1.17 - New Friends Mean New Connections

It was only a few days after they moved in that Manu said he would be moving out.

He was very excited when his birthday hit.

He then became a very handsome young man.

Summer felt very conflicted about her eldest leaving. She had just lost Cole and now Manu was leaving too?

"Mom, please don't give me that look. I promise to call and after I finish University I'm going to come here and take over the business sector. Just you wait Mom, I'm gonna make you proud." 

Summer smiled at her son. "I know you will Manu. You have already made me proud. Just, promise you'll visit? I'll hunt you down if you don't."

"I love you," Manu laughed as he hugged him mother.

"I love you too, son."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The house felt a bit smaller after Manu left, but things went on normally for the most part.

Zebrina had been begging to get a horse, but Summer told her she wasn't ready yet.

 However, she was ready for a dog. Summer had taken both of the girls to a breeder and they each chose a new friend.

Zebrina chose a very cute pup named Desi. She is shy, but loyal, so the two bonded very quickly.

 Cami chose a very handsome neon dog named Balto. She chose him because he is very brightly colored and reminds her of a diamond.

The dogs took a moment to get to know eachother before heading off to bed.

 Soon, Balto and Desi became regular member of the family.

Balto would sit and guard anything near him,

 While Desi would wake everyone up in the morning.

Soon the girls all went off to school, so it was just Summer and the dogs. She fed them and then headed back inside to get some sculpting done. Balto took this as an opportunity to roll around in the new mud puddles.

After school, Jessie brought home a new friend.  In just a few short days, Christi Cota and Jessie Belle managed to become BFFs. 

"You know what your house needs Jess? A gym."

"A gym would be cool, but we can't exactly afford it right now." Jessie tried to explain.

"Why don't you get a job?"

"What jobs will hire teenagers, I mean besides the simple ones that suck."

"I hear Rustler's Den is hiring," Christi winked.

The criminal place? Jessie pondered it a moment. It really wouldn't be too hard. All she would have to do is steal some stuff. It would pay pretty good and it might even buy her her own place. Then no one could tell her what to do and no one could set any rules. The real question was could she actually go through with it.

"I don't know Christi, but maybe."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While the people were busy working, the pups would play. Balto really liked Desi. He would spend every moment he could playing with her, but she seemed quite uninterested.

Then if he took things to a more romantic level, Desi would bark until someone came running to her rescue.

Balto seems oblivious to what he did to piss the pretty dog off...

The day began to wind down and everyone started to relax. Summer went upstairs to read Cami a bed time story while Jessie chatted with Christi downstairs.

"Jess, I really think you should consider this career offer. I started working a month ago and I already have a bunch of money saved up. If you start working, we can move out together before we turn into adults!"

Jessie nodded, "Okay, I'll go visit the Den when I get a chance..."

********************

Hi people! So in case you didn't read it on the thread, I was having major crashes. I couldn't play for five minutes let alone make it through the night, but thankfully this amazing person called Sunny (ShakespearesSunshyne) whose awesome legacy is the Secrets of the Sixkillers, helped me out a lot so my game is running great! 

The puppies come from an amazing Facebook page called Pawsitively Adorable Puppies. They are just so cute! 

1.16 - Things Change, Hun.

Jessie was the first to complain about the move.

"Mom! We can't leave! Prom isn't very far and I actually have a date!"

Summer nodded, "There will be a prom in Appaloosa Plains too. You have plenty of time to get a date."

"I don't want to leave!"

"Jessie, I'm sorry but we have to. If we don't leave now we will forfeit our inheritance. It's a giant property, Jessie. You can even choose whatever room you like, no restrictions. Please, just don't make a big deal out of this. Things change, Hun, and you're going to have to get used to it."

~~~~~~~

Manu accepted the news very easy, he was graduating in a few short days so it didn't exactly matter. He would be headed of to university with a full scholarship.

Cami was not excited. "Appaloosa Plains? Is that like a farm town?! Do they even have a salon? Does everyone wear cowboy boots? Mom, I can't live in a backwards red-neck town! It will be so boring!"

Zebrina tried to calm her sister down, "Cami! We can get animals though! Mom says we're going to be living on a ranch! That means we can have cats or dogs or horses, even chickens!"

Cami frowned, "I don't want to take care of smelly chickens! My clothes are going to get all dirty and we are going to have to scoop up manure!"

Summer took both of her daughter's hands and laughed. "Girls, I'm sorry this is such a change. But Cami, this house is huge. There are lots of rooms. Enough for everyone to have there own room and more. It will be fun. Oh, and yes they do have a salon. "

Eventually, everyone settled down and began to accept the change. Not everyone was happy about it, but they stopped fussing.  Summer tried to calm down too, but this was a huge change.

After Cole's ashes were delivered, a man in a suit and tie visited their home. He told them about Cole's purchase of a nice sized ranch in the country. Apparently it was going to be a wedding present. The house was huge. Three stories, seven rooms, three bathrooms, a basement, and a three stall barn. The home was mostly unfurnished, except for the kitchen and bathrooms. Summer could tell that this home could house their family for many generations to come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the family arrived at their new home.

They all felt something different when they looked at the house.

Manu looked over at his baby sisters. They were growing up fast, but he would still be gone long before they became teens. He worried that they wouldn't remember him, or even worse, they would take after Jessie.

Jessie could really care less about the move now. All she wanted was to scope out her new room.

"This place is so rural..." Cami sighed.

"Look at that barn! We can have lots of horses! Maybe I can even get a unicorn!" Zebrina squealed.

Summer laughed at her children, but then a wave of sadness hit her. This wasn't how her life was supposed to be. Cole should be here to help her.

The family split apart to check out the new house.

Zebrina checked out the barn,

Cole stared at the empty rooms,

Summer wandered into the kitchen,

and Jessie went to see how big the basement was.

Oh yeah, this would be her new party palace.

\Once they became acquainted with the layout, they got to work.

They didn't have enough money to finish the whole house, but all the necessary rooms were relatively finished.

Summer set up a new and improved studio, now with a whiteboard and sketch table.

The enormous living roomed was filled in with a television and a little office area.

Next, everyone furnished their rooms.

Summer took the room on the third floor. She chose a turquoise paradise theme.

Cami decorated her room in a very blue type of way.

Zebrina chose...well you can see.

Manu put down a few simple objects in the smallest bedroom.

Finally, Jessie set up a teen angst center, complete with beer-pong table. (No, her mother doesn't know that's what she will be using it for.)

****************

Okay guys, so my other town became super glitchy, so here we are! I know the writing and photography for this chapter isn't the best, but I really just want to get on with my legacy. I really love Summer's new room. Okay i'm tired so if you have any questions, feel free to ask :P

1.15 - Love Day

Today was Love Day, which meant the spring festival was in full swing. It had been a while since anyone had  gone out, so the entire family attended.

Cami had heard that if you collect eggs, you could earn a prize. So she spent most of the day searching for the colorful prize tokens.

Zabrina was searching too. However, she found the wildflowers to be more beautiful than eggs that had been soaked and stained in water.

Manu played chess and Summer continued leaving her mark on the festival grounds.

Jessie Belle had planned on spending Love Day with her best friend, Aron Carter, but when her grandmother arrived she forgot all about the boy.

"Grandma!" she smiled. 

Kizzy recognized her granddaughter despite the change in height and style. 

"Hello, Jessie Belle. You sure have grown...and what an interesting sense of style."

Jessie laughed, "It's the fashion nowadays."

"It was the fashion when I was your age too. I was quite the troublemaker too."

The girls laughed together, sharing stories and talking about life.

"Grandma, have you heard from my dad recently? He promised us he would be back for the twin's birthdays, but he hasn't even called."

Kizzy could hear the disappointment her granddaughter's voice. Jessie really wanted her father, but he was never there. Her mother was always too busy working, or parenting the twins, or complimenting her Manu to notice the middle child. 

"No honey, I haven't. I haven't heard from Cole since the day he aged up."

She watched as Jessie's face sunk. Jessie looked to the ground and sighted. A slight tear formed in her eye but was quickly absorbed back into her eye in an attempt not to cry. 

"Oh. Okay."

Kizzy took her granddaughter's hand and smiled.

"Jessie. I'm so sorry you have had to grow up without a father. It is not fair for such a rotten thing to happen to such a wonderful girl, but please try to forgive. Cole was faced with many challenging decisions. He may not have made the best choices but I know he would want you to forgive him."

Jessie wrapped her arms around Kizzy.

"I'll try Grandma."

"If you ever need a place to stay or need someone to talk to, I'm always here. You are welcome in our home anytime."

The two said their goodbyes. Jessie felt some of the angst inside of her disappear. It was soon replaced with another common teenage emotion. Lust.

Jessie had known of Aron's crush on her since they were kids. She had never felt like testing these romantic waters, but something was telling her it might be worth it. Oh, and the love tester said so too.

While Jessie was busy making out with her new boyfriend, Zabrina decided to get her face painted. She had picked out a unicorn and was pretty pleased with the result.

Zabrina got her face painted, so Cami did too. But she chose an elegant mystical design. Unfortunately  they completely messed hers up.

Cami decided face painting was stupid, so she challenged her family to a dance contest.

After taking a family photo, they all headed home and Summer stopped to check the mail.

~~~

It was cold and very, very quiet. Nothing seemed to move for a long time. All Summer could hear was the rapid beating of her own heart. 

She could not remove her eyes from the metal box. It seemed as though that box had held all her hopes for a normal family, and now they were dead too.

She sat there for a very long time, just thinking about all the thoughts that were swirling around her head.

"Mom?"

Summer jumped and then looked and Manu. She sighed and sat back in her chair.

"Manu, sit down. We need to talk."

Manu did as he was told and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"He isn't coming back. The girl's will never get to meet their father."

"Manu," Summer started, "I love you so much. You were the first child I had ever held and the first thing I truly loved. I will always love you and you will always be my son, but Manu, I'm not your mother."

Manu hugged his knees to his chest and held back a cry. 

"My sister is a star news anchor now. She had always planned on it. All she ever wanted to do was get the the top of her career, no matter the cost. When I graduated, I came home to find you on my door-step and a note from my sister. She told me to take care of you because if people found out she had a baby with a married man, it would ruin her."

Manu was silent so Summer continued.

"I don't know who your father is, but I am convinced he does not know you exist. My sister would not let a relationship hold her back from her career. Manu, I may not be your biological mother, but I sure do love you as my biological son. I have raised you since you were a larva and I would not have it any other way. You will always be my one and only son. You will always be my first child."

Manu nodded his head. Tears rolled down his cheeks and so many questions ran through his head. 

Summer stood up and took him by the hands and pulled him into a hug. Manu took a deep breath and then began to sob.

"Manu, Manu, Manu" Summer soothed. "You are an amazing young man. You have so much potential. You are so smart and so nurturing. Don't think I don't notice you making an effort with Jessie. And you have helped me so much with the twins. You are going to make a wonderful parent and a wonderful husband and an amazing businessman. Don't ever think that because of where you came from makes you any less wonderful. You have a family that loves you."

They sat for a long while. Manu asked questions about his mother and Summer answered as many as she could. Eventually, Manu headed for bed.

"I love you Mom."

"I love you Manu."

After Manu left, it was Summer's turn to cry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

:'( tear tear.

Okay, there you have it. Cole is not Manu's father. That would have been weird because Cole would have to have fathered him when he was a teen for Manu to be his kid...Okay well anyway. About the twin's skintone. It is actually the same 'skin' as Summer's. I have probably 20 different skins and at least 3 of them are rainbow sliders, meaning a red person can actually produce a green baby, ect. I thought it would make the story a bit more interesting and create some unique genetics. So from here on out, don't assume skin color is some tell tale sign of drama ;) haha not to say that it never will be. Hahaha you will never know!