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TWENTY-ONE - PART 2

"I'm Lily," the little girl said as she picked up a marker.

"Nice to meet you, Lily. I'm Dylan."

Lily laid on the carpet colouring in her book. Although I knew it was a typical activity for most children, I couldn't help but wonder if her creativity somehow came from her Aunt Dylan. Aunt Dylan - now that was a name I would have never imagined receiving before today. Lily, taking after her mother's looks, was an adorable-looking kid with dark brown hair and large ocean-blue eyes. I couldn't help but smile, noticing the matching pajama set she still had on with cartoon dogs all over.

"Do you like princesses?"

Amused by the current conversation, I responded, "I do. Do you?"

She nodded, scribbling her marker against the page. "Mommy says I can have a princess party for my birthday. Do you want to come?"

"Uh," I hesitated. "Sure, I'd love to, Lily."

"Are you my mommy's sister?" Lily asked, not bothering to look up from her colouring book.

"Yes, I am."

"I wish I had a sister. Not a brother. Boys are stinky." Her head popped up. "Does that make you my aunt? I have an aunt and an uncle already from Daddy-"

"Alright, Lily," Delilah announced as she returned to the room, holding a small plate in one hand and a juice box in another. "Make sure you eat all your veggies so you have lots of energy for ballet."

I watched as Delilah set Lily up in front of the television with her lunch, turning on an animated show that instantly brought joy to the little girl's face.

"Sorry about her," Delilah said quietly as we sat down at the table. "She can be a chatterbox."

I smiled, looking towards the girl memorized by the cartoon dogs, ones that matched her pajama set, on screen. "Don't be. She's definitely your kid," I teased. "I'm just more confused by the fact that you have a daughter. I thought-" I paused. "I thought you didn't."

"Why don't we start with what you were told," she suggested, before quickly adding, "And, don't worry about Lily. She has focus for one thing and one thing only when her cartoons are on. She won't be listening to us."

"Well, Dad said you got pregnant at seventeen and told him you wanted to keep it and get married to the guy. So he sent you to Europe to..." I bit my lip, struggling to repeat the disgusting way our father had described the situation, "Fix it." My eyes quickly flickered to Lily. "But... you didn't."

Delilah smiled, placing her hand over the top of mine. "I didn't."

"So, what happened?"

"Well, Dad was right about the first part. I did get pregnant and for a split second, I thought saying we would get married would help soften the blow." She held up her hand, showing that it was bare from any ring. "We didn't and even proposing the idea of such a thing didn't help matters anyway. Dad disapproved of Ethan, Lily's father, without even meeting him because it ruined his plan. Getting pregnant meant I couldn't marry off into some rich family for Dad's personal gain. It didn't matter that Ethan's family were well-off enough and were willing to support us. It ruined his plan and he hated that. So, he gave me the choice. Go to Europe, fix things, and return home or be completely cut off from the family.

"When I realized there was no chance Dad would change his mind, Ethan and I hatched a plan to run away together. His family only visited their home in California for vacations and primarily lived in New York. So, being young and stupid and way over our heads, we thought we had an easy escape. But, Dad found out. And that night, he booked my flight to Europe for the next day."