One Wild Night

Chapter 439: Conference Call (1)

Sonia who was seated on the couch, watching a movie with Bryan, turned to him when the clock struck 10 PM, "Shouldn't you call them? They've been gone all day," Sonia said, worried about Evelyn and Desmond who were yet to return from their date.         

    

"They are not kids. I'm sure they will be back soon, and if not, they will call. Don't worry about them," Bryan assured her as he ran his hand down her arm.     

Sonia looked at him unconvinced, "Let's give them a call just to be sure they're fine. I could act like I need something," Sonia insisted as she reached for Bryan's phone.     

Bryan sighed as he paused the movie and dialed his dad's line and after the third ring Desmond received the call, "Sonia wants to speak with you," Bryan said before passing the phone to Sonia.     

"Hey, Sony girl! Missing me already?" Desmond asked cheerfully, and Sonia smiled in relief.     

"I guess so."     

"I hope that rascal isn't stressing you out. Do you want us to get you something on our way?" Desmond asked, and Sonia smiled.      

"No. I guess I was just missing you both," Sonia confessed.     

"We just left the movie house now. We will be home soon," Desmond assured her before hanging up.      

"Are you okay now?" Bryan asked, but before Sophia could respond, her phone started ringing with a video call and she flashed Bryan an apologetic smile as she picked it up.     

"Sorry, it's Lucy. This might take a while, so go on without me," Sonia said as she stood up.     

"I will just play soccer instead while I wait for you," Bryan said as Sonia kissed him before leaving.     

She had been waiting for this phone call all day since Jade called to inform her that they would be having a conference call that night. It was just what she needed to get new ideas for her story.      

"I was almost beginning to think you forgot to call back," Sonia said immediately after she received the call and grinned at Lucy.     

"It took a while trying to get Jamal to go to sleep, and I had to talk with mom," Lucy explained apologetically.     

"You sound like a mom," Sonia joked, wanting to see Lucy's reaction, but Lucy giggled.     

"I sound like an aunt. That's the way I will also look after your kids, and Lucas' kids when they visit me," Lucy said, resisting the urge to tell Sonia that she suspected she might be related to Jamal and Candace.      

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"We should give Jade a call now before she goes to bed," Sonia suggested as she walked into the bedroom and dropped on the bed.      

"Before we do that. I received a call from Lucas earlier. He is leaving the country tonight. And guess where he's going?" Lucy asked excitedly.     

"Africa?" Sonia asked, making Lucy roll her eyes.     

"Would I be excited if he was going so far away? Anyway, he's going to see Tyler!" Lucy announced, making Sonia sit up immediately as she looked at Lucy with round eyes.     

"Tyler? You mean your Tyler?" Sonia asked in surprise, and Lucy rolled her eyes.     

"What do you mean MY Tyler? What makes him mine?" Lucy asked with a giggle.      

"Well, don't blame me for calling him that. I still remember clearly how you used to go on and on about Tyler. Besides, he was the one you planned to make out with on prom night before everything went haywire," Sonia reminded her and winced when it occurred to her that she shouldn't have brought that up.     

Lucy on the other hand smiled at the memory of how excited she had been when Tyler asked her to be his prom date. She mused those days when they were young and carefree. Jamie had stolen that from her.      

"That seems like ages ago," Lucy said with a sigh.         

    

"Don't let me ruin the mood. What did Lucas say? Is Tyler married now? The last time I saw him was on their graduation day," Sonia said, and Lucy shrugged.     

"Me too. I didn't have the chance to ask any questions as Lucas was sort of in a hurry. Although, he did say Tyler asked for my number," Lucy said, and Sonia giggled.     

"He did? What if he is still interested in you?" Sonia asked with a wink, and Lucy raised a brow.     

"I don't think so. He is probably trying to reach out for old times' sake. It's been a while and I missed him," Lucy said with a fond smile.     

"Me too. You know I would have dated him had he not been your crush? He was so my type," Sonia confessed, and Lucy giggled.     

"Don't let Bryan hear you say that. I will call Jade now," Lucy said before dialing Jade's line and including her in the video call.     

"I thought you two were never going to call," Jade said with a yawn of boredom.     

"It's Lucy. She was busy trying to get Jamal to sleep," Sonia said, and Jade smiled.     

"How is he doing?" Jade asked curiously, and Lucy smiled.      

"He's such an angel. Although, I think Tom might throw him out of his house soon. They are both in some sort of contest for my attention," Lucy said with a grin, making both Jade and Sonia laugh as she told them about Jamal's exchange with Tom.     

"He always seemed so calm. Who knew the kid was capable of all that?" Sonia asked in amusement.     

"I never would have thought so either. But spending time with him is fun. I doubt Tom would agree with me on that," Lucy said with a happy smile as she thought about the child.     

"I'm sure Tom thinks so even if he won't blatantly admit it. Tom has a huge thing for kids. You'd see it for yourself when you both start having yours," Jade said, and the smile on Lucy's face faltered a bit but only Sonia noticed it.      

"So how are you doing, Sonia? How was your day? I know about Lucy's day already and she knows about mine," Jade said, and Sonia raised a brow.     

"Have you both been bonding without me?" Sonia asked as she looked at them both with eyes narrowed suspiciously, and they giggled.     

"That's not it. Lucy spent the day with Harry's dad. I called to ask her for a favor but she scolded me and turned down..."     

"You said you were not offended," Lucy cut in with a slight frown.     

"I didn't say I am offended. I was just giving Sonia a breakdown of what went down," Jade said, while Sonia followed their exchange with interest.     

"What did you want her to do? Steal Harry's used boxer so you could sniff on it while you masturbate?" Sonia asked with amused interest, and Jade burst into a peal of laughter, while Lucy eyed her in mortification.     

"Sonia!" Lucy called in a scolding tone.     

"I can't believe you just said that," Jade said, struggling between her amusement and shock at the kind of words that had left Sonia's lips.     

"You had better believe it. She is capable of saying worse things than that. I can never get used to it," Lucy said with a shake of her head.      

"What did I say that is so surprising?" Sonia asked, amused by both their reactions.     

"So? Who is going to tell me about this request that was turned down?" Sonia asked impatiently as she picked up her journal and pen, ready to jot down all the interesting details.     

"The floor is open to you, Jade. You can tell her about it," Lucy said making Sonia's gaze shift to Jade.         

    

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"What are you doing with the pen and journal?" Jade asked curiously.     

"How do you think I get ideas for my story? Or why do you think I agreed to stay up this late for this conversation? I need something to write about," Sonia said with a wink.     

"You should be careful about the things you include in your story," Lucy advised, making a mental note not to slip and say anything about Harry and Aaron's situation. The last thing she wanted was for Sonia to write about such a sensitive subject.     

"Yes, ma'am. Now if you don't mind can you tell me about it already?" Sonia asked, urging Jade.     

"Well, it was some sort of mix-up. Nothing that involved Harry's undies, I assure you," Jade said as she went on to explain her request to Lucy and what had promoted it. She also told her about Candace's orphanage story.     

"I see. But I'm curious about something. Lu, did you also think that Candace looked like Harry's mom when you saw the photo?" Sonia asked, and Lucy shrugged.     

"I don't know. I think there might be a bit of a resemblance there. Although I've never seen Candace with such hairstyle so I can't be as sure as Jade is," Lucy said without directly meeting Sonia's eyes.      

"Since you have the photo on your phone why don't you show it to Jamal? Perhaps he might think it's his mom if the resemblance is as striking as Jade thinks?" Sonia suggested.     

"That is right. Why didn't I do that?" Lucy asked rhetorically, thinking that she was going to do that the next day.     

"Even if Jamal thinks so, it doesn't make any difference. It might just be a case of doppelganger or something. Harry's mom is an orphan and she is late so there is no way they can be related," Jade said, and Sonia shrugged, but Lucy said nothing.     

"Well, you never can tell. You know what they say? Never say never. By the way, why do you think the orphanage home story is fishy?" Sonia asked curiously.     

"According to what Candace said she was told by the sisters, they were paid a lot of money to take care of her. That means he is either very wealthy or her adoptive parents were wealthy. Think about it. If they were wealthy why didn't he get a nurse to take care of her? It is one thing to say you can't take care of your brother's adopted child if you're broke, but not when you're wealthy," Jade said matter-of-factly.     

"Personally I think it is pretty normal that her adopted parents' family wouldn't want to keep her since she isn't exactly a blood relative," Sonia pointed out, as she looked from Jade to Lucy.     

"Would either of you raise your brother's adopted child as your own if something happened to him?"      

"Family is everything to us, Hanks. As long as the child belongs to my brother, whether by adoption or birth, that child is my family," Jade said, and Lucy nodded in agreement.      

"I don't think I would give away a child that Lucas called his own whether or not the child was adopted by him," Lucy said thoughtfully, while Sonia pursed her lips in disagreement.     

"We can't judge based on your relationship with your family alone. Maybe he wasn't very close to his brother. Maybe he did not just want her. Maybe he doesn't like kids. Not everyone can make such a sacrifice. Adopting your brother's adopted kid requires a lot. Especially if the child is sickly as you already stated. I'm not trying to say your hunch is irrelevant, I'm just trying to say it could be that there is nothing more to the story than she was told," Sonia said with a shrug.     

"I will tell you what I think. I think he gave the sisters so much money to assuage his guilt over what he was doing. He didn't abandon her only because she was sickly and he didn't want to raise his brother's adopted kid. My hunch tells me that he did so probably because he didn't want her to benefit from whatever her adopted parents might have left her..."     

"Such as a trust fund?" Sonia interjected with a thoughtful look on her face as she paused from her jotting.