Lily sat at the kitchen table, hands pressed to the wood on either side of her phone.

She could face any opponent in the ring. She'd managed to brave the untold dangers of small-town America. Even the creepy house was, if not exactly comfortable, not quite as scary as it had been. But the phone was a monster. She stared at it, a wary animal peering at a potential hunter.

They're going to hate me.

They're your parents, they're not going to hate you.

They've been planning my wedding for twenty years. They're going to be pissed.

Not pissed. Sad. Hurt. Betrayed.

Angry would be infinitely easier to deal with.

The longer you wait, the worse it's going to be.

Groaning, she snatched the thing off the table and dialed as fast as she could.

"Hey there, stranger!" Her father was as chipper and enthusiastic as ever.

"It hasn't been that long, Dad."

"You're right. I mean, the earth was created four billion years ago so, in the great scheme of things..."

"Dad," she groaned. Her stomach clenched around a ball of molten lead.

"How are you, baby girl?"

"Well, not a baby anymore."

"I'll never believe it."

Unexpected tears pricked at her eyes. She blinked them away, clearing her throat. "I miss you guys," she admitted. It was true. Life with her parents had been safe and comfortable and fun. Life now was still fun, but safe and comfortable seemed to have flown north for the summer.

"We miss you, too. More than you'll ever know. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Dad. Good. Great, actually. Fantastic!" She dropped her head into her palm. Good Lord, Lils! Stop babbling. "I have a lot to tell you," she went on. "Will you put mom on the speaker so I don't have to say everything twice?"

A familiar commotion that warmed her heart and soothed her nerves commenced in the background. Her father called to her mother. A feminine voice in the distance answered. He said something else she couldn't quite make out. Another impossibly tiny response. More shuffling. His office door creaked, a sound as familiar as her own voice. Then her mother spoke near the phone.

"Lily! I've missed you, angel-flower!"

The old nickname on her mother's lips was as good as an embrace.

"I've missed you too, mom."

"So, what's all the big news, my girl?" Her father asked. "Last we heard you were a world champion and heading off to Michigan."

Lily swallowed the lump in her throat. Start with the easy stuff. "Well, I bought a school," she said. "It's here in Michigan. In a little town called Blissfield."

"That's amazing, Pumpkin! We're so proud of you," her father exclaimed.

"We have to come see it," her mother added. "Are you having a grand opening?"

"Wait, there's more," Lily blurted out.

A brief pause told her that she'd caught them off guard but, as usual, they recovered quickly. "What is it?" her father asked.

"I..." She choked on her words, cleared her throat, tried again. "I got married." She pushed her chair back and paced the length of the kitchen, her quick steps matching the speed of the words tumbling from her lips. "I married a man in Las Vegas and that's why I'm in Blissfield now. Because I'm married and this is where he lives." She clamped her mouth shut and skidded to a halt in front of the garage door. She'd said it three times in five seconds. No need to say any more.

The pause was not quite as brief that time. It stretched to eternity, a yawning black void of parental disappointment. In her imagination, her parents shared a silent, wide-eyed moment of communication in her father's office, two thousand miles away.

She turned and pressed her back to the door, letting her legs fold up under her so she slid to the floor with her knees pressed to her chest. "Please don't hate me," she begged.

"Oh, angel-flower, you ought to know better. We could never hate you. But why didn't you tell us?" There were no tears in her mother's voice.

Thank you, God, for small miracles!

The tension melted from her shoulders. The worst was over and no one was screaming or crying. "I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you, I just... it all happened so fast and then I wasn't sure how to explain."

Her father's voice was deeper, more gruff than usual. "A Vegas wedding doesn't sound much like you. What's so special about this guy that you couldn't wait to marry him?"

She let her head fall back against the door. Her gaze traveled absently across the pretty pressed tin ceiling panels. "I know it was crazy. You're going to like him though."

Her father grunted.

She ignored that and went on. "His name is Max. Maximus Metit. He's gentle and kind and loyal and he works harder than anyone I ever knew. I sort of ran into his car with the truck. It wasn't bad. Just a fender bender but, you know, one thing led to another. We had dinner. He came to the tournament. There was dancing one night and..." she trailed off, unsure what else to say. Certainly, nothing about mysterious absences and nights spent watching over him, wondering if she should call an ambulance.

"So, that's why you got married?" Her mother asked. "Because he danced with you?"

"Mom, of course not just because he danced with me. It was because he..." because he what? Why did she, a rock-steady, perfectly predictable, independent woman tie herself to a stranger? She'd asked herself that question a thousand times. The perfect words formed of their own volition, surprising her with their intensity. "He was unapologetic in his infatuation with me and I felt exactly the same way. We had to get married because being apart wasn't an option."

The tears came then. She could hear them in her always-romantic mother's wavering voice. "Oh, baby girl. I'm sure he's wonderful. We'll book a flight today. We can be out there by the weekend."

"Hold on," her father interrupted.

Uh oh. Here it comes. Lily caught her lip between her teeth and waited him out.

"I know you don't want to hear it, pumpkin, but you're not exactly an experienced woman of the world. Does this guy know who you are?"

"Are you asking me if he knows what I stand to inherit?" She knew the question was coming, but it annoyed her anyway.

His voice was as unyielding as stone. "Well, if you want to put it that way, yes."

"Dad, he doesn't need my money. He has his own."

"The kind you'll have?"

She wasn't about to admit she had no idea how much money he had. The house was gorgeous. The bike was worth a mint. When she mentioned the possibility of needing a loan from the bank to remodel the school he brushed off the notion and told her the money was there for her to use whenever she wanted. He didn't speak or live like any other wealthy man she knew, but he never worried about bills or the cost of living. She settled for saying, "He has more than enough. He's very comfortable."

"Well, what does he do?"

She'd been ready for that one. "He helps people find their true selves." She still had no idea what it meant, but it seemed to be the best answer to the question.

"So, he's a doctor? Like... a psychiatrist or something?" Her mother asked, sounding hopeful.

What is it with mothers wanting their daughters to marry doctors? Didn't they know the divorce rate in that industry? Lily wondered absently.

"No, mom. Not like that. It's... it's complicated."

"An investigator would simplify the explanation," her father suggested.

"Dad! Don't you dare!" She hadn't meant to shout, but the words had burst out of her.

Attempting to control her tone, she went on. "I trust him. We're married. I don't want you betraying his trust like that. I chose him. If you trust me, you'll respect that."

He sighed, knowing she'd played her trump card. "Lily, pumpkin, of course we trust you. It's just that--"

"Dad. It's all or nothing. You trust me or you're going to snoop."

"Can we at least come out and meet him?" her mother asked. "I mean, he's our son now, right?"

Lily chewed on her lip. The ache to see her parents was a never-ending pressure on her heart, but her every instinct recoiled at the thought of them coming to Blissfield. "Give us some time, OK? This is all so fast. We're still... you know... trying to get our bearings as a couple."

"He's good to you?" Her father asked.

She smiled. "Yeah, dad. He really is."

Reluctantly, after she promised to keep in touch, and swore they'd meet Max soon, and assured them she'd come straight home if anything awful happened, they finally hung up the phone.

Lily sat on the kitchen floor, wishing Max would come home so she wouldn't feel so very alone.

***********************************************************************************

As always, thank you for reading, voting, and commenting. I appreciate you!