Chapter 3-8: I Wonder

                They finally were cleared to go home. Not one, but two bundles of joy followed with them. Abrielle had once again given birth to fraternal twins; a girl they named Zarah and a boy named Zane.

                 The exhaustion was evident on Abrielle’s face and she knew she had three children and a toddler to go home and attend to as well.

                 “Oh no,” Wren exclaimed when she got out of the shower and realized she had turquoise hair. “Xander!!!”

                It was her birthday and she was now going to be late for her family party that mommy had prepared because she had to wash the dye out. Luckily, it was not permanent.

                 She made it downstairs and the family had a quiet dinner together. The babies stayed in their swings where they both seemed content while everyone sat around and ate sushi. 

                 And then, finally, her age caught up with her. Wren was now a teenager and had grown into quite a lovely young woman.

                 Carrie found that lately she was having problems sleeping. She would always be up until the wee hours of the morning and, just before the sun would start its ascent into the sky, she would head upstairs and fall asleep, for just a few hours.

                Her erractic sleep schedule led her to, one night, discover something new.

                “Shane, my love, is that really you,” she whispered, seeing a silver form sitting on the sofa.

                 “We have so many grandchildren now,” Shane smiled at how his family had grown as he pulled Carrie into an embrace.

                 “Yes,” she smiled back. “Are you here to take me with you?”

                “What? Carrie, why would you wish such a thing.”

                “I’m old and just in the way. I long to be with you,” she tried to explain the hardship of being left behind. 

                 “Carrie, your place is here. Your family needs you. Only when it is truly your time can we be together,” and with that, he faded away.

                “Take that you crazy giant,” Thea wacked Wren with a pillow.

                “Giant! I’m just a teenager,” Wren laughed.

                “Yeah, like I said, giant.”

                “Girls, come get your breakfast. The bus will be here shortly,” they heard their mother calling from the kitchen.

                 In no time at all, the youngest babies were finally to be toddlers. Abrielle couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone. She snuggled Zane to her, trying to hold on to his infancy for just another minute. 

                 Then she tickled Zarah, her sweet baby girl who loved to giggle.

                 She brought her youngest daughter to her cake, where everyone was gathered around and blew out the teeny, single candle. 

                 As a toddler, Zarah looked just as sweet as she really was and looked so much like her mother.

                 Verne then carried Zane to his cake. Watching that tiny candle be blown out and see the whisp of smoke drift and dissipate in the air, Abrielle felt a slight pang in her heart. 

                She watched her second son, and youngest child, become a toddler who, like all the Avendale boys, looked just like his father and grandfather before him.

                 After everyone had gone to bed, Verne found his wife standing in front of the twins, looking down on their little faces.

                “We make beautiful children, don’t we,” he smiled taking her hands.

                “Let’s have more,” she suddenly suggested.

                “Abri, you made me promise that after five, we would stop. Don’t you remember how adamant you were? And then we had two!”

                “Yes, but they’re growing up so fast. I miss them as babies. Don’t you,” she pouted.

                “How about we wait and see how you feel in awhile. Xander and Thea will be teenagers soon and little Yalena is almost old enough for school herself.”

                “That’s exactly my point! My babies keep growing up,” she wailed.

                 Verne led his exhausted wife to bed and held her while she cried herself to sleep. He knew she was forgetting all the sleepless nights and rarely getting a chance to leave the house with so much to be done and so many children to take care of. They both loved all of their children dearly but he worried that more would be a bad mistake. Hopefully, she would come to her senses.

                “Hey, Wren, come here,” Xander summoned her from the kitchen after breakfast that morning.

                “Why couldn’t you come over there,” Wren complained.

                “Because I have a secret. You’re not my real sister,” he smirked back at her.

                “What? Why would you say that,” she gasped.

                “Well, look at all of us. You don’t look like any one. You must be adopted,” and he shunned her and ran off to the school bus.

                 Wren couldn’t believe this. She looked around at her family and realized that Xander was at least right about her not looking like everyone else. All of a sudden, she just had a strong urge to run away.

                “Good morning Mr. Avendale!”

                “Good morning Suzi. Be careful,” Verne returned the paper girl’s greeting.

                Wren waited on the porch, hidden behind one of the columns. She had waited until her mom was in the shower and grandma was still sleeping to sneak out. Now she just had to wait until her dad, “er adoptive father”, left for work.

                “Shouldn’t you be in school,” the taxi driver asked Wren.

                “Just be quiet. I’m paying you to drive, not ask questions.”

                 Wren finally arrived at the Red Rendezvous. Sure, it wasn’t the bus station or train station or anything like that. She didn’t know where she would run to so she just decided to stay out and make her parents worry about her. She headed upstairs to the new arcade they had just installed and wacked some balls around on the pool table. Instead of making her feel better, like she had thought, she just felt miserable. Maybe Xander was lying, maybe she just took after a dead grandparent that neither had seen. She knew in her heart he was right but she wasn’t ready to admit it yet.

                Finally, as her curfew came and went, she decided it was time to head home. She walked in the door and found that no one had even realized that she was missing. Her mom was playing with Zarah and her dad was helping Zane walk. Not only was she adopted but they didn’t even really love her!

                 A few weeks later, it was time for a mass of birthdays in the house. Wren had kept her knowledge secretly to herself, stewing with the anger that she felt. She showed up to the party but had a hard time celebrating and, instead, spent most of the time staring at her parents or her grandma.

                 Xander and Thea, who still has a perpetual grump on her face. Xander looks just like Verne and, actually so does Thea. "Why did they adopt me if they wanted to have all of their own babies?"

                 Little Yalena who is so adorable it's not even funny. "She looks a lot like mom but has dad's hair and eyes." She wondered if her parents would ever tell her the truth or if they just thought she was stupid enough never to find out.

                She supposed that time alone would tell.

Chapter 3.7                                                                                                                                         Chapter 3.9

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 Twins again. Also. Abrielle is a nutter. As soon as they damn twins aged into toddlers, she rolled a wish to have 10 children. 10!!! Granny is still alive (20 days past her expiration date, FML) which puts the household at 9 as it is. The woman is just going to have to be disappointed I think. Also, I was really, really hoping that the game would cooperate and kill Carrie while Shane was 'visiting' but he just got testy and left. No such luck on my part. Sigh. Guess I will just have to wait for it.

I imagine I am going to have to do an heir vote fairly soon. I might be able to hold off until the younger twins are children but there is no way they will all be teenagers at once so...you'll just have to help me out with less information. And yes, I do have a favorite so far though there is a close second. And no, Wren cannot be the heir.