Gen 2- Chapter 13: Cherry Blossom

“Hey Mom? What was Gramma like?” She asked as she inquisitively pondered the portrait on the wall.

The question kinda took me by surprise. Being so busy with her and all the other children, I had not really thought about Mom in ages. “Well hunny your Gramma was wonderful woman, but just like all people she made her share of mistakes.”

“You mean like her affair?”

“I never told you about that. How did y-”

“Well Mom its pretty obvious that you are not a child of Granpa Bubby. Your facial structure is totally different and your hair color is kind of a dead give away. Besides you look like Auntie Shiraz, and I know she isn’t a Chiffon.”

I was literally in shock as I listened to my young daughter as she rattled off all the the reasons. Peach Puff was officially too smart for her own good. No need to lie to her, she would see right through it. “Yes hunny you had another Grandfather.

“I knew it!” She said triumphantly, as she rubbed her small hands together. “But it wasn’t all a mistake. Apricot and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that. Maybe mistakes happen for a reason.”

I turned my attention back to Apricot who was sitting just on the floor in front of me. I was so grateful to have her and all of my children in my life. “I suppose you’re right love.”

“Can you say Grandma?”

“Gumma!”

All the talk about Mom really made me miss her. So I decided to take a visit. I was getting to know my little Peach Puff pretty well, so I had a good hunch she would be just fascinated to go check out the cemetery. My assumptions were correct. She couldn’t wait to see Mom and Dads graves. When we got to the cemetery we walked all the way to the back corner. As we walked, flashbacks of that awful day began to flash through my mind. I guess I had a little more discomfort on my face that I had realized, because Peach grabbed my hand and tried to soothe me.

“Its OK Mommy.”

After we had paid our respects, Peach wanted to check out the mausoleum. She headed inside and I turned back to moms grave. “Mom I wish could have met your amazing grandchildren. They are all so wonderful and the girls are just beautiful.” I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I didn’t even know why I was crying, it had been years and years since then. It felt good though, so I didn’t stop myself.

Suddenly I felt a tug at my pant leg. “No Cwy Momma.”

I leaned down and picked her up. “Aww Sweety its Ok.Sometimes it is good to cry.”

That was my little Apricot, she was such a caring little child. She had a favorite dolly and she was so gentle and loving with it, you would have thought it was made of glass. That dolly was her prized possession, it was gift from her Auntie Shiraz. At first she was terrified of it. I thought we were going to have to take it out back and burn it, but then one day she wanted “dowwy pease”. So I reluctantly pulled it out of the closet and brought it to her. From that day on they were inseparable.

There was only one thing in this world that she loved more than her dolly and that was her Daddy. Apricot loved Peche and every chance she could get, she was up in his arms. She was a nervous little thing, and being in my or her Daddies arms was the fastest way to ease her anxiousness.

When it came time to learn to walk, she did not want my help at all. She wanted Daddy and there was no way around it. At first I was kind of jealous, but then I remembered all the time I had hogged from Peche with Peach and I guess this was just a little Karma coming back to me. It was just as fun watching from the sidelines.

Peach had recently watched a movie called “Searching for Bobby Fischer” and had fallen in love with chess. She was playing constantly on the computer. Peche and I decided to get her a chess table for her room. She came home from school one day to find it sitting there and she was speechless. She pulled up a chair and couldn’t wait to get started. From then on she had a daily routine. She would come home from school do her homework, study for an hour and then off to her chess until dinner. She was such a studious hard worker.

The boys on the other hand had their own interests. Seashell was still not having much luck in the love department, which had become his only goal in life. His cousin Mariah was still trying her darnedest to help him out. They had tried all kinds of different tactics but nothing seemed to work.

He was beginning to get discouraged. His brother seemed to be a natural at all that love stuff and that just fueled his annoyance further.

But Mariah was determined and she hadn’t pulled all her tricks out of the bag just yet. She excused herself off to Sunset’s room for a moment, and knocked on the door. She asked to borrow some clothes. He gave her a confused look, and then she explained what was going on. He thought the idea was kinda funny, so he grabbed a T-shirt and jeans and handed them over.

“Thanks!” She said as she bounced back to Seashells room.

The makeover took a little longer than Mariah had anticipated, but the end result for her made it all worth while. Seashell looked like a total different kid. She made him put in his contacts, which had been sitting in the very back of the bathroom drawer since we had ordered them 6 months prior. At first I don’t think he was to crazy about the whole ordeal, but I do have to say he looked great!

We had all kinds of visitors that night. Now that Dana could drive, he would stop by from time to time to see everyone. Even Peach Puff would take time out of her busy Chess schedule to come out and say hello.

He looked so much like Roz and Nikisha, but to my utter delight, was not nearly as mean and his father. In fact he was kind of the Anti-Roz. He was was very understanding and kind and was always willing to lend a friendly ear.

He came to visit with the family, but for the most part he was there to see Peche Jr. Peche Jr and Dana were like Mariah and Seashell, or Mandy and Sunset. Pretty much all the kids had a favorite cousin. Poor Peach only had Amanda, and in actuality she was much closer to Apricots in age.

Well you can change someones appearance, but it isn’t going to change their personality. Seashell continued his quest to read every book in his high schools library after hours. He was just about getting fed up this whole new look thing, when it happened.

“Excuse me?”

Seashell turned to look at a lovely young girl standing before him. He nervously closed the book and stood from his seat.

“You’re Seashell right?”

“Y-ya thats me.”

“You look different. What happened to your glasses?”

“Oh…uh my cousin thought it would be fun to torture me and decided to give me a make over.”

She giggled. “I see. Well I kinda liked your glasses…. I am not sure if you know me. I’m…”

“I do. Your Precious.”

She smiled and stepped a little closer. “Thats right.”

Seashell decided to give it just one more try. “Would you like to come over sometime and watch a movie?”

“Thats sounds like fun. How about tomorrow night?”

“Sure.”

So the next evening Precious came over. Seashell had begged us all to leave the room, so they could have a little privacy. We agreed, but I had to sneak over to the door and get just a little peak.

Seashell finally got his first kiss that night, I think he was grateful that it wasn’t with Nancy either. Precious seemed like a very sweet girl. My boys were growing up so fast and whoa… take it easy you two!

Sunset had already averted his attention to someone new. This ones name was Adrianne and just like the others she was immediately charmed. I only hoped as he got a little bit older, that he would settle down.

Though I am not sure if that would ever happen.