A/N: I forgot the disclaimer so here it is now: I do not own Santa Barbara or any of its characters! If I did, well ... I would have "fixed" a few things.:P
This chapter is focusing on Samantha.
Chapter 2
August, 2004
Santa Barbara, California
Her dress twirled around her body while she spun in front of the mirror. How many of her classmates would have killed to wear a dress like hers?
She sighed and looked around the room. The walls were painted in a calming light green that she had picked herself years ago and the soft white comforter and pillows embroidered with letters reading 'Sweet dreams' on her four poster bed had been a present from her grandparents for her tenth birthday. The entire room was decorated with stuffed toys, books, flowery covered notebooks, things that defined her so well. Snowy, her cat, purred happily in her cot beside the bed. She was another gift, from her grandfather for her middle school graduation. Seriously, who celebrates middle school graduation? But she wanted a cat and he needed a reason to buy her a present. If she had wanted a pig or a sheep she was pretty sure her grandfather would have brought it to her. She was spoiled and loved and treated like a princess. Her grandfather's princess. Who wouldn't want that?
So why wasn't she excited about her upcoming birthday party?
"Come in" she called when someone knocked at her door.
A young maid walked in.
"Excuse me Miss Capwell?"
"Yes?"
"Mrs. Capwell would like to talk to you about the guest list for your party" the maid said.
"Tell her the list is fine" she answered.
"But she asked me ..."
"Holly, tell my grandmother that she can send out the invitations according to the list she made. It's fine. Go, now" she instructed.
"Yes, Miss Capwell" the maid mumbled and withdrew quickly. She couldn't believe she'd managed to piss off the young Miss who was always so kind to everyone ...
She didn't mean to snap at Holly. But she didn't want to talk about the damn list. A few days ago, her grandmother gave her the list to check and eventually add some of her friends to it. She returned it the day before but didn't add anyone. Her only true friends were her fellow volunteers from the orphanage. And when she wanted to invite them last year, her grandfather had patiently explained that it wasn't ... appropriate, since they were from a different social environment and wouldn't fit in. So this year she would let her grandparents invite who ever they wanted.
An impatient knock followed by a small voice pulled her out of her reverie.
"Samantha! Can I come in?" and the door burst open to welcome a brown haired girl who ran in am plopped on the bed.
"You already did" Samantha shrugged. "What are you doing here by the way?" she asked. One little terror meant the other three couldn't be far.
"Grandpa invited us to dinner. And uncle Ted and aunt Lily. Oh, and I was supposed to tell you that it's ready. Dinner. Dinner it's ready" Katherine Capwell rambled. "Is that your dress for next week?" she asked.
"Yeah" Samantha answered while she struggled to get out of it and into a pair of black pants. She had no idea if this was supposed to be a dress-up dinner but figured that black pants and a large sleeved blue blouse would do.
"Nice" Katherine declared.
"Thanks"
"Can I come, too?" she then asked.
"Come where?"
"Your party, duh"
"Oh ... um ..." she didn't know what to answer. Her brothers and sister were supposed to come to her birthday party, right? But if Katherine asked then ... "Why do you ask?"
"Because grandpa said it would be a grown-up party. No kids allowed ..." Katherine pouted.
"Oh ... " she thought for a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed next to her sister.
"What if we have our own party the day before, huh? What about that? We could do something together. You, me and the boys" she offered.
"No grown-ups allowed?" Katherine grinned.
"None" Samantha grinned back.
People in and outside of the family used to say that the two sisters were nothing alike. Samantha was blond with long silky hair and green eyes, while Katherine had brown curly hair and blue eyes. However, that particular moment, their matching grins told a different story.
"Deal" Katherine said spitting on her palm then extending her hand for her sister to shake.
"Ew" Samantha scrunched her nose in disgust "I suppose you've learned that from the boys. No, thank you".
Her sister laughed and Samantha made a mental note to herself to spend more time with the younger girl and try to turn the tomboy into a young lady. But she'd have a lot of work to do. She figured growing up with three boys would do that to you ...
"Let's go" she said walking to the door followed closely by Katherine.
"Mason, Julia, may I have a word with you in the study?" C.C. Capwell asked his son and daughter-in-law.
"What's the matter dad, got in trouble and need a lawyer?" Mason joked once the door to the study shut behind them.
"It's about Samantha. About her college options, actually" C.C. explained.
"We decided, along with Samantha, that she'll take a year off" Julia said. "She overworked herself to catch up after the accident in order to be able to finish high-school with her class ..."
"Yes, I know, she told me. And I think it's a good idea"
"Okay, then why are we here?" Mason asked.
C.C. pulled out some papers from a drawer and handed them to Mason motioning for him and Julia to read.
"What is this?" Julia asked.
"Dad's will" Mason answered then looked up. "You can't be serious!" he told his father.
"I am" C.C. confirmed. "I've changed it a week ago"
"But according to this, Samantha is ..." Julia said looking at Mason for confirmation that she had read right.
"According to my will, Samantha - Eden Wainwright - Capwell will inherit half of my fortune including fifty percents of Capwell Enterprises, the Orient Express and my share of Armonti Industries" C.C. told them.
"But she's not your only grandchild" Julia pointed out.
"My children and other grandchildren will inherit the rest divided evenly".
"Why?" Mason asked.
"Because she's my first grandchild and ... she's also Eden's goddaughter ..." C.C. motivated a shadow of sadness grazing his features. "This was supposed to be her share and ... Samantha is most likely to inherit it ..."
"But it should be Chip's share. Or Adriana's" Mason reminded him.
"We haven't heard anything from or about them in what? Twelve years, right? I think Cruz has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want anything to do with our family" C.C. argued.
Julia sighed. Cruz had been her friend. Yet he hadn't called in so many years. Twelve, yes. Busy juggling five kids and the assistant D.A. job she hadn't realized it had been that much ...
"Mason, Julia, I wanted you to know this because you're Samantha's parents, but I'm afraid it isn't something that needs your approval. Samantha will be my heir" C.C. concluded.
"Yes, we get that, dad" Mason said then asked "Does she know?"
"Not yet. I'm planning on telling her before her birthday".
Mason nodded and C.C. continued.
"I want her to complete her education in Europe" he said.
"What?" Both Julia and Mason asked at the same time.
He didn't give them much time to recover from the news and pulled out another sheet of paper for them to read.
"This is a list of the finest European universities. My birthday present to her will be a trip around Europe. She'll be able to see them all, talk to the students, see the location, the campus ... Then she'll have a year to decide weather she wants to go to one of them or go to college here. But I would prefer Europe because it would give her the opportunity to hear and speak French, which I happen to know she likes" he finished smiling.
"You've thought of everything, haven't you?" Mason asked and C.C. nodded then when he saw that they were confused he spoke again.
"Mason, Julia, I love Samantha and I only want what's best for her. If she doesn't want to got to Europe that's fine by me. But I want her to make this decision after she's seen it".
Julia looked at her husband, then at C.C.
"We'll talk more about university, but I suppose she can have her birthday present" she said smiling just as someone knocked at the door.
"Come in" C.C. called.
"Hi" Samantha greeted "Grandma asked me to tell you that the kids are hungry"
"We're coming, princess" C.C. said heading in her direction.
But Mason was faster.
"Doesn't your old man deserve a hug hello?" he asked faking a pout.
"Aw, I missed you, too daddy" Samantha said hugging him.
Julia smiled. Mason had still to realize that his baby girl wasn't a baby girl anymore.
A/N: I wanted to include Samantha's birthday party but the writing went smoother than for the first chapter and I got a little carried away. Since I don't want a chapter to be much longer (or shorter) than the other, I'll stop here for now.
Please review to let me know what you think. Thank you!
~ Saturnina ~
