Three nods greeted that, with differing degrees of nerves on each face at the thought of meeting all these A-list celebrities and business associates of Danny Tripps.

"Now, Garius will keep you right as to who you should escort to their suite and who can be taken by one of us, or Edwin. Keep your phones handy though, so we can keep letting you know where you need to be and when."

"Sounds like a lot of running around," Kara replied.

"It is," Patricia nodded. "It's going to be like that from ten right through until about three. There'll be spells where nothings happening and spells where you need to be in three places at once. We'll manage it as we go."

"Okay," Kyle said. "What's after that?"

"Back up to your suites, get changed into the outfits Margaret has tailored for you, and then downstairs for a few drinks before the ceremony. Mingle, shake hands, etc. Garius, Heidi and I will be with you to keep you right, let you know who's who, and by that time Peter and Lakshmi will be helping out too."

"Who are they?" Katie asked.

"Colleagues of ours. Mister Tripps had five assistants. Heidi, Lakshmi, Garius, Peter and myself," Patricia explained. "Peter's been running the office and Lakshmi has been dealing with the funeral which is why you haven't met them yet."

"Oh, okay."

"At four the funeral starts, should be wrapped up by five. Kyle, you'll be speaking about four thirty."

"Right."

"How's the speech?" Katie asked.

"Nearly there," Kyle nodded. "I just need some time to go over it this morning, and I'll be good."

"You can do that after breakfast," Patricia said, nodding.

"Margaret said I've to go see Shiro too, get my stubble trimmed." Kyle chuckled, and Katie laughed.

"I think it suits you as it is," Kara said, shrugging.

"Go see Shiro," Patricia suggested. "Margaret can be a pain in the ass, but she's usually right about this stuff. Plus, he can sort your hair out."

"Oh. Heidi said that Betty or Alex would be coming up to do my hair. Kara's too." Katie added.

"Yeah, I've got that," Patricia nodded. "At nine, and then a touch up before the ceremony."

"So what happens after the ceremony?" Kyle asked.

"Reception, back here. It's to be informal, relaxed. There'll probably be some music, drinks, canapes. Then dinner for anyone who wants it later."

"Sounds quite chilled," Kara said.

"That's the plan," Patricia replied. "Mister Tripps wanted something casual and informal, just friends sitting talking, telling stories, singing songs, relaxing."

"What about you guys?" Kyle asked cautiously. "Today's going to be much harder on the five of you than it is on us. You're grieving, or you should be."

"We're busy," Patricia shrugged.

"Not after the ceremony though," Katie pointed out, agreeing with Kyle.

"I'll talk to you about it later, Kyle," Patricia said quickly.

Kyle shook his head. "No, I get that you're busy up to the ceremony, but after that you're off duty, okay?"

Patricia smiled. "There's no such thing as off duty in this job, Kyle."

"There is now."

"That's a good idea, Kyle," Katie said. "I'm telling Heidi the same thing."

"Yeah, Garius too," Kara added. "He's been working really hard and could do with some time off."

"You've got a lot of guests," Patricia began, but Kyle cut her off.

"No. You need to grieve, you need to relax and if you want to get drunk you go right ahead. I'm sure that we can handle talking to a few strangers after coming out here all alone a few days ago, and if there's anything we need to ask, I'm sure we can find one of you."

Patricia didn't look happy but she was smart enough to know when to pick her fights.

"There's nothing else on the schedule for today after that," Patricia said finally. "On the media side of things, our press office is getting hammered with requests, and there's been a list of people who have come forward to be interviewed by the media."

"Anything about my past?" Kara asked cautiously.

"Not yet," Patricia replied. "It's worthwhile mentioning that Diablo Cody used to be a dancer until she wrote Juno. If it breaks that you used to be a dancer, then with the cover story of being a writer you can probably expect calls from the studios asking you to write something for them. They're always looking for the next someone or other, in this case Diably Cody.."

"That'll be no comfort when the press are painting me as a slut," Kara said flatly.

"We've already got strategies prepared if that happens," Patricia replied.

Kara didn't look relieved, so Patricia turned to Katie.

"There's a lot of focus on your photography, and they keep running the headshots you did of Missy Peregrym as examples of your work," Patricia said. "The phrase Celebrity Photographer is getting used quite a lot."

"The shots with the green wall? Window behind her?" Katie asked and Patricia nodded.

"Wait," Kyle said, frowning. "You've photographed Missy Peregrym? The chick from Rookie Blue?"

Katie nodded. "Couple of years ago."

"Wow. She's hot."

Kara chuckled, and Katie grinned.

"Now that we've established that, we should move on maybe?" Patricia said, grinning at him.

He shrugged. "Just saying."

"She's really nice," Katie added.

"I'm sure you'll meet her at some point," Patricia added. "Now then, Katie. Your friends are declining media requests but a couple of girls at college with you have said you were a bit of a party girl but couldn't produce any photos to support it, so that story is going nowhere. A couple of the models you've photographed have been asked questions and have been very positive about you, great photographer, professional, talented, that kind of thing."

"Who said I was a party girl?" Katie asked, frowning.

"I don't have the quotes to hand, but I'll get them for you this morning. Being honest, it's not worth worrying about, and in the next few months you'll get a lot of this happening. People you've never heard of will talk like they're your best friend."

"Sounds like something to look forward to," Katie murmured, looking unhappy.

"Well, the consensus so far is that you're a talented photographer who's making her own way in the world before you found out about your inheritance."

"What about my parents?"

"One of our media people is sat on their front door step, declining interview requests from anyone who asks. They're fine."

"And me?" Kyle asked.

"Well, there's a business profile which looks to have been based on your CV, so someone at the recruitment agency leaked that. One of the directors at the consultancy firm gave a strong statement about how you were a candidate for fast-track promotion and would have been in a very senior position within a few years, that sort of stuff." She paused and looked at him.

"What else?"

"There's a girl called Katrina taking offers from the press for stories about you and a threesome with her and another girl."

Kyle burst out laughing. "You're joking, right?"

"So there's no truth to it then?" Patricia asked.

"I wish," Kyle replied, chuckling. "Never had a threesome, and I've no idea who Katrina is."

"I'll get you a photo of her, see if you can identify her," Patricia added. "This does happen though, so it won't be the last time someone will try and sell a kiss-and-tell on one of you."

"Great. Should I warn my parents or anything?" Kyle asked.

"I'll take care of it," She replied. "Aside from that, there's requests for going on all the usual chat shows and newspaper interviews, stuff like that. We'll get started on that next week."

"Do we have to?" Katie asked, looking unhappy.

"We'll work that out another time. Right now we need to get a move on. Busy day," She added. "And Katie. Today might be a good day to take some candid photographs of some of our guests if they don't mind. They'd be good to release to the press in a day or two, show that you're not just a pretty face and you're passionate about your photography."

"Ooh, that would be so cool," She smiled, her eyes lighting up. "I was wondering about that, but didn't want to ask."

"Heidi will talk to you at some point about starting a photo-blog of your work from here forward."

"I'll speak to her about it," Katie nodded. "Right, I need to go check my cameras, make sure they're charged." She got up and darted out the room.

"That's cheered her right up," Kara noted. "I've got Margaret now."

"Think of it as ripping off a bandaid," Kyle suggested. "Painful but over quickly."

"Plus, whatever she's made for you is going to be gorgeous," Patricia added.

"We'll see," Kara said as she left.

"You!" Patricia said sharply, as soon as they had the room to themselves.

"What?"

"Take the day off?"

"What's wrong with that?" Kyle asked, taken aback.

"What the hell are you thinking?" She demanded, her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

"I'm thinking that todays the day you should be grieving and dealing with your loss, not running about after me."

"You're going to be under the spotlight from the second the first guest arrives here and until the last one leaves. They're going to try and get stories out of you that they can leak, pictures of you that they can take with their phones, anything exclusive they can get because everyone likes to be in the know, and everyone owes journalists favours. You need me to protect you, keep you from making mistakes."

"I'm not a kid, Patricia," Kyle said. "Jesus. Are we arguing again already?"

She narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. "I know you're no kid, Kyle. Think about Katie though. She's naive, open. Do you think she won't reciprocate if someone shares a few secrets with her? Or Kara, with her lack of trust in men and no real time to perfect her cover story? How do you think she'll react if someone asks her about some section in the seventh chapter of her third novel?"

Kyle frowned. "Take a breath, Patricia. Why didn't you say that to them?"

"Because Heidi and Garius are already taking care of them, and they're going to steer them through the conversations."

"And you're meant to be doing the same with me?"

"No, apparently I've got to get drunk," She stated, her hands on her hips. "I can see you're just trying to do good, Kyle, but you need to talk things over with me first. For now, anyway."

"This place is insane," He muttered, knowing she was right in what she was saying, but feeling frustrated all the same. "You need to have some downtime though."

"I get downtime, Kyle. Do you think I was working this morning when I was in the bath with you? Do you think that wasn't relaxing for me too?"

"Okay," He allowed, nodding. "I just worry that you work too hard, Patricia."

"I'm fine, Kyle. Honestly, I'm okay."

He grinned suddenly. "If this morning was relaxing for you, can I at least order you to give me more of them?"

"Try it and I'll kick your ass," She said, smiling. "That's a volunteer only job."

"Fair enough."

"Right, get your ass off down to see Shiro. We'll finish the speech when you get back."

He nodded and wandered out into the mayhem of the preparations.

The hours raced by, a constant hustle from job to job, place to place. Shiro was tidying his facial hair when Kyle had a 'Eureka moment' about his speech and it took him forty minutes to re-write it when he got back, then scribble the bullets onto cards.

Patricia wanted to see what he was going to say, but Kyle felt confident that he'd struck the right note with it and told her she had to trust in him to stand on his own for this one. As he'd caved on the insistence of her having the day off, he knew she had to give him that one, unhappy as she was.

Margaret appeared with a pocket watch that Kyle was to wear in his waistcoat that belonged to Danny Tripps, frowned at him and ordered him into a new shirt, so he got changed and then he was off to greet the first of their guests.

The clatter of a helicopter announced the arrival of the first of their guests, and Kyle, Kara and Katie were waiting as the twin-rotored Chinook landed on the large helipad. They shook hands with Sting, a couple of musicians he'd brought with him, and several of the CEO's. Katie walked Sting off to one of the guest apartments in the main house that overlooked the pool, and then Kara and Kyle were off down to the pier to meet the boat.

The following hours turned into a series of surreal experiences as Kyle and his sisters met people they'd only ever seen on screen or in print. They were treated courteously in some cases, like long-time friends in others. He was overawed at the presence of Charlize Theron, the natural beauty of Salma Hayek and how tiny Pink actually was, with her partner and baby in tow.

Kevin Smith sent his apologies which disappointed Kyle, but he'd apparently been spotted by a journalist at the airport earlier and there was a thing about him and planes, so he'd gone home again.

They had a few minutes to snatch something to eat at two o'clock and by that time, Kyle was famished and twitchy. Patricia put it down to the demands of the day cancelling his workout and his body was reacting to that, so when it was time to get into his suit, he did a quick set of pressups and crunches, then dived in the shower.

When Kyle had donned his suit, added the pocketwatch and emerged onto his balcony, he felt slick, smart and confident. He patted the inner pocket of his jacket to make sure his speech cards were there, and then he turned and saw Patricia.

She was wearing a black dress that came down past her knees, tapering in from her hips, with black heels on her feet. It was simple and elegant, and her blonde hair was rolled up high behind her head, reminding him of a glamorous bombshell from a black and white movie. A simple gold chain hung around her neck.

"The suit looks good," She said, spotting him. "Very nice."

"You look beautiful," He said simply and was pleased to see her blush.

Katie appeared a few moments later wearing a black dress that stopped just above her knee, and a matching short jacket, giving her a mysterious appearance. It fit the contours of her body perfectly.

Kara's outfit was black too, a skirt and top split by a wide belt, with a long jacket over it. A large pair of sunglasses covered her eyes. She looked elegant and had a presence about her.

Kyle lit a cigarette up, and a few minutes later they were downstairs, mingling and making small talk with their guests. Kyle was steered around most of the CEO's, having brief conversations about their plans and what was happening in the future while dodging questions about his own feelings about Danny Tripps and his own plans for the future.

Patricia seemed to be keeping him away from the celebrities in the room, focussing him more on the business guests, perhaps because he was better able to hold those particular conversations, while Heidi and Garius steered Katie and Kara from actor to musician to model.

Kyle finally got to meet Peter and Lakshmi, only for a moment, and he promised to catch up with them later.

All too soon though, Edwin appeared and got everyone's attention, asking them to join him for the ceremony. They all walked slowly along the path to the spot that Danny Tripps had selected for his resting place, and as they emerged into the clearing, Kyle felt Patricia slip her hand into his and squeeze it.

"You okay?" He asked quietly.

"No, but I'll be fine," She replied, giving him a sad little smile.

There was no assigned seating, the chairs set in a half circle around the body of Danny Tripps. It was encased in a cocoon of palm fronds and flowers on a wooden stand before them. A small platform sat to either side, both with musical instruments on them. Patricia left his side and slipped into the second row of chairs with her colleagues and Kyle sat between his sisters in the front row.

He felt a little awkward that he was in the front row at a funeral for someone he didn't know, but he knew it was expected of him, of the three of them, and while they waited for everyone to settle in their seats, dozens of staff filed in behind them all.

Edwin was the first to speak, talking to them about Danny Tripps wishes to be buried here, surrounded by friends and those he loved the most, and thanking them for coming to honour him. Sting then got up and talked about the first time he met Danny Tripps, then he and two musicians did an acoustic version of Danny's favourite song, An Englishman in New York.

Mister Crowler then stood and described his friendship, read a letter that Danny Tripps had written for the occasion that proved to be both witty and emotional and then Neil Finn spoke of a conversation he'd had with Danny Tripps one night about the song Don't Dream It's Over, and how subsequently Crowded House had covered it to great success. He followed that up by playing it, a slow, haunting rendition that seemed to hang in the air.

Kyle felt Patricia touch his shoulder and she whispered in his ear, "You're up. Take your time."

He stood, aware that everyone was watching him, this first real test of any of Danny Tripps triplets that had appeared out of nowhere to inherit the empire, and he walked up to the small podium.

Kyle inhaled deeply, feeling that now-familiar churning feeling in his stomach of nerves, stress, anxiety and he breathed out slowly, removed his cards and began to speak.

He'd re-written the speech in the form of a letter to Danny Tripps, giving it a much more personal feel, and he'd worded it so that what he would say sounded as if it came from the heart.

He spoke of how he and his sisters never got the chance to know the man, but how they were learning who he was from the people he'd surrounded himself with, in their attitiudes and the influence he'd had on them, and their memories of him they'd shared.

He spoke of the regret he had started to feel for never having met the man in person, and how he was only just beginning to understand how hard his decision must have been to give them up.

He went on to talk of the staggering achievements he had made in his life and then explained that the mans achievements weren't what he felt he should be remembered for, but who he was, the memories he left in the minds of the living of the things he'd done, and how it was important he was spoken of in honesty, the good and the bad, and that way he wouldn't be remembered as a list of businesses, but as a person.

Kyle finished off with a promise to continue to get to know who the man was, not just what he left behind, and reminded those present of their duty, as friends and family of Danny Tripps, to keep him alive in the tales they told, the memories they shared. That those memories should be his true legacy.

Kyle turned back to his chair and was surprised to see Katie with tears running down her face, Patricia and Heidi the same seated behind him. Even Kara looked a little pale, and as he scanned around, he could see several of the guests were the same.

"Did I do that?" He wondered as he sat back down. He knew that what he said wasn't how he felt, because he was honestly confused about he felt about Danny Tripps. In some ways he wanted to know who he was, but in others he was angry at the man who had abandoned him, and denied him the opportunity of growing up with his sisters.

Katie immediately took his hand, squeezed it and let it go again, while behind him, Patricia leaned forward over his shoulder and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"You did good, Kyle," She whispered, and kissed him softly once more.

Kyle just nodded stiffly, not sure what to say and genuinely surprised at the reaction he'd caused. That was soon forgotten about as Pink then got up to the stage with one of her band and sung a beautiful rendition of Glitter In The Air, accompanied on the piano. Once she'd sung the song, she told them a story about how she'd visited the island once and sung the song with Danny Tripps, sitting with their feet in the pool as the sun set, and it was how she'd always remember him.