Page 78 of Vail

“Don’t worry about that. Listen, I’m going to get right to the point. Do you remember Gil’s sister, Celine?”

“Yes.” I had a good relationship with her when I was with Gil. She didn’t know what took place between us. Gil never put bruises where they could be seen when he knew we were visiting his family. While I usually hated going anywhere with him, I liked visiting Celine. She made me feel at home.

“And you remember Celine’s daughter, Ava?”

“Yes,” I replied, dragging the word out a bit.

“Celine passed away.”

“Oh my god.” I put my hand to my mouth, shock rocking through me. “What happened?”

“Car accident. I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure how close you were to her.”

“We were friendly and got along. Not tight but we knew each other.” Then another thought occurred to me. “Was Ava in the car?”

“No,” Lana rushed to say. “She was at a friend’s house.”

I let out a breath, but not all the way. Ava still lost her mother. Her father wasn’t in the picture, having signed parental rights over to Celine.

“In Celine’s will, you were granted custody.”

“What?” I yelled, not thinking before the word was out of my mouth. I wasn’t even in Gil’s will. I heard he’d left his money to some organization I didn’t recognize. There was no reason for me to dig deeper. I didn’t give a shit about him and how much he left behind. “Me?” What the hell did I know about raising a child? I didn’t even want kids. My sister had them and that was good enough for me.

“I know this is a lot. But you must make a decision. If you want to take custody of her, we’ll get everything taken care of.”

“And if not?”

“Another guardian will be appointed.”

“Who?” Gil’s parents had to be in their late seventies by now. His father was battling dementia last I’d heard and that was years ago. I wasn’t even sure if either of them was still alive. The father’s parents weren’t in the picture. They could be dead too, for all I knew.

“The court will help decide where she’s placed.”

I braced my hand on the wall and bent at the waist, willing my stomach to calm down. The thought of Celine dying was a lot, but to add on that I was given custody in Celine’s will… How was I supposed to handle that? A child? I was supposed to raise a human being? I was good with Tahoe, but he was a dog. Not a person with more needs.

“I understand if you need some time to think about what you’d like to do.”

“I…”

The thought of Ava living with someone she didn’t know didn’t sit well with me. Granted, I hadn’t seen her in years. Gil didn’t have any other siblings, and Ava was an only child if I remembered correctly. That left aunts, uncles, and cousins, but obviously if she wanted them to take care of Ava, she would have put them in the will.

“Oh my god.” Another thought crashed into me. I didn’t think about Celine after Gil was killed. I was so wrapped up in what happened with my family that I didn’t stop for a moment to consider Celine.

Darting across the room to where there was a sparse bathroom, I bent over and threw up my breakfast. I really had to get a hold of my stomach, but holy fuck. Just when I thought my life was calming down, this happened.

I heard Lana come up behind me as I flushed the toilet. “After speaking with Celine’s attorney, she changed her will when her brother died.”

“But…”

“He was awful as you well know, and it was all over the news what he did.”

“Vail!” I heard Jordan call.

“In here,” Lana said. She stepped out of the way so Jordan could enter.

He put his hands on my cheeks. “What happened?”

“I’ve been given custody of a child.” Even saying the words made me sway. This wasn’t one of the moments I’d been waiting my whole life for. A child wasn’t on my radar.

---