Disclaimer- This chapter contains some adult language and is rated
PG-13
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In the years that followed between Hallie's announcement and
Gray's 21st birthday the dynamic if the Monroe house changed drastically.
Hallie began to step back from the day-to-day running of the house, allowing
Gray to see to the bills and decisions as well as cooking the meals. She was
either found fiddling with minute gadgetry at her inventing bench or curled in
Cai's arms in front of the fire. Cai was writing small pieces for the press but
spent more time reading the paper than writing for it.
Though they'd never admit it both Hallie and Cai liked the slow,
semi-retired life they were living. They finally had time for each other as
well as time to better get to know all of their children as they neared adulthood and independence.
After her first bit-part in indie film, Unfortunate Thursdays, Violet
was beginning to make a name for herself at the studio. While she had yet to
play a part where she didn't die horribly she was enjoying her life in front of
the the camera. With this success came exposure and she began to understand
what her parents had meant about the price of fame. She often emerged from cast
parties to find paparazzi waiting to snap her juiced antics.
One night after a rowdy party she had had enough and confronted
the paparazzo waiting in the car park.
'Could you kindly leave me the fuck alone' was her less than eloquent
request, eliciting a snigger from the man holding the camera.
'Are you gonna call me an ass-hat douchewizard next?' bantered the
photographer, lowering his camera and grinning.
Violet's breath caught. The ass-hat douchewizard photographer was
absolutely gorgeous. Forgetting her anger she blushed and muttered,
'Not my most mature response but it's been a bad week' she turned
to go.
'Want to tell me about it?' came the photographer's soft request.
She paused and he continued, 'Off the record, I swear. I've had a crappy week
too.'
Wondering if she was making a huge mistake Violet accepted, the
butterflies in her stomach urging her closer to the handsome stranger. A few
days later an envelope arrived at the house containing a cut-out gossip
article, it described the luminous quality of Lucky Palms newest actress and
urged studios to look more closely at a Miss Violet Monroe, star in the making.
Also enclosed was a baseball cap with a picture of an ass pinned on. Scrawled
across the cheeks was a phone number and one word.
'Dinner'.
As Violet began a secret relationship with the young reporter,
Gray and Aisha were still a solid pair. After senior prom they each lied to
their parents about an after party and snuck to a motel where they spent a
tentative first night together. At graduation they held hands throughout and
were voted the couple most likely to marry. Gray was also Valedictorian.
Less lucky in love was Sienna. Still smarting from being passed
over as heir she decided to take her parents seriously when they told her to
take risks. At the Spring Fling she marched up to Ethan, her long term crush
and asked him to dance in front of all of his friends. He laughed so hard that
he almost peed himself before turning her down flat.
Humiliated and crushed Sienna fled the gym and spent the rest of
the evening alone in the play park. The police picked her up ten minutes after
curfew and escorted her home to where a firm but sympathetic Hallie waited.
Sienna would not be comforted, silently swearing that she'd find a way to outdo
each and every one of her siblings. Gray wanted badly to help her, to regain
the closeness they'd once shared but ever since his selection as heir his
sister had been pushing him away.
Unfortunately for Sienna, Gray would soon have other things to
occupy his mind. As soon as he had his high-school diploma he marched in to the
managers office at The Lonely Cactus and demanded a kitchen job. His boss
laughed and took him on as a Spice Runner! He'd known this day was coming since
the day Gray had started as the scullion four years ago!
His new career dominated Gray's life, he spend hours poring over
menu plans, experimenting with spice combinations and practicing his cooking.
Soon even his date nights with Aisha were cooking related, he would take her to
rival restaurants to scope out the competition, get her to trial his new
concoctions or sometimes just drag her along to scour markets or even forests for a missing
ingredient!
Hallie watched with concern, Aisha didn't seem to mind but it was
clear to her that her sons' girlfriend was mainly interested in having a comfortable
life. Her driven son would provide for anyone he loved but Hallie wondered
whether that would be enough for Aisha in the long term. The pretty teen was
used to the excitement of being the toast of high school, being the wife of a
workaholic chef might soon lose its shine and Hallie feared that it would break
her son's heart.
Saffron was also breaking hearts, decimating the desirable male
population of her high-school by the end of sophomore year. Hallie put her foot
down when the audacious redhead tried to sneak off to do spring break with some
neighbourhood college kids and enrolled her daughter in study club to limit her
hours as a dating tornado.
Saffron was secretly relieved to be "forced" to spend
more time in school. Whilst the attention and popularity of her lifestyle were
fun she couldn't deny that she found it exhausting and she was hoping and looking
for that guy who would suddenly make everything make sense. She dated a lot and
never seriously which kept her reputation up and rumours swirling but meant she
never actually had to do more than flirt a little when out with a guy before
leaving him behind to miss her.
In their lack of romantic success Saffron and Sienna had finally
found some common ground. They never talked about it openly but they could
often be found on the sofa together, watching a romantic movie and eating a tub
of ice cream between them. Hallie sympathised from a distance and let them be,
she remembered the frustrations of her own never-been-kissed period and hoped
her daughters would be as lucky as she had been in love.
Jet had now been attending Fort Starch for two years and was
certainly benefiting from the strict timetable. He was now an accomplished
horseman and always begging Hallie and Cai to have a stable added to the house
when he phoned home. His parents had little doubt what he'd be spending his
inheritance on. Jet was also much less absent-minded, he had routines and goals
he had to stick to and although on his holidays Hallie occasionally found him
whispering into thin air she was pleased that her younger son had become more grounded in reality, it made it easier to wave him off at the start of each semester (she still cried every time).
Six months before Gray's birthday, Violet came home with a tiny
diamond on her left hand and a previously unknown man on her arm.
Introducing him to her parents as her boyfriend of the past year and new fiance, Violet
explained that Derek wouldn't be able to stay at his paper if they suspected he
might be biased towards any of his subjects and that she would face problems at
work if they knew how close she was to the press. From their own run-ins with
the media Hallie and Cai knew that their daughters concerns were valid but
seeing the look in her eyes when she looked at Derek and the way he was around
Violet, they knew it was too late for objections.
A quiet back-yard wedding a few months later was attended by the
Monroe family only, Derek was a former foster kid, and Hallie cried as her eldest
daughter took her new husband's hand and ran for the taxi that would deliver
them to their new home, a tiny place as far away from anything as they could
get in Lucky Palms.
Now it truly felt like the end of an era, Hallie wondered if
she'd hold a grandchild her arms in the next few years or watch the rest of her
children say "I Do". She knew from her parents lives that you never knew how long
you had left and she treasured every day that passed, the stormy tempestuous
days of teenage heartache as well as the golden days of joy and reminiscences.
As she watched her eldest son bend over his 21st birthday cake,
closing his eyes and wishing for his heart's desire, Hallie knew she had done
everything she could.
Her children were grown, she had taught them what she knew and
she would be there for them as long as she was able, to soothe their broken
hearts and share in their happiness. As Gray grew into a fine young man and
turned to kiss his girlfriend, Hallie took Cai's hand and they turned and left
the room.
Their time was at its end.
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Read the first chapter of Gray's story here - G.3. Ch. 1 - A House is not a Home
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Read the first chapter of Gray's story here - G.3. Ch. 1 - A House is not a Home
