Free Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy

detention center . . . and comfort her as only a true sister can do . She masked excitement by furrowing her forehead and rechecking her watch. “It has been long enough, Reverend.” She nodded toward a chair.
    Reverend Powell scrambled to his feet. “Come on, dear.” His voice rang with a falsetto tone. “Let’s get you up.”
    With no indication of weakness, the woman stood. Her husband guided her back to her chair.
    Kai massaged her hand and rose from the floor. She has recovered from a simple fainting spell. But for now, I will keep that to myself . Besides, there is no harm in being ultra-conservative . “Mrs. Powell, I think you are fine.” She spoke lightly, enunciated carefully. “However, you should be monitored.” With what she hoped resembled efficiency, she gathered her papers. “For an hour or so.”
    Mrs. Powell jumped to her feet, dizziness gone. “Please take me to Joy! Now!”
    “Of course.” Kai tucked her hair behind her ears. “I propose to go with you.”
    “That’s impossible!” the woman spluttered, her face blotchy. She jerked out of her husband’s grasp and planted her hands on her hips. “This is a family matter.”
    The reverend’s lips pursed. “Gloria, I just pulled you off the floor.” Kai became the subject of that calm-eyed gaze. “Kai is a doctor, and family to Joy.”
    “Not really!”
    “Yes, Gloria, really .”
    “She doesn’t even know Joy.”
    Kai’s muscles tightened. I wasn’t allowed to know Joy.
    “In Joy’s present state—”
    “Forgive me for interrupting.” Kai fought to maintain a courteous tone, despite the woman’s insults. “Perhaps my training would permit me to monitor you and evaluate Joy’s present state to assess whether her personal physician should be contacted.”
    “We do not need your help in that decision,” spat out Mrs. Powell.
    “Gloria!” The reverend’s reprimand froze a sneer on his wife’s face. “That’s enough.” He smoothed his pants and straightened his shoulders. Kai battled her own sneer. Imagine, unmasking such emotions in front of a policeman, a doctor, and her husband !
    “Detective? Kai?” Utter calm had returned to the reverend’s countenance. “Could you give me a moment with my wife?”
    The detective eyed his watch. “Captain’ll have my . . . um . . . I need to get back.”
    The reverend’s hands steepled. “Please. I’ll just be a moment.”
    Kai and the detective stepped into the hall. The detective whipped out his radio. Though the door clicked shut, murmurs seeped around the doorjamb and joined rasps, radio static, and the detective’s mutterings to claw at Kai’s nerves. She breathed deeply and exhaled. Wisdom and an eerie peace had shone from the reverend’s eyes; wisdom, thank the fates, which hints at a decision to allow me to see Joy at the detention center . Wisdom that comes, according to Cheryl and David, from those strange Bible texts.
    As Kai ran her finger along the edge of Lily’s file, she studied the antler chandeliers that splashed the hall with glitzy light. How strange to sacrifice an animal just to fashion a fancy fixture. But it was no stranger than the Christian belief of a god sacrificing his life for humanity. She ground her teeth together and straightened her shoulders, preparing herself to endure yet another wait, suffer another setback. She would endure anything to reclaim Lily, even if it meant humiliation, pain, a masking of self. She owed it to Mother, to Father, to her sisters, and to herself.
    The odd Texan light fixtures brightened, as if a spotlight had zeroed in on Kai’s life, and she remembered times when the American Dream had not only greeted her but embraced her. Trodding the Harvard stage to claim her diploma. Stepping to the podium at a medical symposium. But none of that mattered now. Kai leaned back and let the wall support her and her doubts. Though she had achieved a modicum of success in this land, would it be enough for the