Gen 1, Chapter 4: Silver and Bronze
If you asked him back when he was young and fit, being so old, gray, and tired that he had to have his teenage son help out with his pair of new toddlers wouldn't have been Nigel's idea of the perfect way to spend his days as an old man.
That's right, they now had two toddlers they had to juggle to get to daycare on time; The middle child, Grayson, who was already little Mr. Genius, and his little sister (by about six minutes) Penny, who had her father's copper skin and deep red hair, fitting to her name. Their Goldie would've probably been older than Blaine by now, and sometimes they had to hit themselves for waiting so long to have more children, but knowing that whatever force of fate had given them another chance at raising a little girl made the passing days all worth it.
Sure, they were now forced to talk about grim topics such as "How are the children going to take care of themselves when we die?" and "What will we have Blaine do when he's old enough to move out?" but the energetic smiles on their toddler's faces-and the slightly worn out smile on their older brother's face-made all of those dark night time conversations worth it.
Days passed and the toddler twins aged up into children. Grayson continued on the path of a genius, becoming just as ambitious as his older brother, while Penny had fallen in love with her mother's pretty artwork, and had decided that she wanted to grow up to make pretty things too.
As they were now old enough to handle it (or so they had thought) Evelyn and Nigel began to pass the family's story down to them, from the time Evelyn first moved into town to where the family was now, and, in the midst of story time, Evelyn decided to make that a family tradition, soon starting up a small journal for whoever the heir to the proverbial throne was. Yes, they decided to share everything with the kids, even the part where there would've-been older sister died.
Of course, Grayson and Blaine were touched by the story, but her parents could tell that it specifically struck a chord with Penny. She repeatedly asked what she needed to do in order to please her parents, most of the time being on the verge of tears as she did so.
As her mother, Evelyn wholeheartedly believed it was her duty to carve a path for her daughter. For her seventh birthday, she bought Penny a violin, they sat down next to each other, and Evelyn told her to start playing. In only a few years time, it was made clear that Penny would go on to become a creative prodigy. She spent day and night cradling her violin in her arms and fiddling with the bow as her father happily listened to her get better and better, reaching the top of her director's hypothetical favorites list to become the first chair in her school's orchestra.
Of course, Evelyn didn't hesitate to be strict with her when it came to grades. Her mother watched over her as she did her homework every night, even when she was well past the school's expectations for an A+ student, passing each grade at the top of her class. Even over her breaks from school, when Penny wasn't finishing up the last of her extra credit work, she was standing outside and improving her violin skills, willing to play for everyone and anyone who was willing to stop and listen to her music. Her father was especially proud of his treasure and the music she was making, and, at least once a day, would sit out on their front porch, close his eyes, and listen to the sound of his teenage daughter playing her heart out the violin.
Of course, in a legacy family, especially one as non-stop as this one, happy times were always destined to end suddenly.
That's right, they now had two toddlers they had to juggle to get to daycare on time; The middle child, Grayson, who was already little Mr. Genius, and his little sister (by about six minutes) Penny, who had her father's copper skin and deep red hair, fitting to her name. Their Goldie would've probably been older than Blaine by now, and sometimes they had to hit themselves for waiting so long to have more children, but knowing that whatever force of fate had given them another chance at raising a little girl made the passing days all worth it.
Sure, they were now forced to talk about grim topics such as "How are the children going to take care of themselves when we die?" and "What will we have Blaine do when he's old enough to move out?" but the energetic smiles on their toddler's faces-and the slightly worn out smile on their older brother's face-made all of those dark night time conversations worth it.
Days passed and the toddler twins aged up into children. Grayson continued on the path of a genius, becoming just as ambitious as his older brother, while Penny had fallen in love with her mother's pretty artwork, and had decided that she wanted to grow up to make pretty things too.
As they were now old enough to handle it (or so they had thought) Evelyn and Nigel began to pass the family's story down to them, from the time Evelyn first moved into town to where the family was now, and, in the midst of story time, Evelyn decided to make that a family tradition, soon starting up a small journal for whoever the heir to the proverbial throne was. Yes, they decided to share everything with the kids, even the part where there would've-been older sister died.
Of course, Grayson and Blaine were touched by the story, but her parents could tell that it specifically struck a chord with Penny. She repeatedly asked what she needed to do in order to please her parents, most of the time being on the verge of tears as she did so.
As her mother, Evelyn wholeheartedly believed it was her duty to carve a path for her daughter. For her seventh birthday, she bought Penny a violin, they sat down next to each other, and Evelyn told her to start playing. In only a few years time, it was made clear that Penny would go on to become a creative prodigy. She spent day and night cradling her violin in her arms and fiddling with the bow as her father happily listened to her get better and better, reaching the top of her director's hypothetical favorites list to become the first chair in her school's orchestra.
Of course, Evelyn didn't hesitate to be strict with her when it came to grades. Her mother watched over her as she did her homework every night, even when she was well past the school's expectations for an A+ student, passing each grade at the top of her class. Even over her breaks from school, when Penny wasn't finishing up the last of her extra credit work, she was standing outside and improving her violin skills, willing to play for everyone and anyone who was willing to stop and listen to her music. Her father was especially proud of his treasure and the music she was making, and, at least once a day, would sit out on their front porch, close his eyes, and listen to the sound of his teenage daughter playing her heart out the violin.
Of course, in a legacy family, especially one as non-stop as this one, happy times were always destined to end suddenly.
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