An unexpected gift

T/W: This story deals with grief after loss of a parent.

Bella

Even the bare minimum of makeup felt heavy on her face. Bella stared at her reflection. All of the clothes in her wardrobe still fit, even after a few years away in Frontier Doctors. But wearing them? She barely recognized herself. Makeup made it worse. Three years of no highlights meant her hair was still blond but didn't have the luster and dimension she used to have, but she was still Bella Astor. The same broken woman who left…

No…

She was more broken now. 

A soft knock on the guest room door preceded her brother opening the door. 

Before, Bella would have growled, hissed, or done anything that could be considered rather unladylike just to piss off her mother. It didn't matter if her mother was around or not. Now, she smoothed the wrinkles in the black dress and watched the reflection of a woman she didn't recognize in the mirror.

“Did you sleep?” Christian asked. 

They both knew the answer. She'd not bothered trying. Her flight arrived late the night before; Lucas and Christian met her at baggage claim. Without a single complaint from Christian, they went straight to Lucas' rusting sedan parked amid an onslaught of brand-spanking-new SUVs in the Astor security detail. 

She'd sat in Chris' living room surrounded by her mother and Lucas and dozens of nameless faces she'd never met before, all coordinating the funeral. Bella didn't have to lift a finger or open her mouth. 

She knew as much about the funeral as she did about her father being sick. 

Fa-la-la-la-la… happy holidays to her. 

When the plans were set, and the motions reviewed (just because it was a funeral didn’t mean Eli Astor’s funeral wasn’t also a show for the world), the condo emptied to Lucas, Chris, and Bella. 

Chris mentioned taking a hot shower and turning in. If he felt anything, her twin buried it as deeply as possible. So deep she couldn’t see it.

Bella didn't remember getting up, but she stood at Lucas' condo across the hall, her hand over the handle when the door opened on its own. 

Still in his suit from work, tie loosened, Lucas wrapped Bella in a hug she could bury herself in. 

And let herself fall apart. They spent the night crying, flipping through photo albums, or in patches of silence with Bella's head on Lucas' shoulder.

Now she was back together. Broken pieces being held together by the tiniest threads. 

“We’ll be late.” 

“They won’t start without us.” 

*~*~*~*~*~

Lucas

Lucas tied the navy and sky blue striped tie again. The knot had been too small the last time, and this time… the back was too short. He stood at the mirror next to Chris' front door. The bags under his eyes stuck out against his already pale skin and golden blond hair, but the bags were worth it. 

Emerging from the guest room, Bella pulled some loose strands into a twist, creating a wave in her hair. A low bun as eerily un-Bella-like as the emptiness in her eyes. Silently, she pulled the tie apart and retied it in a perfect knot. Finally, resting her hands on his chest when she was done. 

“I wish you would have told me sooner.” 

Well, he knew the conversation was coming. He hadn't wanted to keep the secret. Eli, though, was obviously where Bella received her magical powers of persuasion, did want the secret kept. As long as possible.

“I didn’t want to. Your dad…” 

“You could have anyways!” 

“Promise me.” Eli's words, weak from a long day at his chemo treatment, begged. 

Lucas gave her a half-hearted shrug. "You're right." He never should have. As her best friend, Lucas should have told her sooner. He may have held out on her father's illness, but...

"Come with me," Lucas took her hand.

“Where are you two… My mother, Holt! I’ll send her after you!” 

“Fine! Do it! I dare you!” Lucas called back from the hallway. It was the emptiest of threats Christian ever made.  

In his living room, Lucas sat Bella down on the couch. Her brother threw a few colorful phrases at them, but this needed to be done now. 

 “Chris is right. We’re going to be…” 

Lucas turned the television on. Technology usually confused him, but he'd spent considerable time figuring out how to clone the screen on his phone on his TV. 

"There are two things. I'd… uh… well, I showed Eli this video I found when I visited him last week." Lucas' finger trembled over the video icon. 

When he tapped the icon, a steady yet skinny video took up only a part of the screen. Bella stood at a dry-erase board in the main conference room of the Astor Pharmaceuticals building, drawing a blocky sketch of a process for a new plant. The first year of Lucas’ internship at Astor Pharm. 

A few chuckles and snide comments were picked up by the microphone by not only the other interns — business majors from other prestigious universities — but also board members of Astor Pharm. 

"What's she gonna do? Convince daddy to make a different kind of drug?" 

"Should have left her in jail." 

"She's nothing like her brother..." 

Bella stuck out in her skin-tight athletic shorts and sports bra showing through her thin tank top in a board room of men in suits. Her long blond hair was tied in a messy, sweaty bun.

“You sure about this?” Chris asked from behind the camera. 

Lucas remembered nodding, unaware Chris was recording. 

Bella smacked the board with an open palm making the entire room jump. For a drawn-out moment, Bella glared at the men in the room. "None of the proposals thus far would make much sense in the Relenbide Michigan plant. The current process requires retirement as the primary solvents are now unavailable due to new EPA regulations. Darren's proposal to rerate the Michigan Relenbide plant for the Nalolac process wouldn't be feasible. Because, economically, it doesn't make sense to ship the raw materials across the country when a Nalolac plant is being built in California, not far from the manufacturer of the raw goods. Nalolac has never required two plants worth of manufacturing. However, Dr. Nelson's newest R&D process for Relenbide is a semi-batch process, and there are plants in Michigan that produce what we need. The new process runs at a much higher pressure. Rerating of this facility wouldn't be recommended for the new process as the equipment is not rated nearly high enough in pressure and is set up for a batch process. Piping would be insane. A grass-roots plant, on the other, with an A and B train would be a better use of funds and can be completed while the original plant operates for a short time longer with the last of solvent supply." 

“What?” The camera swung to the director of Research and Development. 

Next to the R&D director, Eli Astor snickered openly. His clapping was met with silence, other than Chris chuckling lightly. “Well done. Perfect.” 

Someone shouted, "How can you say that?" which started a flurry 

of insults. 

"A sad boy from the wrong side of the tracks trying to show us up? Did you feed her lines? What the hell is this?" Darren sneered.

Lucas leaned into the frame. "Bella reads all the research articles published and internal findings. Every day. She falls asleep in our office reading them. She's pre-med. She knows the medical uses and mechanisms for almost every drug produced and grew up learning about the processes. If anyone in this room is an expert, it's her. Especially considering she's been around the company longer than any director in this room other than her father." 

"Precisely," Eli said. The single word quieted the entire boardroom. "Mr. Holt and Christian did what the other teams did not. They pulled in an expert in the field. Far more expertise than any of you gentlemen," Eli added, gesturing at the men next to him. "Every person in this room sees one side of my daughter — ah, let me guess, the way she’s portrayed in the news — and nothing more. Even my directors — which concerns me, honestly. If anyone in this room will make a difference in the world or this company, it's Bella." 

Next to Lucas, Bella slid off the couch, curling into a ball, crying. Easing next to her, Lucas pulled her to him. "There's something else." His own eyes stung as a few tears he hadn't cried earlier escaped. He found the second video and hit play. 

“Is it on?” Eli asked from his hospital bed. 

“Yes, sir.” 

"Lucas J Holt!" Eli snapped. "What have I told you?"

Again off camera, Chris chuckled, but without the force it usually had. “You sound like Bella, dad.” 

"Bella. My Bella-boo. Don't be angry with the boys. I made them promise me not to burden you. I know how much your work means, and you've done the thing I never could. I already had you and Christian when I joined Frontier Doctors, and I couldn't travel like I wanted to. Every day you make me proud. I want you to keep making a difference, my love. I wish the world saw you like I do. Brilliant. Beautiful. And bold. I am and always have been proud of you, Bella.

 Every single day. I wanted to give you the world, and I hope I succeeded. I know you surrounded yourself with the best people in the world. Keep them close. You've done amazing things in the last few weeks, which would never have happened if you were home. You are a gift." 

Lucas' stomach churned as he let himself sob again. "He…" 

Turning into him, Bella hugged him again. "Thank you." 

"God damn it, Holt! Now we all have to wait to leave, and she needs to reapply her makeup and…" 

Chris threw a box of tissues at them, his face as red and tear-streaked as Lucas’. Bella threw the tissues back and rushed her brother, tackling him in a hug. 

Author's note: Bella, Lucas, and Christian are the main characters in my debut novel Christmas Confessions. I have other short stories with them as well.