hair.
The new stereo was fantastic she thought as she found the song she wanted, pressed play and went to stand in the middle of the studio to begin dancing.
She was finally ready, her foot had healed and she needed to just dance again and as the music began filling the room she felt herself being transported into another world.
She danced her heart out; she put everything into that one dance, her legs aching and her body sweating. The song ended so she went to her bag, took out her bottle of water and glugged it, droplets running out of her mouth as she tried to catch her breath.
As she replaced the lid she glanced out of the window looking across the rooftops and she saw the sun suddenly spring from out of a white fluffy cloud, something made her heart lift and she smiled then, this strange feeling overcoming her, a warmth flooding her veins and she turned for some reason, turned to the door and then she realised why.
Because he was just standing there.
Frank.
Standing by the door, watching her, looking slightly thinner than he used to, his hair longer but his smile was just as wide as it always had been.
For a moment she thought he was a ghost come to haunt her but then he spoke making it all real again.
“I wondered where those gloves had got to,” he said and she glanced down at her hands, at his fingerless gloves that she was still wearing and had hardly taken off. They were a little piece of him that she carried with her. Everywhere.
Glancing back up she couldn’t stop smiling, seeing him there, her heart pounding against her ribcage.
“I don’t believe it, you’re…” but then she hesitated, not knowing what to say.
”I’m alive.” He said, still smiling at her and he came towards her, he had a slight limp she noticed and she wanted to cry for him, for all the trouble that she’d caused him.
Then he just grabbed her and they held each other tight, neither of them wanting to let go, his old familiar scent was back and Lily was enjoying being in his arms, warm and protected for that was how he’d always made her feel.
But what now?
She’d nearly killed him and he was here standing in front of her and nobody had said a word about it. His parents hadn’t informed her and this meant to her that they truly must hate her for keeping such news from her.
But who could blame them?
“How are you…really?” She said pulling back and looking at him and reaching up to touch his face, her heart warming at the familiar feeling.
“I’m…OK. Look,” he said going over to the window and looking out. “It was my idea.”
“What was your idea?” She asked him, following him and standing next to him unable to take her eyes from him in case…in case he disappeared again.
“To keep the news that I’d woken from you. My parents wanted to tell you straight away, they thought you had a right to know but after that first day when I woke and it was only the day after you went away and I read your letter I decided I wanted to surprise you, I wanted to be fit and well before I saw you again.”
“Oh. The letter.” Said Lily glancing away. “I can’t even remember what I said in it. It was a bit of a cop out.”
“No it wasn’t Lily, you’d gone through so much, look its here if you want to refresh your memory.” He said handing her a crumpled, well-read letter.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to read it, she couldn’t remember what she’d written and she felt slightly embarrassed because of the way she was at the time she wrote it. She’d been a mess.
“OK.” She said taking it from him reluctantly. Opening up the letter she read:
Dear Frank
I don’t know what to say to you because everything seems to be my fault. If I could turn the clock back may be I shouldn’t have gone out with you that very first night and none of this would have happened but, selfishly I wouldn’t have got to know you properly and wouldn’t have fallen in love with you so I’m glad that I walked home with you that first night, yes, even after all that’s happened I’m glad I went with you.
I shouldn’t have gone back to Zach and that was probably the mistake I made but if you only knew the reason why, I’d love to tell you the reason because then may be you’d understand why I did it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get the chance to tell you and this makes me feel sad. I should have told you sooner.
I can’t bear seeing you lying there so I’m going to go away for a little while. I’m not doing very good at the moment and need to think things through.
You must get better, so many people need you. Your family, your band, your fans and me too.
But just get yourself better for yourself and then, may be, we can take things from there.
I miss you and I love you so much.
Lily (Snow white)
Xxxx
Then she folded the letter back up and handed it to him, blushing slightly at being so open.
“So now you can tell me,” he said.
Lily sighed and stared out of the window avoiding Frank’s gaze, she looked out but couldn’t really take anything in knowing that she had to tell him about how evil Zach had been. “I went back to Zach because he threatened to kill your family, that’s why. He said…he said he’d kill your grandparents first but he’d make it look like an accident so that nobody could trace it back to him and then he’d get your parents and finally you and then it would be me and I believed him, I didn’t doubt for one minute that he wouldn’t do it so I went back to him, I had to. That’s why.” She said still unable to look at him.
“He was an evil, mixed up guy, oh Lily if only you could have told me all this before.” He said putting his hand out onto the top of her shoulder. Poor Lily he thought imagining how she must have felt being bribed by such an evil bastard of a man.
“I’m glad he’s dead.” She said turning to him and feeling his hand travel lower down her back. “He’s gone and I’m glad,” she said falling against him and sobbing. He held her tight to him. “I can’t believe you’re OK, Frank, everything’s going to be OK. Isn’t it?” She said looking up at him. God it was so good to see him again, to see him awake and right here in front of her, just like before.
“It had better be.” Said Frank then drew her close to him, he’d waited so long for this moment.
“Hey, guess where we’re going next weekend.” He said still holding on tightly to her.
“Where?” Lily responded, speaking into his t-shirt, not wanting to let him go.
“We’re going to Vegas to play and its somewhere I know you’ve always wanted to go, come with us Lily, come out for the weekend, I know you’ll be busy here but…”
“Of course I’ll come for the weekend, nothing’s going to stop me.” She said squeezing him even tighter, just making sure that he was really there.
**
Vegas, a week later
“You’ve certainly put you’re weight back on,” said Frank lifting Lily up in his arms as they walked into their hotel room, feeling her arms go around his neck and her cheek nuzzling into him.
“So have you, that was the hugest veggie burger I’ve ever seen, and you ate the lot, piggy,” she said and they giggled together as he kicked the hotel room door shut with his foot and carried her over to his bed.
“Well, we are celebrating,” he said bending to kiss her nose then lay alongside her, both of them looking up at the ceiling, side by side but fingers linked.
“I know. Do…you think everyone will be disappointed with us?” She said turning to him, checking out his profile.
“May be.” Said Frank turning to her, “but we can have some sort of other celebration when we get home too. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, but, they were all expecting us home today and we snuck off and got married. I can’t believe that a guy dressed as Elvis married us and all we wore were jeans and a t-shirt and just grabbed a couple of witnesses off the street.”
“Well I didn’t want to wait, we’ve waited long enough. We can be together now, properly,” he said reaching up and touching her face with his Halloween fingers.
“I’m Mrs Iero and…I never thought I would be.” She said whispering then snuggling into him as he brought his arms around her.
“Did I tell you Gerard texted a message? I told him what we were doing.” He said stroking her arm with his fingers.
“You two can’t keep much from each other can you? I can’t believe he’s gone to see Carly.”
”Yeah, like I said, she interviewed him while I was ill and he was in New York and they really hit it off, he said she’s changed so much. Did you know he had a little thing for her, around the time we got together?”
“No. No way, she thought he wasn’t interested.” Lily said sitting up and taking interest.
“Yeah well, he got put off by Zach, the bastard told him to stay away from her, that’s why Carly thought he wasn’t interested. Lily I’m sorry for bringing him up again,” he said feeling her tense slightly at Zach’s name.
“Its OK.” Said Lily who was finally coming to terms with everything, the fact that Zach was mentally disturbed and both Frank and her had discussed it over and over that it was none of their faults and they had to move on and forget it and start over. “He doesn’t exist. I just feel sorry for Carly.”
“I wouldn’t feel sorry for her, she admitted to Gerard that her brother was a bully and was surprised that you’d married him but she’d had a little idea that he liked you, well more than liked you.”
“I miss her really, she could have been a pain in the ass sometimes but…we had fun.”
“Gerard says she’s changed and he honestly thinks it has something to do with her being away from Zach, apparently she couldn’t wait to get away, move away from home. He must have been awful to her too.”
“Lets not talk about him anymore,” said Lily. “Lets talk about us.” She said leaning up on her elbow, the chain around her neck swinging and the locket hanging from it glinting.
“Hey, I’ve not seen this before,” Frank said reaching to touch the heart shaped silver locket swinging from its chain.”
“Oh, it was one of the pieces of jewellery that Madame Zola left to me. Its beautiful isn’t it?” She said. She’d left her so much, the old woman; she’d left her apartment, which she and Frank were going to share together and make their own, so much jewellery, many paintings and so many antiques. Some of it she didn’t want but some of it, well Lily thought it was quite sentimental.
“Yeah, its unusual. Can I take a look inside?”
“Of course,” she said unclipping it for him. She watched his face as he peered at the two faces in the locket.
“Lily why have you got pictures of us dressed up? How did you get that done?” He said in amusement.
She laughed quietly. “Oh Frank, this isn’t us, see here, this is Madame Zola when she was younger and this guy, this is her prince, the Russian prince that loved her but died coming to get her at last. Its funny, I thought he looked a lot like you too.”
“Madame Zola and her prince, they made a good looking couple, so sad that they couldn’t be together.” Frank said closing up the locket.
“Yes, she taught me a lot that old lady. She knew we should be together and she was right.”
“Of course its right, it always was right and now we can finally see it. I love you Snow White.” Frank said touching her face.
“And I love you, so don’t forget it,” she said kissing his Halloween fingers and snuggling down even closer, both of them happy and content, finally, together at last.
THE END
“She looks great Carrie, you have to admit it.” Said Tre as he watched Lily walk off along the road to the dance studio, her huge bag slung across her. He watched her put headphones into her ears and wondered what she was listening to.
“Yes, yes she does and of course I’m glad its just that I…well,” Caroline said coming to wrap her arms around him and to join him watch Lily.
“Its just you wish she hadn’t gone to her Dads to recover don’t you?”
“Well…yeah,” she said, “but I can’t fault him, he was in constant contact with me, I think they all enjoyed having her over there and I think he made her see a little sense. Do you think she’ll be OK when she finds out about Frank?”
Tre shrugged. “I don’t know Carrie, she’s going to find out sooner or later but you made the decision, you wanted her to get better first before being told anything. When are you going to tell her?”
”I think tonight. She was still a little jet-lagged last night.” She said in a quiet voice.
“It’ll be OK you know.” Said Tre hugging her tight.
Caroline just nodded wishing she could go with her daughter to the dance school; she’d have loved to have gone with her but she’d insisted on going alone.
**
Walking to the studio Lily couldn’t concentrate on her music, because once again, like nearly every waking moment she was thinking of him. She hadn’t ever heard from his parents so presumed that there was still no change, for poor Frank must still be lying there on the hospital bed surrounded by monitors and wires and not moving.
She’d loved to just go and visit him but she didn’t want to see him like that, she couldn’t face it.
She couldn’t face seeing him lying there, all she wanted was to see him alive again, to see him smiling at her widely and she’d give anything to see and hear him play his guitar.
She just about carried on in England; her father had talked to her and made her realise that she’d got responsibilities now that Madame Zola had left everything to her.
Yes, she’d left her everything. She’d given her the dance school and had left her everything she’d ever owned. She’d only found this out the day after Madame Zola had died but hadn’t quite taken it in then, hadn’t wanted to take it in because all she thought of was Frank constantly. But after being with her father she realised how lucky she was to have such a gift but knew she couldn’t return to the school after what had happened there so had arranged for her mother to find some contractors to do the place up, to knock out the dressing room where Zach had killed himself and where he’d tried to kill Frank.
And now, now she was going to see it for the first time she thought as she turned the corner and came across the huge wrought iron gates that had been cleaned. Her heart raced, the place looked deserted but it looked slightly different to the old building, it was new and fresh and clean.
Glancing up she saw it; it replaced the old sign of Madame Zola’s. It was a white sign and in dark blue writing she read the words Lily’s School of Dance. They jumped out at her, making it all seem real at last.
She smiled hoping that this would help her a little get through what was happening to Frank and suddenly she was glad she had it and couldn’t thank Madame Zola enough.
**
It smelt freshly painted and had been modernised and updated, everything bright and white with splashes of navy blue here and there but she couldn’t wait to go to the top studio, the whole of the top floor that overlooked the neighbourhood, surrounding houses and buildings, parks and fields. She’d wanted three of the walls to be windows and the fourth to be mirrored and as she opened the door she gasped because they’d done it, it was exactly as she wanted it she thought as she popped her head in the door, it was magnificent and brought a smile to her face. Her mother had been busy, she was so grateful and didn’t know how ever to thank her.
The dance school was to reopen tomorrow. Some of the pupils had decided not to return after what had happened here but there were plenty of new ones willing to learn from her as without her even realising she’d become well known in the area for being such a great dancer and all the little girls wanted to be just like her. She couldn’t wait to get her teeth into it again, it would take her mind away from Frank, may be just a little.
She knew it was a little because how could she forget him entirely?
She never would.
She remembered how some guy had asked her to go out on a date in England and she’d started shaking and not known how to react. She hadn’t handled it very well and this had set her back, it was stupid but she just thought she still belonged to Frank. How long was this going to last? She didn’t want to dwell on Frank lying still in the hospital bed because if she thought too much about him lying there she knew she wouldn’t cope again and she had responsibilities now, to Madame Zola and all the girls that were going to learn from her.
Going to the corner of the studio she took off her sweatshirt and jogging bottoms and did up her ballet shoes, dark navy blue ones, almost black, her favourite colour. This was to be the new uniform of her school, dark blue leotards and matching accessories, just like the one she was wearing now. It was low, low at the back and showed her scorpion tattoo off she noticed in the mirror as she pinned her hair up into its loose bun and smiled to herself, for it would never be as tidy as Madame Zola’s hair.
The new stereo was fantastic she thought as she found the song she wanted, pressed play and went to stand in the middle of the studio to begin dancing.
She was finally ready, her foot had healed and she needed to just dance again and as the music began filling the room she felt herself being transported into another world.
She danced her heart out; she put everything into that one dance, her legs aching and her body sweating. The song ended so she went to her bag, took out her bottle of water and glugged it, droplets running out of her mouth as she tried to catch her breath.
As she replaced the lid she glanced out of the window looking across the rooftops and she saw the sun suddenly spring from out of a white fluffy cloud, something made her heart lift and she smiled then, this strange feeling overcoming her, a warmth flooding her veins and she turned for some reason, turned to the door and then she realised why.
Because he was just standing there.
Frank.
Standing by the door, watching her, looking slightly thinner than he used to, his hair longer but his smile was just as wide as it always had been.
For a moment she thought he was a ghost come to haunt her but then he spoke making it all real again.
“I wondered where those gloves had got to,” he said and she glanced down at her hands, at his fingerless gloves that she was still wearing and had hardly taken off. They were a little piece of him that she carried with her. Everywhere.
Glancing back up she couldn’t stop smiling, seeing him there, her heart pounding against her ribcage.
“I don’t believe it, you’re…” but then she hesitated, not knowing what to say.
”I’m alive.” He said, still smiling at her and he came towards her, he had a slight limp she noticed and she wanted to cry for him, for all the trouble that she’d caused him.
Then he just grabbed her and they held each other tight, neither of them wanting to let go, his old familiar scent was back and Lily was enjoying being in his arms, warm and protected for that was how he’d always made her feel.
But what now?
She’d nearly killed him and he was here standing in front of her and nobody had said a word about it. His parents hadn’t informed her and this meant to her that they truly must hate her for keeping such news from her.
But who could blame them?
“How are you…really?” She said pulling back and looking at him and reaching up to touch his face, her heart warming at the familiar feeling.
“I’m…OK. Look,” he said going over to the window and looking out. “It was my idea.”
“What was your idea?” She asked him, following him and standing next to him unable to take her eyes from him in case…in case he disappeared again.
“To keep the news that I’d woken from you. My parents wanted to tell you straight away, they thought you had a right to know but after that first day when I woke and it was only the day after you went away and I read your letter I decided I wanted to surprise you, I wanted to be fit and well before I saw you again.”
“Oh. The letter.” Said Lily glancing away. “I can’t even remember what I said in it. It was a bit of a cop out.”
“No it wasn’t Lily, you’d gone through so much, look its here if you want to refresh your memory.” He said handing her a crumpled, well-read letter.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to read it, she couldn’t remember what she’d written and she felt slightly embarrassed because of the way she was at the time she wrote it. She’d been a mess.
“OK.” She said taking it from him reluctantly. Opening up the letter she read:
Dear Frank
I don’t know what to say to you because everything seems to be my fault. If I could turn the clock back may be I shouldn’t have gone out with you that very first night and none of this would have happened but, selfishly I wouldn’t have got to know you properly and wouldn’t have fallen in love with you so I’m glad that I walked home with you that first night, yes, even after all that’s happened I’m glad I went with you.
I shouldn’t have gone back to Zach and that was probably the mistake I made but if you only knew the reason why, I’d love to tell you the reason because then may be you’d understand why I did it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get the chance to tell you and this makes me feel sad. I should have told you sooner.
I can’t bear seeing you lying there so I’m going to go away for a little while. I’m not doing very good at the moment and need to think things through.
You must get better, so many people need you. Your family, your band, your fans and me too.
But just get yourself better for yourself and then, may be, we can take things from there.
I miss you and I love you so much.
Lily (Snow white)
Xxxx
Then she folded the letter back up and handed it to him, blushing slightly at being so open.
“So now you can tell me,” he said.
Lily sighed and stared out of the window avoiding Frank’s gaze, she looked out but couldn’t really take anything in knowing that she had to tell him about how evil Zach had been. “I went back to Zach because he threatened to kill your family, that’s why. He said…he said he’d kill your grandparents first but he’d make it look like an accident so that nobody could trace it back to him and then he’d get your parents and finally you and then it would be me and I believed him, I didn’t doubt for one minute that he wouldn’t do it so I went back to him, I had to. That’s why.” She said still unable to look at him.
“He was an evil, mixed up guy, oh Lily if only you could have told me all this before.” He said putting his hand out onto the top of her shoulder. Poor Lily he thought imagining how she must have felt being bribed by such an evil bastard of a man.
“I’m glad he’s dead.” She said turning to him and feeling his hand travel lower down her back. “He’s gone and I’m glad,” she said falling against him and sobbing. He held her tight to him. “I can’t believe you’re OK, Frank, everything’s going to be OK. Isn’t it?” She said looking up at him. God it was so good to see him again, to see him awake and right here in front of her, just like before.
“It had better be.” Said Frank then drew her close to him, he’d waited so long for this moment.
“Hey, guess where we’re going next weekend.” He said still holding on tightly to her.
“Where?” Lily responded, speaking into his t-shirt, not wanting to let him go.
“We’re going to Vegas to play and its somewhere I know you’ve always wanted to go, come with us Lily, come out for the weekend, I know you’ll be busy here but…”
“Of course I’ll come for the weekend, nothing’s going to stop me.” She said squeezing him even tighter, just making sure that he was really there.
**
Vegas, a week later
“You’ve certainly put you’re weight back on,” said Frank lifting Lily up in his arms as they walked into their hotel room, feeling her arms go around his neck and her cheek nuzzling into him.
“So have you, that was the hugest veggie burger I’ve ever seen, and you ate the lot, piggy,” she said and they giggled together as he kicked the hotel room door shut with his foot and carried her over to his bed.
“Well, we are celebrating,” he said bending to kiss her nose then lay alongside her, both of them looking up at the ceiling, side by side but fingers linked.
“I know. Do…you think everyone will be disappointed with us?” She said turning to him, checking out his profile.
“May be.” Said Frank turning to her, “but we can have some sort of other celebration when we get home too. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, but, they were all expecting us home today and we snuck off and got married. I can’t believe that a guy dressed as Elvis married us and all we wore were jeans and a t-shirt and just grabbed a couple of witnesses off the street.”
“Well I didn’t want to wait, we’ve waited long enough. We can be together now, properly,” he said reaching up and touching her face with his Halloween fingers.
“I’m Mrs Iero and…I never thought I would be.” She said whispering then snuggling into him as he brought his arms around her.
“Did I tell you Gerard texted a message? I told him what we were doing.” He said stroking her arm with his fingers.
“You two can’t keep much from each other can you? I can’t believe he’s gone to see Carly.”
”Yeah, like I said, she interviewed him while I was ill and he was in New York and they really hit it off, he said she’s changed so much. Did you know he had a little thing for her, around the time we got together?”
“No. No way, she thought he wasn’t interested.” Lily said sitting up and taking interest.
“Yeah well, he got put off by Zach, the bastard told him to stay away from her, that’s why Carly thought he wasn’t interested. Lily I’m sorry for bringing him up again,” he said feeling her tense slightly at Zach’s name.
“Its OK.” Said Lily who was finally coming to terms with everything, the fact that Zach was mentally disturbed and both Frank and her had discussed it over and over that it was none of their faults and they had to move on and forget it and start over. “He doesn’t exist. I just feel sorry for Carly.”
“I wouldn’t feel sorry for her, she admitted to Gerard that her brother was a bully and was surprised that you’d married him but she’d had a little idea that he liked you, well more than liked you.”
“I miss her really, she could have been a pain in the ass sometimes but…we had fun.”
“Gerard says she’s changed and he honestly thinks it has something to do with her being away from Zach, apparently she couldn’t wait to get away, move away from home. He must have been awful to her too.”
“Lets not talk about him anymore,” said Lily. “Lets talk about us.” She said leaning up on her elbow, the chain around her neck swinging and the locket hanging from it glinting.
“Hey, I’ve not seen this before,” Frank said reaching to touch the heart shaped silver locket swinging from its chain.”
“Oh, it was one of the pieces of jewellery that Madame Zola left to me. Its beautiful isn’t it?” She said. She’d left her so much, the old woman; she’d left her apartment, which she and Frank were going to share together and make their own, so much jewellery, many paintings and so many antiques. Some of it she didn’t want but some of it, well Lily thought it was quite sentimental.
“Yeah, its unusual. Can I take a look inside?”
“Of course,” she said unclipping it for him. She watched his face as he peered at the two faces in the locket.
“Lily why have you got pictures of us dressed up? How did you get that done?” He said in amusement.
She laughed quietly. “Oh Frank, this isn’t us, see here, this is Madame Zola when she was younger and this guy, this is her prince, the Russian prince that loved her but died coming to get her at last. Its funny, I thought he looked a lot like you too.”
“Madame Zola and her prince, they made a good looking couple, so sad that they couldn’t be together.” Frank said closing up the locket.
“Yes, she taught me a lot that old lady. She knew we should be together and she was right.”
“Of course its right, it always was right and now we can finally see it. I love you Snow White.” Frank said touching her face.
“And I love you, so don’t forget it,” she said kissing his Halloween fingers and snuggling down even closer, both of them happy and content, finally, together at last.
THE END