The Way Back: Chapter 14

Starr got up and hurried to the place he offered.  "Oh God, it's all my fault.  You don't know what I did!"

He embraced her, and exhaled with relief.  Blair placed a hand on his shoulder as he held his daughter.  "What is it, Shorty?  Nothing you did could ever matter to me as much as you do."

Blair added, "I think I know what this is about."

Jack, from the kitchen, chimed in, nonchalantly. "She thinks it's her fault you were cooped up all that time.  She thinks it's her fault because she convinced everyone that the other guy was real."

"Starr, you were just a kid.  You didn't know better.  And I could never blame you.  You're not responsible for any of it.  You were just a child who missed her Dad.  It's all right."

Blair was stoic.  Her Todd, the man she always knew was a devoted father, was doing an amazing thing in front of her; he was claiming his children as his own with nothing more than his love.  Starr sniffled and stopped crying, sitting up and staring into his face and talking about her life; Blair was sitting soothing her daughter by braiding her hair as she and Todd talked.  Jack was poking around the fireplace and listening to the rest of the conversation:  her pregnancy, Hope, her dreams, college, her music, how she missed him.  She believes he's our dad.  But that's okay, because so do I.  Mom looks happy even though she's been crying a lot . . . heck, so has he.

In the door raced Sam.  "Jack!  Jack!  Come outside!  There are tons of FROGS!!"

"All right, kid, I'll come with you.  But, I bet I can catch more than you."  And the two boys left the cabin.

Addie, seeing the scene as it was, said, "Well, I think we've come to some understanding, then?"

"Yes," all three of them answered.  Blair added, "We're ready to go home." 

"Nothing left to do but pack the car."  Todd said.  "Oh, Sam left his little gun.  I have to see how this thing works!"

"Be careful, Officer Starr, don't shoot yourself in the foot,"  Blair joked.

Todd took the little gadget and held it in his two hands, pretending to have a policeman's stance with it.  "All right, lady, give me all your lunch."

"You're hungry again?"

"Yeah, well, they didn't feed me all that much.  Maybe this thing can conjure up some pizza." Standing near the couch, he turned the dials on the little gun until it started to motorize and flash various colored lights in different patterns.  There was a loud screeching electrical sound.  To their surprise, Todd threw it down, covering his eyes.  "No!" he cried out, lost in a memory.

Blair tried to move toward him, but Starr got there first.  "Dad, what's wrong?"  She asked, touching his shoulder.  At the feel of her hand, he turned and flung her hand off him, shouting, "No, get away.  Don't touch me!"

Starr stumbled backward over the coffee table and fell onto the ground.  She let out a small scream as she tumbled, and he suddenly realized where he was and what had happened.  "Oh God!"  He ran to her.  "Starr, oh my God, Shorty, are you all right?"

Starr's face contorted a bit with pain, and she held her wrist.  "I'm fine, I'm perfectly okay, it was an accident.  So clumsy."

Todd's face was drawn with horror.  He looked at Blair, who immediately said, "Let's get a little ice for that.  Looks like you fell wrong.  It's okay, Todd, she's all right.  See?"

Addie walked over to Todd as Blair got the ice for the arm.  "You didn't mean it.  You were somewhere else, weren't you?"

He looked at her with tears in his eyes.  "I hurt her."

Addie spoke again, "You didn't mean it, Todd.  You love her.  You love my beautiful girls.  It's all right.  You couldn't help yourself.  You couldn't help it."

You couldn't help yourself.

Jack and Sam flew through the door, Sam holding out a huge frog.  "Look, Spiderman!"

Todd could barely contain himself.  Addie said, "That's great, Sam.  Looks like he beat you, Jack."

"Yeah.  What's going on?"

Blair shouted from the kitchen, "Nothing much, just getting some ice.  Starr had a little mishap.  Okay, get these bags and pack the car so we can all go home."

You couldn't help it.

With that, Jack, Addie and Sam began to pack the car while Blair tended to Starr's little injury, and Todd sat, motionless, on the sofa.  You couldn't help youself.  Finally, he stood, picked up Blair's oversized suitcase and left the cabin.  Starr turned to Blair, "Mom, what's wrong with him?"

"Starr, he's just going through a lot, is all."

"No, Mom, that's not it.  What did they do to him?"

Blair, who could not find words, took her daughter in her arms and hugged her.

"Tell me what happened to him!"

"Starr, I don't think it's the time.  He'll be back in a minute and we have to go."

"You have to tell me!  I have to know!  What happened to him?  What did they do to my dad?"

Todd had walked back in the cabin without them noticing.  "I'll tell you, Starr.  But you have to be sure you want to know, and you have to promise that you won't be thinking that it's your fault anymore.  If you can't promise me that, I can't tell you."

"I'll promise that, if you stop worrying about what happened just now.  You didn't mean it."

"Okay, then we both have to promise.  Come on, pinky swear."  He walked to her and they linked pinkies.

"Good, now that you two have this agreement, can we go home, please?  The woods are starting to disagree with me."  Blair attempted to change the subject.

"No, Mom, please."  Starr implored.

"It's all right Blair, she has a right to know."  He turned to her, "Simple.  They kidnapped me or I was brought there, I am still not sure which it is.  My memory is not totally intact."

Blair flashed for a moment on Tomas DelGado.  I was ordered to get him and bring him to my superiors...

He went on, "They chained me, strapped me to a chair, drugged me, tortured me, every day for eight years.  The thought of you, your mother, and your brother were the things that helped me hang on.  That's why you can never blame yourself or doubt that I love you."

Starr let out a small whimper and latched on to her mother.  "No, Mom, no," she cried.  He walked to both of them and put his arms around them.  "It's okay, Starr.  It's over now."

After a few minutes, Starr got herself together, and hugged her father.  "Welcome home.  Thank you for coming back to us,"  And right before she went out to the car, she looked back, "I love you."

He called out to her, "I love you, Shorty.  You all hang out there for a bit, I have to talk to your mother."

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