One Stupid Thing

Take Me Home

My head is less fuzzy this time around. I make no move to alert anyone that I am awake. I just lay there, reflecting on every single way my life has gone unbearably wrong.

My father faked his death and announced to my entire family over a flash drive that I was essentially a bastard child. He lied to me my entire life. And the lying didn't end there. He made me believe that my actual mother was dead.

She wasn't.

I fell in love and lost it within the span of only 5 months. My heart shattered that day at the Carrera's anniversary party. It was all more lies. I know that JJ loved me even though he told me the exact opposite. It was the falsification of everything I thought I knew that dug into me like a knife.

Then, I watched Ward, a father who had so many flaws it was impossible to count, fall from a cliff in the middle of the jungle in Barbados. He died the way he lived. Protecting his family no matter the cost. I will never be able to repay him for sacrificing his own life for Sarah's. Despite our complicated relationship, losing him was painful. The light at the end of the tunnel was Margaret. I might not remember the last 48 hours, but the memory of meeting her for the first time is engraved in my mind.

I knocked on her front door, and for a moment I thought that we had the wrong house because no one answered, that is until Margaret finally opened the door.

"H-hello, uh," I had stuttered like an idiot. Ryan stood a few paces back, allowing me to do this on my own like I had wanted. I regretted my decision instantly. What I wouldn't have given to have him standing right beside me in that moment. "I don't know how exactly to tell you this, but I guess, hear goes nothing. My name is Stella. I'm your daughter."

She stood there and stared at me for what felt like forever. I recall feeling extremely self conscious with her eyes raking over every inch of me. Studying me like I had suddenly turned an unnatural shade of green.

Her expression changed in an instant. Her eyes filled with tears and she crushed me in her embrace. I stood frozen in place until the shock subsided before squeezing her back. We held each other for God knows how long. The two of us, mother and daughter, sobbing in each other's arms on the front porch.

It wouldn't have mattered if we were alone or in a room crowded with people. Both of us needed this more than we ever thought we could've. I felt whole for the first time in my life.

Margaret welcomed Ryan and I into her gorgeous home with open arms and a warm smile. She was everything I could've imagined and then some. I learned so many things about myself in those months I spent there. Like for instance, she named me Blair. My father had just enough kindness in his heart to keep the name alive. She shared a million stories with me about family that I will never get the chance to know. However, amidst the endless joy I felt, there was still a question nagging at me.

"Margaret?" I began. The two of us were eating lunch on her balcony that overlooks the bay.

"Yes, dear?"

"Why didn't you try to find me?"

She sets her fork down on the table beside her half-eaten plate and wipes her mouth with a napkin. When she looks back up at me her eyes speak volumes of grief and despair. "I thought you were dead."

I look down and laugh. Margaret cocks a brow at the unusual reaction. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just kind of ironic," I snort. "I was told you were dead too."

"I guess Ward has a go-to excuse," she replies, implying that he also made everyone believe that he was dead too.

It was almost fate that the Kildare News decided to recognize our discovery of El Dorado. Sarah was completely elated when she called with the news. They were going to throw a huge party for us at city hall and everything. We really went full Kook after all.