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With this segment of Chapter Fifteen of Repairing the Legacy, we continue the serialization of Repairing the Legacy. This is a rough draft work in progress and may not reflect the final form. Time period: set after the ending of The Martiniere Legacy main trilogy. I’m breaking longer chapters into sections for readability. This is the second part of Chapter Fifteen. There will be four parts to this chapter.

New to the series? Chapter order:

Chapter One, Section One

Return of the Prodigal Son (2 parts)

Conversations and a Dinner (2 parts)

Dancing into Change (2 parts)

Sisterly Compromises (3 parts)

Conspiracies at the Rodeo (3 parts)

Passing the Baton (4 parts)

Research Complications (3 parts)

Chasing After Shadows (3 parts)

Fifth Anniversary Present (3 parts)

Mariah (5 parts)

Shadows, Redux (3 parts)

Accidents Happen (4 parts)

Maternal Memories (4 parts)

A Voice…Weeping for their Children (6 parts)

April, 2073

RUBY

Mike hid his fear about the upcoming cyborging reasonably well. They spent the night at Moondance to celebrate Lily’s birthday before reporting for surgical prep in Portland the next morning. Ruby overheard snatches of conversation between Mike and Brandon as she walked by the kitchen, heading toward Lily’s room to help Gabe get her settled. She paused out of sight, to listen.

“I’m afraid it’s gonna hurt.” Mike’s voice quavered a little. “I—it’s silly to say anything about this to Gabe and Ruby. I mean, Ruby’s broken leg with Boomer, and Gabe and the G9, and his surgeries, and—”

“Bro, you’ll be fine,” Brandon said. “You’ve been through a lot yourself. Chemo. Heart and lung cyborging. More.”

A cough. “Yeah. But this is creepier. Replacing my bones with some weird composite? What if the anesthesia doesn’t work this time? It was weird during the cyborging before. Now—”

“It’ll be all right. Trust in that.”

“No!” Lily yelled, her voice echoing down the hallway from her studio, distracting Ruby from Mike and Bran’s conversation.

“Lily-hon, we need you to cooperate.” Gabe’s voice held an unusual edge. Normally Lily didn’t set him off.

Ruby sighed, and continued toward the family wing to deal with the drama. After settling the difference—medication-related, Lily always seemed to resist Gabe’s supervision of her meds—Ruby returned to the kitchen. As she walked in, Mike fell silent, looking half-guilty. Brandon raised his brows at her, and Ruby realized he didn’t want her to say anything.

Bran probably saw me.

He was sneakier than Mike, almost as sneaky as Gabe.

After dinner, Mike went to the nursery to put Ronnie to bed, and Lily to her studio. Ruby and Gabe settled with Brandon in the great room. She shared the big recliner with Gabe while Brandon sat in a rocking chair.

Ruby glanced around the space—mostly empty these days, except for the recliners, couch, and rocking chairs by the slider door leading to the big deck. Voices echoed when there were only a few people in here, and that gave her the heebie-jeebies.

Brandon and Kris had used this room more for entertaining, preferring to do family events in the family wing or outside on the deck, except when there were large numbers. And now—

Far too many memories here, both good and bad. Marrying Gabe. Kris and Brandon’s wedding. The final confrontation with Philip. Kris’s death. Those occasional nights when she found Gabe brooding over a drink—something about Moondance sparked a certain moodiness in him that she rarely saw at the Double R or the cliff house. He seemed to prefer this room when moroseness slipped over him.

Well, it was a replica of the previous house, and Gabe had spent a good chunk of his life here.

Brandon sighed. “Lily’s getting worse. Dad, Mom, I don’t know what to do. Maybe we can keep her from being committed to a psychiatric hospital, but it seems less and less likely. She keeps talking about hearing voices. I’ve found her dancing with an imaginary companion.”

“She’s not as obsessed with Mike as she has been in the past few years.” Gabe stroked his chin. “Perhaps she’s gotten over the obsession with Philip.”

Brandon snorted. “She’s more obsessed with Philip than ever. Who do you think her imaginary dance partner is? Today was a good day.” He laced his fingers and leaned forward, staring down at his hands. “Part of the problem is that her new meds have impacted her coordination. She can’t dance anymore—well, at least not in performance. Dr. Soren thinks things will get better—maybe.”

“Maybe she can dance in performances again, after she adjusts to the meds?” Ruby swallowed hard. Dance had kept Lily centered, just like horses and now Striker had provided support for Mike. If Lily lost dance—unlike Mike, she had no other outlet to fall back on.

“No. Even before we changed meds, her behavior had become more erratic. She needs a minder with her at rehearsals, and I’ve yet to find someone who Lily will accept.” Brandon shook his head and raised his hand before Ruby could speak. “Not you, Ma. I’m grateful for all the time you’ve put in with Lily, but—honestly, I’m worried about your safety with her.”

“That bad?” Gabe scowled.

“Yes.” Brandon ran a hand through his black hair that was just starting to get streaked with gray, like Gabe’s was now. “It requires the right person. Trust me, I’ve been looking. I’d like to keep Lily dancing. But between medication issues and the very real risk she can pose to others due to her dissociative episodes, she’s not sufficiently stable to perform. And I don’t dare send her to classes without a minder present to intervene if she has a problem.”

“Perhaps a small local company?” Surely there had to be an answer. Something to provide a focus for her granddaughter.

Brandon sat up, sighing. “And that’s where I run into further problems with Lily. Even if I could find someone to serve as a minder, she considers dancing with a smaller company to be a significant hardship. She refuses to think about the possibility.” He raised his hands. “She’s right. She’s a better dancer than the others in the local amateur companies, either in Pendleton or Walla Walla. But there’s issues beyond her meds. She’s just—too erratic to contribute to a larger professional company. Won’t hold up to the stress. Dr. Soren has been quite firm with her about it, and she’s verbally in agreement with this decision. But coming to terms with that reality is a different story.”

Mike came into the great room, brows furrowed in worry.

Ruby sat back and listened as he told Brandon about Lily dancing with an imaginary partner. Gabe’s hand tightened on hers as Bran explained Lily’s circumstances to Mike.

Another heavy exhale from Bran as Mike left for his suite.

“You know that Mike’s scared stiff about this surgery.”

Was that relief in her son’s voice as the topic turned to Mike and not the twists and turns of Lily’s situation?

Probably.

“He hasn’t wanted to talk about it,” Gabe said.

“He’s spent a lot of time with Striker so I’m not surprised,” Ruby added. “Was that what you two were talking about in the kitchen?”

“Yes.”

Good. At least Mike’s talking to someone.

“It is a scary surgery.” Ruby tapped her fingers on her leg. “And while we’re trying to preserve his muscles and skin, there’s always the possibility that may not work. That he may need to go full cyborg with his arms—and his legs.”

“He’s very aware of that.” Brandon ran his hand through his hair again. “Anesthesia worries him.”

“This is a different situation from his heart and lung cyborging, but I can sure see how it would affect him. After all, he damned near died before the cyborging happened.” Ruby frowned.

Could Mike’s surgery be the source of her foreboding?

Entirely possible.

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