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!