The Monroe Legacy - G.2.Chapter 16 - The Circus Comes to Town

It happened so slowly that they barely noticed it, but slowly things changed. They were just a normal family until suddenly they weren't. Violet and the Smile Thieves was the must read book, the film was underway and Cai Monroe was a household name.

It began with the value of Hallie's work creeping up. Alone she was just a small town artist but as one half of an arty cool couple where the guy had written a book which was gaining a huge following, she was suddenly more valuable.

They had just waved Violet off on her first day of school and Hallie was pretending that she wasn't crying, that it was just the rain shining in her cheeks, when the first stranger arrived on their doorstep. A journalist from an arty glossy magazine who wanted to do a feature on their family and home.

Cai politely declined and it all seemed to go quiet.

Gray was growing fast and had developed an unruly mop of blonde hair and his dad's eyes. Hallie kept booking him in to have it cut but it looked so sweet she could never bring herself to go through with it. He was walking and talking before he eventually had his first hair-cut and even then Hallie only let them remove enough that she could see his eyes again.

She was bouncing him on her knee and waiting for the stylist to return and take payment when she was recognised for the first time. A heavyset woman with tight curls and a stack of magazines under her arm plonked herself down in the next chair opening with,

'Aren't you that hippy lady who's married to the author of that kids book. The one with the movie? Violet something?'

Hallie didn't know what to say and glad when she had no time to do more than nod and smile before the stylist returned and she could escape. Telling Cai the story that night she expected him to laugh but instead his face turned serious,

'Its been happening to me as well' he admitted, 'And Vi's school called to say that they've had people call and ask for our details, apparently this book has really hit the big time.'

Hallie could see the worry written across his face, he'd always hated attention. Smoothing the creases out of his forehead with her thumbs she kissed him and promised that everything would calm down.

It might have done if the second book Violet and the Robot Grandma Army hadn't hit the shelves the same day as the movie premiered. The press interest was huge, the books were flying through the tills, parents across the country were calling out for more from Violet and the publisher had deemed Cai and by association Hallie 'marketable' personalities.

They had attended the premiere expecting to go unnoticed, Hallie in a simple gown and Cai in what could only be loosely described as a suit (he was wearing jeans!). When the press realised who they were, there was a brief lull as the paparazzi seemed to be deciding how to treat them and then a single voice yelled,

'Cai, Hallie, smile over here' and the frenzy began. 

Half-blind from the flashes they staggered down the red carpet, signing books for the hordes of fans of all ages who had turned out and giggling like kids at the ridiculousness of anyone caring who they were! 

They lived that night to the full, partying until dawn and drinking too much champagne before stumbling into the suite the publishers had booked at dawn and making the most of their last few hours in bed without the kids around.

Expecting it to have been one crazy night to last a lifetime, they were shocked to see their pictures in the entertainment pages of the morning paper, the press calling Hallie best dressed and speculating about this glamorous new couple on the scene.

 

The Monroes had officially made it, whether they liked it or not.

Soon, the offers they were getting made that first article seem like nothing. Cai was on talk shows, in the  papers, doing reading events in schools and theatres and those were only the things he couldn't get out of. He had turned down picture book deals, a TV show, a reality series about his family life, money for baby pictures for kids they weren't even planning yet. All Cai wanted was to write books that kids would love and to live his life in peace!

Hallie wasn't immune, she couldn't paint or sculpt fast enough to fill demand so her work was accelerating in value at an alarming rate. She regularly received requests to do pieces for the rich and famous who now seemed to count her as one of her number. 

Hallie often thought that if she didn't have her home to escape to and her friends and family close by that she didn't think she would have coped. Somehow their simple lifestyle paired with Cai's book had led to them being portrayed as reclusive artistic genius types who, along with the daughter who had inspired the character that all little girls now wanted to be, lived a charmed life in a rural town. The perceived mystery seemed to drive the press wild!

That charmed life was being strained by the attention of the media and Cai wasn't surprised when he returned home one evening to find Hallie screaming at a photographer who was trying to get pictures through the nursery windows. Violet quite liked the attention but Gray found it all too much and Hallie was furious at the invasion of her privacy and the upset to her child.

After Cai sent the paparazzi packing with no material he and Hallie went inside discussing the security changes they would need to make. Cai couldn't believe that something as simple as a children's book could so fundamentally alter the way they lived their lives.

Hallie went up to check on Gray and read Violet her story  and emerged some time later to find Cai sitting on their bed staring at something in his hands. Looking at her strangely he asked,

'Were you going to tell me about something Hal' and held up the pregnancy test he'd found in the bathroom.

'Oh crap!' She sighed frustrated. 'I was waiting for the result when I saw that asshole on the lawn, I completely forgot. I can't believe that we have to deal with all this bullshit!'

Cai nodded, still looking bemused but now with a note of amusement in his voice, he knew what his wife was like when she was annoyed.

'Hallie, don't you want to know what it says?' He asked, cutting her off as the rant began.

'Oh!' She stopped. 'Yes of course!'

'Well we always planned to have three' Cai grinned, flipping the stick to show the positive result. 'I guess we can cash in that baby picture deal after all' he joked, earning him a punch in the arm from his wife before he wrapped her tightly against him and laid a hand protectively over her stomach.

'I want another girl' Hallie mumbled as they collapsed in bed an hour later.

'I don't mind either way,' was Cai's response, 'I just want us all to be happy here together without letting all this craziness interfere.'

If he had known what was to come he might not have sounded so confident.

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Read Chapter 17 - The Shock and the Fall-Out now.