5.8 Sprouts to Saplings

Zoysia and Kurtis’ children were growing up before their eyes, and Zoysia often wished she could find a pause button on them.

Unfortunately for her, with Ivy, Nandina, and Kale, it was all grow and go. Go to school, go to parties, go toddling across the room, go to the birthday cake.

Kale was old enough to go to school now, and Zoysia found herself actually missing the days of potty training and toddling. She was thrilled to see his personality developing as he took to the computer and talked about writing stories.

Ivy was obviously considering her career options, because she took every opportunity to ask the adults in the family about their career and how much money they earned. She figured her Aunt Camellia would be a great person to ask, since she was now head of the science lab in town.

Of course, Ivy was still very much a teenager, complete with a disdain for household chores.

Nandina was growing up, too, and she wanted a pool party for her birthday. So Zoysia pulled out all the stops and decorated for a great party.

Just at dusk, Nandina closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out her candles. Everyone asked her what she wished for, but she just smiled and said if it came true, they’d find out.

Her first order of teen business was a makeover. She went shopping with her mother but didn’t listen to all her advice.

Nan also enlisted her athletic Aunt Violet’s help with her new image. She then learned what the phrase “no pain, no gain” was all about!

Nandina wasn’t the only Foliage concerned with appearance. Young Kale had his eye on a certain little blonde-haired girl ever since the day she sat next to him on the bus.

He pulled out all the stops to get her interest, even mentioning that his dad performs at the theatre and that he could take her to a show sometime.

Kurtis’s career was doing better than ever, even if he did sometimes wonder if he wasn’t getting too old for that life.

He could still jam with the best of them, and his love of music was stronger than ever.

Music was by no means Kurtis’ only love, of course, and he made that known as often as he could.

On the subject of love, Zoysia had been noticing a certain glow about her sister Violet recently, and asked her about it over breakfast one day.

All Violet would say was that she had had a revelation about her career after her most recent promotion.

She had thought that she could have the biggest impact through the military, but she’d decided that it was more important to have a strong local impact than a mediocre global impact. Violet had come to the decision that she was going to change careers and join the Legacy Valley police force.

Still, Zoysia wondered. She knew that love was in the air among the Foliages, and from little Kale to her own heartthrob Kurtis, but she never saw Violet bring anyone over to dinner or for a swim. Then one day, it became obvious.

Zoysia was distressed that Violet was bound for motherhood without any father in evidence.

She tried to have a talk with her and find out the whole story and see what she could do to help, but Violet merely talked about baby clothes and toys.

Nothing her father had told her about being the head of the family had prepared her for this. What was she going to do?

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