LILY

I stared at my mother in shock.

“Augustus!” she cried out, and reached out to me with her thin arms. “Augustus, where have you been?”

I knelt down beside her and took her hands in mine. “Mother, it’s me… it’s Connor.”

She was shaking now. Tears were rolling down her cheeks from behind her sunglasses. “Augustus, I’ve been waiting for you… why did you leave me?”

“Mother, I’m not Dad – it’s Connor.”

She looked at me in confusion, then pulled back in fear, like she had just realized I wasn’t who she thought I was.

“Who are you?” she wailed. “What have you done with my husband?”

I looked up at Johnny, who stared back at me helplessly.

I had no idea what to do, so I tried repeating it once more: “Mother – I’m Connor… your son.”

“I don’t…” She looked around in distress, as though searching a crowded room for someone, even though we were by the edge of the pond and there was no one else around. “Augustus! Augustus, where are you? Where are you?!”

The woman in black pushed me aside. She grabbe