Seattle Times
The elite of Seattle society say good bye today to Carrick Grey who died of a heart attack last Thursday aged 79. Grey was known as the best law professional in the Pacific North West, he opened his firm the day he graduated from Harvard law aged 27 and after a career that spanned over 50 years, Grey law now has offices in Seattle, New York, LA, Dallas and Chicago. His oldest grandson Theodore Grey will became CEO upon the elder Greys death. Grey leaves behind his wife of 57 years Dr Grace Trevelyan Grey and 3 children, Elliott and Christian Grey and Mia Grey Kavanugh and 9 grandchildren. The funeral will be held today at 3pm at Oak View Park. Our thoughts go out to the family of a truly remarkable man.
ANAS POV
I know I have to be strong for Christian and my children but I can't help the tears that are streaming down my face as we sit at the front of the church.
Christian has a death grip on my hand and his right arm is around Grace who is silently crying, to her left is Teddy who has his arm around her as well and next to him sits our daughter Paige who is crying into her big brothers shoulder To my right are Elliott and Kate with their 3 children and the other side of them Mia and Ethan and their 2 kids.
The noticeable absence to not only the family but the hoards of press who have set up camp out side is our eldest daughter Phoebe. I had hoped that she would be here today just to get a glimpse of her but after scanning the whole church I have concluded she is not here.
Phoebe is 26 now, Teddy 28 and Paige is 20, we have not seen Phoebe since she was 18, we had a couple of letters from her over the years but no one has a clue where she is, I don't even know if she is still alive, my heart rips when I think this. My own daughter and I have no clue.
She was always good girl, smart as a whip and had the best sense of humour, we never had a problem with her until she got her drivers licence, she started to compete in illegal street racing, got in with a bad crowd and basically went off the rails drinking and smoking aged 16! Christian and I tried everything, tough love, grounding her, cutting off her allowance, cancelling her credit cards, taking her car away and nothing worked, in the end Christian even took away her trust fund that was worth over a billion dollars, only leaving her $100,000 that was put into a bank account with her name on it by Carrick and Grace the day she was born.
Despite all the drama her grades were 100% in school and she was awarded a free ride to 3 different ivy league schools but she never went to college, we found out a week after her 18th birthday that she had been in a relationship with a man called Dominic Conners, 6 years her senior for 3 years, meaning when they started she was 15 and he was 21.
Christian went in to full on rage, he found the guy and between him, Taylor and Sawyer they beat him up pretty bad, Christian wanted to press charges for statuary rape but Phoebe denied that they had been intimate while she was under age and then refused to testify and no proof was ever found to prove him guilty so he got off.
1 week later I went into Phoebe room to get back my shoes which she borrowed and I found a note from her saying she and Dominic loved each other and she knew that Christian and I would never accept him, so they ran away together to parts unknown.
We all looked for her of course but we could never find any leads on either of them for the first 3 years, and then when Taylor was doing a general search for documents in Phoebes name he came across an entry that had been made the day before in Las Vegas.
It was a marriage licence for Phoebe Grace Grey and Dominic Robert Conners.
Christian and I flew straight down to Vegas to try and find her but they were gone. The next day a letter came through addressed to me at Grey Publishing, it was from Phoebe telling me not to worry, she was fine, healthy as a horse and Dominic took good care of her, she said that they had traveled all over the US and were more in love than ever and that they had gotten married. She asked that we stopped looking for them because every time they got settled in one place they had to leave because they knew that Christian and his team would find them if they stayed in the same place too long, so we stopped looking, we finally realised that she would come home if she wanted to, she knew the door was always open for her.
I think about her every day and I know one day we will see her again
When the church service is over we get into the waiting black limos and head over to the cemetery. As Carrick is laid to rest there is not a dry eye around as we all say our finale good bye to a truly wonderful man. The whole family line up to thank people from coming.
All the children get into the first limo and head back to Bellevue and Grace,Christian,myself,Kate,Elliott,Ethan and Mia get into the second limo
"Carrick would have been proud of all of you today" Grace says softly
"it was a beautiful service mom, and Elliott he would have laughed at your eulogy" Christian says as he holds his mothers hands
"yeah I think he would have liked it, he told me once when I was a boy that you should not mourn death but celebrate life" Elliott shrugs, we all fall into silence as we reflect Elliott's words.
When we are about a 5 miles from the cemetery Mia shrieks "Oh nooo we have to go back"
"why?" we all ask her at the same time
"I left my purse on the grass under my chair" it makes us all chuckle because Carrick used to say to her that she would forget her head if it wasn't screwed on.
Christian tells the driver to turn around and head back. When we pull up Kate is looking out the window when she frowns "hey who is that? There is a man stood by the grave"
"if it is the fucking paparazzi taking pictures, he is going to need a grave" Christian growls and we all get out of the car and walk towards Carricks grave.
As we approach I can hear someone crying. Is it the man? When we get about 50 feet away the man turns slightly and what we see makes us all stop in our tracks.
It's Dominic and in his arms crying is Phoebe. She looks so much like me when I was 26! Her long brown hair is straight down her back and longer than I have ever seen it. She is wearing black jeans a white shirt and a black leather jacket.
It happens so fast no one can stop him, Christian walks over to Dominic, spins him around and punches him straight in the place sending him flying back with blood pouring out of his nose, Dominic gets up and charges Christian a they starts to roll around punching the shit out of each other causing all the women to scream and Elliott and Ethan to pull them apart.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING AT MY FATHERS GRAVE YOU WORTHLESS PEICE OF SHIT!" Christian screams at him as he is trying to struggle out of Elliott's grip, before Dominic can talk Phoebe speaks up
"he's here with me Christian and if you EVER attack my husband from behind again I will have you arrested!" she snarls walking over to Dominic who has Ethan in front of him in case he charges.
"have me arrested? ME! He is the one who should be behind bars!" Phoebe ignores him completely and takes her husbands hands
"I came to say goodbye to grandpa Carrick, I didn't come in the church because I didn't want to cause a scene, iv said my goodbye and now I am going home..." she makes eye contact with me and gives me a small smile and I break, tears start pouring out of my eyes and I walk over and grab her In a hug which she returns, clinging to me and crying into my neck.
"it is so good to see you baby girl, please, please give me your phone number or something, I don't want to lose my little girl again Phoebe" on hearing me say this she cries harder. Apart from Christian and Dominic everyone is crying.
Grace walks forward and wraps her arm around her granddaughter "I'm so sorry I wasn't here grandma...I just...I..if I had known...I would have...have"
"shhhh shhhh it's ok Phoebe I understand... Listen I need for you to hang around a few days...your grandfather left you some things in his will"
"Grandma it's ok I don't need money, share what he left me up between the others" Phoebe steps back and into Dominic's arms
"it's not money Phoebe, it is things he wanted you to have so please, for me just stick around a few days, the will is being read tomorrow at Grandpas office at 9am,the whole family will be there and Dominic is welcome too" she glares at Christian when she says this because he growled
"ummm I don't know Grandma I don't want any more trouble" Grace is almost begging her so I step in
"Pheebs I promise you it will be ok, please I haven't seen you for 8 years, it won't kill you to stay an extra day or so" she looks up at Dominic and he nods his head very slightly, I give him a small smile because I know she will listen to him
"Ok...but we need to head home day after tomorrow" she whispers
"where is home?" Christian asks her softly, it kills him not knowing where she is, she stares at him for a lot of time and I don't think she will answer, but then she sighs and her shoulders drop
"San Francisco, we have lived there for 5 years" she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a wallet, pulling out a card she hands it to me
"here mom, that has all my info on it, call me when ever you want, it will be nice to catch up, we have to go we have to...things to do, but I will see you tomorrow morning"
I look down at the card and am shocked by what i see
Phoebe Grey-Conners
CEO, GC Clubs inc
GC Clubs Is known thought out the west coast, it has restaurants, night clubs, family diners and I am sure that there are a few hotels in the chain as well.
"Wait... You own GC Clubs?" I ask dumbfounded, that company must be worth a billion dollars! Everyone including Christian gasps, Phoebe turns and looks over her shoulder as she walks away
"yes,we own GC Inc...I am not the same girl I was 8 years ago mom" and with that she walks across the grass and Dominic opens the passenger door of a Bugatti Veron, even I know that those cars are cost over a million dollars a pop.
Christian pulls out his phone and begins barking orders while he watches the Bugatti roar away
"Welsh...get me every single bit of info you can about GC Clubs, Inc, especially who owns it...yes...ok...thank you" he hangs up and looks at me "There is no way they own that company! It's a billion dollar corporation"
Hours later I awake to an empty bed so I get up and wrap my rope around me and head down stairs, I can already hear the music coming from the piano, as I get closer I see my husband in just his pyjama bottoms, running his fingers along the keys while a tumbler of dark liquid sits on the bench besides him. I walk over and without looking he slides over so I can sit next to him, he gets to the end of the song and then sighs, with out a word he hands me a file that was sitting on top of the piano.
When I flip it open I see that it is all the information regarding GC clubs inc, the first thing I notice is at the very top of the page. Owners: Phoebe Grace Grey- Conners, Dominic Robert Conners. I knew she wasn't lying and I must say I am impressed, there holdings are staggering.
"remember that $100,000 that my parents put in that account when she was born? Well they took that and turned it into $1.1 billion as of the first of this year, they bought there first club 8 years ago, then they bought another and another, they employ over 10,000 people across the USA, on top of all the clubs they have a property portfolio that includes apartments in Paris, London, Milan, New York...they even own a jet Ana" he says and he can't hide the little hint of pride in his voice
"Christian I am not at all surprised, she is your daughter after all, you took one hundred grand and became one of the richest men in the country, with Phoebes business knowledge and Dominic's street smarts, they were bound to go far, I always knew she would, even when she hit the rough spots"
"I know I just...I don't know"
"I want you to talk to Dominic tomorrow Cristian"
"Ana..."
"let me finish, I have thought a lot about this, I know that it was wrong that they were intimate when she was under age...but...there is 6 years between us just like between Phoebe and Dominic...if we had met when I was 15, would you have turned away from me? With the kind of pull that me and you have? They have been together 11 years now and they are clearly in love"
"Ana I don't know... I would have known it was wrong...but...I love you too much to walk away from you" I kiss his temple
"we need to let it go, I know it is hard, yes she made some bad choices when she was a teenager, but from what we saw today, she has become a remarkable young woman, please Christian, for me, try and get along with him, do you know what I would give to have our daughter here for thanksgiving and christmas? I miss her so much, since she left its like a hole opened in my heart and seeing her today, it got smaller"
"ok, I will try, for you Anastasia I will try, I miss our daughter too"
The next day we are all sat around a massive conference table , it is 9:05am and Phoebe is a no show, my hart pulls a little because I thought she would turn up, just as I am about to tell Henry Coleman who was Carricks personal attorney to just get on with it Phoebe walks through the door
"sorry I am late I had something to take care Of" she is engulfed in hugs by her brother and sister and all her cousins, Mia's kids are with Ethan's parents and they would not even know Phoebe anyway as they are only 7, a few tears are shed and Paige won't let go of Phoebes hands
"where is Dominic?" Christian asks politely, I can see a little bit of hurt in Christians eyes, when she walked in she hugged everyone but Christian
"Dominic went to see someone about a club downtown" she shrugs and takes her seat
An hour and a half later and all the paperwork is out of the way, because Phoebe is here in person a few things had to be changed before the will can be read, Henry has had a brunch catered for in the adjoining room and when we all stop to take a break we all grab a bit to eat, but Phoebe takes her phone and walks out the door saying she will be back in 10.
As I am talking to Grace and Kate I see the door open through the glass of the next room and the 2 most adorable little girls run over to where Henry had the food set up, both grab a donut from the table and because the door that connects the 2 rooms together is open we can all hear what they are saying, we all stop and grin hearing them, I see Christian looking at them and smile, god they are cute, they are both identical, they have matching black overalls on with pink shirts underneath and little pink sneakers, they have their hair in matching pig tails and I swear they could be child models
"I told you I smelled donuts"
"no one can smell donuts!"
"well I can"
"can not!"
"can too"
Christian gets up and walks into the other room just as the 2 girls start shoving each other
"Hey hey hey, calm down" he slowly parts the 2 fighting girls and crouches down in front of them as they both look at him with wide eyes
"now it is not nice to fight is it?" he asks them gently
"no sir" they both say in unison
I walk in and crouch down next to Christian "where is your mommy and daddy?" I ask them gently, they look at each other and one whispers in the others ear and she nods
"we are not allowed to talk to you" the first twin tells us politely, Christian frowns at this
"why not?"
"stranger danger" they both say together and it makes us both laugh
"well you are correct, you should not talk to strangers, but you need to tell us where your parents are so we can help take you back to them" Christian tells them, and then they starts talking, finishing each others sentences
"well we we're In the child care room"
"because mommy had stuff to do"
"but there are only baby's in there"
"and we are not baby's"
"yeah we are 5 and a quarter" I finally manage to get a word in because they have gone off in a tangent about how they are almost grown up
"what are your names? So I can go back to the nursery and help you find your mommy"
"my name is Annalise, and this is my twin sister, Anastasia, but I am older by a whole 2 minutes" the first little girls says and then crosses her arms over her tiny torso, on hearing the second ones name both Christian and i gasp and look at each other and then focus our stares at the girls.
Brown hair. Big gray eyes and a stubborn look on their faces.
"but all our friends call us the fabulous Grey Girls because one day we are going to be stars" the little girl called Anastasia says
"actually they can call you the fabulous Grey girls who are now grounded for a month!" both girls spin around and then drop their heads when they see a furious looking Phoebe and behind her a security guard and a Worker from the nursery
OH MY GOD! THESE ARE PHOEBES DAUGHTERS
"but mommy..." they start to plead their case
"don't but mommy me! What have I told you both about wondering off? And talking to strangers?"
"we smelled donuts"
"from down the hall? What are you bloodhounds?" phoebe asks them making them both giggle, phoebe rolls her eyes and walks over to the food table and hands them both a sandwich and makes them sit down on 2 chairs
"sit and stay" she tells them and she walks back into the conference room and takes her seat leaving Christian and I with our jaws hanging open.
We walk back in and sit opposite our daughter looking for an explanation, but she just crosses her hands and glares at us, just like she did when she was a teenager
"they are your twin daughters?" Christian states the obvious
"no I have never seen those children before" she rolls her eyes an huffs "of course they are my children"
"and you never thought to call or write to us and tell us we have 2 grandchildren?" he asks her, the hurt in his voice is evident and she looks at him like she is weighing something up in her mind
"3 grandchildren...I have a baby boy too...girls come here" they both walk over and stand either side of their moms chair, Phoebe places one on each knee and they turn and stare at us
"mom, dad, this Is my daughter Annalise Paige Grey-Conners and Anastasia Grace Grey-Conners, they are 5 years old and were born at 8 months, so they were a little small, baby girls this is my mommy, her name is Ana and this is my daddy, Christian"
"Hi" they both give us a little wave And jump off her lap and run back into the food room, just as the rest of the family walk back in and put 2 and 2 together on who the little girls belong too.
"you said you have a son also?" I ask
"yeah he is with Dominic...he is almost 2."
"what's he called?"
"Dominic Robert Grey-Conners, JR but we call him Bobby"
"if grandpa hadn't died...would we have ever known about the kids? Would you have ever told us?" now I'm hurt and pissed
"well its not like we have been super close over the last decade is it mom, I come home for the first time in 8 years and my father and attacks my husband...the kids and I...we are a package deal and the pretty little bow that ties is all together...is Dominic, he is a wonderful husband...an even better father...I know you both think that Dominic and I were...doing it...when I was 15 but we weren't... I was 17 almost 18"
"that's still under age?" Christian growls at her
"yeah it was, by like a month and a half, and now I have daughters of my own, well I know where you guys were coming from, but look at it this way, I found the love of my life aged 15, we became friends and that eventually became more, we fell in love, got married, started a business, had some babies and lived happy ever after...i didn't have all the teenage drama of break ups, pregnancy scares and heart break. I love my life, truly I do...but...if I could change a couple of things, I would have stood up to you both and told you I was going to be with Dominic in Seattle wether you liked it or not, I was 18 then and so it would have been my choice"
"put yourself in our shoes, how would you have felt, how would you have acted?" Christian asks her softly
"Dominic and I discussed this last night...he told me he would have done the same thing" she smirks at that and I think finally after all these years she understands us
"I want us to get this family back on track Phoebe, imagine if you were separated from one of your girls for 8 years, I will make amends with Dominic, I'm not saying tat him and I are ever going to be best friends but I will try"
"well it seems we are all on the same page...yesterday when I left the cemetery I kinda had a mini breakdown, we drove past. Few places that I used to go to as a kid and I realised just how home sick I am, don't get me wrong, I love California but I'm a Washington girl born and bred, I miss girl time with Paige and Ava, I don't even know Mia's kids" she shrugs
"what are you saying?" I ask
, "Dominic isn't looking at another club down town, we made a few calls last night about houses...we both want to move home and it works out well for business too because we only have a few property's in Washington, Oregon and Montana, so it would be good to have a nice central base to expand and Seattle is a good as place as any" she smiles and we both get up and embrace her and she leads us over to our granddaughters so we can get better acquainted,
3o minutes later Dominic walks in the door with a carbon copy of Teddy in his arms,
"Mama!" he reaches out his chubby little arms and beams at his mommy Christian walks over to Dominic and after a beat he holds his spans out to shake, Dominic looks at it for a few seconds and then holds his own hand out and shake.
"we will probably never be best friends, but It is time we put it all behind us, for Phoebe and Ana"
"fine by me" Dominic nods his head and then asks Phoebe for a word.
"here baby boy, get to know grandpa" Phoebe hands her wiggling son over to her father and walks out the room with Dominic, I Walk over and take his chubby little hand in mine.
"I think everything is going to be ok, Mr Grey" I state looking on in wonder at my husband and grandson
"I think you are right Mrs Grey...it's a new beginning"