Round Nine - Darwin - Everything You Ever

Sam Darwin and his fiancée Miranda King have returned to the Darwin family home, where Sam's father Harvey and his girlfriend Esther Pasang are awaiting their own first child.

Even though the atmosphere in the Darwin household was distinctly awkward, Miranda was doing her best to fit in. Sam helped, of course. For example, one morning Harvey completely blanked Miranda in his search for breakfast after pulling an all-nighter painting. Miranda felt like she was going to cry, but Sam came to her rescue.

"Hey, did you know that Winston Churchill's pet parrot lived for 104 years?"

"No, I didn't." She smiled. Sure, their distractions were kind of banal, but they kept them grounded.

Round Eight - Darwin - Love & Loss

After Sam Darwin's departure to university, Harvey Darwin and his pregnant mistress Esther are all alone in the house. How will they deal with all the drama and still run Darwin Arts?

Round Seven - Darwin - Unwelcome

Adele Darwin has moved out of the family home she once shared with her husband Harvey, and taken their daughter Maya with her while leaving their son Sam behind. Reluctant home-wrecker Esther has taken her place... will Sam survive the dysfunction? More to the point, will Harvey?

Round Six - Darwin - Eerie Silence

Adele Darwin caught her husband Harvey in bed with his employee Esther Pasang and is struggling to cope. Their son Sam is getting closer to graduation and their daughter Maya will become a teenager soon - does Adele have the strength to put this incident behind her? And more importantly, does Harvey have the willpower to stop messing around with poor love-struck Esther?

Round Five - Darwin - Backstabber

Harvey Darwin's home art business is thriving, but with that comes the temptation of a beautiful, young and naive employee. Adele is oblivious, preferring her career, and their youngest children Sam and Maya are doing their own thing. How long can they continue before their fake happy family implodes?


The stresses of increasing age and three pregnancies lead to Adele switching careers and starting again from the very bottom, but she wasn't too worried. Yes, being an athlete had suited her well, but the idea of breaking the glass ceiling in politics intrigued her too... even if her dreams did wobble a bit when she saw the wreck she had to car-pool in.


Little Maya was growing up fast and was delighted with her newest toy - a stove of her very own! She was fascinated by the process of cake-making as much as the end result, which was a good thing as at the moment she mostly only managed to burn them. She ate them anyway, though.


She was a friendly little girl - not extremely outgoing, but sweet and playful enough to overcome her shyness easily. She made friends with Liliana King at school.

"I can so do algebra," said Liliana boastfully. "I am AWESOME at algebra. Listen!" She started off on a nonsensical stream of Xs and Ys but Maya nodded her on indulgently. Liliana was a bit over-the-top but she was a lot of fun to be around the rest of the time!


The "affair" with Esther hadn't gone past a little flirtation but it was still obvious to anyone who cared to notice, the way they looked at each other, the way he always touched her arm when complimenting her.

"Esther, you're a natural saleswoman! Of course, who could resist buying from someone so pretty... I'm giving you a raise, effective immediately."

"Oh wow! Thanks Harvey!"

The other employee rolled his eyes. Had Harvey Darwin never heard the term "abuse of power"?!


Harvey couldn't bear it anymore. The moment he shut up shop he walked over to Esther and tried to caress her face - a risk, he knew, since all they'd had was touches that could be construed as friendly... and she rebuffed him, a look of horror on her face.

"I'm sorry, but... look. I've had time to think about all of this. You're so handsome and charming and all the rest, but you're married! I'm not that sort of girl."

"What sort of girl's that?" asked Harvey with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not a home-wrecker. I want love, sure, but not like this. I want someone I can raise a family with. It's got to end between us, right now, before anyone gets hurt."

Harvey walked off without a word.

But her resolve not to be "that kind of girl" couldn't stand up to the pressure - Harvey wore her down and wore her down, and eventually she caved under the pressure. She even though she might be in love... which allowed him to take the next step.


Adele returned home early after finally getting a promotion, in higher spirits than she had been for a long time. Harvey was nowhere to be found, so she headed to the bedroom... and found him instantly, in bed with pretty young Esther.


"HOW COULD YOU?" Adele had never been a violent person but she struck out in a cloud of rage and smacked Harvey across the face, then stormed off.


They tried to keep their anger quiet, but it was impossible. Over the next few weeks they had quite a few fights and arguments, and Sam realised what was going on. One time they had a particular vicious shouting match right in front of him and he ran to his room in tears - he was always a sensitive kid.


Adele sat in her baby girl's room, playing chess and trying to compose her thoughts. Yes, Harvey had hurt her, betrayed her, broken her heart, but she he had three children by him and the youngest was about to hit puberty - was it worth losing all that history? Didn't Maya need a father-figure in her teen years? Although, thinking about it that way... considering how Tom had turned out, maybe not letting Maya think that jerks cheating on her was okay would be a better plan. This was a tricky problem, she mused as she moved the pawns and queens around the board. She'd need time to think.

Round Four - Darwin - Dirty Business

Business isn't exactly booming for Harvey and his new art boutique but it's going well - well enough for things to start getting hectic. Little Maya is getting bigger as her grandma Verity gets closer to the end of her days - and seeing as she's the primary caregiver for Maya and Sam, that could be a very big deal...


Verity was getting to the end of her time; she could feel it in her bones. Sometimes when she looked into little Maya's eyes she was sad - she wished she could stay and watch her grow up. But she knew she couldn't avert fate, and soon she would be joining her dear departed husband, Abraham Darwin.


Unfortunately Adele had made a few poor decisions at work (she blamed post-pregnancy hormones) and had lost her job, which meant she was stuck playing housewife until she found a new one. She wasn't a natural - she barely knew how to cook! - and the depression her unemployment had sunk her into made it difficult for her to even bother getting dressed, much to Sam's horror.

"Hi mom! School was so hectic today, you wouldn't believe ...okay. You're both still in your pajamas. That's just WEIRD."

"Be quiet and eat your macaroni, dear," said Adele with a forced smile.


The art store was getting more and more popular - so much so they needed to hire new staff. One of the applicants was a sweet young thing called Esther Pasang. She made a good impression on all of them - she was highly skilled at pottery and at sales techniques, just what they needed!


"It's such a relief to have someone to help out!" said Verity. "My old joints can't seem to get used to that cash register... I'm sure you'll have more luck. Do you have a boyfriend? Husband? Children?" Verity may have been getting older but she still hoped Esther could bring more kids over for her to fuss over. Sadly for her, Esther was single and childless, but like Verity she was family-orientated and gladly discussed her dreams for the future.


So Esther got to work, being vaguely capable on the cash register, and Verity got a much needed break to help Maya keep up with her developmental milestones. It wasn't long before she started school, after all!


Maya started school on time. She was adorable, quite shy but very nice and friendly, and was looking forward to making new friends.


Sadly, it was Verity's time. She went out happy, not as blissful as she could have been but ready to join her husband.


Maya was distraught. Verity had been the one who'd brought her up for the most part, her father too busy with the art store and her mother too busy with her own work, and she kept waking up at night and crying about her loss.


Sam was in pieces too, although his mourning turned more to anger.


Esther's sunny demeanour and ability to keep the shop not only running smoothly but getting good reviews in the local paper meant that the house didn't completely fall apart after Verity's passing. She hadn't been bragging about her pottery skills, and soon her work was being displayed side-by-side with Harvey's and some of the canvases Tom had left lying around.


One night, as the shop was readying to close and Harvey was stock-checking, he couldn't help looking at Esther. She really was beautiful. He and Adele hadn't been intimate since before Maya was born, and Esther stirred long-forgotten urges in him, tied up close with the urge to be a free-spirited artist with a muse rather than a husband to a career woman like Adele...


And once the stock was accounted for and the customers were ushered out, Harvey made his move. He was cheating on Adele, and Esther was such a sweet girl who deserved more than being someone's bit on the side, but guilt could wait. It could wait forever, if Harvey had his way.


Note: Verity :( I shall miss her and her function as free in-house childcare! Especially now Harvey's started drama with his staff... Sam's just wandering along in life.