Bequeathed Love

Chapter 1

Aria glanced about the room and felt her stomach lurch again, convinced she would be sick at any moment. This was worse than she had imagined, and all she wanted to do was run out the door and be done with this madness. It had been years since she had been in the same room with her sisters, aunt, and Grace.

Grace, unfortunately, had been a product of their father’s affair that was the catalyst that broke apart her family, so even trying to be civil to the now-grown woman was a chore. Aria had gone to live with her father after the divorce, a sin that Mira and Lara, to this day, we're unable to forgive.

She loved her mother but didn’t want her dad left alone after everything went down. Honestly, she had expected the estrangement from her mother and sisters to be short-lived, but reconciliation never did come to pass.

Her sisters acknowledged their father as the giver of life, but that didn’t mean they would forgive him easily. Unfortunately, as Aria grew and experienced heartbreak in other forms, she had softened and thought she was making progress until this happened.

The moment she got the call that her father had passed in a small plane accident stopped her world. There was no conclusive evidence yet on the cause, but he had perished was enough for her. The funeral was not how she had expected their reunion to go down, and it had added to the stress of the situation for her.

So, here she sat at the behest of her late father in the tiny town of Wadelin Shores, in the quaint bungalow resort owned by the family. Before her father had diversified the family holdings and gone onto bigger business, the Driscoll family owned many of the mainstays here in the small beachside town.

They still had ownership of a spa, bungalow resort spanning a good piece of the shoreline, a restaurant, and a few other odds and ends. She didn’t know who in the family would inherit, nor why they had all been ordered to this place to hear her father’s last wishes.

Like everything in life, though, she did as her father dictated and now sat in the same room as her glowering sisters. Only her aunt Lynn made an effort to talk to everyone.

Mira wanted her fair share and to get out of this place as quickly as possible. Any time family was involved in the past, the situation quickly escalated to screaming and shouting. Though, if she was honest, that had been years ago when they were younger teens and children.

The girls, along with their father’s only sister Lynn who raised Grace, were all older and hopefully more cautious handling things.

“Girls,” Lynn said, walking in and glancing around at Aria, Lara, Grace, and Mira, “It might be nice to catch up before the lawyer gets here.”

Aria glanced about, as she was willing to give it a shot if the others were willing. For most of her childhood, until the divorce, she had an amazing relationship with Mira and Lana. She hated what her family had become, and other than Grace, who she knew very little about, she wanted a second chance.

"Why?' Lara asked as she squeezed her arms tightly around her middle.

"None of us knows each other, and with both parents gone," she sighed and started dabbing at her eyes, "I doubt we spend time together from now on. I’ve only seen Mira all this time, and I’m okay if things stay that way.”

“Listen, just because I thought dad didn’t deserve to be alone does not make me a bad person,” Aria defended.

Aria knew Lara could not comprehend how she had decided to leave their sweet mother. Their father had been the bad guy at that stage of her life, and her sisters believed he deserved to live alone with his terrible truth for the rest of his natural life.

Aria had been so mad at her father that she had many terrible fights with him over his actions. Despite that tension, she somehow felt compelled to stay with him. Sure, she had hoped her entire family might find some middle ground, but her decision was never one she took lightly.

“You know you and our father killed mother with how you broke her heart,” Mira tossed out at her.

“She had an undetected heart condition,” Lynn said gently, “I know that losing your mom years ago hurt, but that was no one’s fault here in this room.”

“What about her?” Mira asked, trying to deflect attention as she pointed to Grace, “Without her existence, mom and dad might have died an old happily married woman.”

“I didn’t ask to be born,” Grace said, “And while Aunt Lynn has been the best substitute parent, my mom died in childbirth, and my father wouldn’t have anything to do with me because of not wanting to anger you all,” she added heatedly.

“Good,” Mira said, but Lara glanced from her to Grace with a wavering look.

“It’s no more her fault than ours,” Lara defended the younger Grace, “Dad made his choices, and we all did too. Just like he had to live with his, we will all live the rest of our lives with how we choose to treat each other. Let’s just get this over with and fly back to our lives. Agreed?”

She glanced around the room.

“Good with me.”

“Agreed.”

“Absolutely.”

As a tall, distinguished man entered the room, Lynn sat shaking her head. He glanced around, and Aria would guess his age to be about forty, good-looking but with a frown on his face that immediately had her heckles up. There was something about the furtive glances at the women gathered that made her worried.

“I’m Alex Laurier, and I represent the interests of Drake Driscoll,” he said, glancing at the gathering and not looking happy to be here.

“I will need the identification for everyone gathered to scan into my computer,” he directed as he lowered himself into a chair at the far end of the table.

Everyone got out their identification and then waited until he finished processing everything.

“Can we get the show on the road,” Mira demanded after a few minutes.

“I have a flight to catch,” she said, glancing down at her watch.

“I think you need to cancel the flight,” Alex replied to her curtly, “This is going to be a lengthier meeting than any of you probably realize, though my assistant should have told you to make at least a day of your time available for this business.”

“She did, but to be honest, I just need to know what I have to sign, and I’m out,” Mira said as everyone else bounced heads in agreement.

Aria would have chuckled as she silently realized that everyone was finally in agreement with something, but the tension in the room was heavy. She could not for the life of her remember feeling this dread building up in her gut to this level. She didn’t feel the air moving through her lungs, waiting for the man to drop the hammer.

“Drake Driscoll left his estate in equal shares to Aria, Mira, Grace, Lynn, and Lara Driscoll, daughters, and his dear sister, according to his own words. The business ventures have plans in place to operate should he not be available, and all funds will deposit in a trust, as will homes, liquid assets not donated per the terms of his last will and testament,” Alex said, and then he tensed, inhaled, and looked up at them.

“The trust will pay out one year from today upon meeting a single condition. You will all move to Wadelin Shores and take an ownership interest in one of the business ventures here owned by the family.”

“Absolutely not,” Lara said, hitting the table, “He expected us to give up our lives for money?”

“It’s a lot of money,” Alex quipped.

“I understand, but there must be a loophole,” Mira complained.

She looked on the verge of launching from her seat and stomping out.

Aria just stared straight ahead. She had a good job as a real estate agent back in San Diego. She wasn’t well off and might hate her job, but it was a living.

She did not want to be stuck dealing with her estranged family daily – it would be a bad idea on many fronts.

“I can do that,’ Lynn said gently.

“Did you know about this?” Graced turned to her aunt and mother figure.

“I didn’t,” Lynn said with a slight grimace, “I loved it here in Wadelin Shores, though, as we spent a lot of time here when we were children. I’m at a place where I can work remotely and do this with all of you if you choose,’ she finished turning her head down as the level of angry stares around the table was frightening.

“There must be a way to contest the will,” Aria finally mumbled.

“You would have to get us all to agree on that,” Mira said back to her, “And if we all agree to walk away because we can’t stand each other good luck with agreeing on contesting the will.”

“If you contest, you get nothing,” Alex added, “I have copies of everything here, and I’m quite proud to say I made sure things were airtight. Though to be certain, I did run it by other partners in the firm. Also, I’ve been told if you wish to do this, I will be asked to relocate here and serve as a mediator of sorts along with a salary that is provided in the will.”

“I have no words, but I’m out,” Aria said and went to stand.

She glanced about.

“I have a career and life. We all agreed that we didn’t like each other years ago, and this is just asking for more undue drama.”

“You know that we are all done if you go?” Mira questioned, then turned toward Alex, “What happens to the trust then?”

“I have instructions for donations and other such disposition,” he murmured, “I want you to know that your father knew he had ruined your family, and this he said would be his last chance to put it back together. While you don’t have to ever forgive him,” he said, reading from the paper in front of him.

“You should consider forgiving each other.”

Silence.

Aria fell back into the chair. She had nothing to say as her mind raced in a million directions. She might not want this, but she did firmly decide she wouldn’t be the one to cause everyone else to lose their inheritance. She just waited to see who spoke first.