Live, Laugh, Love [COMPLETE/PUBLISHED]

Chapter 15

6 months ago...

"Maria, what the hell is this?" Christian asks Maria, waving papers in her face. Maria continues to wipe down one of the tables ignoring her brother-in-law.

"Answer me dammit!" He yells slamming his hands on the table she's cleaning. Maria stops and turns toward him.

"You can read, Christian," she says with her accent shining through.

"I know what it says, but why the hell are the police and DCFS wanting to talk to my wife and me?"

"Well, I think you and I both know the answer to that. You lost your daughter 15 years ago and then the one that you have now is home alone and not taken care of at 14," Maria says crossing her arms.

"Don't you dare mention Lia," he says upset. Maria and the rest of the family were always suspicious of Lia's disappearance. They saw her one day and then they never saw her again. Maria spent hours every day trying to find her, but she eventually gave up. There were thousands of Ophelia Lindsay Lockharts across the country.

"You can't pretend that she doesn't exist. But that isn't the point of this. Daphne deserves a better home than you are giving her, Christian. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a table I need to attend to." Christian watches Maria walk away and he takes another look at the court order. If only everyone knew what really happened 15 years ago.

Present day...

"Can someone please explain what the hell is going on?" Jasper stands up and walks over next to me and tries to grab my hand, but I brush him away.

"I'm waiting," I say impatiently.

"Ophelia, how much did you know about your family?" Maria asks. Okay, not answering the question, but I guess I can play along.

"I don't really remember much. I just remember one day hearing the front door close and I walked out and saw that there was a note. It was left by my parents saying they went to the store and they'll be back later. I waited all day. They never came back. I took care of myself for weeks and then I looked outside and I saw a woman. She took me in and became my foster parent and that is how I ended up in the system. The system is so broken that nobody ever looked for my family or asked about my parents," I explain with tears forming in my eyes. I could never understand how someone could abandon their own flesh and blood.

"Well, your father has a brother and I'm his wife." Slap in the face number one.

"I have been looking for you since they told you went missing 15 years ago." Slap number two.

"And I'm trying to get custody of Daphne." Slap number three. I stare at my aunt with my mouth wide open. My entire life feels like a Lifetime movie right now. If you're familiar with those then you know how crazy they get.

"What?" Daphne asks in regards to the last part. I guess she didn't know about that. But let's go back to the fact that I have had a family this entire time but my jackass parents kept them from me. Yeah, let's go back to that.

Take deep breaths, Lia. Just like Rose said. In and out.

"Lia?" A familiar voice asks. Everything seems like it is fading away from me. I feel my legs give out from under me and I fall.

"LIA!" A pair of arms catch me and everything becomes black.

"MOMMY! DADDY! Where are you?" I ask, walking back into the living room. I push myself onto a stool in the kitchen and I see a note sitting there.

Hey baby girl,

I know that this is going to seem awful, but your mother is making me leave. She told me that we should have never had kids and it would be better if we left you. I promise you that this isn't what I want, but I have no choice. I'm so sorry. Try somehow to find your aunt and uncle or get help somehow.

I want to come back to you. I want to tell you that I love you and tuck you into bed. I'm so sorry.

Love, Dad.

Hmm. Daddy is gone? They'll come back, right?

I wait for a couple more hours, watching TV to pass the time and I don't think they are coming back.

Tears fall down my cheeks knowing that the people that were supposed to love me the most left me.

"LIA!" A voice yells again as I start to come back to the real world. I feel a cloth on my forehead and I move it off and I sit back up. I'm still in the restaurant, but it's empty. I look over and I see Daphne watching me nervously.

"Jasper?" I ask groggily. He rushes over to my side and grabs my hand.

"Hey, baby. Are you okay?" He asks, helping sit up. Maria hands me a cup of water and I take small sips.

"What happened?" I ask, putting the cup on a table.

"You just collapsed," Jasper explains, still gripping my hand.

"Too much information. I just found out that I have had a family my entire time and it was ripped away from me."

"Well, we are here now," Daphne says moving in front of me. I smile and Jasper removes his hand and instead wraps his arms around me.

"And you have me," he whispers with his lips against my ear. I smile softly and I look up at the family that I have now.

I have the one that I love.

And I have the ones that I lost but they found me.

"Aunt Maria," I begin. She looks at me and smiles.

"I need to talk to my parents." And then her smile dropped.

"Yeah, no. I'm not letting you do that," she says. Daphne looks at me confused.

"Lia, why would you want to talk to them?" My sister asks.

"What can you tell me about our dad?"

"Not much, why?"

"Just tell me what you know."

"He's never around like Mom, but you can tell that he doesn't really agree with what Mom does. He just can't protect me and I don't know why."

Was what I imagined real? Did Dad really not want to leave?"

"What's running through your head right now?" Jasper asks.

"I don't need to talk to my parents. I just need to talk to my Dad."

I need an explanation and he is the only one that can give it to me.