Page 8 of My Mistake To Make

Time to flex that American citizenship of yours.

I hope you love it.

Goodbye, darling girl

Grandma x

I stared at the screen, trying to process what I’d just read. She left me her house. She left me a bank account full of money. I had more questions than ever before, but I had no idea where to start. A soft knock on the bedroom door startled me.

‘Come in.’ I called out, and the door opened.

Dad walked in carrying an old shoebox and wearing a look of shame.

‘Dad…’ I questioned. I didn’t understand the expression on his face.

‘I’m so sorry, sweetheart. We made a mistake.’

As he backed out of the room, leaving that word hanging in the air and a box full of what looked like still sealed greeting cards on my bed, the pieces started to fall into place.

She had tried. They just hadn’t told me.

Mhmm… Fixer Upper

Cara

Today

‘Oh, sweet girl.’ Ilook up from my hands in my lap to the comfortingly familiar smiling, if moist, eyes of Doris, my new friend. ‘Your grandma did want you in her life.’

‘Yeah, Mum wrote to Roberta, told her she’d had me, sent photos, told her when I started walking, started school, all the moments, you know?’

‘There was a lot of regret.’

‘I think there was. They were just all too stubborn to do anything about it, and now it’s too late. I’m so mad at my dad, too. He kept up with this stupid secret even after Mum died when he could have just told me. I could have had fifteen years of knowing my grandmother, even though I should have had thirty.’

Doris reaches over and squeezes my hand.

‘Don’t walk into this new adventure angrily, honey. It won’t serve you well.’

I smile. ‘I know. Truth is, I don’t really know how to be angry for too long. It’s not something I’ve ever done before.’

Doris chuckles. ‘Oh, Cara, you are a funny little thing.’

We landed in Dublin and hugged as I headed off to get a coffee, and Doris went to stretch her legs.

I bought a magazine, and some snacks for the long flight to Chicago, then headed over to the gate to wait.

When it came time for boarding, and the first passengers were called, I sat back in the hard plastic seating to wait for my turn.

‘Come on, then.’

I look up to see Doris standing in front of me, a travel pillow already wrapped around her neck as she hands me a new boarding pass.

‘What is…’

It has my name on it, and it says: business class.

‘I thought we deserved a little more comfort while we continue our conversation.’ She winks, and I stare at her dumbfounded. ‘Well, get your butt moving. They’re calling us.’

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