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.
Liliana had barely talked to him at the party, only tangentially knowing Allyn in the first place, so she's surprised when Tom Darwin calls her out of the blue. Liliana may be heartbroken but that doesn't mean she's been lying around crying and getting stuck out of the loop. She knows her gossip, knows that Tom and Allyn, while still most certainly a couple, are seeing other people.
To say Maya finds her current living situation a bit awkward is an understatement. She'd been entirely prepared for the situation of Ashlee and Liliana both getting boyfriends at university and her being the fifth wheel but she hadn't expected this. It's especially awkward when Liliana gets soppy and talks about what they're going to do when they graduate. Maya knows Ashlee better than her, even if she isn't in a relationship with her, and she knows Ashlee's not ready for commitment.
Adele still talked to Colby, but only as friends and colleagues. The elections were coming up so the increased work-load and need for communication meant that Adele was the one hogging the phone-line rather than her teenage daughter. Maya did have friends but she needed to concentrate on scholarships... plus the whole thing with Liliana was a bit weird. She and Maya were BFFs and Maya could do without hearing ANYTHING about her brother's love life.
