Varinia knows this is a last resort because they're not getting any younger and she just needs a little bit more, just a couple more days and then they'll have it all.
"Don't you think we've wasted enough time dancing around something that doesn't look like it's going to happen?" Calude asks dejectedly.
"It hasn't been wasted, Claude. I was just blinded by a need to prove myself and when I finally realized that the only thing I wanted was to spend my life with you, well, you know."
"I've only ever wanted to be with you too but sometimes it feels like you've only wanted me around when it was convenient for you."
"I'm sorry I ever made you feel that way." Varinia says though she knows that in the beginning that is exactly how she felt.
"These potions," she continued, "Maeve made them for us and she told me I'd know when to use them and I think now is the time. Will you take it with me?"
"Am I going to die 'drink the kool-aid' style?" Claude asks tentatively.
"I'm pretty sure that won't be the case."
They throw caution to the wind.
For a few terrifying moments, Varinia thinks Claude may have been right. She thinks she sees the blinding light of death coming for her.
Then she feels renewed. A new kind of excitement courses through her veins.
"I think it worked," she gasps, out of breath. "I think it really worked!"
Claude pulls her to him and kisses her deeply.
"This is our second chance," he says.
Selma finally gets her pet fish, Deli joins the family.
Leila was supposed to meet Marques for a date but his older brother Jesse answered the door instead. He got her into his room in less than 5 seconds.
"I thought you were a rebel," Jesse sighs. "Why are we doing homework when we could be vandalizing property?"
"School first then nothing can hold me back because I'm REBEL GIRL!"
'I have an announcement to make. I'm in love."
"I tagged your parent's bedroom wall," Leila admits.
"That's awesome! Let's go egg the neighbor's house!"
"This is perfect," Varinia says to no one in particular. Everything is finally falling into place.
"DO NOT SPLASH ME!"
Everyone crams into one taxi because it's more economical that way.
Off to visit Maeve and Israel because. . .
They're expecting their first child!
Red head convention.
"Hi little grandbaby! I'm your Nana and I'm younger than your mommy now so we'll have lots of time to spend together."
There's ulterior motives to Varinia's visit.
"Leila is going to be a young adult soon. I'm not going to be able to make her stay at home. I'm very worried for her," Varinia admits.
"Keeping her at home would only be a band-aid on a festering wound. She needs real help. As in, medical. As in, doctors. I know you've always hated the hospital but this is beyond even you."
"I can't institutionalize her! She would hate me. I would hate me."
"There's an out patient program. There's a long waiting list but I know I could get her in. She could live with me and help me around the house and I can make sure she's actually going to her meetings."
"Leila would never go for that. She's too much of a free spirit and stubborn like me."
"We can try," Maeve says.
Even though this is her sister's house, Amira finds herself admiring the curtains a little too much. It takes all of her will to leave them where they are.
I've got to get out of here, she thinks.
"I heard you and mom talking about the hospital. I'm not going."
"It's just a class. . ."
"I'm NOT GOING! There's nothing wrong with me! Why is Jesse the only one that sees that?"
Maeve wants to ask who Jesse is but Leila takes off before she gets a chance.
This isn't good.
"Thanks for bringing me here," Amira says. "I needed a quiet place."
"Me too," Selma admits.
"What a BEAUT!"
"Sometimes I just can't help it. Everything around me calls to me, taunting me."
Selma worries that maybe Leila isn't the only insane sister.
"My sister and mother want to put me in the hospital. I told them no."
"Good! You don't need some stupid hospital. All you need is me and maybe some spray paint. Definitely some spray paint."
"You should move in here with me. I'd never send you to the hospital. It'd be awesome!"
Amira is trying. She really is.
But the temptation is too great.
It's not like anyone was using it.
Leila has found her sense of security.
She must declare it with her art.
Varinia was never a very good cook and certainly not the most attentive mother but now that her eldest is about to have a child, she is moved to be better. She cooks a few meals to help her daughter adjust to motherhood. This is what good mothers do, right?
It's not a moment too soon either because little Sally Drudge comes into the world that very night.
As Leila prepares for a future unknown.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Leila Van Hofwegen
Loves to Swim
Insane
Clumsy
Avant Garde
Savvy Sculptor
LTW: Descendant of da Vinci
Jesse Jones-Goode
Avant Garde
Absent-Minded
Loves the Outdoors
Athletic
Dislikes Children
LTW: Become and Astronaut
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