Chapter 4: Calling Monica Out
The last four days had been rough on Mrs. Garrett, Natalie, Tootie, and Jo, and that was putting it mildly. They got through the past Saturday with Mrs. Garrett, Natalie, and Tootie driving around town in her Beatle, searching for Blair in vain, while Jo did the same on her bike. They looked for her all day again on Sunday, to no avail, and whenever Mrs. Garrett could catch a break on weekdays, she went out looking for Blair while the girls were in class, again, in vain.
It was now three-fifteen in the afternoon on Wednesday, and when Tootie came running into the cafeteria looking for her just now with the obvious question on her face, it really tore Mrs. Garrett up when she had to look into that dear child's face and shake her head. Tootie actually no longer needed to ask Mrs. Garrett the question, "Did you find Blair today?" and to tell the truth, Mrs. Garrett didn't even need her to shake her head "no." Tootie saw the answer to her question written all over Mrs. Garrett's face the instant she came running into the cafeteria after class. And once Mrs. Garrett confirmed her fears with a shake of her head, she threw her books down on one of the tables and darted upstairs. Mrs. Garrett wasn't angry or upset with Tootie for being so rude, though, because she understood exactly how she felt. Personally, Edna Garrett now wanted to scream her head off in frustration, but as difficult as it was for her, she still managed to maintain her composure in front of her girls. She knew that no matter how hard it was for her, she still had to stay strong for their sakes. Falling apart was simply not an option with three other young girls depending on her, even though she was absolutely terrified inside, and was growing more panicked with each passing minute that Blair remained missing.
A couple of seconds after Tootie ran out of the cafeteria, Natalie came in. Before she even walked into the cafeteria, though, she heard Tootie slam her books on one of the tables, so she already knew what that meant.
"You don't have to say anything, Mrs. Garrett," Natalie said sadly. "I already know. You didn't find Blair today, and there hasn't been any news from the police, either."
"I'm afraid not, Natalie," Mrs. Garrett quietly responded, staring straight ahead at the kitchen door rather than looking into Natalie's face. She knew that if she dared to look into the devastated eyes of another one of her girls right now, she would probably break down and start crying, so she stood stiff and erect and kept her eyes glued to the round window of the kitchen door.
"I'd better go upstairs and try to cheer Tootie up," Natalie told her quietly, and then she went upstairs herself.
A few minutes later, Jo came into the cafeteria, and like Tootie, she didn't even need to ask if she'd found Blair today or if there'd been any news of her. She, too, could take one look at Mrs. Garrett and tell that there was still no sign of Blair.
After a couple of long, silent moments, Jo said solemnly, "I'll get on my bike and go out looking again, Mrs. G."
Still staring at the round window fighting off tears, Mrs. Garrett simply responded, "No."
"No? What do you mean, 'No'? Mrs. G., Blair's been missing for four days straight now, and she's really sick on top of that. If we don't find her soon–"
"I know," Mrs. G. interrupted as she finally found the strength to turn around and face Jo. "If we don't find her soon, heaven only knows what could happen to her. Heaven only knows what could have happened to her already," she admitted in a low, painful voice. "Jo, I know how worried you are about Blair. Believe me when I tell you, I'm just as worried as you are. But the police are already out there doing everything they can to find her, and the fact remains that there's only so much we can do now. We've done everything we can to help the police. We've given them pictures of Blair; we've described her car and what she was wearing the last time we saw her. They know what to look for. And we've all been all over Peekskill numerous times. I'm still going to go out looking for Blair to be on the safe side, just in case she's still here, but I really believe that if she were still in this area, the police or one of us would have found her by now. Now, we have to try to hang in there and help each other through this as much as possible until the police find her."
"It almost sounds as if you're giving up," Jo said as her penetrating green eyes stared into Mrs. Garrett's blue ones.
"I am not giving up. I will never give up where one of you girls is concerned. I'm simply being realistic, and in reality, you, Natalie, Tootie, and I have done and are doing everything we can. Tomorrow, I'm going to the print shop in town and getting those flyers made so we can start handing them out to people and putting them underneath the windshield wipers of as many cars as possible. I'm going to go out looking for Blair again tonight once we've finished cleaning up after supper, and I'm going to look for her again tomorrow and every day until she's found. But as hard as it is to accept, Jo, the truth is, doing all of that and praying for the Lord Jesus to bring her back to us safely is all we can do. And once you reach a point where you know you're doing all that can be done, you're simply left with no choice but to keep putting one foot in front of the other and continue going on with your life. You girls cannot just stop living altogether until Blair's back home. You have to keep going, no matter how hard it is. We all do.
"Now, why don't you go upstairs and help Natalie cheer Tootie up? She was pretty upset just now when she found out that there still hadn't been any news about Blair. And after that, you should probably try to get in a little studying before setting up for supper. I know you have that big English lit test coming up tomorrow."
Of all the girls, Jo was undoubtedly the most mature, and for someone as grown-up as she was inside, she could easily see the wisdom in what Mrs. Garrett was telling her now – even if she didn't like it. After a quiet moment, Jo quietly responded, "Yeah, you're right. I'll do that, Mrs. G."
Mrs. Garrett patted Jo's upper arms for a quick moment and gave her a reassuring smile and told her, "Good."
Jo returned the smile, even though she didn't feel like smiling at the moment, and then she headed upstairs.
The instant Mrs. Garrett had the cafeteria to herself, she allowed herself to sink down into one of the dining chairs and take a deep breath. In all her life, she'd never been more scared than she was right now, and what she needed to do more than anything was to allow herself to have a good cry. But again, with three other teenage girls to take care of, she couldn't allow herself the luxury of giving in to the sobs that were building in the back of her throat. As the next several moments passed, however, silent tears began stubbornly streaming from her eyes, regardless of how hard she tried to fight them. She responded by quickly wiping them away with her hands and taking another deep breath to try and calm herself.
Although Mrs. Garrett's words to Jo that she and the girls had to continue living their lives rang inside her head as they set up for supper that evening, she found that she was still on auto-pilot, along with the rest of them. Jo, Natalie, and Tootie were just barely getting through the evening, and they could take one look at Mrs. Garrett and tell that she was in the exact same boat. They did their jobs. They cooked, served, and cleaned up. They did everything they were supposed to do, just like any other night, but their hearts and minds were somewhere else entirely, and it was all they could do to get through it.
Mrs. Garrett went out looking for Blair once again that night after she and the girls were done cleaning up, and she didn't get back until five minutes after eleven. When she went upstairs to check on Jo, Natalie, and Tootie, she was grateful to find that they were in their beds asleep, safe and sound. Unfortunately though, the moment her eyes spotted Blair's perfectly made, vacant bed in the dark, it only served as a painful reminder that not all of her girls were safe and sound in their beds.
Mrs. Garrett quickly went across the hall to her bedroom and locked the door behind her. Then she kicked off her shoes, crawled onto the top of her bed, and unable to hold it in any longer, she buried her face in a pillow and finally started letting out all the sobs that she had been holding back for so long.
After the girls were finished cleaning up all the breakfast dishes and had gone off to class the next morning, Mrs. Garrett went into town and had the flyers made up as she had been planning to do. Then once the girls were out of class at three o'clock, Mrs. Garrett took them out and they spent the next couple of hours handing out flyers, along with several other friends and classmates of Blair's. Afterwards, they came back to prepare supper, and once Mrs. Garrett and the girls were done cleaning up that evening, Jo said something that really got the gears turning in Mrs. G.'s head.
"You know somethin', you guys? This is crazy. I mean, here we are, handing out flyers, going out looking for Blair every single day, putting in all this time, effort, and energy tryin' to find her and worrying sick about her. What are her parents doing? I don't mean to be judgmental, but I mean, come on! It's their daughter we're bustin' our tails tryin' to find, here. Shouldn't they be doing something? Shouldn't they be here, helping us out?"
Even though Mrs. Garrett had had try to disconnect herself from her emotions as much as possible in order to endure this terrifying experience, everything that Jo just said actually did give rise to one overwhelming emotion in her now: anger. The more Edna Garrett thought about every word she just said, the more infuriated she became at the Warners because she knew how right Jo was. She couldn't imagine not being there if it were one of her sons who'd suddenly turned up missing. Heck, she couldn't imagine just up and leaving one of her sons alone in the hospital after a leukemia diagnosis in the first place, even if they were grown adults now.
"If you ask me, I say that it's the Warners' fault this even happened in the first place," Natalie commented. "As if getting diagnosed with cancer wasn't bad enough, then her own parents just abandon her right when she needs them the most. It makes sense that something like that would be too much for Blair to deal with and that she'd want to just run away from it all. How could two parents be so heartless?"
"That's a good question, Natalie," Mrs. Garrett responded as her blue eyes began filling with not just mere anger, but rage.
"I don't understand," said Tootie. "I know that Mr. and Mrs. Warner never spent a lot of time with Blair, but I always believed that deep down in their hearts, they really loved her. Now that she needs them so much, it's like they don't even care at all."
"That's really something, isn't it?" Jo said with disgust. "When Mrs. Warner had that biopsy done on that lump in her breast last year and it turned out to be malignant, Blair was there for her through the whole thing. She went with her to every doctor's appointment she had. She was there when Mrs. Warner had to have the lumpectomy and the radiation treatments. No matter what Mrs. Warner had to go through, Blair was right there by her side. You know, I may fight with Blair a lot and she does get on my last nerve because she's such a spoiled brat so much of the time, but despite all of that, I really do have to give Blair her dues. When it comes to being a good friend and a good daughter, she's the best."
"Yeah," Mrs. Garrett whispered as she, Tootie, and Natalie all nodded their agreement.
"And now that Blair's really sick and she's the one who needs the love and support from Mrs. Warner, she gets tossed aside and treated like dirt," Jo added in the same disgusted tone of voice.
In most other situations, this would've been Mrs. Garrett's cue to take the parents' side and scold the girls to not be too judgmental, and then she would've tried to insist that such an observation wasn't accurate and that Blair's parents did indeed love her. Now, however, Mrs. Garrett remained silent. There wasn't any way possible for her to begin to be able to defend the Warners now, and she knew it, and she didn't even want to try.
"Maybe they're just afraid," Tootie suggested. "Maybe they left because it's such a hard thing for them to face."
"So what?!" Jo cried out. "If you really love somebody, Tootie, then you don't bail out on 'em in a time like this, no matter how scary it is for you. Truly loving somebody means having the courage to put them before yourself when things like this happen and being there for them no matter how hard or scary it may be for you. The cold, hard fact is, if Mr. and Mrs. Warner truly loved Blair, they would've stayed by her side when she was in the hospital, no matter how painful it was for them, because if they really loved her, they would've understood that it's not about them in the first place. It's about Blair. I've had a lot of people bail out on me in the past; people who claimed to be my friends; even my own father, and I realized a long time ago that if there was ever a litmus test to tell if somebody really loved you or not, it's this question: do they stick by you when times get tough? Mr. and Mrs. Warner have definitely failed the litmus test."
"You're right, Jo. You're absolutely right about everything you just said," Mrs. Garrett concurred, somewhat to the girls' surprise, because whenever family conflicts happened in the past, she rarely sided against the girls' parents. "What Mr. and Mrs. Warner have been putting Blair through is nothing short of appalling, and there is simply no excuse for it whatsoever. They're her parents, and it's their job to face this with her, no matter how difficult or painful or frightening it might be for them. They owe it to her to be strong for her now, just as she's been strong for them in the past. The way they've coldly abandoned her…it just turns my stomach," she said, sounding equally as disgusted with them as Jo. "And you're right about what you said about love, Jo. Truly loving another person does mean having the courage to do what's best for them, no matter how hard or how scary it may be for you at times. And for whatever reason, Mr. and Mrs. Warner are not treating Blair with the true love that she really needs and deserves right now, and again, there's no excuse for that."
"Mrs. Garrett, do you think Blair's parents walking out on her in the hospital like they did is the reason why she did all those crazy things? You know, coming back to Eastland, trying to pretend that everything was normal, then running away?" asked Tootie.
"Wouldn't you, Tootie?" Jo responded before Mrs. Garrett could answer. "I mean, think about it. If you'd just been diagnosed with cancer and had your parents walk out on you on top of that, what's the first thing you'd want to do? You'd want to come here to Eastland, to be around people who you knew really cared about you. And you'd probably want to forget all about having cancer, so it would make sense that you'd try to go on with your life as if everything was normal. Then when Mrs. G. told you that she was taking you to the infirmary to see the nurse in the morning and you knew your secret was in danger of getting out, you'd probably want to split because, again, cancer would be the last thing you'd want to think about."
"She must be so scared," Tootie said with a low whisper.
"Yeah, and that's not the worst of it, either," Natalie added. "The fact that they haven't found Blair in so long really scares the heck out of me. It would not have taken this long for us to hear back from Blair if something hadn't happened to her. What if she's hurt? Or what if she's been kidnapped? Or what if her illness has gotten worse and she's lying out there unconscious somewhere?"
"Now girls, let's not go jumping to conclusions," Mrs. Garrett told them in a serious voice, trying to silence her own worries and fears inside that Natalie's questions stirred up. "Blair's probably found someplace to go where she feels she can get her mind off her problems right now. I know how scary this is, but I'm sure that we'll hear from her soon, or that the police will find her and bring her back to us."
"But what if that doesn't happen, Mrs. Garrett? What if we don't hear from Blair, and what if the police don't find her and bring her back?" Tootie asked.
"You know, Tootie, I've been asking myself the same thing. You hear stories all the time about people who go missing and are never found. What if that happens to Blair?" asked Natalie.
Mrs. Garrett responded by walking in between Natalie and Tootie and putting an arm around each girl, and then she assured them, "That won't happen to Blair, girls. We'll find her. I promise you."
Jo walked over to them then and said, "Of course we'll find her, you guys. You'll see. This will all be over soon."
In the next moment, Jo's eyes locked with Mrs. Garrett's, and it was then that a silent understanding formed between them. Jo was now enough of an adult in her own right that she knew she had to help Mrs. Garrett keep hope alive for Natalie's sake and especially for Tootie's. She knew that she had to help her protect the younger girls from the terrifying gravity of the situation for as long as possible. She knew that as the oldest of the three girls, it was her responsibility, and that Mrs. Garrett shouldn't have to shoulder everything all alone.
After Mrs. Garrett shared a long embrace with Natalie and Tootie, she walked out of the cafeteria and into the kitchen. Natalie and Tootie decided to go into the lounge and watch a little television to try and get their minds off all their worries. Once Natalie and Tootie left the cafeteria, Jo followed Mrs. Garrett into the kitchen to have a word with her alone.
"Mrs. G., can I ask you a really blunt question?"
Mrs. Garrett's eyes met Jo's once again as she responded, "Sure."
"It's been days since Blair's gone missing. Do you really believe that nothing's happened to her? Do you really believe that we're going to find Blair and get her to go back into the hospital to get the treatment she needs and that everything is going to end up all peaches and cream, or was everything you said to Natalie and Tootie out there just a load of bull? I understand you wanting to help them keep hope alive for as long as you can; I want to do that, too, but do you really believe that there's still hope? That nothing terrible has happened to her?"
"I don't know what has happened to Blair out there, Jo. But until I have all the facts, like I told you before, I cannot and I will not give up on her. I can't and I won't stop believing that we're going to find her and get her the help she needs, until I have solid evidence to believe otherwise. I know we're all going through a terribly dark, scary time right now, but no matter how hard it is for all of us, we have to keep going, and we cannot give up on Blair because that's what you do for someone you really love. You refuse to ever give up on them."
Jo's attitude was now a real one-eighty from the attitude she'd shown the day before, wanting to go out searching for Blair for the hundredth time and trying to hold onto hope. While the one-eighty might've seemed quite odd, though, Mrs. Garrett well understood the struggle that was going on inside Jo because she was going through it, herself. Like Jo yesterday, she too wanted to spend practically her every waking moment out searching for Blair, but she knew she had to continue doing her job at Eastland and taking care of her other girls. She knew her girls were looking to her as the example. She realized that no matter how difficult it was, she had to be able to carry on with the business of living for their sakes. But she had other times when she felt like Jo did now, too, where she began to lose hope and seriously consider the possibility that something terrible really had happened to Blair out there. Mrs. Garrett understood that because her girls were experiencing the same intense whirlwind of emotions she was right now, it was more important than ever for her to provide them with a sense of balance. Whenever they expressed the desire to cut classes and spend every waking second out looking for Blair, she was the voice of reason that reminded them how important it was that they continue living their own lives, and whenever they talked about how bad things seemed and how worried they were that something awful had happened to her, she was the voice of hope that reminded them to never give up.
"Like the Warners did," Jo said once again with disgust, as her eyes remained locked with Mrs. Garrett's.
"I don't know what's going on with Mr. and Mrs. Warner now, but I don't believe they've given up all hope of Blair ever getting better. I think they just got scared and ran away, which to say the very least, is incredibly selfish and downright inexcusable," she admitted to Jo with an unusual, angry sense of bluntness, herself.
"You know, Mrs. G., I remember last year when Nat's grandmother Mona came here to visit her, and how Natalie acted like a brat and hurt her feelings. And I remember that conversation you had with Mona about it." Mona had walked into the cafeteria with Mrs. Garrett and talked with her about what had been happening between her and Natalie, and while they were talking, Jo went downstairs to the kitchen with Blair and Tootie to raid the fridge, and she overheard their conversation. Afterwards, she went back upstairs to find Natalie and give her a piece of her mind for being such a jerk to such a sweet old lady. "I remember when Mona talked about how things are different for kids in today's world than they were back in her day," Jo continued, "and how you told her that that was a load of bull; that there wasn't anything we go through today that adults like you and Mona hadn't gone through yourselves. And then you said your little piece about how you had called us out on that kind of attitude.
"You parents and adults always get to call us kids out on it when we have a wrong attitude about something or when we do something wrong. But now, I want to know what happens to parents and other adults when they do something wrong or hurtful or stupid or just plain cruel to kids, like this stunt the Warners are pulling with Blair right now. Who calls them out, Mrs. G.?" Jo asked as her green eyes deeply penetrated through Edna's blue eyes, right down into her soul, forcing her to ask herself the same question.
After several long moments, Jo walked upstairs, saying nothing as Mrs. Garrett really began to think hard about what she'd just said.
Edna Garrett rarely did anything on impulse, but after continuously burning with anger towards the Warners inside for so many days now, and especially after Jo just said what she did, she couldn't help but want to explode – right in David and Monica Warner's faces. It was in that moment that she decided that she was going to go out looking for Mr. and Mrs. Warner now and do exactly that, whether it was a good idea or not. After she went into the lounge and told Natalie and Tootie that she'd be going out for a while, she grabbed her car keys and took off.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Warner had several homes and mansions all over the world. The mansion in Manhattan Blair had grown up in had gone to Mrs. Warner after their divorce, but Mr. Warner also had his own penthouse apartment in the city. Mrs. Garrett knew that they could literally be anywhere on the planet right now and that the odds weren't that high that she'd find either one of them in New York. However, she also knew that if she could find Mr. or Mrs. Warner tonight and let them have it for all the pain their selfishness had caused Blair and all of her girls, it was worth a shot.
And amazingly enough, when Mrs. Garrett showed up at the Warners' mansion at a quarter past nine that evening, Monica Warner actually answered her own door in person – for probably the first time in about fifteen years! Monica was dressed in an expensive matching beige blazer and skirt and white blouse, and as always, she was adorned in the best jewelry and her hair and nails were done to perfection. It didn't go unnoticed by Mrs. Garrett that while the woman couldn't find the time to help her and her girls and the police try to find her own seriously ill daughter who'd gone missing, she could find the time to make sure her accessories matched her designer clothes!
"Mrs. Garrett," she greeted her with a smile, as if everything were somehow completely normal and this was only a mere social call. "What a pleasant surprise. Do come in."
Mrs. Garrett was so stunned by her shockingly casual demeanor that she said nothing as she followed Mrs. Warner into the foyer of her house.
"This is the first time you've ever been to our house, isn't it? Say, why don't I give you the grand tour? I'll start by showing you Blair's old room that she had when she was a little girl. Come along with me; it's right upstairs. You'll love it. It is simply adorable."
Mrs. Warner darted upstairs before Mrs. Garrett could get a word in edgewise, so once again, she simply remained silent and followed her. And the pattern continued for the next several minutes as Mrs. Warner showed Mrs. Garrett Blair's childhood bedroom. The walls had multicolored flowers painted all over them on a golden background and had been painted by a professional painter. The carpet was a lilac color, and the bedspread of Blair's bed was a perfect pattern of gold and lilac that matched the walls and the carpet impeccably, as did the array of golden- and lilac-colored pillows at the front of the bed. Many of the drawings and paintings Blair had completed as a child were up on the walls, and as would be expected, the bedroom also had an enormous walk-in closet filled to the brim with Blair's old clothes, dresses, shoes, and accessories. There was a huge lilac-colored vanity set on one side of the bed and an equally huge golden toy chest on the other, and right beside the toy chest stood a tall golden cabinet with dozens of porcelain dolls on display behind its glass doors. It was in every way a bedroom fit for a princess.
Mrs. Warner chattered on and on for the next several minutes as she showed off the bedroom to Mrs. Garrett, sounding, strangely enough, very much like a child showing off a dollhouse to an adult. Mrs. Warner proceeded to show Mrs. Garrett several more bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs, including the bedroom Blair currently used whenever she was staying in that particular house, and then the two finally ended up in Mrs. Warner's lavish master bedroom. The walls, bedspread, and curtains were different shades of periwinkle and off-white and the carpet was a darker shade of blue. There was a similar periwinkle-colored bathroom and enormous walk-in closet adjoined to the bedroom, and several feet in front of the queen-sized bed was a small step up into an alcove which housed a fancy beige antique desk and matching chair, which she obviously used as a kind of office for herself. On one side of the desk stood a matching beige antique bookcase and on the other side stood a tall silver-colored cabinet with glass doors, very similar to the golden cabinet in Blair's childhood bedroom, which also housed many exquisite and expensive porcelain dolls.
Mrs. Warner still childishly prattled on for several more moments as the growing fury inside Mrs. Garrett continued to boil. Mrs. Garrett was a remarkably patient person and she truly hated to blow her stack at anybody, but she knew she wouldn't be able to hold back much longer.
"Oh, and as I'm sure you already noticed, I have my own collection of dolls, too, just like Blair. You know the old saying, right? Like mother, like daughter."
"Blair isn't the first thing like you!" Mrs. Garrett suddenly blurted out, and the instant she did, she knew there was no turning back. It was all going to come out now. "When you were diagnosed with a malignant tumor in your breast last year, Blair was there for you every step of the way! Any time throughout it all that you ever needed her, she came running! Now that Blair's the one who's really sick and in need of your help, what do you do? You go AWOL! Giving tours of your house? Going on about color schemes of your bedrooms and showing off your porcelain dolls while your gravely ill daughter is out there missing somewhere?! What in the world is wrong with you?!"
Mrs. Warner let out a sigh, closed her eyes, and buried her head in her hand for several long moments. Finally, she responded, "Mrs. Garrett, I am certain that the school and the police are doing everything they can to find her. And when she is found and taken back to the hospital for treatment, she will get better. And when that happens and she comes home again, I am going to give her everything she ever wanted and then some. I will take her anywhere she wants to go. I will buy her everything on this earth that she could ever possibly want. I will stop at nothing to ensure my daughter's happiness."
"Blair doesn't want vacations or shopping sprees. She doesn't want any more material possessions. She already has everything she could possibly want in that department. What she really wants, what she really needs, is to have her parents by her side right now. That's what she needed and deserved from both of you when she was in the hospital. She shouldn't have to go through this all by herself. She can't go through this all by herself. She doesn't need more clothes or jewelry or trips. She needs her parents!"
Mrs. Warner began to pace for the next several seconds, visibly becoming more anxious, and then she snapped at Mrs. Garrett, "I am doing everything I can! I have always, always done everything I could to show Blair my love and make her happy. But being in some hospital…watching my beautiful baby girl lose her hair and get sick…not knowing what's going to happen to her…that's too much for me, Mrs. Garrett."
"Too much for you?" Mrs. Garrett said incredulously, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Is that really all you can think about now, Mrs. Warner? What this is doing to you? What about what this is doing to Blair? What about what she's going through out there right now?! You're her mother and what your child – your sick child – is going through right now is supposed to be your biggest concern, not what all of this is doing to you! Everything stopped being all about you the moment Blair was born. The instant you brought her into this world, it became your responsibility to put her best interests ahead of your own. That's what it means to be a parent! A true mother never walks away from her child in times like these just because it's not easy for her!" she railed as tears began streaming down Mrs. Warner's cheeks.
"Alright, so I'm not up for any Mother of the Year awards," she said quietly. Then after several silent moments passed, she broke down into sobs.
"I know this is hard, Mrs. Warner," Mrs. Garrett told her more calmly as she continued to sob. "I know it's painful watching your child go through something like this, and I know how scared you must be, but no matter how hard it is for you, you have to face it and you have to help your daughter face it. You have to face up to what is happening and you have to stop hiding here at home and help us find her, and after that, you have to be by her side through all of this and give her all the love and support you possibly can. That's your job."
"I can't!" she shrieked as the sobs kept coming. A couple of moments later after she caught her breath enough to be able to talk again, she admitted, "I have never been a very strong person, Mrs. Garrett. And I have never been very good at taking care of others. All my life, I was the one who was taken care of. I'm not afraid to admit it that all through my life, I've been terribly spoiled. I suppose being so spoiled by my parents and my husbands and my lovers over the years has made me pretty weak. A situation like this calls for a strong person, and I simply do not fit the bill. I never have.
"I'll never forget when I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and what Blair said to me. She told me that I had to face the fact that our relationship was only superficial; that we were mere playmates to each other and not real friends. And then she told me that she wanted me to let her be my friend. But the truth was, deep down, I knew it all the time that Blair and I were only playmates and that our relationship was superficial because superficial relationships are the only kind of relationships I've ever been able to handle. I can buy Blair pretty things. I can take her shopping. I can take her traveling all over the world. I can give her advice about boys. But as a mother, that is all I am able to do for her."
"Wrong! That's all you're willing to do for her!" Mrs. Garrett shouted angrily, finally calling Mrs. Warner out on her refusal to be a real parent to her child after all these years. "When Blair first found out about your diagnosis, she didn't want to think about it or face it, either. She was just as frightened last year as you are right now. But because of her love for you, she found the strength and the courage to face your diagnosis head on and to help you face it as well. Facing your illness was very difficult for her, but because being there for you as a daughter and as a friend meant more to her than staying in her comfort zone, she did. She looked beyond herself and she faced up to a very tough situation like a mature adult, despite the fact that she's only a teenager. Now, Mrs. Warner, it's time for the shoe to be on the other foot. Now, Blair's the one who needs you, and it's time for you to step up to the plate for her just as she stepped up to the plate for you. Blair shouldn't have to do all of the heavy lifting in this relationship, and you know it. If you really love your daughter, you'll put whatever it is you're going through aside and you'll put your big girl bloomers on and start being there for her through all of this like an adult. You don't have the luxury of remaining a weak, spoiled child in this relationship any longer. It's time for you to grow up and stop being a silly little playmate and start acting like a real mother! Blair needs you!"
"I can't!" Mrs. Warner cried out as she once again broke down into sobs. "I know it's wrong, but I can't watch Blair lying sick in some hospital bed…losing her beautiful hair…getting pumped full of drugs that'll probably make her feel even worse than dying from the disease itself! She's my baby! She's my gorgeous little doll, even more beautiful than the most exquisite porcelain doll in the world! I can't bear to just stand by and watch this evil disease take away her beauty and her health and her life! I can't bear it! I simply can't!"
"Blair is not a porcelain doll, Mrs. Warner! She is not an object you can merely lock away in a glass cabinet when you're tired of playing with her and she no longer amuses you! She is a human being! And sometimes human beings stop looking beautiful and sometimes they get really sick, and when that happens, the people who love them don't have the option to run and hide because that isn't what true love does! True love stays the course no matter how rough the ride gets, and as a parent, it is your sacred responsibility to show your child true love, especially now."
"I can't! I just can't!" Mrs. Warner cried, still sobbing her eyes out as she stood in front of her own cabinet full of porcelain dolls, and it was in that instant that Edna Garrett saw Monica Warner for what she really was: a hollow porcelain doll. Sure, she was a beautiful, cultured woman and she wore the classiest designer clothes and jewelry, but underneath all of that was absolutely nothing of substance. She was truly nothing like her daughter at all. Mrs. Garrett knew that with Blair, a person simply had to do a little bit of digging beneath the surface and once they did, they would immediately stumble upon a gold mine of treasures. Underneath Blair's spoiled princess act was a very beautiful, loving, and strong human being with an enormous heart. Sadly, underneath Monica Warner's exterior was…nothing. Mrs. Garrett knew that Jo was right about everything she said about Mr. and Mrs. Warner: when it came to truly loving their daughter, they failed the litmus test and they failed abysmally because they were both hollow creatures inside with nothing of substance to give to her, love least of all.
And as Mrs. Garrett simply stood there, watching her hopelessly sob like the overgrown child that she was, she saw for herself that Mrs. Warner's teenage daughter was actually the true adult of the two. Mrs. Warner was nothing more than a pathetic little toddler who just happened to be living inside the body of a woman in her late thirties. To put it mildly, Mrs. Garrett was disgusted.
"Then in that case, you don't deserve her," Mrs. Garrett told her in her best deep, no-nonsense tone of voice, and then she left the Warners' mansion.
It was twenty minutes after eleven when Mrs. Garrett got back to Eastland. She knew that it was late and that she should get to bed and at least try to sleep, but she was simply too worked-up inside. She had no regrets about letting Monica Warner have it with both barrels that night because she knew the only thing she'd really done was speak the truth. However, the exchange had left Mrs. Garrett even more furious than she had been before. Beneath all of the rage she was experiencing now, though, was an even more overpowering and unpleasant emotion: terror. The more time that passed without anybody hearing a word from Blair, the more petrified she became. She did an amazing job of making it seem like to the girls that she was calm and in control, but the truth was, Edna Garrett was scared out of her mind now.
And it was because she was so caught up in the fury and the terror she was experiencing inside that when the payphone suddenly started to ring in the lounge and she answered it, she really bit the other person's head off without thinking.
"Hello?! What is it?!" she lashed out in an unusually deep, angry tone. The stunned caller on the other end simply remained silent. "Hello?!" Mrs. Garrett cried out in the same angry tone.
"Hi," the small voice on the other end said softly, and Edna's heart stopped. It was Blair.
