Chapter 26: Listen To Your Heart
Winter brings more sad news to Willow. Summer has passed away, just shortly after Travis did, leaving behind three adult children and a teenage daughter. Willow and Derek rushes over there at once to check on her, all alone in that big house.
"This is why you don't have children late in life," Willow says before they arrive.
She doesn't know Alivia all that well, but she understands her pain and tries her best to console her.
Together they travel to the cemetery, where Alivia gets to say her final good byes to her mother.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Willow asks, to Alivia's confusion.
"I have the house."
"Yes, but you can't live there alone."
"My sister is moving in, tomorrow, with her family."
"You can stay with us tonight if you want to," Willow offers, but Alivia says no. After all, she barely knows Willow. She returns home on her own.
As sad as Willow is, Winterfest is coming and she needs to get the house in order. This is the first time she doesn't do this alone. Derek help with all the preparation and getting the house decorated for the holiday.
He takes the holiday as much as Willow does.
And he has an idea. What if they expanded the sun room, so that their dining table could fit? Then Willow could get her living room the way she wants it, and the spare room could be used for an office for her.
"What do you say?"
"That sounds like an awful amount of work."
"I'm not afraid of work. We could have it done before Springster."
"I like it," Willow decides. "Yes, let's do it."
Before the party Munch needs to be fed.
And then the guests can arrive. Willow is happy to see her daughter.
And the two have great fun with the camera.
As usual people are enjoying the food and conversations.
And the presents.
And as the snow melts, and Willow and Derek are just finishing the changes to the sun room, Willow gets a call from her daughter asking for her advice.
"What does your heart tell you?"
"Yes."
"Then is there really any need to ask me? You already know the answer."
"This is why you don't have children late in life," Willow says before they arrive.
She doesn't know Alivia all that well, but she understands her pain and tries her best to console her.
Together they travel to the cemetery, where Alivia gets to say her final good byes to her mother.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Willow asks, to Alivia's confusion.
"I have the house."
"Yes, but you can't live there alone."
"My sister is moving in, tomorrow, with her family."
"You can stay with us tonight if you want to," Willow offers, but Alivia says no. After all, she barely knows Willow. She returns home on her own.
As sad as Willow is, Winterfest is coming and she needs to get the house in order. This is the first time she doesn't do this alone. Derek help with all the preparation and getting the house decorated for the holiday.
He takes the holiday as much as Willow does.
And he has an idea. What if they expanded the sun room, so that their dining table could fit? Then Willow could get her living room the way she wants it, and the spare room could be used for an office for her.
"What do you say?"
"That sounds like an awful amount of work."
"I'm not afraid of work. We could have it done before Springster."
"I like it," Willow decides. "Yes, let's do it."
Before the party Munch needs to be fed.
And then the guests can arrive. Willow is happy to see her daughter.
And the two have great fun with the camera.
As usual people are enjoying the food and conversations.
And the presents.
When they return back home, Christmas and Sunny starts planning for New Years. They've invited everyone they know from town, and some people they don't know as much too.
Christmas has gone over to the Celebration home to meet Jamie's sister so she can invite her too. The two get alone just fine, something which makes Christmas happy.
When she returns, Jamie shows up with a very special question (no, not that one, but close).
Of course Christmas says yes! Jamie throws himself right into helping to plan for the party, which turns out great. Decorations are in silver and gold, electronica is playing on the stereo and cakes and food is scattered around the house for the guest to enjoy. Carolyn is rocking her new dress.
Before midnight, they all go upstairs to watch the countdown on the tv.
As a new year begins, they all fall into bed exhausted after cleaning up after the guests, and the next morning, Carolyn is the first one to wake up.
She decides to make breakfast for everyone, as a surprise, but exactly how do you do that? Having grown up in a house with hired people taking care of everything, she has no clue where to start, but tries anyway. Eggs on toast, how hard can it be?
Is it really supposed to smoke like that?
Luckily, she manages without setting the kitchen on fire, and the others are very surprised to be served (slightly burned) breakfast.
"Perhaps you could teach me?" she asks Christmas. "A little bit, at least?"
"Sure!" Christmas says, happy to avoid burnt food in the future.
She helps her already later that day, guiding her in making vegetable dumplings, one of the first things she herself learnt to cook as a child.
But being four people in the house make it seem smaller, and with three people needing the only computer for their work... it isn't always easy. Soon, Carolyn brings up the idea of getting their own place to Sunny. He likes the idea, especially as the house next door is available.
"Can we afford it?" he asks, but to that Carolyn just laughs.
"Of course we can, I'm loaded."
And while they're on the subject of the future, Sunny brings up that next step, but that's when Carolyn stops him.
"There are things we need to talk about first," she says. "Like what that would entail. Living together, that's one thing, engagements, marriage, that's another. First, I'm not about to let go of my name. It's too useful."
"But I thought you moved here so you'd get away from the name?"
"No, I moved here so that I could prove myself a good business woman on my own merits, I never intended to give up my name or family company. Once mom is too old I intend to run Landgraab Industries, and I cannot do that as a Springs. Granddad took grannies name when he married into the family, but I can live with a hyphen if you feel you don't want to change entirely."
Sunny suppose that is fair, he cannot really find a reason to argue for anything else, but that only brings up Carolyns second point.
"There are other things you need to know about my family. If we do this, there will be family gatherings, engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, the whole Plumbob of events, that's expected, and it will be in Oasis Springs. I cannot compromise on that."
Sounds like hard work, more than entertainment, but Sunny can live with parties.
"And then there is the issue of our "other" company."
"Your other company?"
"Well we didn't get all that money from just ordinary business," Carolyn explains and when Sunny looks like he doesn't understand at all. "Mom runs Landgraab industries, dad runs the Landgraab Crime Family. He's the head of the maffia, took over after his mother."
Sunny doesn't know what to say, so Carolyn rolls her eyes and continues.
"Oh come on, this cannot be news to you? It's not like you don't have criminals in your family. Your uncle and his husband works for him, and you've spend your entire life around them."
"But will you...?"
"No! It's a point of keeping the two separate. I will run the business, like mom, and my sister will run the crime side of things. And if I have anything to say about it, and I know I do, I will move the two apart. I intend to bring Landgraab industries out of the criminal realm entirely into the legal side of things. My sister knows this, and is more than happy to let the Landgraab crime family become the Mendoza Crime Family."
"So she didn't keep the family name?"
"She was never a Landgraab to begin with. She's my half sister. Which suits me fine, we can separate the two and I can run Landgraab industries the legal way. But that's years into the future, mom and dad are still going strong." She pauses. "Still up for getting a house with me?"
Surprisingly, Sunny finds that he is, and the next day they sign the lease for their new house, and move all the way over to the other side of the lot. Carolyn gets to decorating, first of all expanding the kitchen to get out of feeling completely cramped. Then with a black and white base, adding pops of color everywhere. Orange, yellow, red and blue sprinkle the house in various ways.
That night she makes Sunny watch the cooking channel with her. "We need to know how to cook if we're going to avoid setting our new kitchen on fire." Sunny thinks that's a good idea, although mostly he gets hungry from watching.
In their side of the building, Christmas and Jamie remakes Sunny's old bedroom to an office for Jamie. Now he can truly write and develop.
When she returns, Jamie shows up with a very special question (no, not that one, but close).
Of course Christmas says yes! Jamie throws himself right into helping to plan for the party, which turns out great. Decorations are in silver and gold, electronica is playing on the stereo and cakes and food is scattered around the house for the guest to enjoy. Carolyn is rocking her new dress.
Before midnight, they all go upstairs to watch the countdown on the tv.
As a new year begins, they all fall into bed exhausted after cleaning up after the guests, and the next morning, Carolyn is the first one to wake up.
She decides to make breakfast for everyone, as a surprise, but exactly how do you do that? Having grown up in a house with hired people taking care of everything, she has no clue where to start, but tries anyway. Eggs on toast, how hard can it be?
Is it really supposed to smoke like that?
Luckily, she manages without setting the kitchen on fire, and the others are very surprised to be served (slightly burned) breakfast.
"Perhaps you could teach me?" she asks Christmas. "A little bit, at least?"
"Sure!" Christmas says, happy to avoid burnt food in the future.
She helps her already later that day, guiding her in making vegetable dumplings, one of the first things she herself learnt to cook as a child.
But being four people in the house make it seem smaller, and with three people needing the only computer for their work... it isn't always easy. Soon, Carolyn brings up the idea of getting their own place to Sunny. He likes the idea, especially as the house next door is available.
"Can we afford it?" he asks, but to that Carolyn just laughs.
"Of course we can, I'm loaded."
And while they're on the subject of the future, Sunny brings up that next step, but that's when Carolyn stops him.
"There are things we need to talk about first," she says. "Like what that would entail. Living together, that's one thing, engagements, marriage, that's another. First, I'm not about to let go of my name. It's too useful."
"But I thought you moved here so you'd get away from the name?"
"No, I moved here so that I could prove myself a good business woman on my own merits, I never intended to give up my name or family company. Once mom is too old I intend to run Landgraab Industries, and I cannot do that as a Springs. Granddad took grannies name when he married into the family, but I can live with a hyphen if you feel you don't want to change entirely."
Sunny suppose that is fair, he cannot really find a reason to argue for anything else, but that only brings up Carolyns second point.
"There are other things you need to know about my family. If we do this, there will be family gatherings, engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, the whole Plumbob of events, that's expected, and it will be in Oasis Springs. I cannot compromise on that."
Sounds like hard work, more than entertainment, but Sunny can live with parties.
"And then there is the issue of our "other" company."
"Your other company?"
"Well we didn't get all that money from just ordinary business," Carolyn explains and when Sunny looks like he doesn't understand at all. "Mom runs Landgraab industries, dad runs the Landgraab Crime Family. He's the head of the maffia, took over after his mother."
Sunny doesn't know what to say, so Carolyn rolls her eyes and continues.
"Oh come on, this cannot be news to you? It's not like you don't have criminals in your family. Your uncle and his husband works for him, and you've spend your entire life around them."
"But will you...?"
"No! It's a point of keeping the two separate. I will run the business, like mom, and my sister will run the crime side of things. And if I have anything to say about it, and I know I do, I will move the two apart. I intend to bring Landgraab industries out of the criminal realm entirely into the legal side of things. My sister knows this, and is more than happy to let the Landgraab crime family become the Mendoza Crime Family."
"So she didn't keep the family name?"
"She was never a Landgraab to begin with. She's my half sister. Which suits me fine, we can separate the two and I can run Landgraab industries the legal way. But that's years into the future, mom and dad are still going strong." She pauses. "Still up for getting a house with me?"
Surprisingly, Sunny finds that he is, and the next day they sign the lease for their new house, and move all the way over to the other side of the lot. Carolyn gets to decorating, first of all expanding the kitchen to get out of feeling completely cramped. Then with a black and white base, adding pops of color everywhere. Orange, yellow, red and blue sprinkle the house in various ways.
That night she makes Sunny watch the cooking channel with her. "We need to know how to cook if we're going to avoid setting our new kitchen on fire." Sunny thinks that's a good idea, although mostly he gets hungry from watching.
In their side of the building, Christmas and Jamie remakes Sunny's old bedroom to an office for Jamie. Now he can truly write and develop.
"What does your heart tell you?"
"Yes."
"Then is there really any need to ask me? You already know the answer."
She can't believe her little girl is getting married. She hopes she will like the man she's chosen.
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