Right away, Melody caught a taxi to the theatre and signed up for the music career. At the moment she's only one of the "plants" in a crowd that screams at concerts, but I'm still so proud of her. Mist also got a job packaging at the old warehouse down by the harbor. Boxing toothpaste tubes doesn't seem worthy of her talent and genius, but I suppose she'll do what she wants to do.
Needless to say, she was not happy when teenage trick-or-treaters woke her up from her fourteen hour nap. "What's your name? Belisama Hemlock? Yeah . . . I'll remember you. That'll be seventy-two dollars for the candy, and you might want to head down to the hospital two or three hours after eating it."
Mist and I laughed about the incident and were heating up a pot of hot cocoa when Melody came home. She had tear marks marring her makeup, but was grinning like she'd just won a million dollars. I asked where she had been for the past few hours, and she immediately launched into an explanation.
"Okay, so I went by Matthew Hamming's house and we made out behind his garage, and then--"
"Wait. Stop there. You did
what?" I interrupted, startled.
She glanced down. "I . . . was hoping that he'd dump his girlfriend for me, then we could get married and Matt and I could move in with him and be rich and live happily ever after, like in all the fairytales."
"And? Did it work?" Mist asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes at her sister's fantasies.
"It seemed to, at first . . ." Melody glared at her sister, then said haltingly, "we went up to his room, and--"
"As your mother, I don't think I need to hear this part."
"Okay, okay. And then afterwards, he said that I should leave before Matilda came over or a paparazzi spotted us together. He just kicked me out--I left my clothes there, too. Mom, can you go pick them up tomorrow? I refuse to go to that house ever again."
I shuddered. "Sorry, love, I can't show my face there either."
Mist sighed. "I'll break into his house and get them tonight. Okay, Dee, what did you do after throwing yourself at Matthew Hamming and getting kicked out in your underwear?"
"I guess I started crying and wandering around until I ended up in the parking lot of that big filming studio, then . . ." Melody's smile, which had disappeared while she spoke of Matthew Hamming, came back in full force ". . . I met the most wonderful man named Bronson. He was so nice!"
"I'm sure he was, if you were still in your underwear," Mist muttered. Melody ignored her and continued to lay out the scene for us.
"What's wrong?" Bronson asked (remember, I was still crying).
"Nothing, just . . . I'm having some guy trouble. If I even have a guy, that is."
"I wouldn't worry about it--a pretty girl like you can have any guy she wants to, so don't settle for idiots like whoever you just broke up with--" ("Again, you weren't wearing any clothes," Mist interjected.)
So then we got to talking, mostly about silly things like zodiac signs. Would you believe that we were compatible? Then I remembered that Matthew was only a few years younger than my mom, and I was crushing on him for ages (which is
so gross now that I think about it!) so I asked Bronson how old he was, and would you believe that we're exactly the same age!
"Can I drive you home, or call a cab?" he eventually asked. "I wouldn't want you wandering around on the subway dressed like . . . that."
He was so sweet and protective! I was officially in love.
"That's so sweet of you," I said flirtatiously. "Maybe we could go out for a drink sometime . . . how's tomorrow night for you? I have my graduation ceremony, but I'm going to skip it anyway. I went to boarding school, so it's not like I know anyone besides you."
"I'd love to--my dad owns this really exclusive club, the Aquarius, and I'm sure I can get you in. I'll meet you outside the club at--"
I thought it was the perfect time to go in for a kiss. So I went for it--but then he backed up and blocked me! Which doesn't happen to me often, let me tell you. There was this one guy I was seeing at LeFromage who was really--actually, you don't need to know about that.
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry, Melody--I've only known you for a few hours, but I already know that you're a really great girl, and smart and beautiful and talented, but I have a girlfriend. Her name is Helen, and I don't want to be a cheater like my dad. I'll, um, call you that cab now, and . . . I don't think I can make it to the Aquarius if it's going to be a date."
Mist hung up her mug and went to bed. "Mom?" Melody asked timidly. "What does it mean when you try to kiss a guy with a girlfriend, and he doesn't let you?"
"It means that he's a keeper, love. And you should go to bed. It's Matt's birthday tomorrow, and I know he misses his mama." I smiled, patted her on the arm, and went down into the basement to work on my book.
Instead of going to her room, Melody tiptoed into the nursery. Matt was already awake, and he held out his arms to be picked up. She snuggled him close and whispered, "I missed you so much, sweetheart."
And so it was that while I held my daughter up to the cake . . .
Melody held her son.
"Mom," she asked me while the children picked out their outfits, "why don't you get back into the dating game? Not one of those weird vampires you hung out with while I was gone--that repairman seemed really nice, and he seemed to really like you!"
"Thank you, Melody, but I am quite content to be an old maid," I laughed. "Trust me--I've loved too many men already."
Next, Mist cornered Melody. "Look, Dee, I know I'm mean to you, but I really do wish that we could have known each other growing up. I guess I was always jealous of you for getting to stay home, even though I loved being at Fort Starch. What I'm trying to say is . . . I wish we could have fought more growing up."
"Thanks, big sister. It means a lot."
Finale grew up into quite the little tomboy. She has the same mouth Mist did at that age, and my eyes, so I think she'll be the spitting image of me when she's a little older.
Matthew, on the other hand, is an imaginative, quiet child. He has my eyes, too, that were passed down to Melody, and strange golden hair. It's very pretty, but we don't know where it came from.
Note: For those interested in spoilers, the family tree has been majorly updated!
