Chapter 454) Turn of Events

Willow Creek
Sandrine Beauchamp (nee Auditore)

After sufficiently discussing Adrianna’s new husband – her fifth – in great detail, Adrianna and her sisters Giulia and Bianca unanimously agreed this one might be the best one yet.

His name was Thierry, a French native originally, and basically a walking, talking souvenir from Sandrine’s most recent yacht trip around the world.

She had been gone for almost 6 months, a good chunk of that time had been spent with Thierry, they got married on a whim, after which she moved him into her Willow Creek Mansion, once upon a time the DiLaurentis Mansion until it became part of a substantial divorce settlement some years ago preceding husband number 4, Marco DiLaurentis’ death. After a lifetime of cheating on his various wives before Sandrine and getting away with it, he had met his match in the Auditore daughter, raised strong and cunning, which she proved when she walked away from a loveless marriage, now rid of a cheating husband twice her age, but with full custody of their young son and the lionshare of the DiLaurentis estate, which had made Sandrine one of the wealthiest people worldwide. The freshly baked Mrs. Sandrine Beauchamp seemed genuinely happy and in love for once. Every single one of her four prior marriages had been made for all the wrong reasons, all but one had ended with a cheating husband, so to her sisters this was a relieving change of pace, especially since Thierry was very charming and polite, with a ready smile and contagious laugh.

Giulia, Adrianna and Bianca didn’t dare pry too much but did find out that Thierry had two younger sisters, whom they also met as they were currently in town visiting their brother and his new wife, both of them young adults and both unmarried, Elodie and Coralie, whom Thierry had raised since they lost their parents in a car crash when Thierry had just turned 19.

Somehow, the young man managed to not only get his sisters through the terrible loss of their parents, but also raise them, get them through high school, then put first himself, then both sisters one by one through college and start all three of them off to successful lives.

Elodie, the middle child, had become a journalist, Coralie, the youngest, an actress, nowhere near superstar level – at least not yet, but the girls all knew her from starring in a very popular soap opera they all watched. Sandrine was in her mid-forties now, even though she didn’t look it, but it meant she was about 15 years Thierry’s senior, maybe a little more, as he couldn’t be more than 30 years old. Still a nice twist to her usually marrying much older men for money instead of love. Clearly in this scenario, the roles were reversed, she was the one with all the money, he was younger, but they both seemed very genuinely in love.

San Myshuno
Rohan Sharma

Someone who had lost his laughter for a while was Rohan, Nick’s best friend, after news came out that his ex-husband Harrison had already remarried after rushing to take on his pre-marital last name following the rush divorce. Rumor had it that the two newlyweds had applied to have a baby via surrogate, with both their genetic DNA, yet another slap in the face for Rohan, as his sons with Harrison, Arvind, conceived using Rohan’s DNA and a surrogate years before new technology allowed those who could pay the hefty price tag to have both parents’ DNA combined for a child conceived via surrogate, lab magic that was a heaven sent to those unable to conceive naturally. Rohan and Harrison were one of the first people to conceive their first mutual child, son Bodhi that way, the only child even relevant in the bureaucracy war regarding custody during the divorce, but Harrison never even wanted custody. Worse, none of Rohan’s three kids, who had known Harrison most, if not all their lives as their second father had seen him since the divorce. Rohan had tried to invite Harrison over to see the kids, but he told him he didn’t “feel comfortable and would rather not”. BAM!
The new Misters Bettencourt however could often be seen in the club scene making out and displaying their fresh love very publicly, which resulted in Rohan barely going out at all anymore.

Naturally Rohan’s friends worried about him and as friends do, in an attempt to help right the wrongs done onto their beloved friend came up with a plan, when during a double-date night they happened upon a charming and handsome bartender who just gave Nick, Adrianna, Max and AG all the right vibes. After feeling the guy named Darren out for a while, he mentioned being gay, after which AG wouldn’t let it go anymore, she was bound and determined to get him to meet Rohan, so Darren was immediately invited to the next party at AG and Max’s home, a sort of fundraiser to benefit Max, the newly elected mayor of San Myshuno.

At least that was the story behind the invite, clearly the ulterior motives were quite obvious. Rohan was guilted into attending as well and between Nick, AG and Addy – Max politely excused himself from the hookup mess – the two men were introduced and nudged enough until both left with a scheduled date night to look forward too.

Date number one went exceedingly well, several more followed and Rohan found his smile again. And more. Much, much more. Slowly he started to resemble the old Rohan again, find his joy for living again and became more outgoing again, too.

While Rohan had never been the type to rush into things, especially not with three children to worry about, Darren soon became a fixture at his home, he would come to parties with Rohan, they were spotted kissing more than once. Being next-door-neighbors with Nick and Adrianna, eventually the day came that Nick saw Darren sneaking out of Rohan’s penthouse in the wee morning hours when he was going on his early morning run. He watched Darren steal away into the elevator while Rohan waved, the telltale glazed over expression of new love in his eyes, initially he hadn’t even noticed Nick, when he did, he looked like a toddler caught with his hand in the candy jar. Until Nick’s grin turned into laughter.

“Sooo busted! Platonic, huh? Is that what the kids call it these days, you dirty birdies? In that case, Addy and I were platonic all night long too, I could barely get my tired ass out of bed this morning. Oh, and if you need to restock your condom supply for more platonic fun tonight, my grandpa was just here and build Addy and me a pyramid in our ensuite bathroom after I gave him hell for doing that to Chase a long time ago. I’d be happy to share my grandpa’s idea of payback with you.” Nick teased, as the boys had done all their lives, but he was genuinely happy for Rohan.

“Not ONE more word out of you, Cameron!” Rohan warned, blushing.

Nick shook his head, put his finger on his lips, but before he disappeared in the elevator, Nick made ‘boom-chicka-mow-wow’, accompanied by raunchy thrusts of his hips, luckily the elevator doors shut just before Rohan’s slipper hit it. Rohan could hear Nick’s laughter echo in the elevator shaft for a long while after.

It was very obvious that Rohan and Darren, were in love, but after having been hurt so badly by his ex-husband, Rohan just was not ready to put a label on it. Not yet. But Darren was …

San Sequoia
Lucas Calderas

Liam’s sister Leonie’s middle child, son Lucas, hadn’t had good luck in love or life. The fun-loving teen’s big plans of moving on-campus at Foxbury after high school graduation, studying hard by day while partying even harder every night, to be eventually followed by a year of backpacking abroad after graduating college with his engineering degree had faded like ice in the sunshine when in his third semester at Foxbury a casual romance ended with an unplanned pregnancy, derailing both, the mother- and the father-to-be’s lives. A shotgun wedding later, both Lucas and Sasha moved in with Lucas’ parents. It was the logistically and financially soundest way to go for the young couple.

Sasha dropped out of college in her 3rd semester of her art degree, Lucas transferred to a local community college, but before the baby, a little girl they named after her paternal grandmother Leonie was old enough to crawl, Sasha was gone, at barely 20 Lucas was a divorced single dad, with Sasha nowhere to be found. Fast forward 8 years, Lucas, now a Computer Engineer with a degree with honors, was still single, still living with his parents trying to raise his daughter best he could, when the next setback came: a wedding announcement that Sasha had remarried.

Not long after that he got a call from her, the first contact in 8 years, wanting to meet her daughter. Lucas’ first instinct was to shut her down but aspiring to be the type of great father his father had always been, patient and understanding, always with what’s best for the children in mind, he agreed. The first meeting went surprisingly well, Lucas’ parents were both there, mostly for moral support, her new husband came too and turned out to be a very nice guy, Lucas couldn’t help liking him, no matter how much he didn’t want to, and Sasha clearly had changed a lot – for the better. Most importantly, little Leonie loved it, so the visits became frequent. Month by month passed, Sasha never dropped the ball, wasn’t late once, little Leonie looked forward to the visits, so Lucas decided to agree to a change in the custody agreement, so Leonie could go and visit her mom and stepdad over a weekend at some point without it causing legal issues.

Some months later, on the airplane ride from San Sequoia to San Myshuno to sign some papers in family court with his uncle Liam and cousin Nick, both the best and only lawyers Lucas would trust this matter to, Lucas met a young woman who got his tail in the spin the first moment he saw her. She introduced herself to him as Cora, and was seated next to him on the plane. She was beautiful and had she not struck up the conversation, Lucas would have never dared. He wasn’t shy at all, but after his previous relationship ended the way it did, and any subsequent dating attempts were terrible messes the minute he mentioned being a single dad, unless he disclosed it beforehand, which seemed to summon single mothers looking for a dad for their kids, rather than a romantic partner to build a real relationship with like Lucas was, so he had quit trying to meet a woman.

Instead, the long flight felt like it was over in minutes, they never ran out of fun topics to talk about, unwilling to risk rejection in such crammed quarters like the galley of a plane by asking for her phone number, he gave her his, hastily scribbled on an airplane napkin as they disembarked the plane.

Lucas never truly expected to hear from her again, but a few days after his return home he received a text from an unknown number.

Almost deleting it sight unseen, he accidentally opened it hitting the wrong button and his heart stopped. It was her! And she was coming to town, asking to meet up.

As such stories often go, after many awkward moments and lots of anxiety the meet-up went great and both were glad they went. Neither was ready to call it a date, but both had a lot of fun and many interests in common and the same views on many subjects. Both knew there was a lot more going on than just two people with similar interests. A LOT more. Lucas knew he had fallen for the girl and it was obvious, even to him, that she liked him enough to fly all the way to San Sequoia from San Myshuno, where she currently lived.

More ‘not-date’ meet-ups followed, whenever she could break away to come to San Sequoia she would, no matter what he had planned when she called or texted, Lucas cleared his schedule to meet her, always purely platonic, no kissing or physical contact except the obligatory brief hug when he picked her up at the airport and again when he dropped her back off and maybe a touch of a hand, briefly and always in a manner that could be taken a million different ways.
They talked a lot and eventually Lucas felt brave enough to tell her about his daughter.

Her reaction to him opening up about being a single dad was genuine surprise, but in a supportive way, applauding his efforts, which made sense when she told him that she lost her parents as a young teen and her older brother put his life on hold to raise her and their sister, which gave Lucas hope, even more so when she revealed her own secret to him.

Her name wasn’t just Cora as she told him on the plane, but Coralie Beauchamp, she was an actress, kind of a B-Lister at the moment still waiting for her big break, but she was widely known among the soap opera afficionados, like his mom and sister, which explained why Lucas felt he had seen her before, but never connected the dots. When she told him she couldn’t believe he really didn’t recognize her, he told her he was stretched too thin to indulge in watching daytime TV. Lucas revealed that his uncle Liam was married to top tier pop superstar ViVa for most of Lucas’ life, meaning he wasn’t a stranger to being around famous people like ViVa and her famous family. This was when they shared their very first kiss. More a sweet peck on the cheek.

Coralie kissed him, out of the blue, no romantic sunsets, no fanfares or a sequence of romantic music playing, just the kiss, it felt honest, genuine and like a promise of a new chapter in his life. Yet, her action had taken him by surprise, this was when Lucas realized his facial expression and reaction – or lack thereof – probably didn’t match his innermost feelings, probably sending her the wrong signals, so while the way his life hadn’t turned out anything as planned had taken a toll on his self-confidence, when she pulled back from the kiss, he leaned forward and kissed her, more passionately than she had – and she responded in kind.

This time when he dropped her off at the airport, they shared more than just a brief hug. They kissed again. Lucas could still feel her lips on his driving home, making him smile. This was the beginning of something. Something good. Yeah.

Eventually Lucas invited Coralie to his home, introduced her to his parents, sister Christina and the oldest sibling, brother Oliver who was visiting from out of town.

The final step was for Coralie to meet Lucas’ daughter, and that went smooth as butter as well. The moment the little girl touched Coralie’s cheek, she proclaimed that she was pretty as a princess and that she liked her a lot, especially since she made her daddy so happy. Lucas’ heart was lost, hook, line and sinker.

When he drove her to her hotel after the meet the family thing, she asked him up to her room, where they spent a lot of time kissing, until she whispered

“Say you’ll be mine. ONLY mine.”
“Thought that was obvious.”
“Say it anyway!” she swatted at him.
Grinning he winked at her “I gotta go now to take the next batch of girls home to meet my family and my daughter though … cos, you know, I do that with all the girls who are just lining up for this 28-year-old single dad living with his mommy and daddy. Did I mention that we’re not even wealthy AT ALL. I am such a prize!”
“You are, and you forgot to mention the dog. How rude! Poor Ginger! I am SO telling …”
Both laughed, then he got serious.
“I love you, Coralie. I am yours. ONLY yours. Always.”
“Love ya back. And I am only yours too. Lucas …. stay.”

Lucas spent the night, and after a failed marriage and being single for 8 lonely years, Lucas Calderas finally had a beautiful girlfriend and things started to look up for him.

San Sequoia
Connor Cameron & Keira Vatore

Subsequent to their renewed engagement, unceremoniously in the backyard for Connor’s parents’ home, Connor & Keira decided to move in together. Again.

After much deliberation both decided on a fresh start in a new town, and since San Sequoia now held strong meaning to both of them, they chose it for their new beginning together.

With the help of their mothers, both used to negotiate band business for their famous husbands, the AirBnB home Keira and Connor had reconnected in suddenly was available for purchase to them. Their parents bought it for them as an engagement present, Connor and Keira packed up a small moving truck, grabbed their dog Morpheus and moved across country.

Now that they had mastered teleportation, neither even changed jobs and visiting friends and family wasn’t complicated at all. Both enjoyed their new lease on love, and even ‘Morphy’, one of Morpheus’ nicknames, didn’t seem to mind the closed quarters. Having always been the overgrown lap dog type, he was living his best life.

Not a small dog by any stretch, he had always preferred to sit and sleep on top of his owners anyway, when they needed to work, he just loved going out exploring the new neighborhood.

He didn’t even miss Connor’s parents’ dog Aurora too much, his sister from a previous litter of Connor’s grandfather Blaine’s dog Georgina.

Aurora loved the quiet approach to live, lounging until Chase would take her jogging with him, always keeping tabs on her beloved owners, watching them from strategic vantage points. Her younger brother’s rambunctious play-attempt drive-bys usually weren’t met by much love and appreciation from her, which in turn hurt Morpheus’ feelings causing him to become clingy with the next human he saw, which wasn’t always practical in a busy household like the Camerons’.

So, all the way around this move was met by much support, hope and positivity.