Trust In Me (Triplets book 2)

Chapter 17

It was agreed that they would all meet at Sawyer's house before lunch the next day, and Ophelia was the only one there when Shay arrived.

"Where's Momma?" Shay asked as Phee let her into the house.

"She says she's running a little late but should be here in a bit," Phee responded as she led the way to the kitchen.

Ophelia had been Reyna Richard's personal assistant for over four years before she and her brother, Sullivan, had decided that they were madly in love with each other. There were times that Shay felt her mother was closer to Phee than herself, but she couldn't hold that against Phee because she had turned out to be a missing link that their family needed. She was a great secret keeper and mediator. Without her, their family might not be as close as they were.

"You missed dinner last week?" Phee asked as she poured them both a glass of iced tea.

"Yes, I was invited to my new friend, LouLou's house, for dinner." Shay smiled.

"Well, you missed a few things. Pops has begun a new movie. He is playing an undiagnosed autistic man in the 1950s who is ostracized by his community because no one understands him. Everyone agrees that it will be an Oscar-winning performance."

"But, I hear a but in there," Shay sat at the counter across from Phee.

"But, your brothers decided to test his dedication to his craft of method acting by working a crossword together." Phee grinned.

"Why would playing an autistic character keep Pops from working a crossword?"

"The character is non-verbal." Phee shook her head. "Pops looked as if he would burst when they kept getting the wrong answers. It lasted the entire evening."

Sawyer and Sullivan always made bets about which one could get their father to break character first, but now it sounded as if they were teaming up.

"They're teaming up now! That can't be fair to poor pops!" Shay shook her head. "What else did I miss?"

"Reyna has chosen the first site for the new hospital. It will be in Togo, West Africa."

Reyna and Pops had been in a sailing accident a few years before, and Reyna had suffered severe head trauma during the incident. Reyna and Pops had been off the coast of Florida, and the Coast Guard had flown in, saving the day by pulling them off the boat to safety. The entire event made a lasting impact on Reyna.

Reyna knew she was lucky that the accident had happened in a location where good healthcare was abundant. It made her wonder what would have happened to her if she had been in a place where access to hospitals and doctors wasn't readily available. The outcome of her musings was that during her year and a half of recovery, she founded a non-profit dedicated to making healthcare available to everyone no matter where they lived in the world.

Her first order of business had been to hire Phee as the director of the non-profit.

"That sounds exciting. When will the groundbreaking happen?" Shay sipped her tea, envious that Phee would get to lead such an exciting project.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about-" The doorbell rang, cutting Phee off before she could get to the point.

"Your mother wouldn't ring the doorbell," Phee said as she moved through the hall to open the door with Shay on her heels.

The door opened to a lovely young woman in a business suit. She had strawberry blond hair that was pulled back into a high ponytail, and her face had a light dusting of freckles over an upturned nose. She looked wholesome and sweet.