Beca and Aubrey both jerk their heads up at this and look at Trish.
"She didn't tell her father about her brain cancer?," they both thought.
Trish reaches across the table and grabs her father's hands in her.
"Daddy," Trish says. "I have brain cancer and it's very progressive. I may only have about 5 months left. I don't want to fight with you during my last months. Please drop all this and just be my daddy."
Mr. Compton has tears falling down his face. He looks at Beca and see she is fighting back tears as well. He jumps up and runs around the table to grab Trish up in a tight hug.
"Why didn't you tell me before now?," Mr. Compton asks.
"Because I wanted to marry Beca," Trish tells him through her tears. "I only found out about a month ago and they said I had about a year. I knew if I told you, you would force me to cancel the wedding. Then on Thursday, the doctor told me the cancer had progressed and I probably had only about 5 months. Beca's two best friends, Chloe and Aubrey, were meeting Beca in Vegas over the weekend and I suggested we get married there."
"Oh, baby," Mr. Compton said. "I'm so sorry I was such a dick. I love you so much and I want to spend as much time as possible with you. That is if your wife is okay with that."
Beca looked up in surprise. Trish looked at her with hopeful eyes.
"Of course, Mr. Compton," Beca said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Call me, Bob," Mr. Compton tells Beca. "And thank you. Thank you for being there for my little girl. I'm sorry about all this. I don't know why I fought it so much. I mean, I've always liked you and you've been really good for the studio. I guess I just couldn't see Trish being married to a woman. I know that sounds bad, but I grew up with parents who thought homosexuality was a sin. I thought I had gotten past that way of thinking. I guess, when it's your own kid, you become one of two people, those who accept them and love them like you always did. Or, don't accept it and act like a jerk to them and their partner hoping to break them up. I didn't think I would ever be the latter."
Trish pulls back from her father.
"Are you done putting down my marriage?," Trish asked her father. "Do you accept Beca as your daughter-in-law? Are you going to stop trying to control me and get your hands on my trust fund?"
"Yes to everything," Bob says and pulls Trish back into another hug. "You know you're mother would have been so proud of you. Standing up and fighting me for love. What am I going to do without you."
Trish cried some more. She missed her mother so much. Mr. Compton tried to wipe the never ending tears from his eyes without success. Aubrey caught Beca's eye and nodded her head toward Trish. Beca furrowed her brows not knowing what Aubrey wanted her to do.
"Go comfort your wife," Aubrey mouthed to her.
"Oh," Beca whispered.
Beca got up and walked over to Trish and her father.
"Mind if I cut in for a minute?," Beca asked.
Mr. Compton and Trish pulled back. Mr. Compton released Trish and turned her into Beca's arms. Beca hugged Trish and held her for a minute.
"You okay?," Beca whispered to Trish.
"Yeah," Trish said sniffling. "I'm good. Thanks."
Beca pulls back from the hug and looks at Mr. Compton.
"Mr. Com-, sorry, Bob," Beca says. "Trish and I have plans for today but why don't you plan to spend tomorrow with Trish. Then we'd love to have you over for dinner. I'll invite Chloe and Aubrey as well. They are our best friends and it would be nice if you got to know them."
"Oh, daddy," Trish said. "Please say yes."
"I'd like that," Bob said. "Thank you, Beca."
"No problem," Beca said. "We should probably go."
Beca leads Trish, Aubrey, and Mark out of the office. They all go back to Beca's office where she hands Trish a box of tissue.
"That went better than I'd expected," Trish said after wiping her eyes.
"I can't believe you didn't tell your father about your cancer," Beca said. "You never told me he didn't know. I thought that was why he was fighting against us so hard."
"I did for the exact reason I told him I did," Trish said. "Because I knew he would have been ten times worse if he knew about it. He would have done everything to cancel the wedding and wait it out so he could get my trust fund. I love my father, but I also know he wouldn't hesitate if there was any way to get it."
"I'm not sure which is worse though," Beca said. "Him fighting us because of your cancer, or because he was being homophobic. He never came across that way so it never entered my mind that was the real reason. I'm glad that he's come to terms with it. At least, I truly hope he has."
"I don't condone Trish not telling him about the cancer," Aubrey said. "But is does seem to have helped put things back on track for you two."
"Am I missing something here?," Mark asked. "It sure sounds like there's a whole lot more to this than meets the eye."
"It's complicated," Beca said. "But, I promise, I'll tell you the whole complicated story someday."
"Okay," Mark said. "Now then, let's talk about your contract. I believe that maybe Mr. Compton will have a change of heart and want to renew your contract here. What do you want to do if he does?"
"I don't know," Beca said. "I mean, he did see something in me and hired me when no one else would. But, I think if anything happens to Trish, we'll both be a constant reminder of her and that might cause some problems down the road. What do you think, Trish?"
"I think you should sign with someone else," Trish said. "My dad may say he's okay with everything, but like you said, you'll be a constant reminder to him of everything he lost - me and my trust fund. I don't want to put you through that."
"You heard my wife," Beca says with a chuckle. "Get me the best deal you can with another studio. I don't want to go on tour to promote my new album. We can just say I want to spend as much time with my wife as I can."
"Got it," Mark said as he jotted down what Beca wanted.
"How do you feel about telling people about your cancer?," Beca asked Trish. "We can announce it when we announce our wedding. People will speculate about how quickly everything happened. If we get in front of it and tell the story the way we want then there shouldn't be any backlash. What do you think?"
"Can we decide that a little later?," Trish asked. "We have a meeting with your publicist later today. I'll decide by then. I'm still nervous about the meeting with the Trustee."
"Okay," Beca said. "It's almost lunch time. Let me treat everyone to lunch before we go see the Trustee."
"I'm in," Aubrey said.
"Sounds good to me," Mark said.
"Let's go," Trish said.
The four head off to lunch and make it to the Trustee's office with only minutes to spare before the appointment. Trish's name is called and the four walk into the office.
"Ms. Compton," Mr. Tyler, the Trustee says as Trish walks in. "It is a pleasure to see you. Please come in and have a seat."
"Actually, it's Mrs. Mitchell now," Trish said.
Trish takes a seat and Beca, Aubrey, and Mark find a place to sit as well. Trish introduces everyone and Mr. Tyler gets started.
"I started the paperwork to transfer your trust as soon as I hung up with you this morning," Mr. Tyler said. "All I need from you is a copy of the Marriage License and the account number where you want the money transferred."
Trish pulls out the Marriage License and hands it to Mr. Tyler. She asks for a pen and paper to write down the account info. She does that and hands it to Mr. Tyler.
"The license is in order," Mr. Tyler said. "I will expedite this as quickly as I can. If all goes well, you should have your money in about a week."
"A week?," Trish asks. "I thought it would take 3 or 4. Not that I'm complaining. It just caught me off guard."
"It could take up to 4 weeks," Mr. Tyler said. "But, that's if something comes up during the transfer. I don't see any red flags so there should be no problem transferring everything to you by this time next week."
"Can I ask how much it is?," Trish asked.
Mr. Tyler looked around at the other three people in the room. He took a pen and wrote down a number and handed it to Trish.
"One-hundred and twenty-five million dollars?," Trish asked loudly. "How is it this much? I know my grandparents were loaded, but not this loaded. No wonder my dad wanted to get his hands on it so badly. I'm rambling. I'll stop now."
Mr. Tyler smiled and said, "Your grandparents set this trust up for you when you were born. The interest has been building up for the past twenty-one years. They added to it as well over the years until their death. Selling off some of their properties and selling some of their stocks. They put it all in the trust."
Beca sat there stunned. Aubrey was quite surprised at the amount as well.
"This is just amazing," Trish said. "Thank you, Mr. Tyler. I appreciate everything you've done."
"My pleasure, Ms. Compton," Mr. Tyler said. "I'm sorry. Mrs. Mitchell.
"Is there anything I else I need to do?," Trish asked.
"That's it," Mr. Tyler said. "It was a pleasure, Mrs. Mitchell. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you."
"Thank you," Trish says.
The four leave Mr. Tyler's office.
"Holy shit," Beca whispers as soon as they are out the door.
Aubrey and Mark both laugh.
"Holy shit, indeed," Mark says. "I may have to rethink what I charge you now."
Everyone laughs and they head out to Beca's car.
"We're going back to the studio," Beca tells Aubrey and Mark. "That's where we're meeting with my publicist. Where do you guys need to go?"
"I need to go to my office," Mark said.
"I'm just going to head back to the condo," Aubrey said.
Beca gave the driver the info. He took Mark back to his office first and Mark bid them all a goodbye as he exited the car. As they were being driven to the condo to drop Aubrey off, Beca asked Aubrey if she and Trish could come by and have dinner with them.
"Let me text Chloe and see what time she thinks she'll be home," Aubrey said and sent the text.
"Chloe said she should be home about 6:00," Aubrey said. "She said she'd love to have dinner with you guys. She wants to hear all about what happened today."
"Great," Beca said. "We'll grab something on our way and be there between 6:00 and 6:30."
The driver pulled up in front of the condo.
"I'll see you guys for dinner," Aubrey said as she got out of the car.
Beca and Trish were waiting in her office when her publicist showed up. Beca showed her in and they sat down.
"So, what's going on?," Chelsea, the publicist asked.
"Well," Beca said. "Trish and I got married over the weekend. We eloped to Vegas. We want to break the story on our own terms. We were thinking of posting a video telling everyone."
"Wow," Chelsea said. "First, Congratulations. Second, is there anything I should know? There are going to be lots of questions and I need to be ready for them."
"Well," Beca said. "We know it was kind of fast, but we um, it's-"
Beca sighed and looked at Trish. Trish gave her a smile.
"I have brain cancer," Trish told Chelsea. "I really don't have a lot of time left. We love each other and wanted to be married as soon as possible so we eloped."
"Oh, my God," Chelsea said. "I am so sorry. Give me a minute."
Chelsea wipes a tear from her eye and starts jotting down some ideas. After a few minutes she looks up and hands her notepad to Beca. Beca reads what Chelsea has written and then looks up at her.
"I think we should go simple," Chelsea says. "Just a brief statement along these lines sent out to all the media outlets we can."
"This is perfect," Beca said. She handed the paper to Trish to read.
Trish finished reading it and nodded her head.
"Beca's right," Trish said. "This is perfect."
"Do you have any pictures of the wedding?," Chelsea asked.
"I know Chloe took some," Beca said. "I'll ask her to send them to us. We can discuss which ones we want to use."
"Sounds good," Chelsea said. "Have her get them to me ASAP."
"I'll call her now," Beca said. She pulled out her phone and called Chloe.
"Hey, Chlo," Beca said when she answered.
"Hey, Becs," Chloe said. "What's up?"
"Can you send the pictures you took at the wedding to me?," Beca asked. "My publicist wants to use one with our statement."
"Sure, I'll do that right now," Chloe said. "See you guys at dinner."
"Thanks," Beca said and hung up. "She's going to send them right now."
Beca's phone pinged several times indicating that the pictures came through. She, Trish and Chelsea looked through and decided on what picture to use.
"I'll get this out later tonight," Chelsea said. "Congratulations again. Let me know if there's anything I can do."
Beca and Trish both thank Chelsea and she leaves. Trish sits down and starts rubbing her temples.
"You okay?," Beca asks.
"Yeah," Trish said. "Just a lot going on today. I have a slight headache."
"Do you want to take something for it?," Beca asked. "I have some Tylenol here."
"If you don't mind," Trish said.
"Here," Beca says handing Trish two of the pain relievers and a bottle of water.
Trish swallows the pills with some water.
"Thanks," Trish said. "Where are we getting dinner from? We should be leaving her shortly."
"What's your favorite place near the condo?," Beca asked.
"Probably Mario's," Trish said. "They have some of the best Italian food around."
"Sounds good," Beca said. "Let me pull up their menu on my computer and see what we should order. Oh, I can order online for pickup."
"I want the stuffed shells," Trish said.
"Okay," Beca says. "I'll get that for Aubrey as well. She loves it. I'll get lasagna for Chloe and I'm going to get the steak fettuccine alfredo. I'll order some salads and garlic bread as well."
"Sounds good," Trish said. "I'm going use the restroom before we leave."
"Okay," Beca said.
Beca placed the order and added a small whole cheesecake for dessert. She knew the Chloe loved cheesecake.
Trish walked back into the office.
"Ready to go?," Beca asked. "The order should be ready in about 20 minutes. The car should be downstairs when we get there."
"All set," Trish said.
They left and picked up dinner. Beca texted to let Chloe and Aubrey they were on their way and would be there in less than 10 minutes.
"We brought Italian," Trish said as soon as the door was opened to them.
"We have stuffed shells for me and Aubrey," Trish said pulling them our of the bag. "And lasagna for Chloe. And steak fettuccine alfredo for Beca. We also have salads and garlic bread for everyone."
"What does everyone want to drink?," Chloe asks. "Aubrey and I are having wine. I hope that's okay."
"That's fine," Trish said. "I'll just have water."
"I'll have some wine," Beca said.
They decide to eat at the kitchen counter. Chloe pours three glass of wine and one glass of water and places them on the counter. She sits next to Aubrey.
"It all smells delicious," Chloe says taking her lasagna.
They all start eating and Chloe asks about what happened at all the meetings. They start with the meeting with Trish's dad.
"Seriously?," Chloe asks. "You didn't tell him until today about your cancer."
"I told you why I waited," Trish said. "He took it better than I had expected actually. But we're all good now, I think. You'll get to meet him at dinner tomorrow night. You'll see he's not such a bad guy."
Aubrey filled her in on the meeting with the Trustee.
"Holy shit!," Chloe exclaimed. "I figured it was going to be a lot, but wow!"
"That was our reaction, too," Aubrey said.
"I was surprised," Trish said. "I tried to play it cool, you know, like someone drops one-hundred million dollars on you every day."
"One-hundred twenty-five million dollars," Beca says.
The others laughed. Beca told Chloe and Aubrey about their meeting with Chelsea.
"She wrote up a really nice piece to put out to the media," Beca said. "It should be out there soon."
"I'll get a notification when it's out," Chloe said.
Beca, Aubrey, and Trish all look at her.
"What?," Chloe said. "I may or may not have been using social media to keep up with how Beca's been doing in her career."
Trish and Aubrey laugh and Beca just smirks. Chloe's phone pings and she jumps up excitedly.
"That's about Beca," she said grabbing her phone.
She opens it up and starts reading. She smiles while reading the article. She looks up when she is done.
"It's really nice," Chloe said.
"What does it say?," Aubrey asks.
"The headline reads 'Music Producer and Solo Artist, Beca Mitchell, Ties The Knot'," Chloe reads. "Twenty-three year old music producer, Beca Mitchell, eloped this past weekend. She married real estate agent Trish Compton, 21, in a ceremony held in Las Vegas. Ms. Compton is the daughter of Robert Compton, owner and head of "Compton Records", where Beca Mitchell has worked for the past five years. The couple met about six months ago and became engaged just one month ago. They were planning for their July 5th wedding when they received the devastating news that Ms. Compton has a very progressive form of cancer. Ms. Compton was given less than six months and the couple did not want to wait any longer so they flew to Vegas and got married. There two best friends, businesswoman Chloe Beale, and lawyer Aubrey Posen, were in attendance as maids of honor and witnesses. The couple ask for privacy and understanding during this emotional time for them. We wish to extend our congratulations to Trish and Beca."
"That is really nice," Aubrey said.
"Yeah," Beca said. "Chelsea said we'll probably get a lot of requests for interviews. She'll pass on ones she thinks I, or we, should do, but for the most part, she's going to ask folks to respect our wishes and leave us alone."
"Well," Chloe said. "With Aubrey, that Mark guy, and Chelsea on this, you should be fine. Plus, you have me. And anything, and I mean anything, I can do, just let me know."
"Thanks, Chloe," Trish said giving her a hug. "That means a lot."
"So," Aubrey says. "You guys consider us your best friends?"
"Of course they do, lawyer Aubrey Posen," Chloe said with a smile. "I, businesswoman Chloe Beale, wholeheartedly agree that we are."
"You're such a dork," Beca says with a laugh. "Anyway, I got dessert. Who wants cheesecake?"
"Lawyer Aubrey Posen," Chloe says trying to keep a straight face. "Would you like some wine with your cheesecake?"
"Why yes, businesswoman Chloe Beale," Aubrey says smiling. "I would love some wine with my cheesecake."
"You're both dorks," Beca says laughing at the two.
She gets the cheesecake out of the box and cuts it. She puts slices on the plates that Chloe gave her. Chloe hands out the plates and the girsl sit down to eat their dessert. Chloe and Aubrey continue to joke about how they were referred to in the article.
Beca notices that Trish had been quiet for the past few minutes. She watches as Trish just plays with her cheesecake.
"Hey," Beca whispers. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Trish whispers back. "I still have a headache. I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be back."
"Okay," Beca says. She watches with a concerned look on her face as Trish walks away.
"Everything okay over there, Becs?," Chloe asks.
"What?," Beca asks turning to look at Chloe. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, everything's good. Trish just has a headache."
"Is she okay?," Chloe asks growing concerned.
"She's fine," Beca said.
Just then Trish walks back to the kitchen. She stops and looks at Beca.
"Trish?," Beca asks and gets up. She walks toward Trish.
"Beca," Trish said. "I don't feel so good."
Beca caught Trish just before she hit the floor. Chloe and Aubrey both jumped up and ran over to Beca and Trish.
"Call 911," Beca said.