Lee l'a écrit –– beaucoup était évident. S'adressant à chacun des enfants de Carrington et scellant anachroniquement avec de la cire, les dix enveloppes ont été envoyées à travers le pays, même en dehors de celui-ci dans certains cas. Leur contenu était identique : une lettre dactylographiée sur la crème chère, la décoration autour de la frontière de couleur lisse et dorée; une petite carte avec un numéro de téléphone sur elle à RSVP; et, bien sûr, des billets d'avion de l'endroit où la résidence du destinataire se trouvait au Colorado.
Il lisait de façon rigide comme ceci:
À qui cela peut concerner,
Nous aimerions vous inviter à l'Hiver Lodge pour la saison des fêtes. La nécessité d'un regroupement familial est urgente et attendue depuis longtemps. Je ne suis pas sûr que vous vous en souveniez, mais nous y avons passé des vacances toutes les dix ans, quand le travail pour Trium-Veritas s'est calmé et permettrait une pause. Beaucoup d'entre vous étaient jeunes la dernière fois que vous avez visité, si jamais vous avez visité du tout, et maintenant que nos enfants sont tous des adultes, je suis sûr que la rupture du vin est beaucoup plus appropriée, et légale.
L'événement durera du 21 décembre au 5 janvier et comprendra des célébrations pour le jour de Noël et le nouvel an. RSVP dès que possible afin que nous puissions préparer les chambres et les cabines, si nécessaire. Nous souhaiterions bien sûr la bienvenue à vos propres familles. Si plus de billets sont nécessaires, notre secrétaire les réservera pour vous.
Il est peut-être étrange que nous parlions maintenant pour embrasser tous nos enfants, mais Cassiopéia et moi ne sommes pas de plus en plus jeunes, et c'est parfois comme cela, par ce que je veux dire Noël, où des choses comme l'héritage et l'avenir viennent à l'avant-garde de notre esprit. Ça me frappe en particulier. Les enfants qui ont tout simplement abandonné le contact avec nous, même ceux qui m'ont dit clairement qu'ils me haïssaient, ne sont jamais loin de mes pensées.
Succès ou pas, vous êtes toujours Carringtons. C'est une opportunité – et non, ce n'est pas une opportunité d'affaires. C'est une occasion pour nous de nous amender. C'est l'occasion de rencontrer de nouveaux membres de la famille : épouses et maris, sœurs et frères, petits-enfants. J'espère que vous y assisterez.
Cordialement,
Lee et Cassiopéia






Les feuilles tournaient les couleurs vingt étages en dessous. Dans le gratte-ciel qui abritait Trium-Veritas, la porte du bureau de Lee est fermée, un panneau ne dérange pas est mis en place, et le riche bureau d'acajou bordé d'os d'espèces menacées – ou quelque chose de blanc comme ça – est entièrement réservé aux affaires familiales plutôt qu'aux affaires.
Trente documents distincts couvraient le bureau, la plupart d'entre eux n'avaient qu'une page, mais certains grimpaient au-dessus de trois et étaient agrafés. Il y avait deux copies de chacune, l'une pour lui et l'autre pour Cass, et la plupart d'entre eux, sinon tous, avaient été marqués libéralement de plumes rouges et bleues. Des mots ont été notés, des suggestions ont été ajoutées dans les marges, et dans certains cas (à l'encre que Lee utilisait), un grand mémo dans les capitales de blocs lit, «THIS IS AWFUL.
Il aurait été plus facile de trouver un auteur fantôme pour cela. Un élève de l'université – le plus mélodramatique le mieux, il a dit à Cass, écumant sur le projet final qu'il avait écrit qui pourrait obtenir le sceau d'approbation de Carrington. Payez-les un couple de mille, branchez-les avec quelques opportunités d'affaires et des interviews et vous y allez ; il n'y a même aucun risque de fuite à la presse.
Si Cassiopeia n'avait pas été élevée pour être prim et propre, elle aurait reniflé de façon dédaigneuse. Soulevant les yeux de ses propres papiers, elle fixa son mari dans un regard complet. Plus facile, oui. Mais êtes-vous en train de dire que votre écriture est au niveau d'un étudiant snot-nosed, protégé? Oh, s'il te plaît. Si c'est le cas, nous devrions l'avoir fait il y a des années.
J'ai pris Maths, ma chère. Physique. Les affaires. Un poète-maître, je ne suis pas, a dit Lee, inclinant le dos dans son siège en cuir. Il était à une trentaine de secondes de mettre ses pieds sur le bureau comme il le ferait à la maison si pour aucune autre raison que de broyer les engrenages de Cassiopéia. Ce n'est pas un étudiant, alors. Un artiste affamé. Quelqu'un comme ça serait vraiment en contact avec nos enfants.
Lee a siroté son thé – un mélange d'Europe, bon pour les nerfs et «nettoyant pour l'âme» si la boîte avait une vérité à lui. La lettre, cependant. Pensez-vous que ça va bien se passer?
"Cassiopeia a dit dans ce qui était censé être un ton rassurant — qui a perdu une partie de sa validité dans sa façon typique de parler et de son ton de type business-like. Elle a regardé au dernier brouillon une dernière fois, scannant toutes les typos et les fautes d'orthographe qu'elle connaissait n'existaient pas, avant de se redresser et de s'en détourner délibérément.
C'est le mieux que l'on puisse faire, Cass murmure, écrase l'épaule de Lee. Il n'est plus nécessaire de l'écrire à nouveau.
Je pense que c'est la première fois que je t'entends dire quelque chose comme ça en... quoi, quarante ans de mariage? Ici, je pensais que tu étais le perfectionniste.
J'en suis déjà arrivé au fait que vous êtes loin d'être parfait, mon cher mari.
Lee a mis de côté la dernière ébauche de beaucoup sur le côté du bureau, a poussé ses lunettes de lecture sur son front et a enroulé un bras autour pour tirer Cassiopéia plus près. Je vais envoyer un mail à Elaine en même temps que nous les envoyons, et je vais appeler Nathaniel pour s'assurer qu'il le sait dans la boîte qu'il a mis en place, il l'a informé. Il y a des adresses de tout le monde, y compris
"Sam"s. Les Gabe. Esther. Essayez autant qu'ils peuvent, ils ne peuvent pas se cacher de parents riches comme nous.
"Vraiment, nous pourrions les traquer... Seulement si nécessaire, bien sûr." Cassiopéia a répondu avec un soupir. Notre première et probablement la dernière grande réunion de famille. Est-ce que... Pensez-vous que les gens viendront?
Mais Lee a hésité. Je ne pense pas qu'on ait été si terribles qu'aucun d'entre eux ne vienne, mais peut-être... qu'on pourrait manquer quelques-uns.





La neige tombait au son de Wham! à la radio – un flirt promettant que, comme prévu, ce serait un autre Noël blanc. Le Colorado était froid à cette époque de l'année, gelant, et déjà le personnel avait été dehors pour gratter et seller le chemin torride jusqu'à l'héberge bien nommée Winter Lodge. Il pouvait le voir depuis le deuxième étage et regardait (pas avidement mais plutôt avec intérêt) pour que le premier de ses enfants le conduise.
L'Hiver Lodge était grand, peut-être pas de la même échelle que la Californien Carrington Estate ou la dépense de leurs différents penthouses à Manhattan, mais il avait un charme pittoresque à lui. Trois étages de chambres qui avaient été réclamés par chacun des enfants dans les années passées, certains d'entre eux toujours avec des bibelots et des chances et se termine toujours en eux, intacts pendant de nombreuses années. Les RSVP avaient été envoyés. Ils revenaient.
Lee n'était pas sûr d'être nerveux ou pas, mais il ne s'est pas installé.
Pendant ce temps, Cassiopéia tirait des directions et des ordres aux servantes et aux domestiques au premier étage. Le personnel a été mis au travail car la propreté de l'Hiver Lodge n'était pas tout à fait à la hauteur des normes Cassiopeia. Bien qu'ils aient mis le personnel de nettoyage en charge de garder la loge prête pour les gens à un moment donné avis, le personnel de nettoyage s'est un peu ralenti en raison des années de vacance. Bien sûr, ils recevraient une sterne qui parlait, mais la première priorité était de remettre l'endroit en forme.
Cassiopeia et le personnel avaient travaillé dur depuis tôt le matin, essuyant les surfaces, redressant les meubles, l'aspirateur et d'autres tâches de ce type. La première fois que Cassiopeia a pris le temps de regarder l'horloge, elle avait été rassurée qu'ils avaient encore plusieurs heures jusqu'à ce que tout le monde soit censé arriver. La deuxième fois qu'elle avait vérifié l'heure, il était déjà 14h45; 15 minutes avant l'heure d'arrivée prévue.
Collant ses mains ensemble, Cassiopéia a rassemblé tout le personnel devant elle pour un dernier briefing. D'accord, maintenant que le reste de la famille va arriver, voici ce que vous devez faire. Dès que quelqu'un entre, saluez-les poliment. Parce que beaucoup d'entre eux n'ont jamais été ici auparavant, les guider vers les chambres. Ils peuvent choisir dans quelle chambre ils veulent rester, mais assurez-vous de vous rappeler lesquels ont déjà été réclamés. Toujours offrir de prendre leurs bagages, et surtout, de descendre au salon principal dès qu'ils seront installés.
Après un refrain de "Yes ma"ams, Cassiopeia se retira dans sa chambre alors que le personnel se positionnait rapidement pour l'arrivée des Carringtons. Comme le personnel attendait que les gens se présentent, il était prêt à accueillir n'importe qui dès qu'il est entré dans le pavillon d'hiver; et comme le personnel était placé stratégiquement dans diverses parties de l'immeuble, il était fort peu probable que quelqu'un se perde à l'endroit assez vaste.
La scène a été fixée. Tout ce qui restait, c'était que les joueurs arrivent.
"Some men get the world, some men get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona.
You're in with the former, but my God I don't envy the blood on your conscience."
– James Elroy, L.A. Confidential




⚜ N A M E 
Lee James Carrington
⚜ A G E 
Sixty-Eight
⚜ G E N D E R 
Male
⚜ O C C U P A T I O N 
CEO and owner of North America's largest energy company, Trium-Veritas. TriV functions primarily in the western half of the United States and is pushing north into Canada, fighting a war of attrition that they are most certainly winning through their cut-throat business practices. Their whole spiel is upholding the family values they supposedly started out on while promoting cleaner energy for future generations.
⚜ S E X U A L I T Y 
Gray-A Heterosexual
⚜ R E L A T I O N S H I P S T A T U S 
Married to Cassiopeia Carrington




⚜ A P P E A R A N C E 
Tall at 6'1" and broad-shouldered, Lee boasts an impressively normal build. While he looks young for his age (late fifties at the latest!) time is catching up to him in the form of more 'fine lines' than he knows what to do with. On the whole he isn't especially fit but has lived an active enough life going into old age for new flaws to pass by unnoticed, and pastimes like golf and horse-riding have done him well on the whole.
In the last decade, his hair has gone from dark brown to grey and is on its way to growing in white with a matching beard. For now, he has a salt and pepper look. He is still rather handsome with characteristic blue eyes that haven't faded in the slightest, though now he often sports reading glasses due to fading eyesight. He will deny it if asked, but there is no doubt that Lee has had some plastic surgery done to smooth out his forehead and tighten a sagging face.
Generally Lee wears tailored suits and dress shoes, all obscenely expensive. His attire tends to be navy. At home, however, he wears sweaters and shirts that are naturally designer themselves, though tame. Lee is clearly a man of expensive tastes. He does have a well-made albeit old and worn watch that he is never seen without.




⚜ P E R S O N A L I T Y 
Lee Carrington is many things – intelligent, strong-willed and oftentimes intimidating – but he has never been a good parent. A ruthless attitude to his work does not translate well into family life or even interpersonal relationships. His honesty is brutal, not refreshing; his cynicism disheartening, not sharp; and his firm belief that hard-work is the only way to be worthwhile in life is at times crushing to others, because in his mind nobody will ever work as hard as he has. Bs and Cs are unacceptable, because you can do better. Getting an A is only good if the score is 100%.
It is impossible to get anywhere in the business world without being personable, and Lee has made it. He knows how to make jokes and when to laugh at other people's, and he even seems like a reasonable guy on the outside, if a little chilled. Going out for drinks after work has never been a part of his lifestyle, and neither has the concept of free time. Distant might be a good way to explain his approach to parenting, especially for his younger children (because, at that time, he'd already accepted his lot in life as "just as bad as his own father").
One key characteristic is that Lee seems to lack empathy, or at least has been unable to show it in forty plus years of family life. One of his kids crying about being bullied? Lee will tell them to toughen up, and maybe make a few mean-spirited jokes at their expense. Are they expressing insecurities? Well, they're not wrong – those are a lot of problem areas; they should work on fixing those... In addition to his aversion to physical contact, a side-effect of being stoically masculine, it is unlikely that Lee has ever seemed like a caring father and he knows this.
He played favourites. He knows it, Cassiopeia knows it, and more importantly, his children know it too.
He does care, or at least, he thinks he does. Lee keeps sentimental trinkets and newspaper clippings, old school reports and new newspaper articles for his more successful children. He has never forgotten a birthday or an anniversary. He keeps tabs on his children to the best of his ability. He doesn't call them, but doesn't cancel an incoming call.
Lee was always taught not to live with any regrets and push forwards instead. Now he has aspirations, no matter how foolish and unrealistic, of fixing his wrongs.
⚜ L I K E S 
 Cold weather: cocoa and scarves and skiing and Christmas carols.
 Family trees and genealogy.
 Trium-Veritas.
 Physics-based desk toys.
 The future, both on personal and more general levels.
⚜ D I S L I K E S 
 Disappointment (and disappointing others).
 Most people outside of his own family.
 Journalists and paparazzi.
 Tears: other people crying.
 Stress-induced headaches and migraines.
⚜ H I S T O R Y 
When did the Carrington name become a household one? Trium-Veritas has been in the family since its founding, but it's only in the last forty-five years that it has expanded outside of California. When Lee was a child, it was his father's labor of love. They were wealthy but not obscenely so as they are now, old money more so than a fortune made from the company. The chain of deals that had them expanding more and more began in his early teens. Lee's upbringing as a result has always been one of privilege, at least when it comes to money and material goods.
Lee's earliest memories are of his family home in small town California – a manor house almost as old as America. His father was not home often in his childhood, choosing to stay in a small apartment in the city rather than raise his kids as was his prerogative. His wife, Elaine Carrington née Lewis, chose to delegate the rearing of her five children to the maids and nannies that her husband was fortunate enough to hire. She preferred daytime drinking and dress-shopping, pretending that she could have been a big name film star if only her nerves weren't so tumultuous.
She was a true Southern belle, and vain as hell. She played favorites with her children, more often than not preferring the quieter ones who knew how to handle themselves. Independence was valued in the house. Lee, as the second youngest (with only a sickly younger sister after him) was raised by his older twin brothers more than anyone else. Family life was less than wholesome and at times an arena where kids were pitted against each other in attempts to get some – any – attention.
When the twins left for greener pastures and to start their own enterprises, Lee was about ten years old, and it was his job to handle Darcy Carrington while his brother Louis was tearing up the town. That was about when Father came home, immediately laying down the law and preventing his older brother's wise-cracking, womanizing ways and disregarding his sister for her fragility in a strong breeze. Given that two of his children had already abandoned him (the heir and the spare, some would say) that left only Lee.
Admittedly, this was more of a problem for his siblings. His father favored him over the others. As he became the youngest after his sister's death, Lee stayed, and did everything necessary to earn his father's approval though fell just short of meeting it. When he was in his early twenties and studying at Harvard (Physics, firstly, before switching it on his father's request to business), his older brothers completely dropped off the radar and abandoned the family despite having been only barely in contact over the years.
Lee was on a shorter leash after that.
Almost as soon as he graduated, he took over the family business. His father was an older man and with rapidly failing health, he began training Lee to be his successor – the only child who stuck close. That included networking and meeting all of the business partners his father had built up over the years. Schmoozing with everyone from radical liberals to right-wing bigots. It was at some party (that Lee swears he can't remember) he met Cassiopeia.
Before that point, Lee hadn't been romantically interested in anyone. How could he be? Louis was practically disowned for his debauchery – affairs with men and women and a reputation that was known several towns over – while the twins settled down with the same woman, as he would later find out. They were friends first for a long time. Probably too long, if Lee was being honest with himself, which was unusual. He was always quick to mobilize in other areas of his life. Despite it being the early seventies, he 'courted' her. Cassiopeia was always seen on the arm of the young Carrington heir; rarely separated. The talk of the town.
Engagement was a business arrangement first but the marriage was one of love. At least, Lee wants to believe that, no matter how much he worries that it's not the case, and that Cassiopeia wouldn't tell him.
It was thus in their early twenties that two life-changing events occurred: Lee's complete takeover of Trium-Veritas and the birth of his first child.




⚜ M I S C E L L A N E O U S I N F O 
Fluent in German and French, with passable Spanish tacked on to the side.

Cassiopeia Carrington
"Write what your character will say out loud about this person here"
Write a little more in-depth about what they really think about this person here.

Samantha Carrington
"..."
It is hard for Lee to pinpoint the exact moment where parenthood became synonymous with failure, but he imagines it can be found somewhere in his eldest's upbringing. Samantha is a disappointment. She always has been. He remembers Cassiopeia's enthusiasm, way back when. He remembers her eagerness to have a child, at the pregnancy so soon after marriage. He remembers a bookshelf filled with guides to motherhood, fatherhood, and he remembers the scans – a girl instead of a boy; she's going to be so much like her mother, they had said.
Even back then, he hadn't wanted that. For Samantha (whose name they had picked out and signed off on like a business agreement very early on) to turn out like her mother, they would need to be both terrible people and terrible parents.
The moment was when Sam became a sentient human being, a child capable of conscious thought and rational discussion (somewhat – she did go into the Arts) who he was responsible in creating. It was when he realised how easy it was to not turn out like his own father, who was rather heavy-handed in his approach to discipline, and how difficult it was to not turn out like his mother, who would rather not mother at all. Samantha, at age seven, presented the most difficult problem Lee had ever faced; more difficult than any calculation in college or conference at TriV:
How does one connect with their kid? Empathy – where could he find it? Why didn't he have it? Was it just protective instinct? He had that, he supposed, but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry when she cried; he just wanted her to sort it out, to deal with the problem. Lee just didn't have it in him to be sentimental, he told himself.
There are three of her paintings up in various places around the Carrington Estate, and more than a few earlier pieces in their winter holiday retreat, untouched.

Arthur Carrington
"He... turned out well. I'm happy for him. Really. He's a better man than I, in some ways."
And then there were two. Arthur came at an inopportune time not because of any conflicts with Lee's schedule but rather because he was already struggling with Samantha. He hoped that his son – his first son! – would be a breath of fresh air. Perhaps Lee still clung to the idea that men were from Mars and women from Venus to explain away the impossibility of understanding or connecting with his daughter.
Arthur, even as a kid, reminded him little of his dour self – a fact that was both a blessing and a curse. He was too... too... genuine. He laughed too much, and it was usually sincere. He made whatever jokes came to his mind first, regardless of the consequence, be it a cringe or a raised eyebrow. Lee would never do that, not even when he was a sour seven year old who didn't know how to smile.
Lee wondered whether genetics were at play and if that was the reason that Arthur was much more like the older brother he had named him for, one of the two who had raised him in place of a father. The Carrington work ethic has never been present in Arthur and at times it frustrated Lee to the point where he was harsher than he needed to be. All the tutors in the world couldn't fix a lack of drive.
(That thinking, that Arthur needed to be fixed, leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.)
Arthur has a family now. That's good – even Lee can see that his parenting hasn't damaged his son irreparably like his own parents' method did to him. He's much better off for it. When he heard about the upcoming birth of his kid – at that point the first grandchild he'd ever heard of (given that Sam had never contacted them since leaving) – Lee offered to give them, 'anything they might need.'
The answer he got back was, of course, negative. They had everything they needed.

Gabriel Carrington
"Gabriel ended up as a frustrating person. I'm almost glad he left."
Maybe he's shot someone by now, Lee often muses, but he doesn't have a concrete answer. After all, he hasn't seen Gabriel since he left home in a blaze of glory.
Gabriel had always been weak, though perhaps his father didn't have much of an idea how to counter bullying. He had older brothers for that himself, after all, and if they weren't around, he'd use words and money sparingly and turn someone else into a target instead of himself. It was no surprise that when he tried to hint that the only way to avoid it was to fight back – whether it was physical or psychological – his son picked the former.
Lee tried to parent, he really did. The intervention did nothing; the pep-talk in which he promised that Gabriel would never (was "unlikely" to) be a disappointment was taken in the wrong way and for the first time since Samantha was born, he gave up. He gave up on even the pretense of being a good father, because he was being hated for something that he had very little control over.
The Carrington patriarch was frustrated. Samantha had her art; he knew she would be successful without college. Arthur went to college, he tried. But Gabriel? Gabriel ripped up all of his letters of acceptance and scholarships for a pipe-dream of being a G.I. Joe action doll – or at least, that's Lee's perception of it as an anti-war pacifist.

Mathias Carrington
"Well, at least he's doing well for himself?"
Lee, on Mathias: 'He's a weirdo, isn't he?' It's neither cruel or unkind when he says that, voice filled with a sort of exasperated fondness when it comes to one of the children trapped in the middle. Cassiopeia was taking care of most problems from Mathias on, and Lee would only reappear to correct mistakes, suggest fixes and sometimes, sometimes congratulate a job well done.
Unlike with Gabriel, he wasn't aware that Mathias was being bullied in high school, and even if he had suspicions of it, he decided to keep his nose out of it. If it didn't work for the third eldest, it wouldn't work for the fourth. And besides, maybe there was reason to beat him up a little... Lee remembers autopsy videos, and grimaces every time.
But then again, he can't complain. Mathias knew what he had to do to get where he wanted. His temperament was undeniably Carrington-esque, even if his backbone wasn't. A doctor? Lee would have preferred business for him, but he supposed it was inevitable given his unusually morbid interests as a child.
(The other option was a serial killer, so being a surgeon is preferable – Lee doesn't need to become an accomplice in hiding bodies.)
Mathias was never one of Lee's favourites, but he is one of the most successful. He knows his son's wife, has heard of both of their success and now recently the birth of their children. It seems that twins run in the family – there's at least one pair in each generation. Lee sent a congratulations card, and took the time to pick one out himself rather than delegate to Cass.

Charles Carrington
"Write what your character will say out loud about this person here"
Write a little more in-depth about what they really think about this person here.

Esther Carrington
"I haven't listened to any of her music, nor will I ever."
Yet again, Esther was one of the children Lee didn't make time for. When she was younger, he gave it a go, but after having raise so many already – half of the Carrington spawn – there was only so much he could do. Lee knew his limits when it came to parenting. He listened patiently to recitals, gave small corrections here and there and was occasionally fatherly, though his heart wasn't always in it.
He came back into her life in her early teens when she was using drugs and, out-right, told her to cut it out, because he wouldn't support that constant lifestyle. The lighter stuff he could handle; an alcoholic kid he could handle (and already was, because Nathaniel started early); however, with the risk of death and injury that came with what Esi was taking, he could not and would not "deal".
He knew the truce could only last so long and is not at all surprised to hear of her 'career' as a DJ out in Europe and Asia. Lee considered disowning her, decided it was too much of a hassle, and returned to putting in no effort whatsoever.

Nathaniel Carrington
"He comes home every now and then. I don't know why."
No smoking in the house; if you're going to choose suicide-by-cancer, you do it outside like a civilised person.
Nathaniel was one of the more problematic children, but Lee never disliked him. Before Elaine was born, he was convinced that he was the closest one to his own personality that he would ever have. For them, mutual understanding came easily, and the closest thing to empathy Lee had experienced for any of them. By his son's sixteenth birthday, however, he came to the realisation that his son – the one whom Cassiopeia frequently referred to him as a 'tearaway' – was more like Louis Carrington than any of the others, even without having his namesake.
If you so much as think of using opiates, I will throw you out of this house – son of mine or not.
From then on, the progression of events became clear. Nathan didn't antagonise Cassiopeia for attention, he did it for fun and because he could. He was nice and kind to his siblings but an utter rebel at heart; someone who would never run a business or bow to his elders. What he did, he did for himself. Generosity to his siblings had a side-effect of feel-good dopamine. Nathaniel was destined to live life on the fringe of society, much like Esther, so beyond the ground rules Lee set for him, he let him go. Lee only expressed his disappointment a few times with Nathaniel, and more so in earlier years when he thought it could still work on him.
Try not to die out there.
That Nathaniel returns home frequently to visit his siblings – even the older ones that he hunted down out of his own free-will – is something that Lee is proud of him for. That his pen-name is Nathaniel Archer and not Carrington is unsurprising but stings nonetheless.

Indiana Carrington
"I'm surprised she isn't a famous musician yet. It's a shame."
Another one gone.
A dull pang of something like regret hits Lee each and every time he thinks about Indiana. He chose her name, too – not Cass, because it was his turn – which seems almost obvious given that it isn't so high-brow and refined. If either she or his wife knew that Indiana was named after Indiana Jones, well, he'd be a dead man walking (though he thinks that Cassiopeia suspects).
It likely hurt Cass more than it did him when Indiana informed them that she was leaving home, but Lee knew that it could be attributed to him. He was at fault. Business slept for nobody, and the concept of a 'day-off' that was scheduled less than two years ahead of time messed up his relationship with his youngest daughter – one that was going reasonably well, so far as his emotionally-constipated self could tell.
If Gabriel was the first sign that over-involvement in a kid's life was bad, Indiana was the first sign that distance did not make it better.

Emile Carrington
"How could Cass and I ever produce something that nice? He's nothing like either of us."
Emile was meant to be the youngest; it was meant to end there. Lee did not give him the attention he deserved, though he supposed his son didn't seek it out too much, either.
What Lee knows: Emile was a nice kid who was similar to Arthur (funny how his family was palindromatic like that). He never knew what to buy him at Christmas, no matter how old he was. His grades were... good? He attended school and didn't truant... That's about it. Cassiopeia would be more aware of Emile's life than him at this point.
Lee knows he's in medical school at the moment, though he never thought to ask where. Another doctor. He almost wants to sigh.

Elaine Carrington
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Maybe the last one will turn out alright, even though the ones that came before didn't turn out badly. It does feel somewhat awful to think that, even to someone like Lee who has never shied away from having favourites. Luck was on his side with this one: a kid who hated neither Cass or himself –– praise the Lord. It would be the youngest; the first and the last being reversals of fortune that Lee could never have predicted.
They are much alike: headstrong and calculating and, dare he say it, Lee thinks that Elaine is smarter than he was at that age. Maybe in two or three years he'd be able to see her as a respectable adult in the business world (taking over TriVi, if he dares to dream) but for now he tries his best to guide her. The key-word being 'tries'.
Lee does worry that he has influenced her too much and that in two years she will snap and end up as another Samantha or another Indiana. All of the extra extra-curricular studies must surely be exhausting, he thinks, and given that he doesn't know what she's doing for the better part of the year at Strathmore, he can only guess that she's not having enough fun. He wonders what would happen if someone goes through their teenage years without drinking themselves into a stupor at least once a week because Lee was most certainly not immune when he was sixteen and not even half as studious.
He tries his best not to pin all of his hopes and dreams, not only for the business but also for not having failed as a parent, on Elaine. If he enforces the rules with more flexibility and freedom than he did the children previous, then it's not just because he's tired; it's more to do with absolute, unashamed favouritism. Out of all the kids who take after one of their parents – and then those who mirror neither – Elaine is the only one that's a true, cut-down the middle mix of both. 100% Carrington.