Before - Champagne Challenge 154 (PG) 1/30/14

[darkstarrising]

Here is another offering to challenge 154, 'New Year, New Life'. This is a companion piece to 'After', each of which is a conversation between Lilah and the two men she loved. As always, I don't own the characters, but I love playing with them.

Enjoy!!

Before

“Mick, there’s something I need to ask you.”

“What is it, sugar?”

“Do you love me?

“Of course I do. Why would you even ask me that?”

“It’s just… I hate keeping our relationship secret.”

“I do, too, but if folks find out, they’ll think ….

“I know, I know. They’ll think we’re dishonoring Ray’s memory, but we’re not. Ray’s gone and nothing’s ever going to change that. Besides, it’s been nearly a year since I was widowed and I can’t see why falling in love again is anything to be ashamed of.”

“Lilah, honey, be patient. When the anniversary of Ray’s death has passed, I’ll court you properly. We can get married then, if that’s what you want.”

“Of course I want to marry you, but I want to marry you now.”

“What’s the rush? You know I’ll do right by you, don’t you?”

“There’s. …there’s no rush, it’s just that I want to be able to walk down the street with you and not be worried about what other people … oh, for heaven’s sake. Someone’s at the door at this hour? Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Lilah? I heard the door close five minutes ago, but you didn’t come back. Lilah? Are you alright?”

“Mick…it can’t be…I don’t believe it…”

“Don’t believe what?”

“Here, read this..”

“Another telegram? Ah hell, now what? ‘Mrs. Raymond Fordham…. this is to notify you…administrative error….severely wounded….will be transported….' I’ll be damned. Ray’s still alive.”

“And he’s coming home soon.”

“To his loving wife.”

“Yes, to his wife. Mick, what do we do?”

“What we have to. I make myself scarce. You take care of Ray.”

“What about us? How can you just leave like that?”

“Because I have to. Lilah, don’t you see? I can’t stay here. Not with Ray coming home. I can’t let him know I betrayed him.”

“You didn’t betray him. Neither of us did.”

“Maybe not, but he’s badly wounded. He’ll need you more than ever.”

“I know, but I need you, too.”

“This isn’t easy for me, Lilah. I love you, and I wanted to have a life with you. But Ray’s alive and still your husband. He’s still my friend. Trust me, even if you could leave him, the guilt we’d both feel would kill any chance of us having a life together.”

“So what do I tell him, about us, I mean?”

“Nothing. Ray’s been through enough already.”

“So that’s it. You leave, I stay and pick up with my husband as though my time with you never happened.”

“I don’t like it either, but that’s the way it has to be.”

“He’ll ask about you, you know. Then what?”

“Tell him I did what he asked. Tell him I looked in on you from time to time. Right now, I’ve got to make sure there’s nothing left behind that says I was ever here.”

“Mick, promise me you’ll come back one day to see us all.”

“I promise. Someday.”

[PNWgal]

Oh hell, DSR...

“Of course I want to marry you, but I want to marry you now.”

“What’s the rush? You know I’ll do right by you, don’t you?”

“There’s. …there’s no rush, it’s just that I want to be able to walk down the street with you and not be worried about what other people … oh, for heaven’s sake. Someone’s at the door at this hour? Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.”

She knew. Right then, I think she knew. And I've always, always thought Robert was Mick's.

Now I'm going to go rip that hole in my heart even wider and go read After.

[allegrita]

This story is so believable--I can hear them both, and see them, too. Oh man, poor Lilah! What awful timing. Stories like this one make me love her even more, for being so gallant, so strong. She never told him... how could she, after everything he said? My heart breaks for both of them. Because their joy at having Ray return was equally balanced by sadness and pain and loss. Poor Mick--he really was star-crossed in love.

[Moonlightsonata]

Thanks for the story. I can't really add anything to what has already been said, but thanks again for helping to keep the magic of Moonlight alive.

[darkstarrising]

Thanks, ladies

This piece and its companion 'After', came about in a really strange way and ties into the discussion of inspiration for stories. The piece a actually intended for this challenge never got finished and was a conversation between Lilah and Ray after she had told him she was pregnant. In that piece, Ray's reaction is less than sympathetic, but I found myself asking when and how she told him. What was each of them actually feeling before the bombshell was dropped? Why didn't Lilah tell Mick, if she knew she was pregnant before he left? And yes, P'Gal, I fully agree that she did know and that Robert was Mick's son and not Ray's.

So, 'After' was written but it still didn't address why Lilah did what she did. That led to 'Before', which built a lot of the info we were given in 'What's Left Behind'. The affair between Mick and Lilah was something that each allowed to happen, both believing that Ray was dead. Mick's description of the affair in present day to Beth is colored by the passage of time and the fact that he felt guilty about 'stealing Ray's wife'. He paints himself as something of a villain, saying he only 'thought' it was love.

So, in true dsr fashion, what I started to write never got finished, but inspired the pieces that did.

[jen]

Brava!

This is so multilayered!! I, too, have always thought Robert was Mick's son. I can see this play out--Lilah, shock blunting much of her feelings looks to Mick for logic but isn't entirely happy with his solution.

Fabulous!

Jenna

[darkstarrising]

Thanks, Jenna I really wish we could have seen a flashback episode dealing with Mick's departure and Ray's return.

[francis]

Oh no!!!
At least he talked to her and didn't just run!
But that's the only good thing I can find in their predicament. What an awful time it was for them, and you captured this so well!!!

[darkstarrising]

Oh no!!!
At least he talked to her and didn't just run!
But that's the only good thing I can find in their predicament. What an awful time it was for them, and you captured this so well!!!

Thanks, francis I'd like to think Mick didn't bolt without explaining why it would be wrong for him to stay. I think he did love Lilah, but being the man that he was, stepped aside knowing Ray was coming home and would need all the love and care his wife could give him.

[cassysj]

Such a sad story. Mick did the right thing but it was the hardest thing.

[darkstarrising]

Such a sad story. Mick did the right thing but it was the hardest thing.

Thanks, Carol It is a sad story for all of them. Mick loses his lover and feels he's betrayed his best friend. Lilah loves two very different men, one of whom needs her more now than ever. And then there's Ray, who has lost so much and whose homecoming will be bittersweet.