Logistics and Lawyers 1/3

Mia entered the Lane residence to the quiet stares of her family. She knew they were quite late getting in, especially for a school night. Mia propelled the twins toward their rooms calling for the nanny, Angela. With help Mia quickly got the twins showered and tucked into bed. Mia hadn't wanted the children to drag salt water and sand into their beds. She took a few moments to shower and change into comfortable clothes before heading out to the family room.

Quiet conversation greeted her, and Eva rose handing her a glass of wine. Mia thanked her taking a sip before sitting down with Eva and her brothers. Only Dominic, Jason, Nathan, and Eva were present this evening.

"How did the visitation go?" Eva asked, causing the quiet murmurs in the room to cease.

"Much better than I expected, to be honest," Mia replied before recounting a heavily edited version of the day's events to her family. She noted Dominic's darkening mood as she spoke of Timothy playing with the twins in the surf and helping them with their sandcastle.

"Sage never even opened his laptop," Mia said with an awed expression before explaining that they were later than expected partly because Timothy had helped her hide herself and the twins when they had run into someone, they wouldn't want to know about Sage's existence yet. "Tim drew the person away so we could get out of there without being seen," Mia explained. She hadn't expected anyone they knew to be at Aide Castle. It had just been rotten luck!

"Don't tell me you're being taken in by Barrett's good guy act, Mia!" Dominic snapped at his sister. That made Mia angry.

"How about your good guy act, brother? Should I share with the family how you tried to force me into marriage with Nicholas today and how it is only because of Barrett's assistance that we are not embroiled in scandal right now?" Mia seethed; she hadn't realized she was this angry with Dominic.

"I don't know what you are talking about," her brother growled, "more of Barrett's lies, no doubt." Dominic's jaw was tight, a tick forming, he knew he was about to be called out.

"Fine..." Mia pulled out her phone and pulled up the file, "this is the article that Dominic told the Societal Gazette to run and had Nicholas confirm this morning. Timothy spent a lot of money and several favors to get the provocative implications removed and keep me from being scandalized so my choices weren't taken away."

"Dominic do you really expect me to believe that they would run that story without your approval?" Mia questioned then handed her phone to Jason whose eyes went first wide and then dark as he finished reading the article. He passed the phone to Nathan who cursed angrily as he read. Nathen passed the phone to Eva who looked both furious and hurt at the same time.

"Dominic, how could you?" Eva exclaimed. Dominic faltered for a moment in the face of his wife's hurt but then scowled.

"I am trying to protect this family, to protect Mia. You saw the picture; does it really look like Mia is not interested in Nicholas? A push would help them get past whatever issues they are facing and remove Barrett from the picture. How is that wrong?" Dominic reasoned.

"So, forcing me into an engagement to stop a scandal is acceptable as long as it gets rid of Timothy, do I have that right?" Mia assessed her brother's motives with scorn.

"If that is what it takes." Dominic told her coolly.

"Then you are no better than he was, actually you are worse, at least he never pretended to care for me." Mia rose and left the room, her heart heavy. She missed the look of hurt on Dominic's face. Shaking her head at her husband Eva followed her sister out of the room.

Mia slumped down on her bed feeling exhausted. Her heart hurt. She hadn't wanted to believe that Dominic would try to take her choices away like that but then again it wasn't the first time. Hadn't Dominic been the main supporter behind her hypnosis?

Mia knew his actions came from a need to protect her but that didn't excuse him for trying to force his will on her. He didn't trust her to know what was best for her and the twins and was willing to force her to do things his way. She couldn't let this stand but what should she do? Mia thought that it might be time for her and the children to move out of the family home and get some separation from her brothers.

Eva stopped by a few minutes later to check on Mia. She quickly told her sister goodnight claiming exhaustion. Eva looked like she wanted to speak with her but acquiesced and left. Mia had really wanted to talk to Eva about the things that had happened with Timothy but found that she feared her words would get back to her brothers. She just didn't trust any of them to accept her right to choose her own life anymore. As Mia tried to fall asleep, she fervently wished that life would get easier soon.

*******

Timothy dressed for his board meeting. The act of donning the persona of Mr. Barrett got harder with each passing day. Not that long ago his business personality had felt like who he was but now felt more like playing pretend until he could be who he really was again. The person he was becoming with Mia and his children was the real Timothy Barrett.

Last night Timothy had been high with the joy he felt while he was with his children and while he held Mia in his arms. There was nothing like it on earth to compare. Loneliness set in as he sat alone in his hotel room. Tim realized that he should be at home with Mia and his children. He should be tucking them into bed with bedtime stories before holding Mia in his arms throughout the night. This current separation had to be rectified, it was intolerable.

Timothy signed on to his video conference greeting Heath as the board prepared to give the monthly accounting for their overseas expenditures. The meeting took a full two hours due to the acquisition of three companies based in the security sector. Tim believed they would be very profitable in the future but currently they were costing him millions of dollars.

As the meeting started to wrap up the board questioned Tim about his return to Bern City and the reasons behind his absence. He encouraged the members of the meeting to mind their collective business or find new employment.

Tim gave Heath instructions on a couple of matters before closing the meeting tab on his laptop screen. Tim then pulled his suit jacket off and discarded his tie. He had really started to hate those things. Caleb's face appeared on his phone screen and Tim answered his friend's call. They spoke for a few minutes and Caleb told him that he would arrive late in the evening.

Tim wanted to call Mia but didn't want to push too hard. Instead, he sent a simple text that read, 'I miss the three of you.' A few minutes passed before a response came but when it did, he smiled. The text from Mia read, 'Good.'

Opening an application on his phone Timothy checked the GPS coordinates of a small red dot. Tim called for his car to be brought around and headed downstairs to meet it. Fifteen minutes later he was pulling up under a grouping of oak trees, across the street from a stately red brick, white columned school. The sign read Cranson Primary School for Exceptional Youths established 1607.

It was nearing lunch hour and Tim intended to drive off now that he knew where his children were but then youngsters came pouring out of the schoolhouse onto the playground. Near the back of the group, Tim spotted Ginger first and a few steps behind her carrying his backpack was Sage.

Ginger clearly wanted to run out and play with the other children but held herself back beside her brother. Sage said something to Ginger and motioned to a table with a bench off to one side which caused Ginger to sigh dramatically and throw her hands in the air with a pouty frown. Sage motioned for her to go toward the jungle gym, and he marched stoically toward the bench. Ginger watched him for a moment before noticing the children motioning for her to join them. With a glance at her brother, she finally went to play.

Tim moved closer to the window and watched as Ginger quickly climbed to the very top of the play equipment. It made him nervous to see her up so high, but she was fearless. Timothy could tell that his daughter was immensely popular with the other children. He wasn't surprised by this at all. His Ginger was a force of nature just like her mother.

Glancing toward Sage Tim frowned. He wondered if his son had been locked away for too long to ever be able to integrate easily with his peers. Sage pulled out his laptop and turned it on, beginning to type. His son was introverted for sure and appeared antisocial to anyone but Ginger. Only time would tell if his son's antisocial tendencies were too hard set to overcome. All he and Mia could do now was give him the support to feel capable of integrating as a well-adjusted boy. Tim knew that Ginger's influence was sure to help his son, that girl was tenacious.

A few minutes passed like this with Ginger playing with the other children and Sage on a bench typing away on his laptop. Finally with a determined stride Ginger marched up to her brother and literally dragged him to the swing set. Tim rolled his window down to hear since the swing was near the road.

Ginger teased her brother telling him that she could swing higher than him. Being arrogant as the little boy was, he could not stand it and soon they were trying to outpace each other. When the bell rang the two were laughing and each proclaiming that they had been the winner. Tim smiled as he told the driver to take him to the real estate office. It was time to look at that property.

In business they say money talks and in real estate the business mogul interested in the multimillion-dollar property gets preferential treatment. Tim had no issues getting the agent to take him on a tour of the property without an appointment. Tim spent almost two hours going over the property in depth.

He imagined Mia's designs bringing the house to life and his children's presence filling the house with happiness. Tim stood in the foyer under an elaborate chandelier and imagined that it was his home, his family home and the vision in his mind stole his breath. Timothy hoped with everything he had that he could make this dream come true.

Tim let the agent, Jennifer, know that he would be in touch soon and returned to his hotel room. He spent a couple of hours dealing with emails and reports but found himself bored with the daily tedium of running Barrett Group. Timothy struggled for the first time in his life with being distracted. He had things that he would rather be doing than pouring over emails and reports. He hoped this would get easier once things were settled and not so in question. How would he keep Barrett Group running if he was constantly thinking of Mia or wanting to play with the twins? Having feelings was a complicated business it seemed.

Perhaps it was time to give Caleb a larger role in Barrett Group. There were very few people that Timothy trusted implicitly, and Caleb made that short list. Their families had been business partners in their father's time but when they ended up attending college together that had created a friendship that had lasted through the test of time. It had lasted even as Timothy had become the cold hard Mr. Barrett after his father's death.