A Sister's Heart

Chapter 20

Having not set an alarm, feeling that she deserved an extra hour or two in bed, Diana woke up just after nine, but instead of thinking about how she had actually rather enjoyed Thanksgiving for once, her mind drifted to thoughts of her Mother's upcoming funeral. It was only four days away now and although so much had already been done, there was still plenty to do.

The sound of footsteps outside the room brought her back to reality. It was only then that she glanced around to see that Veronica was already up, so she too got dressed and headed downstairs, crossing paths with Ivy on the way. "Hey, how'd you sleep last night?"Since she hadn't had her morning coffee yet, she could barely form a response, so simply smiled instead. It had always been that way. No matter how much sleep she got, Diana was like a zombie without coffee. She was the real life counterpart of Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls and having taught Alexis her own bad habits, she was like Rory. The pair of them used to watch the show together when Alexis was younger and pretend that they were the TV mother/daughter duo, since the similarities were uncanny.

"Let me guess... no coffee yet?" Ivy knew her eldest sister too well and was used to how she would get without caffeine.

"Yep. Sorry." Diana stated before flashing Ivy another smile as she continued down the stairs.

Making her way to the kitchen, Diana arrived just in time to answer the phone when it rang. "Hello, Diana Hart speaking." There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds until a voice which she recognised as Don from the printers began to speak. He explained how he had managed to complete half of the order before Thanksgiving and that he had come in today especially to finish it. "Thank You. This really means a lot to us." A smile spread right across her face due to the generosity this man was showing to her and her family.

"Who was that on the phone?" Veronica asked as she wandered through from their Father's old study typing away on her cellphone.

Making herself a coffee, Diana tried to act as naturally as possible when she spoke. "The printers. The orders of service will be ready by this evening."

Veronica didn't reply so much as she stopped moving, and Diana had to turn to face her sister to make sure she was okay, nearly spilling coffee on herself in the process as the newly filled pot he was holding almost went flying across the room. "Sorry!" Ronnie mumbled as she regained her composure and slowly edged towards her sister.

"What's up? The news from the printers wasn't that shocking." Diana joked, trying to lighten the mood as she finally managed to pour her coffee.

"Sorry." Veronica said again. "It wasn't that. Rick, my head of PR sent me an email. Someone leaked our whole concept for the new product launch and the whole things gone to s**t!" She slumped down onto one of the island chairs in defeat, holding her head in her hands.

"Damn! What are you gonna do?" Diana asked, picking up her coffee and taking it over to where her sister sat. She could see how crestfallen Veronica looked and knew this must be serious.

The two sisters sat in silence as Ronnie considered her options. Idea after idea flooded her brain, but none that were of ant use to her. In truth, she had no clue what she was going to do, but right now it was the last thing she wanted to have to think about. Maybe that was the answer; not to deal with it, but to postpone the launch. To think about it and and give herself some time to come up with something bigger and better than the original concept. How? She wasn't sure yet, but to keep her business afloat, she would figure it out.

Noticing the glazed look in her sister's eyes, Diana reached out a hand to comfort her, but also to reel her in from her thoughts. Veronica jumped a little at her sister's touch before apologising yet again. "Sorry. I don't know. This is just too much right now. Maybe it would be best to just put it off until everything here is sorted."

Although she didn't voice her own opinions out loud, Diana thought that her sister was making the right call. "If you're sure."

Veronica bowed her head and thought for a moment before slowly nodding. "Right now, I need to be here; with my family. New York can wait. It'll still be there when I'm ready to go back." It was probably the toughest decision she had ever made, but it was the right one.