5.9 Where Little Sprouts Come From

At dusk one evening, before supper, Zoysia tried one more time to talk to Violet about her growing… situation. But all of a sudden, Violet was too distracted to listen.

Zoysia grabbed her bag for her and got Violet to the hospital. It wasn’t long before Petal arrived in the world, with a bright look in her eyes and soft little hands that tried clumsily to grab her mommy’s fingers or the bottle.

Everyone loved the new addition to the Foliage family, although it did affect their already busy schedules quite a bit. Everyone had to pitch in a little, because Violet went back to work at the police station as soon as she could. That meant late night gardening for some, and not much after-school fun for others. As Zoysia and Camellia worked to free their garden plants from the weeds that would choke them, Zoysia fretted to herself about what to tell the children. They deserved an answer for this semi-surprise addition to their household and for why Petal had no dad to help take care of her. It didn’t seem fair.

She finally decided to address what could be affected – the future – while she was still trying to figure out the past. So she set aside some time to talk with her two daughters, one by one, about where babies come from.

Ivy was unimpressed and even inwardly amused at her mother’s “talk.” For real! Didn’t she know that Ivy knew all about that? And obviously Aunt Violet did, too… Her mom was really treating her like a baby with all this, Ivy thought. At least her mom wasn’t coming to give her a lecture about that little trap she left for Nan in the bathroom, heh. When Zoysia came in looking all serious and wanting to talk to her, she was sure she’d been caught! But no, she’d gotten off free, so she could keep the sneer off her face long enough to endure the “where babies come from” talk.

Zoysia’s talk with Nandina seemed to go better, although Nan asked a few questions that Zoysia hadn’t quite expected, mostly about expectations as relationships grew more intimate. Zoysia made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Nandina and the boys she went out with. One boy in particular – was it Rocco? No, Raphael, or maybe, well, one of the Hanley boys, anyway – had been hanging around a lot and had even signed up for the drama club in an effort to be near Nan.

She had a little longer to prepare for her talk with Kale, although he would be a teenager very soon. He and his friend Quiana were still sitting together on the bus and playing together after school, so Zoysia knew she couldn’t delay very much longer.

Kale had a lot of his father in him, and Zoysia wondered if that slightly lopsided grin of his would have the girls chasing him. Kurtis had shared with her a few tales of the challenges of life as a happily married man in a rock band, and she wanted to make sure her son was prepared for what might be waiting for him in his teen years. So when he asked her to teach him how to drive, she swallowed her butterflies and said that she’d love to, and why not just plan to drive across town and have a picnic afterwards? Then they’d have plenty of time to talk. If they made it there…

They did make it there and back again, though it was quite late by then. Kale was thrilled to be driving at night already and grinned as he gunned the engine just to startle his mom.

With three teenagers in the house, time passed faster than ever, with momentary pauses for everyone to take note of special events, like the invitation Camellia received to participate in a top-secret beef gardening hybrid project, Petal’s first words, and Nandina’s big Valentine’s date.

One of the biggest events, though, was Ivy’s 18th birthday. She made no attempt to hide her excitement about becoming an adult, and her father decided to throw a big party to honor the occasion. Ivy’s mood was uncharacteristically sunny, and Zoysia wondered if maybe her oldest was really maturing past all her teen attitudes.

The guest list was long, and there was an ulterior motive for that. Zoysia was hoping that she might sort out the mystery of Petal’s father.

Kurt cranked out the dance tunes, and almost everyone grabbed a partner and moved to the beat. Then Zoysia saw something…

In the crush of the party, she couldn’t make her way over to them, but she knew she or Kurtis or someone was going to get to the bottom of it. Could it really be Herbert, their old family friend? Didn’t he and the Goff brothers share an aged bachelors’ pad down near the beach? She gave Kurt a significant glance and nodded in the couple’s direction. He nodded, and as everybody was leaving, he managed to have a word with Herbert.

Kurt got right to the point, asking him exactly what his involvement was with Violet, and for that matter, with Petal. Herbert’s response was…

“Whoa, Kurtis! Chill out! Wait, you think I – that we? Oh! Don’t you know? We’re married!”

Kurtis’ jaw dropped, and he called Zoysia out to hear the story as Herbert told it.

“We’d been dating for a long time, see, meeting at the library and at the pool, and I wanted to marry Violet in the worst way. More than anything!”

Herbert went on, “She’s a crazy thing, you know, with a logic all her own, but I love her, and she kept going on about how this wasn’t her house, and there were already a lot of people living here, and how she couldn’t invite me to move in, but she also couldn’t bring herself to move out, and well, we just have a private little wedding ceremony one night, and an overnight honeymoon, and figured no one would ever know. Then came Petal, and I guess we should have straightened out everything right then, but you know Violet. She’s a mystery, always has been and always will be.”

“So you see, I am proud to be Petal’s dad and Violet’s husband, and now that you know about it, I’ll be glad to be around here a lot more. I hope you understand.”

Kurtis and Zoysia looked at each other as Herbert drew his explanation to an end. Kurtis raised an eyebrow at Zoysia, and after a few seconds, she replied with, “Well, you know Violet, Kurtis. She always has had her own way of doing things. Welcome to the family, Herbert! Come over anytime.”

And with that, the mystery was solved. Zoysia wanted to have a nice sit down over cappuccino and talk about things with Violet, but she was off to work at daylight the next day, and Zoysia had promised to take Ivy shopping that morning, and she had a scheduled chess match that afternoon. So in the end, she just let Violet go on as she had been, respecting her twin’s wishes. At least now she understood, a little.

So Ivy bought new clothes and some new makeup, and as they were shopping, Zoysia asked her what she planned to do with her life. Ivy said she had answered an ad for a driver and was very excited about it because it wasn’t an 8 to 5 office-bound job. Zoysia expressed some surprise that Ivy would not be aiming higher with her career, and Ivy responded with an odd laugh that she would definitely be aiming high down the road. With that, Zoysia was satisfied, and when Ivy got into the habit of heading out for late-night jogs, she reminded herself that Ivy was a full-grown adult and capable of making her own choices. Zoysia hoped that they worked out to make her happy.

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