Chapter Twenty one: Ghost

Miranda had attempted to visit the address she found on Google maps twice already. The first day she arrived early in the morning, but had been too late. The man she assumed was her father was getting into his truck with a young boy. The second day she arrived a little later in the evening. It was around five p.m. and she watched the same young boy toss a baseball around in the yard. She started to approach the house, but the man came out shortly to call the boy in for dinner. He had cast a look in Miranda's direction and she drove off before he could get a good look at her.

This was the third day. She took note that both cars were in the driveway today and assumed the entire family was home. With a deep breath, she exited her vehicle and walked across the street and was now standing below the staircase. She had played this over in her head about a dozen times. In one scenario she would pretend that her car broke down and she needed to use the phone. That plan would fail because what could she do afterwards? Say "By the way, I think you're my parents and the little boy is my brother."? No. They'd probably have her arrested. In another scenario she would wear a disguise. But in the end she decided to go with a open and honest approach.

Here goes nothing. she thought as she climbed the three or four stairs in front of her. She stood in front of the door to give herself time to prepare for what would happen. After all, once she was face to face with the people inside it was no turning back.

She knocked on the door three times and waited. If they didn't answer after a while she would knock again. When she was about to bring her hand up to knock again the door opened and in front of her stood the man she had seen two days before. The man that apparently fathered her and the man who had abandoned her. He began to speak but as he locked eyes with her, all he could do was stare. Miranda felt uncomfortable and wanted to break eye contact but she couldn't. He opened his mouth but closed it back. He looked as though he was trying to match her face with someone. And then something struck Miranda, could he have recognized her from TV? Maybe he had seen the interview she done recently or he saw her face in gossip magazines that had been headlining her relationship. Miranda decided she had enough of being gawked at.

"Hello." She spoke. And as if she had broke some trance, the man began to blink rapidly.
"Who are you?" He asked no louder than a whisper. OK he doesn't recognize me then. Miranda thought.
"I..I am Miranda. Miranda Griffin." She answered. He squinted his eyes. Then he cocked his head to the side and suddenly he looked annoyed? disgusted? Miranda was unsure but she didn't like it. She begin to think maybe she should have stayed away. I mean was it really wise to take information from some guy she didn't know? Maybe this was all a set up.
"Leave." He said simply. Miranda looked at him puzzled.
"Pardon me?" She said.
"Leave now and don't ever come back here!" He yelled. Miranda jumped back from the sudden rise of his voice. His eyes shot her a very pissed off glare before shutting the door in her face. She wanted to knock again and to ask what the hell had happened and what she had done to piss him off but she didn't.

Miranda stood there a moment longer before she had the strength to move. She didn't know how to feel yet. Hurt, Pissed, Confused..it was a toss up.

Miranda managed to drive herself home without bursting into tears. Sadly the same wouldn't be said once she was inside. It was all she seemed to do these days. Cry. But she couldn't help it. Everything just seemed to be turning sour,like her relationship. And just when she thought something might turn out good and someone might love her and welcome her with open arms;she gets a door slammed in her face and  told to never come back. What happened to family is always suppose to love you? What happened to family always sticks together?


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Timothy barely had any time to process what took place because as soon as he shut the door, TJ was walking towards him.
"Daddy who was that?" TJ asked.
"No one son." Timothy replied. TJ gave him a look that told him he wasn't buying his lie.
"Then why were you yelling?" TJ prodded. Timothy sighed. He didn't want to lie to TJ, but he wasn't going to tell him the truth. Especially when he barely understood what happened himself.

"TJ it's nothing you need to worry about ok? It's a grown up type issue son." Timothy explained. TJ still wasn't fully ready to let it go, but he did. He hugged Timothy before returning to his room.

Timothy took a seat on the sofa once TJ was back in his room. He replayed what happened a few moments ago. He didn't mean to lash out on the woman like that. He couldn't help it though. She looked so much like her, so much like Skylar, his Skylar. And seeing her nearly broke his heart. And her last name was Griffin, just like theirs. It was too much of a coincidence for it to not mean anything. But what did it mean exactly? And why had she come here? Why now? What did she want? It was only one way to find out and that was to find her and ask. Of course she probably didn't want to see him now. He reached for his cell phone and called a friend of his. Lucas was a Private I and he could find anyone. He asked him to research the woman and find out where she was staying so he could talk to her. Lucas didn't question his request. Timothy was shocked to find out she was actually a well-known singer. And that just further confused him. How could he be connected to someone famous and what did she want with him? Well Lucas couldn't answer that. But he was able to track down the home she was renting in Riverview and gave him the address.

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Miranda couldn't say she was exactly feeling better the next day, but at least she wasn't balling her eyes out anymore. She had given up on figuring out why he reacted that way and was trying to accept the fact that maybe she shouldn't have tracked them down. Maybe this was what they wanted, to give her up and  to never be found. She was about to return a phone call to Jaq' when she saw a familiar truck pull up. It was his truck, The same man who told her to never come back to his house. Jaq' had picked up and was saying hello when Miranda seemed to freeze up.
"Hello?" He repeated.
"Sorry Jaq', I have to call you back." She said and hung up the phone.

Timothy had walked up to her. Miranda took a few steps away from him and was debating on going inside the house. She didn't want to see him let alone talk to him. He had made it perfectly clear that he wants nothing to do with her. He didn't even give her a chance to explain, but here he was at her house? What the hell was his deal?

"Please don't leave." He requested.
"And why not?" She spat at him. She wasn't worried about being polite. Who cares if he might be her father? He certainly didn't so she shouldn't bother with being nice.
"I would like to talk to you." He answer. Miranda scoffed. She thought he was crazy. One moment he's shooing her off and the next he's at her house wanting to talk.
"Yeah well I'm not talking to you." She replied.
"I understand why you feel that way. I apologize for yesterday. I wasn't thinking clearly. And if you'd just let me talk to you then maybe we could help each other solve this..this predicament." He explained. Miranda gave him the side eye, but he had a point. She had came all this way to get answers so if he was willing to give them to her, then why push him away?
"Come in." She said flatly and headed inside, leaving the door open behind her.

Once seated, Timothy was the first to speak.
"May I ask why you showed up at my home?" He asked.
"If you hadn't told me to leave yesterday, you would know why already. But I came because I think you're my father." Miranda answered. Father? He thought. Had he heard her correctly? How could that be? How could he not  know he had another child out in the world?
"Did you say Father?" He asked.
"Yes. Father. And I believe your wife, Skylar, is my mother. Uh..I decided to look into my family history earlier this year and I found out I was adopted. And with the help of an investigator I found out who my real parents are." Miranda answered. This didn't make any sense to Timothy. He knew Miranda looked very identical to Skylar, but it was just impossible. She hadn't been pregnant before TJ, had she?
"I don't understand. This just doesn't add up." He said.
"What are you talking about?" Miranda asked. Why was he playing dumb about everything? He could at least admit that she was a mistake and they had given her up. She deserved the truth and she wad tired of people giving her the run around. Timothy was still trying to process everything and didn't answer her.
"You and Skylar obviously didn't want me. I don't know why, maybe you were young and couldn't afford to take care of me..I don't know. But you could at least own up to it." Miranda said feeling her frustration build up.
"No I would never give my child up for adoption." He replied at last. Miranda shook her head. She wasn't buying his excuse.
"Maybe it would help if I told you how Skylar and I met." He offered. Maybe it would help him too if he took a trip down memory lane. Maybe he had missed something.

He begin to explain that when he met Skylar, she was already married. But unhappily married, since Alex was an alcoholic and abusive. He didn't go into details, he just told her that on one particular evening Alex had took things too far and became physically abusive towards Skylar and he had came to help her. Because of this, he had ended up in jail and Timothy began to spend more and more time with Skylar. It was a friendship that had turned to into a relationship. He didn't mention that the had been intimate, but he guessed Miranda could have figured that out.

"That doesn't really help." Miranda commented once he was done.
"I know." He agreed. He shared some more information with her. He told her that the only thing that didn't make sense was how Skylar reacted when he told her he was moving. He assumed she was just afraid of Alex so much so that she didn't want to leave. Even though he constantly reassured her that he'd protect her. But now that he was thinking about it with newly found information, she could have reacted that way because she was pregnant. But if she was, why would she hide it? He also remembered that it took a while for her to join him. He never understood that, he also never understood why she was bigger when she came to Riverview to live with him. Miranda didn't know what to make of all of this. Pretty much everything was a theory at this point but nothing was proven.

"Do you think she would do something like that? Hide her pregnancy?" Miranda asked.
"I don't see why. I would have taken care of her, of you. She had no reason to keep that from me." He answered. Could she really have lied to him all of this time? For 21 years?
"I know it might be a difficult conversation for you two to have, but why don't you just ask her?" Miranda suggested. "Then we won't have to grasp at straws and we'd both have answers.
"I can't do that." He replied.
"Why not?" Miranda inquired.

Timothy sighed heavily before leaning back against the couch. He twirled his wedding ring around his finger before he spoke.
"I can't ask Skylar because..because she's dead." Timothy replied. Dead? Miranda thought. Again Miranda was feeling stuck in a soap opera. Why couldn't anything be easy for her? Why did she constantly have to run around like she was forever lost in a maze? And why did the one person who held all the answers to her questions have to be dead?

Timothy didn't say anything else. Miranda breathed deeply and looked up.
"I think you should go now." Miranda replied. Timothy simply nodded. He understood her frustration. He was frustrated too. He had to deal with the fact that he may have a 21 year old daughter that he knew nothing about. And that his late wife may have hidden this all from him. He would give Miranda and himself some time to process everything before he came back.