Monday, January 12, 2015
It had been one of those days. With the holidays over, work picked up in full force just as fast as it had died down for the holidays. It was one of those rare days where Soledad had been the last one home. Normally, Sol would head home first, with Rob right behind her, or they would follow each other home. With his car parked next to the family SVU they purchased while they were engaged, Sol parked right behind him. She was exhausted, and having to move cars around was a tedious task at times. Opening the door, she tossed her keys next to the others, and rushed into the family room.
"Hey, I'm too tired to cook dinner, how does The Cheese--" Sol said as she found Rob sitting on the couch across from a somewhat familiar girl, she recognized the girl from somewhere. "Wait, who is this?"
She looked at Rob, the girl, and back at Rob with confusion. It was then that Hayden had appeared behind Rob from the kitchen, "I don't know, but Dad really should call Maury..."
Without a missed beat, and in unison, Rob and Sol looked at their daughter, "Hayden, go to your room, now!"
Still confused with no concrete answers, the quiet girl waved awkwardly, "Hi, I'm Kelsey...his daughter?"
"And I'm his wife..." Sol blurted out in a bitchy tone without thinking twice about it. Rob gave her that look, she turned around, and walked to the girls' bedrooms. Finding Rebecca and Hayden on the floor of Natalie's room surrounded with toys. She sat on the rocking chair at a loss.
The girls looked at Soledad for answers, but there was nothing she could offer at that moment. "Are you hungry? I was going to say we're going to The Cheesecake Factory, but we'll order in, instead. Stay here, and keep Natalie in here too, please. I'll be right back.
She walked past them silently to the kitchen, to look for the extensive collection of takeout menus, but mostly to eavesdrop. With the conversation in hushed whispers, she noticed Natalie walking toward Rob, and rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I told..." She apologized trying to grab Natalie from Rob, but was waved off.
Defeated, she met the girls in Hayden's room and wheeled her desk chair to the bed, and laid out the menus. They quickly settled on a restaurant, the three of them not really caring what they ate. There was no conversation, they sat there, Sol on her phone aimlessly checking social media accounts, Hayden on her laptop clacking away, and Rebecca reading on her Kindle but not retaining the words.
Rob appeared in the doorway, Sol hadn't been keeping time, handed Natalie to her, and disappeared. "Can you please take her to her room, and play with her. If you have to put on that Baby Channel. Take your laptop but watch her." She said looking at Hayden as she gathered up the menus.
She returned to the kitchen to place the food order with her credit card as she noticed Rob sitting on the patio with his back to her. Allowing him his space, she did the one thing she could do, clean. Laundry was always something that needed to be done, tracking bills, and other things done at night. The whole family kept a distance from each other.
Even during dinner, the no cell phone rule was broken, Sol read the news, while Hayden frantically text her best friend, Rebecca read the same page on her Kindle over and over, Rob pushed around his food on his plate. Hayden and Rebecca asked to be excused, Soledad was just about done like they were.
Dishes, and homework followed, they went through the notions, and at one point Rob's raised voice came from behind his study door. The girls were reminded of their bedtime, Natalie had her bath and fell asleep soon after. One last visit to each girl's room, Sol went to her own room to see Rob sitting on the edge of their bed staring at the wall.
Soledad felt helpless, she also didn't want to overwhelm him with questions. Instead, she chose her outfit for the next day, and was halfway through changing into her pajamas when Rob had tugged at her. Standing in front of him in just her underwear and a Yankees shirt, he hugged her waist.
"Baby, talk to me..." She whispered leaning down to kiss his forehead.
"I was lied to for nearly fucking twenty years..." He said finally breaking his silence, "My own flesh and blood, I-"
Sol soothed him as she motioned for him to get into bed, "Do you think....she is yours?"
"Did you see her?" He asked, "Doesn't she look just like Hayden?"
"Paternity test?"
"Tomorrow, but I know she's mine."
Sol leaned over him to grab his phone to look at his schedule. "Aside from court, your meetings can be rescheduled, I want you to work from home...hell, I'll stay home with you if you want me to."
They looked at each other silently, as they both turned off the bedside lamps, and settled down, "You're not going to go through this alone you know..." She offered in the darkness, "I'm behind you every step of the way."
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
The car ride was quiet, the radio, and occasional direction from the navigation system interrupted the music. Soledad sat in the passenger's seat as Rob drove to an off campus apartment in Irvine. She stared at the road ahead, looking down at her phone to answer work emails. When the navigation announced that their destination was 500 feet to the right, her body tensed. She watched Rob park, and pull out his cell phone to let her know that they were waiting. The family SUV would have a potential Falco sitting in the back seat. Sol noticed her red hair bouncing as she walked, when she shut the door behind her, it was only Rob who greeted her, Sol was typing furiously away on her phone to even say hello.
She kept her head down, it was her attempt to make things less stressful than it already was; she had no filter when she felt threatened, and the thought of an argument with her husband wasn't the greatest thing to add to the situation. Her assistant had asked if it was an appropriate time to call, a high profiled person had inquired about the married couple, and she had some time sensitive information, before they would miss the opportunity of representing the unknown person.
"I need to take this call," she said pulling out a legal pad and pen from her purse, "I will be quick." The phone was answered, Sol spoke in broken sentences, and wrote on the pad that sat on her lap. She said she would be in contact with both her and Rob's assistant shortly and placed her phone in the cup holder in the center console.
"Okay," Sol started clearing her throat in the process, "I know you had put the 'do not call me unless it was an emergency' on, but...a former California Senator wants to meet with you, with us. He wants you to represent him as his attorney, he wants me as your second chair." She paused to look at her notes, "He has offered to pay double our retainers, pay for travel expense to and from San Francisco, as well as a hotel." Sol looked at Rob and continued talking, "He is moving down to Orange County, and would have us local, but his soon to be ex wife will remain in the bay."
Rob gripped the steering wheel and mentally assessed the information, his docket was extensive, but not too overloaded to decline the offer. "When does he want to meet?" He asked keeping his eyes on the road, "Will we have to fly up there and meet him?"
Sol scrolled on her phone to find the information she was just sent, "Yes, however, he has offered to charter a private plane and make it a day trip. Dana and Lily informed him we have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off. I know, we wanted to spend it with the girls, but we can take them up there with us?" She asked turning to look at him.
"Maybe you can come too..." Sol said from the front seat without adding in 'If you're really his' like she wanted. Kelsey nodded her head, overwhelmed by the intense business conversation, and the unexpected invitation from Soledad who had barely even spoke to her.
It was Rob who interjected immediately, "If we can take the girls, have them set it up, after all, it's a free trip to San Francisco." He turned onto a side street and looked over at her when he was met with a red light, "Think about coming, Kelsey."
"When did you start talking like me?" Sol laughed turning to look at Kelsey behind her, "When we have potential clients take us out for a business meeting, usually lunch, sometimes we don't get hired...but sometimes, they do that to block their spouse from having a chance of representing them. It's vindictive, but I find it hilarious in a weird way."
"That's actually interesting," Kelsey replied, "How many cases do you have right now?"
Rob tapped the steering wheel and looked at her from the rear view mirror, "I have ten open cases, seven were closed before the Holidays, and I had rescheduled several meetings this week. Several clients have me on retainer, so if an issue arises, I am there ready to resolve whatever it is that they need." He paused to turn left, and continued speaking, "Soledad has a handful, but she assists me with several of mine, and she's was my second chair for a few of them last year."
The conversation which had cut the tension in half was cut short when the three of them realized where they were, LabCorp. The tension over them lingered like a cloud, as Sol and Rob fell into step with each other holding hands in the rhythm Sol jokingly called 'the lawyer walk'. Kelsey a few paces behind them, had her head down as she typed away on her phone. Rob held the door open for Sol and Kelsey, Sol took a seat and began to reply to emails on her phone. It was the next step in confirmation to an unknown mystery to her husband, and his potential daughter who had been waiting for a day like this since she was seven years old.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
"Hayden, you're supposed to taking your biology test, why are you calling me?" Sol asked as she parked her car in her designated parking space. Her heart sunk when she saw her husband's name and his empty spot.
"I, I finished early. I told Mrs. Gregory that I had to call my mom. And lunch is next, would you come pick me up from school? Becky too?" Her fourteen year old stepdaughter paused briefly before Sol could get a word in, "I don't want to go home, I don't think I can stand seeing Dad like this, I mean, it's like right after our bio Mom died, don't let him get that way again...Becky came into my room last night and started crying, she's so confused. I know Dad isn't at work today, can we hang out in his office until you're done working? I...."
"Breathe," Sol said quietly as she got out of her car, Hayden referring to her as her mom without the prefix of step tugged at her heartstrings, "Go to the front office and wait there, my assistant will pick you up-" she stopped walking to check her watch, "After she picks up Rebecca, she needs to catch her before she goes to lunch. Okay? I love you, don't freak out, it's going to be okay."
Hayden sniffled and said her goodbyes by the time Sol reached the front door of the firm. She acknowledged the receptionists quickly as she made a bee line to her assistant's desk, "Hey," setting her briefcase down, "I need you to go pick up and sign out my kids from school. Rebecca first, she goes to lunch in 20 minutes, Hayden after, here are my car keys," she stopped to take out her wallet, "Here, take my card and go to In-N-Out, get me a number three animal style with animal style fries, and a Coke. Get the girls and yourself something. When you get to the schools, state a family emergency, they'll call me if they have a problem. Do not take them home, bring them here." Sol turned around to see someone was in her office. "Who is that? I don't have an appointment-"
"It's Katherine Falco, she insisted she sees you, instead of causing a scene with security, she's been in there for eleven minutes." Her assistant replied grabbing her purse, "The Fredricks depo is on your desk." Sol nodded and said thank you.
"So, you assault my husband and you come running to me?" Sol asked instead of a greeting. She put her briefcase and purse down on the couch in her office, and sat behind her desk, waking up her computer in the process. "Why are you here, Katherine?"
Katherine Falco's appearance was wearing thin, her resting bitch face was a look of exhaustion and deflation. "I need to make this right...I never meant for it to come out this way, I will do anything."
"Really, Bitch, really?" Sol replied finally getting to say something that she only said in text form. "Okay, let's start with this...you have the option of a handwritten document, or if your hand is still hurting from slapping my husband when he spoke the truth, I can get you a laptop and we have a printer. You will write that you know and will be willing to testify in court, that Rob had no knowledge of Kassidy's pregnancy or Kelsey for the last twenty years. Our in house public notary will notarize this as soon as you're finished."
Her sister in law stopped herself from saying something, after all the guilt finally caught up with her. Katherine mumbled a request for a laptop, and Sol emailed for two unassigned assistants to come to her office immediately. When they entered, Sol didn't even introduce Katherine to them.
"Please bring me a laptop with Word up and ready to go," she said, "I will then need you to go into Robert's contacts, and phone JP Morgan's Manhattan office, if his brother does not answer his phone, call the main desk, if for whatever reason, move onto his personal cell phone. His name is Caleb, tell him that I need to speak with him immediately. Once that happens, go into my contacts, and phone my family's attorney, ask his assistant if the firm's in house notary can make it to JP's office by the end of the business day." She paused looking at the assistant and turned the next assistant, "Do the same for Rob's other brother, his name is William, call him Will, if he gives you attitude, let me know. But, I need you to find a traveling public notary, and see if they can do this by the end of the business day. Have them bill our firm for the services," she said looking at them both, "I want to speak to Will and Caleb, get them on the phones, please."
Katherine was impressed, Soledad's demeanor was something she didn't expect, but then again, Katherine never really made it a point to get to know her. The laptop appeared and within the half hour, Sol assured both her brother in laws that their brother didn't suddenly combust. She requested the same documents from them, letting them know that the two who got them to call her would be taking care of the arrangements; all Sol wanted was to be prepared for anything. Familiar faces appeared with the open of her office door, the need for hugs turned into disappointed and sad expressions. Sol instructed Hayden and Rebecca to go eat in Rob's office, and motioned for the notary to come with her materials.
"I am not surprised at their reactions when they saw me," Katherine said to break the silence as she was getting fingerprinted for the notary record, "But, I can see why he married you."
"I don't need an apology right now..." Sol said handing Katherine the paper, and hearing her recite the oath. "Just do you for now."
A silenced goodbye was acknowledged, as Sol's assistant showed her Sister in law out, and handed her her iPad. Sol walked to Rob's office, stole a fry from Hayden and promised to return. The girls begged to see Barnhardt, Sol promised to see what she could do. But the girls had Uncle B wrapped around their fingers.
"What's up, dad?" She asked sitting down across from Barnhardt as he hung up his phone. Their relationship was a professional father/daughter deal with sarcasm. Sol brought the man up to speed, and he suggested to get the Falco family attorney on the phone.
She had to wait, he was on a conference call. With the phone on speaker, Sol sat there and listened to Barnhardt.
"Let me see, what you have kid, show me what I taught you..." He said looking up from the papers handing Sol his wireless headset.
Sol stood up and paced, watching the girls through the blinds, "Mrs. Falco, he's ready for you.." A soft tone came on the line quickly, she heard the wrong voice, the son of the family attorney on the line. He said that he and his father wanted to hear what a 27 year old coming up on her second year of practice wanted to threaten. Barnhardt nodded, the insult to her intelligence was one thing, but when it involved her husband and her family, it was a whole new playing field.
"Listen, I know what they pay to keep you on retainer every year, I need a PDF file of every check, every bank statement, every receipt, and every bill they paid for in order to care for Kelsey...if I don't have this personally emailed to me by nine tonight, Pacific Standard Time, a lawsuit will be filed in Manhattan when the courts open tomorrow morning, a subpoena will be filed for the Falcos financials, shortly after.
Laughter filled the air on the other end, Sol was on speaker and she rolled her eyes, "On what grounds? You practice family law, you are not a litigator, and you are not registered to practice law in the state of New York, Mrs. Falco..."
Sol dismissed the rhetorical questions, "Nine tonight. Again, a suit will be filed under the representation of Barnhardt. The clock is now ticking, Gentlemen."
"The girls are here and want to see you, B. But knowing my father in law, he does not want this out in the public, I should expect a call within the hour."
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Soledad had a tendency of getting her way; whether it be in her personal or professional life, if she wanted something, she had her way in some sort of capacity. When her phone signaled she had an email only an hour and a half before the set deadline, a Cheshire cat smile spread across her face. Assembling the paperwork would be on top of her assistant's to do list when she arrived to work on Thursday morning.
The hours in the morning had seemed to fly by, she had spent the morning in Downtown LA for a custody hearing, but with traffic, she sat idle for longer than she expected. She had her assistant check Rob's schedule to order lunch, last she had heard, he was in court himself.
Finally reaching the office, she noticed he still wasn't back, and rushed in to see the work her assistant produced. Three binders of copies, highlighted, sorted in chronological order, and expenses broken down with dates included. She was impressed.
Her assistant followed her as she bypassed her office for Rob's where she set up shop on his couch. Lost in thought on a divorce case, she didn't realize she wasn't alone until Rob cleared his throat.
"Hey," she smiled looking up from the file on her lap, "Lunch is on its way, and apparently Labcorp is taking longer than expected with the results being delivered. We're paying for things to be expedited, I don't know if you want to argue...but sit?"
Soledad leaned over and kissed him quickly. "So, here's what I got and what I did yesterday," she said handing him the binder, "The first three pages are written statements from Katherine, Will, and Caleb. Katherine's states that you had absolutely no knowledge of Kelsey or your parents' agreement. While Will and Caleb's basically say that of their knowledge you and as individuals had no knowledge previous of this week. These are signed and notarized."
Flipping to the next page, she pointed things out on the contract that was signed by Kassidy, "Here is where she signed the deed with the devil on not suing for child support," she paused looking at Rob, "However, there is no mention of a civil suit, which if they, as in Kassidy and Kelsey, decide to hire a lawyer to come after you, well us, they can find something to slam us with..."
"Now, in chronological order is everything from medical bills to checks..." She flipped to the next page, "I have it broken down here, $540,000 paid out over the course of eighteen years, they paid out after her eighteenth birthday stopping payments as of December 2012. $2,500 a month...split into two payments of $1,250 on the first and the fifteenth. Some checks were signed to Kassidy and some to her mother."
Soledad continued talking, "If you look, here are all the medical bills, including her birth and some through out the years, the last ER bill being paid in April of 2011. So they basically paid off bills as well? But they never invested in her future?" She asked in the rhetorical sense, "Are they going to come after us for college tuition? We don't have that kind of money to produce right now."
"I'm sorry," she said after a few moments of Rob's overwhelmed response, "I'm just, I'm trying to protect you, Kelsey seems innocent, but her mother..."
The thought was lingered between them, she sat down to his right and pushed the binders to the other end of the table, and imagined her brother in law's reaction as it was being explained. She set the containers out in front of them and sighed, eating was the last thing she wanted to do, but she needed to eat, and forced herself. Stabbing her fork at the salad, a knock on the door broke her concentration. A quick glance, at Kelsey she looked back down at her food and continued eating.
Sol's assistant popped in twice, the first time for her to sign papers in different files, and the second to let her know that her Doctor had called. Keeping to herself entirely, Sol flipped through her phone, text Denise to pass the time, and did not engage in the small talk.
Anticipation had been killing her since the moment they had walked out of the door of the lab on Tuesday. As her husband read the words on the paper, Sol's body tensed, it was finally cemented, and she didn't know how to exactly process that Rob had a daughter only seven years her junior.
"Well..." she exhaled, "I'll be right back."
Friday, January 16, 2015
The work week was almost over, pulling long hours for any week was always exhausting. but Soledad was a different kind of exhausted, mentally, emotionally, and physically in no particular order, she was spent. Her Friday was quiet, a client breakfast, a meeting at another law firm, and quick trip to her best friend's house to vent had all been completed. Now she found herself sitting in the solace of her office, with the blinds closed shut, Spotify playing, and her assistant on strict orders not to be bother unless it was an emergency. It was peaceful, it was calm after the storm settled, and Sol needed this.
Lost on her computer she had several tabs open, her Facebook, her blog, and work related webpages. She did well alternating her concentration on all of them, when there was a knock at the door.
"Hi, can we talk?" Kelsey asked as she peeked through the door, "Your assistant wasn't at her desk, but the receptionist at the front desk said you were in your office...and I just-"
"Come," Soledad said standing up from her desk and motioning to take a seat on the couch, where she joined her after she paused Beyonce. "I was going to reach out to you after I slept more than four hours a night, but that's not your problem. Would you like something to drink? Were you here to see your dad? I don't know if he's back from court yet. I can call him if you want? Do you want a muffin or fruit?"
The awkwardness settled as soon as Soledad had run out of questions to ask. This was the first time Kelsey and Sol had been alone, and Sol's behavior hadn't been the greatest on a personal level. She sat there looking at Kelsey silently. Taking a breath, she started talking on a personal level.
"I want to apologize if you took any of what I did this past week the wrong way. I promise that it was all business, I am well aware that not everything has to do with money...it was business. I had to rule out that you and your mom weren't pulling some Heartbreakers kind of stunt. It was strategy, if it was another attorney, they would have worked another angle and started accusing you and your mom right off the bat." Sol took a breath and folded her hands in her lap, "I know, you and your dad have to play catch up, but don't let me scare you off. I'm not Meredith Blake, I scared a potential though before, Rob and I even thought about anything but a professional relationship..."
Kelsey watched her father's wife sit there in front of her. She had respect for the wife, she wasn't a stereotype. "I get that, you were protecting your family, I saw that immediately. I just wanted to talk to you, before my mother pulls a stunt."
"I don't expect us to rap Iggy together any time soon, but if you're sticking around, which we both do, I hope the age difference between us doesn't affect anything. Would it be appropriate to even take you out when you turn 21?" Sol laughed nervously, "I'm joking, but you know what I mean..."
"Tell me about yourself. How do you know him?" Kelsey asked intently. "I mean, I've been creeping on your Facebook, but other than that..."
"Well," Sol inhaled, "Let's see, my family is blended. I have my biological father, who has my sister, we didn't learn of each other until I was a senior in high school, and then there's his other three children and wife, Ana and I learned about when I was a freshman in college. My mom married the man, who is my father, when I was six, he adopted me before the New York age deadline. I have five brothers and sisters, and a handful of nieces and nephews...my daughter will be a year next month, ummm...." She trailed off, "I met your dad about three years ago? My dad and your grandfather know each other, because I have a bunch of lawyers in my family too...my grandfather knows yours, is a better way to put it. Networking got me an interview to be his assistant while I studied for the bar. Then he became my peer. I'll spare you the details, but it was quick, because I guess we both knew? I don't know."
"Can you tell me more about my...sisters?" Kelsey asked the word becoming reality.
"Hayden's the one with the mouth, I've already talked to her, she's been feeling threatened lately....she's fourteen, cheerleading is her life, Taylor Swift, One Direction, you know the normal teenager stuff. She's a good kid with a guarded heart, she doesn't get close to just anyone. Rob's first wife died four years ago, and I kinda stepped in before we were married to do the things he couldn't do. When she can trust you, I would like you to take of my position that I previously held, now that I'm officially an authority figure..." Sol looked up at the picture she had hung up on the wall and back at Kelsey, "Rebecca, she actually shares a birthday with you. She'll be eleven. loves music, all kinds, and she's fantastic at the piano. She's optimistic about everything and everyone. She will come around a lot faster than Hayden. I just ask that if you're committed to being in our lives, that you don't hurt my girls..."
Kelsey learned about her sisters, but knew that Soledad left out her own daughter. While Kelsey knew that Robert had considered Natalie his daughter, she could sense the adjustment hadn't settled down yet. "Once, I get my mother out of my hair, and everyone settles, I hope to come over often."
"Of course," Soledad said leaning forward to pick up a business card from the coffee table and pen, "Here's my card and my personal cell phone number, really Kelsey if you need to be picked up at...you know the phrase. I'm not going to be your step-mom, please, that sounds gross. Just call me Sol, and we'll figure something out."
"Sol, thank you, really..." Kelsey said standing, "Can you walk me to my dad's office? I kinda wanted to ask him stuff too."
Soledad led the way toward the corridor, she spoke about how if Kelsey had the chance she should sit in on Rob's court hearings, but the girl was nowhere to be found. Coming her way was Kassidy, she knew the broad from a quick search, and she was far from classy.
Instinct had Sol wanting to rip off her earrings and rip the woman to shreds, she even felt herself reaching for the diamonds. The whole office watched the exchange, "Oh I know," she smiled through gritted teeth, "Don't you wish you had this?" She asked holding up her left hand to show the sizable rock and matching wedding band. "He has great choice in women, by the ones he married. Wish I could say the same about you, but unfortunately...that's how the cards fell. Have a nice day!"
All she could hear was Kassidy screeching as she led Rob to the supply room with no windows. With the door locked behind her, "At least it's bigger than a coat closet right?" She asked pulling him in a deep kiss.
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