The Complete Legacy Series: Books 1 - 6

by Paula Kay

  She pulled up to the valet parking at the little restaurant in the heart of downtown San Francisco. She loved the hustle and bustle of being there during a workday. She had never thought about a career all that much and she wondered how she would have been as a businesswoman. The only thing she had ever considered doing was her modeling, and she had been doing that since she was a young girl. A local agency scout had spotted her out shopping with her friends one day, and after that she’d had quite a few gigs during her high school years. She did feel that it was something she could have pursued, but after the accident and the craziness of her life the past few months, she’d stopped returning phone calls to her agent. She didn’t need the money and somehow it just didn’t seem to matter any more.

  Arianna walked into the little French bistro and noticed Douglas seated at a table across the restaurant. He really was a handsome man. Ari guessed that he was roughly the same age as her father had been, putting him in his mid to late fifties.

  He got up from his chair to come around the table and give Arianna a kiss on the cheek, pulling out her chair for her. “How are you doing, my dear? You’re looking lovely as usual,” Douglas said with a broad grin.

  “I’m fine, thank you very much. And thanks, as always, for meeting me for lunch. I do look forward to this, you know.” Arianna smiled.

  “It’s my pleasure. Our lunch dates are a great distraction from work these days,” Douglas said.

  “I do think you work too much, you know. Do you ever take a vacation—and what the heck do you do during your free time anyways?” Arianna teased.

  “Oh, you know. The usual. Watching sports, exercise, seeing the odd movie that looks worth my time.” Douglas grinned. “Speaking of sports, do you want to go to the game with me this weekend? It should be a good one.”

  “I won’t be able to. I’ve finally convinced Blu to come down to the beach house with me, but here’s a crazy idea. Why don’t you ask Gigi to go? She actually loves football. As in, she’s a huge Niner fan.” Arianna was delighted with her suggestion.

  Douglas laughed. “Ari, what are you trying to do here? Play little miss matchmaker for me?”

  She nodded slightly. “Well, you know there’s nothing wrong with going on a few dates. You deserve someone. Someone great.”

  Douglas’s expression changed just a bit and Arianna noticed that look he got in his eyes when he was about to talk about his late wife.

  “You might be right. It’s just that Melanie was the love of my life. I couldn’t imagine my life with anyone but her the day we married, and I still can’t imagine my life with anyone else.”

  “I know, but it’s been so many years. I don’t think she would have wanted you to be alone,” Arianna said. She could still remember the day that Melanie had passed away from the cancer that she had been fighting for so long. Douglas had taken a leave from work and been by her side throughout the last month of her life, and it had all been so painful. Arianna had gone with her parents to see Melanie. She’d been at home for a few weeks, comfortable in her own bed and with Douglas by her side. Arianna remembered feeling scared, as if she could feel a sense of death in the room.

  It had been a painful time for everyone. Melanie’s funeral was the first time she’d ever seen her father cry. And she knew that his heart had been breaking for Douglas.

  Arianna turned her thoughts back to Douglas and their conversation. “Anyways, I’m not pressuring you. Honest. Just think about asking Gigi, okay? Or if not for the game, something else maybe. She’s really pretty amazing, Douglas. I do think the two of you would get on very well.”

  “I’ll think about it.” Douglas smiled. “And I’ve known Gigi for as many years as you have. Well, I admit that our conversations have not been so involved, but she does seem nice.”

  “She’s actually quite witty and fun. And very pretty, don’t you think?” Arianna asked with a big grin.

  “Ari, enough.” Douglas laughed. “Let’s order, shall we?”

  After she’d finished eating, Arianna looked at her phone. “Oh, sorry Douglas, I’ve got to rush. Doc will not cut me any breaks if I’m late. And I need the full ninety minutes today, that’s for sure.” She laughed. “Thank you very much for lunch. I really enjoyed the food.”

  “You’re welcome. The pleasure is all mine.” Douglas got up to give her a hug. “Call me later to tell me how your appointment went, okay?”

  “Yes, will do. Have a good day,” Arianna said.

  Arianna collected her car from the valet and made her way the few blocks to Doc’s office. She took a moment once she was parked in the garage to gather her thoughts. She looked at her reflection in the rearview mirror. Remain open and honest. She laughed quietly, thinking that this had become a new mantra of sorts at these weekly therapy sessions.

  It had been a bit of a journey to get to where she was now with her therapy. She had tried another therapist right after her breakdown, but there had been zero connection with him and it seemed to be making everything worse for her at the time. It was Douglas that had recommended Doc to her. He’d gone himself for months after Melanie had died. He had told Arianna that talking to Doc had been the only thing to pull him out of the intense darkness that he was in. And he’d been insistent that she stick to it until she found someone that she could open up to. She had resisted at the time, but now she was extremely grateful.

  Her therapy sessions with Doc had started out well from the beginning. She liked her and didn’t feel at all pressured to talk about anything. Over the months, she’d learned that she could let down her walls, and that it felt pretty amazing to talk to someone about her real feelings. For a moment Arianna wondered how life might have been different if her own mother had spent some time in therapy. Maybe it would have made her more open to Arianna and their relationship could have been closer. She sighed. She’d never know.

  But now she had something else to deal with. She didn’t even want to think about having an actual relationship with Lia. With her mother. But could she? It would be interesting to hear Doc’s perspective on it all—if she even thought it was a good idea for her to spend any time with Lia right now.

  Arianna glanced at the time. God. She was fifteen minutes late. Not good today when she needed all the time she could get. She grabbed her bag and clicked her car alarm on.

  She made her way to the fifteenth floor and turned right out of the elevator. The woman from reception glanced up and waved her on. “Go ahead, Arianna. Dr. Jonas is waiting for you in her office.”

  Chapter 9

  Dr. Jonas. Arianna barely remembered her name. The months following the accident, after her breakdown, she’d seen several different doctors. She had grown so tired of the hospital and keeping all of the doctors straight, that she’d devised this little game where every doctor became just Doc to her. Somehow it made everything feel less stressful and major, so it had stuck with her. She did ask Dr. Jonas if she minded, to which she had laughed, telling her that she could call her whatever she liked.

  Arianna settled into her favorite comfy chair, tucking her legs underneath her, and grabbing one of the throw pillows to hold in her lap. She loved the clean-scented candle that Doc always had lit on the table in the center of the room.

  “Well, Doc, have I got a lot to tell you today. You won’t believe what’s happened since I saw you last week.”

  “Okay, where would you like to start, Ari?” Doc glanced down at the notebook in her lap. “When we ended last time, you were telling me about your upcoming meeting with Douglas about finalizing the finances of your parents’ estate. Would you like to start with that?”

  “Yes. Everything happened that day actually. The meeting went well and I now do have access to everything, including all of the bank accounts, so thankfully that has all been sorted out. I can finally plan this trip with that out of the way…which is another thing that I do want to talk about with you. But first, the bigger issue at hand is that shortly after the meeting that day I got a phon
e call from my birth mother.” Arianna looked up at Doc to see if her expression changed at all at this latest news.

  “Wow, that must have taken you by surprise.”

  “To say the least. It was all I could do to even take the phone from Gigi’s hand. Honestly, if I’d had more time to think about it, I probably wouldn’t have spoken to her at all. At least not right now,” Arianna said.

  “Do you want to tell me about the conversation?” Doc said.

  “Yes. So—it was pretty short, really. She told me that she was sorry to hear about my parents; and I know, after speaking to Douglas about it, that she has been in the area for a while now. Since before the accident. And I agreed to meet her for lunch. God. I’m not at all sure that it’s a good idea.” Ari started to feel a bit panicked again.

  “Ari, take a deep breath. Why don’t you close your eyes for a few seconds and focus on your breathing. I can see that you are starting to get anxious. Do you want to lie down?”

  God, Doc had really come to know her well in the short months that Ari had been seeing her.

  “Yes, maybe that’s a good idea.” Arianna moved to the sofa and stretched out her legs, beginning some deep breathing as soon as her head rested on the pillow. “Okay, that’s better.”

  Arianna remained on the sofa with her eyes closed, trying the best she knew how to focus on the way she was feeling.

  “Okay, so how are you feeling right now?”

  “Well, I guess I feel scared. And also excited.”

  “Tell me about the scared feeling.”

  “So…you know that I’ve spent years trying not to think about my birth mother and why she might have given me up. So now that I’m talking about it, there’s also anger. I mean, how could she have done that to me?” The tears started to come, and Arianna knew deep inside that it wasn’t only about her birth mother.

  She was filled with so much anger. It was the anger that scared her the most, threatening to overtake every other emotion and thought. She was angry, not only at Lia, but also her parents. And maybe most of all at herself. She hated herself most of the time, if she was being honest. Would the guilt ever lessen? She had only really touched the surface of it all with Doc and wondered if she would ever be able to fully open up. Blu knew. And Gigi knew too. But they never pressed her to talk about anything. It would be different opening up to Doc. In her heart, she knew it would be good for her.

  “Ari?” Doc’s voice brought her out of her own thoughts. “Can you tell me what you are thinking about? Tell me about the anger.”

  “It’s just a lot, you know? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about it, really.”

  “It’s okay to feel however you feel. So let’s continue exploring that,” Doc said. “Tell me about the excitement you’re feeling about meeting your birth mom. Did she tell you her name?”

  “Her name is Lia.” Arianna smiled slightly. “Actually I loved hearing her voice. She had the same accent as Gigi. She sounded very Italian, and I can’t stop wondering what she looks like. If I look like her.” She took another deep breath.

  “When are you meeting her?”

  “Tomorrow. God, my stomach hurts just thinking about it,” Arianna said.

  “I can imagine that you would feel nervous. This is a pretty major event for you right now, isn’t it?”

  “Yes and on top of everything else, it’s so unexpected. Then again, I’ve had nothing but surprises in my life these past four months. Why should I be so shocked?” Arianna laughed but there was a tone of bitterness in her voice.

  “Is it possible that unlike the other news you’ve received lately, meeting Lia could be something positive in your life right now?” Doc said, voicing out loud what Arianna had been daring to hope.

  Arianna sat up on the sofa in order to look Doc in the eye. “Do you think it could be a good thing? Do you really? I’m afraid to hope for it, and also I’m wondering if getting to know her would even be a good idea. Given everything that is going on with me, I mean.” Arianna reached for a tissue and wiped the tears that were now streaming down her face.

  “Ari, I wonder about you letting people in right now. Letting the people who care about you be close to you during a time when I would think that you need that the most. Does it feel to you that you are pushing people away?” Doc asked.

  Arianna thought about the question for a few seconds. “I don’t mean to. I suppose maybe I do a bit. I know that I don’t like talking about the heavy stuff with Blu. She has so much on her plate already. She’s really the only one that I’d be likely to confide in. There’s also Gigi. She’s a rock of sorts for me, I guess. She’s been there for me my whole life really.” Talking about Gigi made her smile. She did feel close to her.

  “And what about Douglas?” Doc asked. “It seems like you’ve been opening up to him a bit more recently?”

  “Yes. That’s true. There are things I have to discuss with Douglas. Things that I will need to discuss further. And yes, we’ve also become friends and I know that he worries about me. In more of a fatherly sort of way. And Douglas has been a huge help to me. Helping me to sort things out that I don’t have a clue about. Daddy was wise in his decision to make him the executor of his estate. Well, he’s been Daddy’s attorney and friend for as long as I can remember, so I’m sure it was an easy decision for him.”

  “Okay, so you’ve got some core people in your life that really care about you. People that are concerned and want the best for you. Is it possible that Lia might end up being that for you as well?” Doc said.

  “Yes, I suppose it’s possible. But I’m not sure that there’s time for that, you know?” Arianna was overcome with emotion and more tears started to fall. “I’ve been planning this trip. I told you about that. I need to get on with it and make some decisions as to when I’m leaving. So that’s part of it too, really. Should I even bother meeting Lia now right before I’m about to leave?” She looked at Doc, willing her to give her a definitive answer, knowing that it wasn’t going to be the case. She knew that she would need to make these hard decisions for herself.

  “Ari, what if you decided to be in the moment with all of this? Maybe it’s okay that you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or what the result will be of meeting Lia. Maybe you can trust yourself enough to know that you will have a better idea after you meet her face-to-face. It will still be okay for you to make the decisions for if and how you proceed after that. How does that feel to you?” Doc asked.

  “It feels alright, I guess. I think I’m just worried that seeing Lia—seeing my mother—will open up a whole bunch of new feelings again. Just when I think I’m getting a handle on everything. I don’t know that I can bear it.” Arianna looked to Doc for some confirmation that she was going to be okay.

  “You’ve come a long way since I met you a few short months ago. You’ve done a great job of opening up and getting in touch with your feelings. I’m confident that no matter what comes up for you as a result of this meeting, you can handle it. And I can work through it all with you, so I don’t think it will be anything that you can’t handle. But it’s all up to you. You are fully in charge of this situation. That’s the most important thing to remember when you start feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious about it.”

  “You’re right,” Arianna said. “I’m already feeling better about everything. I knew talking to you would help.” She smiled broadly to show her appreciation.

  “You know that I’m here for you if you need me. And on that note, we have about ten more minutes left of this session.” Doc glanced down again at her notes. “Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about today? Are you feeling comfortable about this meeting with Lia tomorrow?”

  “Yes, I’m going to go through with it.”

  “Try to relax about tomorrow and just be yourself. Let things unfold as they are supposed to, Ari. You’re actually getting very good about that, despite what you may think sometimes. I’ve seen it on a few occasions in here,” Do
c said, smiling as she got up from her chair, a cue for Arianna that it was time to do the same.

  Arianna walked out of Doc’s office with a bounce to her step. She felt that it had been a good session and she also felt ready for tomorrow. Once seated in her car, she reached for her phone to check if she’d had any calls and noticed a missed call from Lia. And there was a message. She took a deep breath as she punched in the code to listen to it. Maybe she was calling to cancel. Arianna’s stomach knotted.

  Hi, Arianna, it’s Lia calling. I want to confirm with you our meeting for tomorrow. I hope that everything is still good because I’m very much looking forward to seeing you. There was a brief pause of silence. It’s all that I’ve been thinking about since we spoke. Okay then. You can just text me back if you like and I’ll plan to see you tomorrow. Ciao.

  Arianna sat in the car with her heart racing after she played the message for a second and then a third time without erasing it from her phone. It was strange hearing the voice of her mother on the other end. A voice that soon she would be able to put with a face. She liked Lia’s voice. There was something about it that intrigued her, and just hearing it made her feel more excited than scared to meet this woman who said that she was her mother. She was glad that Lia had given her an out from phoning by asking her to confirm via text message, because she didn’t think she had it in her to return the call tonight. She wasn’t yet ready to speak with her again.

  Arianna bit her lip lightly as she pulled up the number on her phone to send a text.

  Got your message. Thank you. I will see you tomorrow at eleven o’clock. Looking forward to it too.

  She paused for a moment and then deleted the last line. She wasn’t quite ready to open herself up to Lia. She’d have to meet her first and see her face-to-face. She clicked the send button before she could second-guess herself again. She was going to this meeting tomorrow. She was sure of that now.