| �Didn�t work,� Mera filled in, sadly. �It caught up with me.� Pacey nodded. �Yeah. I guess it did. Maybe if I�d have accepted help early on�� �No. You can�t think like that, Pacey. You did the best you could. My mother � she would have been proud, I think.� �And I know she would have been proud of the woman you�re becoming. She loved you so much � that I do know for sure.� �Then why did she leave, Pacey? How did she die?� �She died at home. I had come � into town a few days earlier, saw how Ralston was treating her. I thought maybe I could play superhero � take you and her away from it.� �If things were that bad ... why didn�t she leave?� �I don�t know for sure,� Pacey said, shaking his head. �I asked her that myself. She said she tried � she had taken you away on numerous occasions. Told me that you stayed in motels for a while � but she always went back.� Mera absorbed the information. The �vacations� she had remembered � they hadn�t been fun retreats at all. They had been her mother�s attempts to escape an abusive man. They�d been her pleas. �Did he do it?� Mera�s voice was barely audible. She did not want to ask the question, didn�t want to know the answer. But she felt it was necessary. And somehow, she knew what the answer would be. �Did my father kill my mother?� Pacey breathed a loud sigh. �It�s more complicated than that, Mera. You were at the babysitters that morning � Andie had decided to accept my offer to take you both with me to Capeside. I had gone to get her when � Ralston came home. There � was a struggle, he pulled out a gun on me. Andie went into combat mode, dove to shield me, and � the shot hit her.� Mera began to cry again. �She died � to save you?� She asked, through the sobs. Pacey nodded. �I � I never understood why. I mean, obviously she was protecting me, but�� �She loved you,� Mera said, simply, her voice even. �She still loved you, and would do anything for you. She saved your life � so you could save mine.� Pacey stared at the young girl before him. She was just barely out of childhood � sixteen years old. She had recently suffered the effects of a mental breakdown in front of her best friend and a boy she thought she loved. To top it all off, she had just been told that her mother had not died peacefully, as she�d been led to believe. Her own father had been responsible for the death of Andrea McPhee. Her own father had been the one to rob her of a �normal� childhood. Of a mother, and a father. And yet, Pacey watched in astonishment as Mera reached over to embrace him. After everything � all the potentially life crushing truths she had been told in the past half hour � Mera was trying to comfort him. She was jumping to his defense, ensuring that he was okay. She truly was a remarkable girl. �Mera � I�m sorry for keeping this from you. For being so closed off all these years. Andie was your mother, you have a right to know about her life � to know the truth.� �Pacey � it�s okay. It�s not your fault. You tried to help us � tried to give my mother a better life. She crushed yours, but you still tried to better hers. For that alone, you are awesome.� Pacey reached over and took Mera into his arms. He glanced at her face as he did so, and realized something. Despite their similarities, Mera McPhee was not her mother. She was indeed Andrea McPhee�s daughter, that was evident. But she wasn�t Andie at all. She was her own person. She had Andie�s strength, Andie�s compassion and her perseverance. But she wasn�t Andie. As the two embraced, Pacey saw tears silently slip down Mera�s face. They were the broken hearted, and finally they could grieve. �Pacey�� Mera said, her voice muffled slightly by his shoulder. �Yeah?� �What�s going to happen now?� As he held his daughter close, Pacey realized he could lie to her no longer. He took a deep breath, and exhaled the truth. �I don�t know, Mera. I don�t know.� Fin. |
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