WHO: Oceana Ridgeway and Maia Sparks WHEN: Afternoon of December 4 WHERE: Enchanted Events SUMMARY: Oceana comes to talk about her future wedding, but Maia derails the conversation pretty quick to come clean about their connection. WARNINGS: Discussion of adoption and the feels that come with that Â
After Maia had assured Oceana that she could work with their chosen date, her excitement had only increased. She’d gone home that evening, and told Nick about their good fortune in the wedding planning department. She had gathered information and pictures off of various links on her Pinterest, loaded pictures and ideas that they had googled onto a flash drive, and included every other detail that they’d talked about into a folder to take with her to the meeting.
She’d gotten the go-ahead from Nick to go to the first appointment on her own, where she could relay what they’d already discussed, and get a general plan in place (she hoped!) Nick would still be just as involved as she was. He would be certain to get to go to future, better planned appointments with Maia, or be in on all the calls over details. This first appointment would be the first of many stepping stones, and that path would lead to their eventual wedding.
To her credit, she had called ahead and left a message to say that she would be dropping in if Maia was available. Though she hadn’t received a call back, she figured that if Maia was unavailable, she could at least leave what she had gathered, and meet up with her in person later. She stepped into the office, folder clutched in her hands, and grinned nervously at the secretary, “Um, hi. Hello. I’m Oceana Ridgeway. I was hoping to see if Maia Sparks was available.”
After the conversation at the dance studio, Maia had gone through a rollercoaster of emotions in regards to the future wedding she would be planning for Oceana Ridgeway and Nick Waters. Kylie had babbled the whole car ride home, giving her something of a distraction at first, but soon enough she was on her computer and looking through every bit of evidence she had found that the girl who had been put up for adoption in Florida could, in fact, be the same Oceana that lived in the same town as her now.
It was still on her mind, even as she ran a few errands for a client and received a text from their receptionist that Oceana Ridgeway had left a message staying she was going to drop in the office. Her anxiety spiked, but Maia had done her best to stay as level as ever. She finished her errands and went back to the office -- in fact, she had just barely had time to shrug off her jacket when she heard the door open and Oceana's familiar voice came back through the hallways.
Her stomach flipped, but she still smiled as she stuck her head out the door. "She's available!" Jerking her head to the side, she added, "Come on in."
Oceana’s smile brightened when Maia popped her head off of her office door, inviting her back. She gave a small thank you to the secretary before she stepped on past the front desk and back to the office she had seen Maia in. She clutched the folder in her hands a little bit tighter, “Hi!” The greeting was given enthusiastically, and she gestured to the door as though to ask if she should close it. Once she received the confirmation, she pushed it closed for privacy, and then headed towards the seats that were obviously meant for guests of this office.
“It’s just me today, but when we have less-impromptu meetings Nick will definitely join,” she assured Maia with an excited sort of smile, “I wanted to thank you again for agreeing to help us. I mean, I know it’s your job, but I know it’s a quick turn around, and...I’m just really grateful you agreed to take us on as clients.”
It was almost easy to slide into her Wedding Planner mode, focusing on Oceana and the task at hand -- planning her wedding. Maia smiled as she sat down across from her, glad to hear that her husband-to-be was planning on being so involved as it wasn't always the case. It was always a bit more fun when both sides of the couple were as engaged in the process.
But Maia still felt that twinge at the back of her mind that reminded her that she couldn't ignore her suspicions. She already knew that she wasn't going to last long before she finally broke and talked about the elephant in the room that Oceana wasn't even aware of. Even so, she said, "I'm happy to do it, really." Then with a hand waved toward her folder, she added, "I see you brought some ideas?"
Oceana nodded, and easily slid the folder over to Maia, “Yeah. What we’ve discussed a little of so far. There’s not a lot there yet, but just...some general ideas? Like...we’d like the main lighting to really be sort of like strings of Christmas lights, for a romantic sort of glow? We have a loose color scheme that we really do want to stick to. Greens and blues with some mixed neutrals like...those,” she pointed to a few of the printings that she’d put into the folder of shades of grey and gold, “Even with having a winter wedding, we really want to honor our love of the water, too.”
She paused half a second before she realized, “I mean, we don’t just love the water because of our names, but with his family’s boating business...and I grew up next to the ocean. Ironically.” Growing up in District Four had also been defining for Finnick and Annie, and though this wasn’t their wedding, Oceana desperately wanted to honor them, too.
She grinned a little, and shrugged, “I think my dad’s going to be shocked that we chose not to get married in the heat of the summer out on a boat, to be honest. But...the wintery scene is even more sentimental to us.” She knew that she was probably just rambling nonsense to Maia, and maybe she should have shut up, but wouldn’t it help Maia to get to know a little more about them on a personal level?
Maia smiled as she flipped through what Oceana offered, letting a picture begin to form as the other woman spoke. This was her favorite part of the planning process of any event, with seeing the final elements coming together in the end a close second.
But something that Oceana had said tripped in her mind. Her gaze rose as she asked, "Where are you originally from that you grew up by the ocean?"
She didn’t even think about it or hesitate before she answered, “Oh! Florida. Lakeland, to be specific. I mean, we weren’t right on the water, but we went all the time. We had our pick of beaches less than an hour and a half away, and we’d make whole weekends of it when I didn’t have shows for dance...spend weeks there in the summer. Dad worked from home a lot anyway, so we could do stuff like that.”
Maia's stomach lurched, but she tried to school in her features, even as she got that casual confirmation of where Oceana was from. Though she had been born there, Maia had no memories of the city outside of those that she had made while down there a couple weeks prior with Wyatt. She had grown up in Dunhaven, having only returned to Florida for family vacations to Orlando. She swallowed.
"I was actually born in Lakeland," Maia hedged, reaching for a pen to idly move it between the fingers of her right hand. "I was adopted by the Sparks and raised in Dunhaven, but I spent the first year of my life down there."
Although Oceana had known that Maia’s complexion differed from that of the rest of her family and might not have been surprised to hear that she was adopted, to hear that she had also been adopted out of Lakeland was stunning, indeed. The look of shock that crossed her features might have even been comical.
“Really? Oh my goodness! Small world, huh?” Oceana smiled, and gave a half shrug of her shoulders, “I...well, I was adopted too, actually. Right out of the hospital.” It wasn’t exactly an uncomfortable topic. It was something she’d known about her entire life. It was just that her adoption story was a somewhat unconventional one. She smiled warmly even as she said, “Funny that we’d both end up here.”
"It is funny." Maia's words were a bit hesitant, as though she were thinking them through completely before she committed to them. She swallowed once again, more out of hesitation than anything else, before she asked, "Do you know anything of your biological parents? I'm sorry if that's a rude or strange question to ask."
Oceana didn’t think much over any hesitations that Maia might have exhibited, other than to think perhaps that she wasn’t accustomed to talking with other adoptees. She wasn’t either, really. It wasn’t something she just brought up to people in random conversation, “I don’t think it’s rude,” she assured her before she thought a moment on how to answer.
“The adoption that I had was closed. I know my mother was young...but that she loved me enough to give me my name, at least.” It was one of the only maternal gifts that Oceana had ever retained, and she was grateful for it, despite the uncommon name garnering her occasional looks over the years, “That’s...really about it. I don’t know anything about my biological father. I’ve never seen my original birth certificate.”
That was all the confirmation that Maia really needed at that point. What were the odds, really? From what she had been told by her biological mother, all of the clues seemed to snap into place. Oceana had the same birthday as Maia's half-sister that had been similarly placed for adoption. They were from the same city. They got their name from the same person. It was too many coincidences for her to be able to deny any longer.
And once that thought solidified, it felt downright impossible to move forward in any way without telling her.
Maia cleared her throat, nodding along with her. "My name came from my biological mother, too. I actually -- I met her recently. My adoption had likewise been closed, but I used an agency to have it unsealed so I could get some health records, just to confirm a few things for Kylie." She knew that it might seem as though Maia was getting off topic or simply offering up more information than she should have been, but she couldn't just dive into telling her. She knew she needed to build to it, so she paused, letting Oceana take in what she'd said.
Although this wasn’t exactly the conversation that Oceana had intended to have with Maia, neither was she eager to deviate from it. Maybe Maia needed someone to talk to about these things that might understand them better than someone that didn’t know what it was like to be adopted.
She was surprised to hear that Maia had recently met her biological mother, though that wasn’t a path that Oceana herself had ever really considered. She didn’t need another father, and while being rejected by two mothers had left a void in her life, she had never sought to fill it. The idea of her mother not desiring to be found, and Oceana truly being truly, desperately unwanted had always been enough of a deterrent to keep those adoption records sealed.
She nodded easily along with Maia’s confession, even still, though she didn’t have a similar experience to offer in turn. Maybe she had found something in those records? Something she now had to tell Kylie? “It sounds like it went well? Did she have some answers for you?”
"It did go well," Maia admitted, because that was the easy truth of it. "I was nervous going into it, but my worries weren't all that needed. She was a rather lovely woman that put me up for adoption because she knew that she had been too young to have been able to give me the life that she wanted for me." In the time that had passed since she had been in Florida, Maia couldn't have helped but wonder just what would have happened had she decided to keep her -- what would have happened when they found out she was celiac? When they found out that she had diabetes? She had been so young when Maia was born. Would she have been able to afford the sort of medical care that her parents had willingly taken?
It was a pointless thought exercise and she knew it. What more, it wasn't what she was meant to be focusing on now, anyway. Maia looked at Oceana and smiled faintly, debating with herself only half a moment before she barreled forward.
"But she did tell me that I wasn't the only child that she had given up for the same reasons," she continued, glancing once to verify that her office door was, in fact, closed. She looked back to Oceana. "A few years after I was born, she was in a similar situation. She had -- she had another little girl. She named her, too."
Oceana listened as Maia explained the meeting she’d had with her biological mother, wanting to give this conversation her genuine attention despite it being an unexpected moment of connection. A gentle smile rested on her lips, and she nodded a little in understanding as Maia explained that her mother, too, had been young and unable to give her the things she had wanted for her daughter. Oceana had long thought that to be a noble sort of sacrifice, though she wasn’t certain if her own mother’s reasons had been the same.
As Maia continued, however, Oceana noted the other woman’s glances at the door and meaningful looks. The implications there were undeniable, though she found her own pulse racing, her eyes widening just slightly as she stared at the barely-older woman sitting across from her. Oceana, of course, knew that there was a possibility that she had siblings out there. She knew that there were biological relations that she’d never known wandering the world. She just hadn’t expected to find one in Dunhaven...especially not one that she knew. Despite herself, she found her eyes scanning Maia’s features as if she might be able to pick out similarities between them, even as her first instinct was to deny it as an impossibility...too much of a coincidence.
Her naturally bronzed skin paled a little and she found that she had...no idea what to say. It was several long moments before she could speak at all, her throat feeling seized up, “I...are you…Maia.” She took a breath, closing her eyes and praying for some measure of composure before she finally managed a quiet, “Can you...can you say it? Plainly.” She met Maia’s gaze, desperate and uncertain, but she needed to know the truth as Maia saw it, if what she assumed was true.
Maia didn't know how it was possible, but it felt as though her heart was both racing and stopping, all at the same time. She didn't like the idea of stringing Oceana along, but she also didn't feel as though this could have been a bandaid sort of situation.
But, here they were. Oceana was asking and, even if she wasn't the sister that Maia didn't realize until this very moment that she was desperately hoping she would be, she wouldn't be able to deny that request.
"She named her second daughter Oceana," Maia said, her voice quiet. "I thought it was just a coincidence when she told me, because what were the odds that we'd both end up in Dunhaven? I didn't want to -- I was afraid to get my hopes up. But the coincidences just kept adding up when I looked you up online. I wanted to say something for weeks now, but I didn't want to say something and find out it wasn't true and put both of us through that." Pausing, Maia looked down at the pen she was still clutching. "I don't expect anything of you, of course. Nothing you wouldn't want to give, at least. But... I thought maybe you'd want to know, too."
She needed facts, not assumptions. Not implications. She needed to know with certainty that what Maia was telling her was true. Though her mind was buzzing, she hung onto every word that was spoken in that quiet moment. She couldn’t be upset that it had been weeks, or that Maia had looked up the information that she’d willingly put out onto the public internet, because she would have done the same thing if the situation had been reversed. She probably would not have been nearly as collected as Maia seemed to be right now.
If it had been weeks and Maia had done her research, as she said...she had to be certain. She’d just said it...that she wouldn’t have said anything if she didn’t fully believe that it was true. Oceana trusted that to be the absolute truth, especially from one adoptee to another. Her heart felt like it might explode, and she wasn’t certain what emotion that might have been attributed to because she was filled with so many of them that they couldn’t seem to be defined. All that she knew was that the woman sitting across from her shared the blood that ran in her veins...she had a sister in this very room, and that was more than Oceana had ever known about herself and where she came from. It was...overwhelming.
This was something that she could never unknow...and now that she had the knowledge, Maia was right. She would have wanted to know. There was a part of her that had always wanted answers, but she’d been too afraid of those things to ever open that door. There was a moment when she hesitated over her own impulses, but she reached out and put her hand around Maia’s where she seemed to be clutching that pen in a white-knuckle grip, “I...I’m processing. And I have a lot of questions. But...please don’t think for a second that I would willfully and knowingly push this or you aside. I...there’s nothing that I would hold back.”
It wasn't until Oceana's hand touched her own that Maia felt as though she could look up at meet her gaze -- and it wasn't until she was looking at the other woman that she realized that her eyes were starting to line themselves with tears. Even so, she managed a small smile. "I hoped you wouldn't. I didn't know, but I hoped it." Even with having had a very supportive family life with her parents and brothers surrounding her, Maia always still had that fear of rejection in the back of her mind when it came to the people that she let into her life and she knew that stemmed from her being an adoptee. Hearing the confirmation from Oceana went further than she could properly describe.
"I'll answer any questions you have," she added. "But take your time. I know it's a lot to process, believe me. I've had the luxury of a few weeks."
Though Maia hadn’t shrugged away from her touch, Oceana wasn’t certain if she should keep her hand where she had put it. That touch hadn’t really been invited, though not rejected either. Still, she didn’t want it to seem clingy either. The tears in Maia’s eyes matched her own, and finally, Oceana settled on giving Maia’s hand a gentle squeeze before she did let go, taking a breath as she placed her palm instead flat against the desk.
The questions that rolled around in her mind mostly had to do with her - their - mother, though some were more complex than others. Some were just...simple. “What...what’s her name?” Though she had chosen their names, she had no idea what her mother’s name was, and that fact now made her heart ache in a way that she rarely let herself think of before.
After a moment more she hesitantly began, “Do you...she wanted to meet you? I never looked into it because…” those tears that had welled in her eyes gave way, though she stubbornly brushed them away, her throat tight, “When I was adopted, my mom...she didn’t really bond with me? I was in kindergarten when she left us.”
Though her father had told her a thousand times over that it was never her fault, it hadn’t kept her from internalizing at least a little bit of guilt over a perceived notion of breaking up what had once been his family. It hadn’t been easier to understand at five years old why her mother who had chosen her was leaving. “I didn’t - still don’t - need to be rejected by a mother three times over. Twice was...enough. So if she...um...if you think she would be less enthused to meet me, I’m OK with just...keeping it to us.” Now that there suddenly was an us to have.
Maia's heart ached as Oceana told her the story of her own adopted mother leaving. She had always considered herself very lucky. Though the loss of her father had been a great one and one that she felt each and every day, there had never been a single doubt in her mind growing up that she was nothing other than wanted and loved by her family. For as hard as it was to think back on having been put up for adoption in the first place, those feelings were often smoothed over by the simple knowledge of how obvious it was that she was destined to be Maia Sparks from the very start.
But as she finished, Maia's entire expression softened. She could almost picture Lilly Eriksson and her face during the conversation about Oceana. She had believed her biological mother when she said that giving her up had been difficult, just as she believed her when she said that giving up another child that she'd loved was just as difficult. Maia understood that feeling of rejection, but she had to admit that she'd gotten a lot of closure from that conversation.
"Her name is Lilly Eriksson," Maia said, letting go of the pen and this time being the one to reach out and place her hands on Oceana's. "And it was her idea to meet me. I had only reached out to ask some questions, but she was the one that suggested meeting in person." Her fingers gently squeezed Oceana's. "If you wanted to meet her, I know she'd want to meet you, too."
Although she could have argued that she also felt destined to be Oceana Ridgeway, and that she had only ever required one very exceptional parent, it did sting not to grow up without a mother. As excellent as her father was, there had always been certain things that he had to fumble his way through, though he’d done his absolute hardest to never let the absence of a mother leave her life lacking. She owed most of the good things in her life to Robert Ridgeway, and she would be grateful for the rest of her life that he’d chosen to steadfastly love her in spite of the hardships of being a single father to a child that he didn’t have to raise.
Lilly Eriksson. It was a good name, Oceana decided, a heavy breath leaving her lungs as Maia put her hand over hers. It took just a moment, but Oceana curled her fingers around Maia’s, hoping that she wouldn’t immediately pull away because she needed something grounding in that moment.
It was a little bit of a surprise to hear that Lilly had been so eager to see Maia, and she wondered - hoped - that the same would be true if she did decide to reach out to her. She couldn’t make that decision now, but it did take a burden off of her shoulders to know that she shouldn’t need to agonize over whether or not Lilly only wanted to meet one of her daughters, “It’s something I’ll have to think about it. I guess...I really do believe you, Maia, but I think I would want to see if I could get my own records unsealed before I could take that step. I...never asked my dad if he even knew anything. I don’t think he’ll be upset if that’s what I choose to do.”
After a moment, she hedged, “Other than my name and Lakeland...what made you so sure it’s me?” Her name was, certainly, unusual, but if there were other facts, she wanted to know them.
Comforted by the fact that Oceana hadn't pulled her hands away and instead seemed to welcome the touch, Maia kept her hands as they were. She was an affectionate person by nature and she wasn't ready to sever this particular connection, not when her emotions were riding so high.
"Your birthday," Maia admitted, tipping her head to the side. "Strange as it sounds, I actually remembered when your birthday was, because Kylie came home from dance telling me about it. She talks about you a lot." At that, she managed a small smile, before she continued, "Lilly told me that her Oceana was born June 6 as well and it was sort of the reason I even thought of you at all."
Oceana flushed a little to know how much Kylie talked about her at home, though it was a sweet sort of thing to think about. Especially…especially now knowing that Kylie was her niece. She hadn’t expected to have any of those for some time yet, and none that were biologically hers. No...they all would have been through marriage to Nick. Now...now she had a sister and a niece, “Kylie is such a great kid. We...we have a lot of fun in class.”
She took a deep breath before she continued, “I have to admit...the likelihood of another Oceana born on June 6, 1991 in Lakeland, Florida that was surrendered for adoption is…highly unlikely,” she agreed with a tentative smile. Her heart ached for all of this news. It was simultaneously happy and sad. She was glad to have discovered this connection, and saddened that they’d missed out on half a lifetime of knowing one another. The shock, she thought, would likely settle in later. Right now, they seemed to be contained in some kind of time capsule. She didn’t know how much time was passing outside that closed door, but it felt like this moment might be endless.
Maia managed a small smile at that, nodding her head once. "That was my thinking, too," she said, letting out a breathy sort of chuckle. She felt relieved in an all encompassing sort of way. She hadn't realized how much this knowledge had been weighing on her and how good it felt to now have it out in the open -- and how good it felt to not have Oceana reject her or the idea at all. Maia had filtered through many worst case scenarios over the past weeks, but none of them had been reality.
Her smile warmed as she added, "I'm sorry for springing this on you like this, when you came here for a very different reason." She looked down to the folder that Oceana had brought with her. "I do still want to plan your wedding, though, if you'll let me."
It was going to take some time before Oceana returned to anything that she felt as a normal, she thought. This whole event was so unexpected. She wanted to know more about Lilly and more about Maia, too. Suddenly, she had more answers than she ever thought she would have, and she hadn’t even asked for them. They had just appeared when she’d been too afraid to ever open those doors.
“Oh, it’s...it’s fine. I...yes, it’s a surprise, but I can’t imagine that it’s been easy for you to hold onto that knowledge and not say anything,” Oceana let out a small breath, and nodded, “Honestly, I’m not sure I could let anyone else plan it now. It wouldn’t feel right, and this wedding...well, it’s been a long time coming.” She had been desperately in love with Nick Waters for four and a half years, and even though they hadn’t been together all of that time...she was more than ready to be his wife. She had loved him in two lifetimes, “Would you...want to come with his sisters, my best friend, and me to look for the dress?”
Of all the questions Maia had been expecting from Oceana, that had to be the very last and she couldn't have stopped the surge of emotion that washed through her if she'd tried. Though she had planned many, many weddings, she had never been asked to accompany a client on a trip like that. It was always such a personal experience, one that brides wanted to share with those they were closest to and their wedding planner was very rarely that.
But, she supposed, she wasn't just a wedding planner to Oceana. They were unconventional sisters that had found one another, against all odds.
Maia smiled, nodding and hesitating just a moment so she could control the amount of emotion in her voice before she said, "I would really love that a lot."
Now that she was aware of this connection, she suddenly couldn’t imagine going to that appointment without Maia. Even if she didn’t voice her opinions at all...even if she was just there to be a support. Of course, the other connections in her life didn’t mean less, but she couldn’t pass up this opportunity to include Maia in this important step in her life.
“Thank you. That...makes me really happy,” she smiled softly, though she didn’t know if she could really focus on the planning as they had intended now. She took a breath and assured her, “I’ll text you the details. I have them, I’m just...I think my brain is still on a thousand miles an hour because I’ve totally blanked on the name of the boutique.”
"That sounds great," Maia agreed with a nod, still smiling at Oceana. It was then that she realized she was still clutching the other woman's hand, so with a final squeeze of her fingers, she let her go. "I'll make sure to be free. I wouldn't miss it."
Not knowing if Oceana would want to leave to grapple and come to terms with all of the information that Maia had thrown at her, she said, "If you have any questions for me or just... want to know things, you can ask them. I understand if you need some time to sort of let your mind settle, though. It was overwhelming when I first met Lilly and this was only a possibility."
With the promise that she wouldn’t miss it, Oceana tried to remind herself there was no real loss at the retreat of Maia’s touch. They had time now, and it wasn’t as though they could extend this moment for forever. Maia, for one, was at work, and Oceana might be holding her up from other things.
While she did have questions, they all felt disjointed and like she didn’t know exactly what she needed to know or ask. So instead, she nodded slowly and admitted, “I think...maybe I need to just let this sink in. I have questions, but they all feel so overwhelming, and I’m not even sure what answers I’m even...mildly prepared to hear.” She gave a soft laugh, “I’ll gather my thoughts a little, and...maybe we can grab dinner or something in a day or two?”
"I completely understand," Maia said without hesitation. "Take your time, honestly. It's a lot to have to wrap your head around, I know." She smiled knowingly -- she was, after all, still working on wrapping her own head around it. She hoped that having taken that first step with Oceana, though, that it would get easier moving forward. "I would love to get dinner, though, whenever you're ready."
Oceana felt like this particular meeting was coming to a close, and it was a little bittersweet. She really did need time to think all of this through, but on the same token...there was perhaps a part of her that was afraid when she walked out that door and broke their private bubble that all of this would somehow vanish. It was a ludicrous fear, she knew, but one that was present nevertheless.
“I’ll call you,” she promised as she stood up from her chair, “And...thank you again. For telling me the truth.”