Finlay's decision

The weather that morning was befitting the day as the grey cloud descended over Bridgeport, swooping down from the mountains and cloaking the City in it's gloomy despair.


Finlay sighed, he wished it could be a beautiful summers morning with clear skies and a crisp air but mist and fog seemed an appropriate setting for a funeral.


As the town car pulled up outside to usher his family to the cemetery he stuck his head around the twins bedroom door to check that they were ready.

The twins had only recently grown into teenagers but their room reminded Finn that they were still his babies.

He stopped and watched as Iris comforted Ivy, his girls were having to cope with such a devastating loss so soon into their teenage years. 

Although Finn had his own grieving to do that day, he knew that he must remain strong for the girls.


"Time to go."  He said.

He remained stony faced by the grave while his girls grieved for their loss, the past few months had been the most testing that Finlay had ever experienced. 

The strain which his family had been put under thanks to the untrue story about him and Mimi was nothing compared with the turmoil they now endured.  

Finn remained stoic yet once the service was concluded, and the girls had left for home he lingered at the grave side.

He touched the cold smooth stone and said, "Goodbye Mom."
Finally he allowed his grief to release.


"Finn?"


He looked up to find his sister waiting for him, taking her arm he guided her to a nearby bench.

"How are you?"  He asked her.


"Not good."  She replied, close to tears.


"Is there any news from the hospital?"


She shook her head, "None."


The events of that fateful night months earlier raced through Finn's mind. 


The call he received from the police station, "Mayor Traytor, we have your daughter here."  The officer told him.

He had rushed straight there fearing the worst, he found Hope being questioned over the theft of Orlando's car.

He advised her to stay calm and tell the police everything she knew before calling Eliza to let her know that Grady had been in an accident.


Once the police were satisfied with Hope's statement she had been released and begged to be taken to the hospital to see her cousin.

Grady had sustained severe injuries in the crash and had needed emergency surgery to relieve the swelling on his brain.  The doctors described his condition as serious but stable, he was in a coma and they did not know when or if he would come out of it.


Hope was beyond consoling, she felt somehow responsible for the events that had transpired although from what Finlay could gather she had done everything to try and dissuade Grady from his actions.


She insisted on spending the night at his bedside, "In case he wakes up."  She had told him, but he had not and months later his condition was unchanged.

"I visit him and it's as though he's just sleeping."  Eliza told him, the tears sitting heavy in her eyes, "He looks so peaceful, just like when he was a baby and i held him in my arms."


Neriah had escaped with only minor injuries, and had tried to deny her role in the stealing of the car telling the police, "It was all Grady's idea, i just jumped in the passenger side to try and talk him out of it."

But Hope's testimony had already revealed that it was in fact Neriah's idea in the first place and her garage door opener which had enabled the theft. 

The police believed Hope and pressed charges against Neriah sending her to a juvenile detention centre outside of the City. 

As Neriah was escorted away she looked back towards Bridgeport and vowed that one day she would return.

Finlay and Eliza stood up and hugged each other tightly.

"I miss her so much already."  Eliza told him, "I have no idea how i'm supposed to cope with all this without Mom here."

"I'll be here for you."  Finn offered, although he knew he was no substitute for Audra.

"Finn, you have the girls to worry about."  Eliza replied, "How is Hope?  She still visits Grady every day."

"She's not doing so good.  She blames herself for not stopping him."  He sighed.

"When he comes round everything will be alright."  Eliza stated, this had been her mantra for months now.

Finn realised that she needed to tell herself this, it was her only way of getting through the day.

Finlay needed some time to reflect, away from his family so he asked his driver to take him to his office at City Hall. 

His job had come second to everything else during the recent months and the campaign for re-election had been furthest from his mind.

As he sat at his desk he realised he didn't have anymore strength left to fight off Marcus, he had expended it all in caring for his family. 

Pulling out a writing pad from the desk he began to scrawl down a statement outlining his decision not to stand for re-election. 

He believed in that instant that he should follow his own words and be the family man that he expected others to be.

 As he touched pen to paper he was disturbed by the sound of his office door opening, to his shock Marcus entered the room and sat down.

"What are you doing here?"  He asked, angry at the nerve of his intrusion.

"I wanted to offer you my deepest sympathies, i know today was your Mother's funeral."  He began.

"Come on Marcus, we've known each other long enough now, surely we can stop with this charade.  Just tell me why you're really here."  Finn demanded.

"I know how hard these past few months must have been for you Finlay and i wanted you to know that i regret my part in that."

"Get to the point!"!  Finn said, not buying a word of it.

"When the story about my father was in the press i watched it ruin him and i was angry.  I thought if i took revenge that my anger would fade, but it only made it worse and now I've turned into the person i hated all these years, I'm no better than Cain."  Marcus admitted.

Finlay realised that Marcus was being sincere, leaning forward on the desk he asked, "So what now?"

"I've been offered a job by my old boss, President Fenton.  He wants me to work for him in Sim City and I've accepted his offer."  Marcus told him, "I'm dropping out of the election for Mayor Finlay, and i wanted you to be the first to know."

After a while Finn replied simply, "Thank you."

Marcus stood up and offered his hand which Finlay shook firmly, they said nothing more but smiled at each other knowingly in the way only old rivals could.

Finlay scrunched the letter in his palm and tossed it into the trash before heading home. 

He lingered a while outside and found himself drawn to his fathers garden.

Tate had been right when he told him that this was a good place to think and Marcus had helped him to clear one problem from his mind.

He no longer had to fear the strain of election time as without an opponent he would be re-elected by default, but he knew that he could no longer allow work to come before his family. 

He had been thinking for a while now about his legacy and who he should eventually pass the house on to and now seemed like an appropriate time to make his decision. 

It was not an easy choice as each of his girls had their strengths and weaknesses.

Hope was brave and caring, she looked after Ivy and Iris and Cherry's daughters with a protective nature he so admired. 
But she could be temperamental and argumentative.

Ivy was head strong and confident, she would no doubt grow to be a very independent woman. 
But she was so determined in her goal of fame Finlay worried that she may lose sight of the things that were most important.

And finally there was Iris.
She was such a good girl always helping out her Mom she was incredibly sweet natured.
But Finlay worried that she was naive to the ways of the world and may not have the strength to shoulder such a responsibility.

Sighing he toyed around with his options one more time before heading inside, his decision was made.

Chapter3.13

HEIR