“Okay.”I urged him to go on because this didn’t sound like it was going anywhere good.
“She left the room, and I mentioned it to Carrie.She said she saw it too, so she asked her mom to come back in here and I zoomed in on the picture of Dad.She started to walk away again but instead, she sat down and cried.”I looked at them both, entirely confused.
“Why was Carrie’s mom crying over a picture of your dad?”I asked.
“That’s what I asked her.”Carrie said.
“When she stopped crying, she looked at me and said she knew that I was his, the first time she saw me.”I gasped at that.
“What!How could she know that?Carrie, who is your mom?”I asked, hands covering my mouth for fear I might say something I shouldn’t.
“I swear I didn’t know it till today but she put off meeting you because she didn’t want you to hate me and make Dylan stop seeing me.”Carrie told me as she left the room and returned with her mom.I stood as they walked back into the room.
“Hello Ellie, it’s nice to see you again.”I looked at her and a million thoughts raced through my brain and I’m sure my face reflected all of it.
This Bitch.
This is a joke.
This can’t be real.
“Maggie?”was all I could get out though.I recognized her right away.How could I forget that face; the one who looked right at me when she told my boyfriend that she was having his baby.His baby, oh God!I looked at Carrie, then Dylan and back to Maggie.And as if she could read my thoughts, she shook her head.
“No.I never would have let it go on between them if she were his.”She held her hands up and I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding and began to cry.I sat down and Maggie came to sit next to me.
“This is hard, and it took me years to get passed what I did to you and Lee.It was wrong, I was young and stupid.So stupid.”She said.“But I’ve had almost three years to come to grips and accept that we’re connected now.”I looked at her, questioning.
“I should have told you sooner, I know.But I truly didn’t want you to take your anger and disgust for me out on my little girl.I knew the second Carrie brought Dylan home that this was Lee’s son.He isthe spittingimage of him.And I knew the very next second that you were his mom.And then … then I realized that this amazing boy had been growing up without his father, and I felt partly to blame for that.”I was shaking my head, but I couldn’t speak.
“You have done an incredible job raising this young man, and when I saw that picture of Lee come up on the screen, I tried really hard to walk away and continue to hide it, but they saw my reaction and called me out on it.”She sighed and went on.“I owe you a massive apology – several of them.I’m sorry for trying to ruin something amazing that you and Lee had just because I didn’t have it.I’m sorry I made up that absurd lie.I’m sorry…”
I cut her off, putting my hand over hers.“Stop.”I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.“I forgave you fifteen years ago when Lee died.I read all of his letters that I refused to look at when I was mad, and I knew the pregnancy was a lie then.Although, you did have me scared for a minute; I almost believed it wasn't a lie after all.”
“No.Carrie was born after Dylan; after Lee pushed me and everyone else out of his life except his two best friends.Mybest friend even stopped talking to me after that, too.I met Carrie’s dad at a bar.”She looked over at her daughter and smiled.
“We were both there looking for someone else; him for someone he met the week before and me for anyone that would look at me like I was worth a damn.We ended up leaving the bar together and fumbled around in a relationship for several weeks, but I wasn’t really his type, and he wasn’t really mine.
When I found out I was pregnant, I told him I was taking a job in Virginia and that he didn’t have to be in our lives if he didn’t want to.He wasn’t tied to anything back home so he up and left with us and moved into an apartment in the same building just so he could be in her life even though we weren’t together.Now he lives in the city with his wife and their two kids, and he comes to visit her every weekend.We make it work.But I would be lying if I told you I didn’t wish that Carrie were Lee’s all those years ago.”
After swallowing that pill, I needed a drink.Maggie opened a bottle of Sangria, and we traded off sharing stories about Lee for Dylan.Carrie sat, taking it all in, holding his hand as we all got emotional.
“I meant to ask,” I turned to her before leaving later that night.“Why did you tell me your name was Margot the first time we talked?”
“It is.I hated my name growing up, so I told everyone to call me Maggie.Now that I’m older, Margot just seemed more sophisticated.”
“Uh-huh.”I laughed.
We decided that from that day on, we were going to meet up for weekly dinners.We wanted to share in the excitement of preparing for their last homecoming and prom together, and we even talked about planning a special surprise for their three-year anniversary coming up.I can’t believe they will be seniors next school year.Soon, we’ll be planning their graduation and I have a feeling I’m not getting rid of Maggie Lancaster any time soon.
Who would have thought my worst enemy would wind up being my closest friend in the end?
Chapter Thirty-Five
Lee
Present Day
“Man, I gotta get out of here.”I say to Egin.“I just need some air, I’m gonna walk back.”
