Journal Entry #52
I stared at the empty shelf of the grocer in annoyed fury.
“Great, just great. Kale’s going to throw a fit if I don’t bring home his favorite chocolate bar.” Unfortunately for me, it looked like they were all sold out. Perfect. I was sunk . . . or so I thought. A moment later and a voice sounded to my left.
“Uh miss? Here, you can have this one. I don’t really need it anyway.”
Startled, I turned to see who had spoken and my eyes only widened further. Hidden Springs had a few people with uniquely colored skin, but this was the first I’d seen someone who was so . . . well . . . green. And blue hair too, what’s more. After a second or two I realized the man was standing there smiling, holding out one of Kale’s blasted chocolate obsessions and I came back to my senses.
“Oh, sorry,” I quickly tried to recover, “I didn’t mean to stare at you like a moron.” He didn’t look offended, thank goodness. Just continued to smile kindly. And rather handsomely too, if I do say so myself.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m used to it.” He offered the candy again and I slowly reached forward to take it, still a little uncertain.
“Are you sure?” He shrugged with another smile.
“Sounds like the little guy it’s going to needs it a whole lot more than I do.”
At that my own smile widened considerably. How sweet! It was obvious that this guy—whom I soon learned was named Elias Smith (by SCEI)—loved kids about as much as I did, which was really saying something about a mother of nine with no plans of slowing down any time soon. Elias and I stood in the grocery store aisle chatting for at least an hour or more. Deciding that I really liked him and wanted to get to know him more, and in a more intimate setting, I offered to come by his place later to fix him dinner in return for his candy bar. He accepted with a grin, then we finally parted ways. Much to young Dany Shue’s relief, as he couldn’t close up the store until the both of us left.
I stopped off back at the house long enough to drop off the groceries—giving Kale his candy and averting any impending disasters from that front for a while—and made sure Magnolia was set with making dinner for her sister and her brother and to be in bed no later than nine. It was a school night after all. Amidst the moans and groans of that injustice and after gathering up the ingredients I’d need for my host’s dinner I headed out once more.
Elias’ place was on the modest side but not a shack by any means either. He sat in the kitchen with me as I cooked, chatting and laughing companionably. It seemed Elias and I had a lot of different things in common as well as our fondness of big families. I have to admit that he was the first of my conquests that I could have really seen myself settling down with, if circumstances were different. After a nice candlelit dinner of grilled salmon (I’d really been brushing up on my cooking skills lately) we moved things into the living room. We made a brief showing of watching some TV, but things got pretty hot and heavy on that couch fairly quickly. It wasn’t long before we were moving into the bedroom.
More hearts floating down like congratulatory confetti.
It was so late afterward that Elias offered for me to go ahead and spend the night. Worn out and confident that Magnolia would be able to man the troops at home without me, I was grateful to accept.
Journal Entry #55
It was in the middle of the night when the labor pains caught me by surprise. I hadn’t been expecting the baby to come quite yet, but the little one had other plans. Luckily the other kids slept soundly through the whole ordeal, and by morning I was able to introduce them to their new brother, Hawthorn Wood. He was born with his father’s deep green skin and vibrant blue hair, but he has my amber-colored eyes. A beautiful combination, in my heavily biased opinion. Like Blaze, Elias hadn’t been happy with my decision to continue alone. He was less sore about it though, and had been looking forward to the baby’s birth almost as much as I was. We’ve managed to stay friends through all of this, and I hope we can continue to do so.
Journal Entry #58
Maple and Magnolia had their prom last night. The reports were varied on it, unfortunately. Poor Mag apparently fell flat on her face on the dance floor, and she was pretty humiliated and heart-broken about it even after she’d gotten home. Maple asked the rich, popular boy in school for a dance and he responded to that by laughing in her face and walking away. Despite that she still managed to nab the title of Prom Queen. I was a little uneasy as she was relating all of this to me. There was a fiery anger there and an odd sense of triumph as she assured me that one day she was going to marry that boy who’d turned her down and when he had an unfortunate accident afterward, everything of his would be hers.
Scarily enough, I don’t think it’s the teenage hormones talking. I think she’s quite serious. Oh dear . . . .
Journal Entry #62
Kale’s taking the ‘not being the baby of the house’ anymore a bit hard, I’m afraid. He’s more than a little jealous of the attention his little brother has been getting while I’m teaching him to walk and talk, and it’s manifesting into some rotten behavior unfortunately. He’s been sent to the corner three times already this week. And him discussing his plans of revenge with ‘Minion’ aren’t putting my mind at ease either.
Journal Entry #74
Maple and Magnolia are leaving the house today. I’ve been blubbering all morning, much to Magnolia’s exasperated amusement.
“Geez mom, it’s not like we’re moving to a different country. We’ll be right down the street!”
And I know that’s true, but still. It doesn’t make it hurt any less. Kale wasn’t amused by any of it, not that he’s amused by anything lately. I swear that boy has no sense of humor. I thought Maple’s teen hormone mood swings were bad. Hah!
Little Hawthorn is an angel in comparison, though I wish he’d pick up his room and clean up after himself a little more. I even think I caught him licking his plate clean the other night. Plumbob, help me.
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