“Sit down, dear. You’ll make yourself even sicker standing there. How are you feeling?”


    “Like shit,” I said honestly, sinking into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.


    cup


    Lilith wiped her hands on her apron and came over to sit beside me. She seemed to produce a


    of steaming tea and one of those dry but tasty little biscuits for dipping out of nowhere, but I took it gratefully. “I heard about what happened. I’m so sorry about your mother’s music


    box.”


    The words made my chest tighten all over again. I’d been trying not to think about it, but now the image of those broken pieces scattered across the floor came rushing back.


    “It was the only thing I had of hers,” I said quietly. “The only thing that connected me to her.”


    “Oh, sweetheart.” Lilith reached over and pulled me into her arms, and I let her. I buried my face in her shoulder and finally let the tearse


    “I never even got to meet her,” I sobbed. “She died when I was just a baby. And that music box


    it was the only piece of her I had left. The only thing that was really hers.”


    …


    “I know, I know.” Lilith stroked my hair, making soothing sounds. “It’s not fair. None of this is fair.”


    I cried until my chest ached and my eyes burned. Lilith just held me, not trying to offer empty titudes or tell me everything would be okay. She just let me grieve.


    When the tears finally stopped, I pulled back and wiped my face with my sleeve. “I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.”


    “You have every right to be upset,” Lilith said firmly. “That girl had no business touching your things.”


    “It’s not just the music box,” I admitted. “I keep thinking about your locket too. The one Sophia destroyed at the auction. That was your family’s heirloom, and it got broken because of


    me.”


    ((


    Lilith’s expression twisted painfully, but she cupped my face with one hand and said softly, E, that locket was just a thing. Yes, it had sentimental value, but things can be reced. You can’t.”


    “But it meant so much to you. It belonged to your grandmother, your mother…” I felt fresh tears threatening to spill over even though I felt like I had none left. “And now it’s gone because you were kind to me.”


    “Stop that. That locket served its purpose. It made you feel loved, and that’s all I ever wanted. Don’t you dare feel guilty about what happened.’


    But I did feel guilty. Horribly, crushingly guilty.


    “There’s nothing to make up for.”


    want to make it up to you somehow.”


    “Please. Let me do something.” An idea was forming in my mind. “This weekend. Let me take you out, just the two of us. Somewhere nice. We could go shopping, have lunch, get our nails done. Whatever you want.”


    Lilith smiled, the first real smile I’d seen from her in weeks. “That sounds lovely, dear. But you don’t have to-”


    “I want to. You’ve done so much for me, been such a mother to me when I never had one. Please let me do this.”


    At the mention of the word mother, Lilith’s eyes misted over. But she nodded. “Alright. If it would make you happy.”


    “It would.”


    We sat infortable silence for a few minutes, watching thete afternoon light stream through the kitchen windows. I was starting to feel marginally like myself again when a loud crash echoed from somewhere in the house, followed by raised voices.


    Lilith and I looked at each other.


    “What was that?” I asked.


    Another crash came, and then more shouting. Female voices, two of them from the sounds of things. Was that… Sophia I heard?


    “We should check,” Lilith said, standing.


    I followed her out of the kitchen and toward the main foyer, where themotion seemed to being from. As we got closer, I could see that one of them was definitely Sophia, and the other was… Sarah. The maid.


    “You bitch!” Sophia cried, hurling a vase at the maid. “You don’t belong here!”


    22/2