Back in the restaurant, Kellie was speechless at the news Helena had left a portion of her estate to the child she was currently carrying.
"Oh," Charles said continuing to look through the papers.
"There's more?" Kellie asked.
"If for some reason you're didn't end up having another child," Charles said, "That portion of the estate would have gone to Alyssa."
"Please tell me you're joking," Kellie said, "That left Helena an inheritance to child that may or may not be related to her while intentionally cutting a child she is related to out of the will."
"I wish I was," Charles said.
"What if I don't want it," Kellie said.
"You know that it doesn't work that way," Charles said, "You can't decide for your child not to take the inheritance. Only they can decide that when he or she is twenty-one."
"Damn her," Kellie said, "Tyler and I made it a point to keep our family out of the drama of the Cassadine estate. I get that this is Helena's estate not the actual Cassadine estate. But there really isn't a difference when it comes to the backstabbing, revenge, and mind games."
"No there isn't," Charles said, sadly,
"I'll check the papers more thoroughly to see if there's a loophole," Charles said.
"But knowing Helena, it's likely ironclad," Kellie said, "Any loopholes are designed to be a mind game or trap. I guess I'll need copies of them to show Jason."
"I'll drop them by tomorrow afternoon," Charles said, "I'll likely have more information on setting up a grants program through the casino. I have a meeting with ELQ's granting staff and legal counsel tomorrow morning."
"At least something seems to be headed in the right direction," Kellie said.
"Are you okay?" Charles asked.
"No," Kellie said, "I'm not okay with any of this. I have no idea what to do about any of it."
"Do you want my advice?" Charles asked.
"I'm sure you'll probably give it to me anyway," Kellie replied.
"I think you should quit being so hard on yourself," Charles said.
"What are you talking about?" Kellie asked.
"I've watched you spend the last few days running around doing everything you possibly could to fix everything that's gone sideways," Charles said, "I have a feeling that you think you're not doing enough."
Charles let his words hang out in the air between them.
"Am I right?" Charles asked.
"Maybe," Kellie said, reluctantly.
"Do you recall the first few months after you and Tyler got remarried and your were pregnant with the boys?" Charles asked.
"What about it?" Kellie asked.
"You had this need to be extremely independent, more so than usual," Charles replied, "Which frustrated Tyler because he wanted to do things for you and help make having twins easier for you. But you were trying to handle everything you could on your own and stressing yourself out out unnecessarily."
"I see what you're getting at," Kellie said, "But I was young and a first time mom then, I didn't understand what I was doing. Tyler and I had our future planned. But Jason and I haven't even discussed if our future is together together and…."
"Obviously that's a discussion the two of you need to have," Charles said, "But from what I can see the two of you have been husband and wife in every sense of the word. I've kind of gotten the feeling that you've been trying to handle everything yourself when you don't have to."
"Charles," Kellie started to protest.
"Can you honestly tell me that you haven't been pushing Jason away to some degree?" Charles asked.
"I don't expect Jason to handle my business for me," Kellie said, "Or to come running for every little thing. A lot of people already rely on him for that."
"Those people aren't Jason's wife," Charles said, "You are. I know you're smart enough to know that sometimes you have to handle your own stuff like the foundation and Jason may not be available every time something comes up. You're more than capable of dealing with that. But it's perfectly reasonable for you to rely on Jason and let him support you."
"What if I'm scared to?" Kellie asked before she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Charles said, "Like all the other times, I have every confidence you'll make the decision that's best for you in spite of that fear."
"But there's no guarantees," Kellie started to say.
"There wasn't with Tyler anymore than there is with Jason," Charles said, "It's a leap of faith. I seem to recall you saying something about willing to take that leap into unknown future when you proposed to Tyler."
Kellie looked like she wanted to say something but wasn't.
"You can say whatever's on your mind," Charles said.
"It doesn't seem right to be having this conversation with you," Kellie said, "Or fair considering Tyler was your son and we're talking about my marriage to Jason."
"You say whatever you need," Charles said, "The only thing that matters to me is that you and the kids are happy. As far as I can tell Jason has made you happy. I've known you long enough to know that you have a tendency to be your own worst enemy when it comes to being happy, especially when things get rough. You do usually figure it out for the better. But if I can help get you there faster, I'll gladly do it."
"I really hate that you're right about that," Kellie said, "Look, Charles…it's just…"
"Just what," Charles prompted her when Kellie stopped talking.
"When I decided to be more than friends with Jason," Kellie said, "It was more about deciding to be happy in the moment and less about us having a future together. I didn't plan on falling in love with him. Even when I could finally admit that I had, given the nature our marriage and the uncertainty of our lives, I still hadn't let myself consider the possibility of committing to a future with Jason. Even though we're married, I could still tell myself on some level it was a for now thing."
"And then you got pregnant," Charles said softly.
"All the serious emotions I've been trying to avoid got really real," Kellie said, "I'm not ready for that."
"I think you're more ready than you think you are," Charles said.
"I feel guilty," Kellie said, "I fell in love with someone else, married them, and got pregnant before Tyler was even gone a year."
"Just because that you moved on before you seemed to think you should doesn't make your feelings or happiness any less important," Charles said, "The circumstances surrounding your marriage and child with Jason were outside the normal realm of moving on."
"You mean unconventional," Kellie said.
"As unconventional as your marriage to Tyler was in the beginning," Charles said, "You were engaged and planning to elope right out of high school. Then not engaged. We thought you were dead and found out you weren't dead. You and Tyler had a whole lot of back and forth about your relationship even after you married him to rescue Danny and Molly years ago."
Kellie groaned, "You can stop now. I put Tyler through so much."
"What I'm trying to say is nothing about your life has been conventional," Charles said, "I wouldn't expect your marriage to Jason to be any different. But seeing as how you're supposedly older and wiser, you might learn from your past and make things easier on you and Jason. Furthermore, don't let Helena's manipulations get to you. Don't let them tangle things up between you and Jason or keep you from enjoying being a mom to your new child. If you want to beat Helena, the best revenge is to be happy and not give this stuff with her estate a second thought. We can deal with the logistics of the inheritance in our sleep. Helena can only cause tension if you let her at this point. She is as far as we know definitively six feet under permanently."
"Let's just hope she doesn't have any more surprises up her sleeve," Kellie said.
"It will be child's playi," Charles said. His phone dinged.
"And with that," Charles said, "I have a meeting to get to."
"Thank you," Keliie said, "For the advice, but definitely not Helena's letter or will. I'm going to have to take the letter to the cops since it alludes to the fate of the two doctors."
"I'll handle it," Charles said, "in exchange for picking up my grandkids after school and having them over for pizza and a slumber party."
"They have school tomorrow," Kellie said.
"Pizza and a movie," Charles said, "They can spend the night and I'll make sure they get to school in the morning."
"And make sure they do their homework," Kellie said.
"First thing," Charles said.
"Okay, I will let the school and the guards know," Kellie said.
Author's Note/Spoiler: Romance coming up for Jason and Kellie in the next few chapters