"This has got to be some sort of sick joke," Sophia blurted out in the heat of the moment, something quite out of character for her. Her wide hazel eyes looked across the mahogany table worriedly, boring into the face of her older sister Alina's lawyer, Ronald Jones. She felt a hand land on hers in reassurance and looked to her left and into the eyes of her younger sister, Charlotte.
"S, calm down, let him finish," Charlotte hushed her supportively.
"Miss Carmichael, I understand your concern, but I assure you, both Alina and Trace were both very, very clear when they wrote their will. In the event of their death, custody and guardianship of Theodore is to go to both you and Mr. Timberlake," Ronald told her firmly, casting a glance to Justin as he spoke his name, not blind to the fact that the young man had yet to react to this life-changing news. "In the event that neither of you are married, they request that the two of you occupy the same residence in order to create a stable home environment for Theodore. If you become married, custody will be split jointly, as if you are divorced. If one party seeks to give sole custody to the other, it is permitted." Ronald waited for a moment, gauging the reaction of the two parties in question before continuing, "However, I want to mention the absolute insistence Alina and Trace felt in regards to you both parenting the child."
When neither Sophia nor Justin spoke, Charlotte decided to voice her questions, "Mr. Jones," she began, a placate smile on her face, "Ronald, I'm sure you're aware that Sophia and Justin live on opposite sides of the country. How are we to rectify that, um, situation?" she questioned carefully.
He nodded, "It's up to Miss Carmichael and Mr. Timberlake to decide living arrangements. I'm not opposed to you two keeping up two residences, but I assure you, we will be checking in to confirm that the three of you are living under one roof together, do you understand?"
Sophia pushed a espresso colored lock of hair behind her ear, glancing to her right at Justin before turning back to Ronald and nodding.
"Yes sir," Justin said quietly, speaking up for the first time.
"Good, I'm glad we are all on the same page. Now I have a letter for each of the three of you from Alina and Trace. I want to tell all of you that I'm truly sorry for you loss, and that it's been my pleasure working and assisting the Ayala's. And Sophia and Justin, I know the situation you've been put in isn't going to be easy for you, and they knew that as well. But I've never seen two people so sure of the fact that you were the best people to raise their child in the case of their absence. They spoke so highly of each of you, and had complete faith in their decision. I just thought that you should know this." With that said, Ronald folded up his leather portfolio and grabbed his briefcase. "Charlotte, Sophia, Justin," he nodded at each of them, "again, I'm so sorry for your loss."
As the door shut behind him on his way out, the three sat in the room in silence, none knowing what to say. Minutes had passed before Charlotte took a deep breath and broke the ice, "You know, not talking isn't going to make this situation any easier." Her chocolate colored eyes went back and forth between Sophia and Justin, both of whom were looking into their laps.
"I'm sorry," Sophia apologized gently, "for saying that this was a sick joke." Her gaze looked up to catch Justin's briefly. "It makes sense that Trace had complete faith in you."
"And Alina in you," he offered.
A small smile appeared on Charlotte's face as she watched the small ‘truce' between the two.
"This is all so surreal," Sophia's head fell, her hand reaching up to wipe a stray tear from her eye. "Three days ago we had our sister, you had your best friend, and Theo had his parents. And today, all he has are the three of us."
Charlotte scooted closer to her sister, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders, "And you know what?"
She looked up, "Hmm?"
"Alina and Trace never needed anyone but us either. When our parents didn't approve of them, she didn't let it faze her. She knew that all the people she needed in her life would be there. Me, you, Justin, and Trace."
"She's right, you know?" Justin spoke quietly, looking up to meet both of their gazes.
Charlotte kissed her sister's temple gently, "I'm going to leave the two of you alone to discuss this in private. Kenton and I will take Theo back to your apartment. Meet us there whenever you're through?"
Sophia nodded, "Thanks Charlie," she told her sister.
"Of course, take your time," Charlotte responded, giving Justin a polite nod on her way out.
Once they were alone a short silence engulfed them before Justin took the reins of the conversation, "Look Soph, I know shit is all sorts of messed up between us. I wish I could go back and change all of that, but we both know that we can't turn back time. If it's worth anything now, I'm sorry. So sorry for running away like I did. It wasn't you, or anything you did. It was that world you live in. I was scared of never being good enough--for you, your parents, or that society," he finished, the last word with a hint of disdain.
"For what it's worth, I wish you'd have just told me those things. Voiced to me why you felt uncomfortable. I know that it was hard dealing with all the stuffiness and the drama that comes with being in New York society, all the rules and traditions, and the pure bullshit drama you end up in. But just up and leaving like you did, it wasn't fair."
"I guess I just thought that since Alina got away from it all, then you could too--give it up for me like she did for Trace. And when you wouldn't, I felt like I didn't have any other option."
"Our parents had already lost one daughter; I couldn't do it to them again. And as stuffy and fake as it gets sometimes, it's my life. It's all I've ever known. I guess I felt that you should've been willing to compromise."
He ran a hand over his short, cropped hair, "I'm surprised they showed up to the funeral."
She paused for a moment, biting her lip as she thought about her parents, "Part of me is too. The other part of me knows that they felt obligated to. It would've looked bad if they hadn't, heartless if they'd skipped the funeral of their eldest child. They're not bad people, you know. They're just...," she searched for the word, "old-fashioned. Set in their ways, in tradition."
Justin sighed, "Let's not talk about them. You want to get out of here? This room is making me feel claustrophobic."
"Yeah sure." She stood slowly from her chair, grasping the letter from her sister gingerly. "I'm almost scared to read this. I'm pretty sure after I do reality will set in."
He pulled the large door open for her, "I know exactly what you mean."
Twenty minutes later the two were walking along the street sipping on coffee for him and cappuccino for her.
"So how have things been?" Sophia asked carefully, raising the cup to her lips.
"They've been pretty good. Up until three days ago things were the same, the usual, you know?"
She pursed her lips, nodding.
"Alina mentioned you'd taken your place in the family business. I actually stayed at The Carmichael while I was in Manila this past summer."
"And?" she raised her eyebrows in question at him.
"It was amazing, very impressive; you did a great job with it," he said honestly.
"I've got Paris opening up in late 2012," she remarked evenly, thinking about the lavish hotel plans she'd been mulling over just days before Alina and Trace's accident.
"I hadn't heard. Where abouts?"
"It used to be the Hotel Majestic. It's on Avenue Kleber just off the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysées."
"I always knew you'd be amazing when it was time for you to take over."
"Thanks; that's means a lot coming from someone with so much success."
"It should mean a lot just because it's me," he said thoughtfully, almost with a hint of sadness.
As she looked up and caught his intense stare, she felt compelled to change the subject, "So what should we do about our living situation? We need to make a plan."
Justin sighed, recognizing that he'd obviously made her uncomfortable, "How flexible are you? We should establish that first."
"For the next few months we're finishing up the logistics and financials of the Paris project, so I can bring my work with me, and work via Satellite with New York and Paris."
He nodded, "And after that?"
"We've started looking in Monaco for a real estate opportunity for the next hotel. Depending on how things are going with raising Theo, maybe at that point I'll appoint a Chief Operating Officer. I want to be able to be there for him the way Alina would have been."
Nodding again, he took a sideways glance at her. The sad look in her eyes made him want to hug her, hold her, and assure her that everything was going to be okay. But he couldn't. It'd been too long, he'd hurt her too much, and everything wasn't okay-Alina and Trace were gone.
"Let me be clear Justin; I do not want to reside in Los Angeles permanently. I think we should spend some of the time here. This is where Alina grew up, and whether or not you want to believe it, the City was special to her. Theo should experience that too," her voice did not waver as she spoke.
"I understand. We'll split our time. How does that sound?"
"It sounds like a very grown up decision of us," she offered him a small smile, revealing her straight white teeth.
"Our first of many." They walked in silence for a moment before Justin verbalized his worries, "I hate to admit it, but I'm totally freaked out. I don't know anything about kids, do you?"
She shrugged, "Theo's really the only baby I've ever been around. I love him, and I know you do too, so that's all that matters. He needs us. Anyways, Alina and Trace had no clue about kids before they had him either, and they turned out to be good parents."
"Parents," he repeated her. "So that's what we are now, huh?"
"Looks that way superstar."
