Time Will Not Pause

Over time some normality returned to the household, but some things were irrevocable. Alice continued to struggle with her incessant motherly duties. Deep down she still felt young and simply wanted to have fun and enjoy what life had to offer. However she accepted her fate and did her best to raise Ellena in a good way.
There’d been little change in her father. In fact the only changes were for the worse and he was becoming more and more forgetful and confused by the day. He was quickly becoming another person who depended on Alice… when what she really needed was someone she could lean.
The members of the family who actually live in the house are not the only Newbrooks adjusting to changes. Annabel had received a double blow recently, first losing her mother, which was soon followed by losing her father-in-law and the grand house she lived in!.. After passed away, a young girl came forward claiming she’d been dating Aaron and Korey’s father before he’d died and had given birth to his daughter a few months ago. With a bit of powerful (probably expensive) legal work, the girl managed to claim all of Cruz’s assets for their daughter. Thus the Ferrell family had been forced to move out and into a much smaller house three miles down the road.

Annabel told her family, whilst they were gathered around in the living room playing video games one afternoon, that she didn’t mind the smaller house as much as she thought she would… but the stress lines (plus wrinkles revealing her age) had set in on her face.
Imogen was the only one having a slightly better time for a change. She felt confident that a promotion would come her way soon, which encouraged her to work hard on her skills. Being a large girl she chose to begin her physical training gently by swimming. Imogen had never forgotten the first swimming lesson she’d had when she’d been just a little girl, given to her by her Aunt Yana. Now she was ever grateful to have had those lessons. And thinking about her late aunt’s strength made Imogen more encouraged in her ability.

Her routine usually consisted of three to four trips to the swimming pool per week. On some of these visits she’d bump into a familiar face; that of Melissa Gee – Joss Gee’s sister. Melissa was a keen swimmer and was more than happy to share the pool. She liked Imogen and believed there was something going on between her and her brother, although neither of them had ever said anything.

Technically Imogen and Joss were seeing each other. They had been ever since high school, but never become more than romantic interests, as all they did was hang out and hold hands. Imogen wanted them to be more, but wasn’t totally sure what Joss wanted since they’d never talked about it, which didn’t really worry her right now because her main focus was on her career anyway.

At the Newbrook homestead Alice was preparing Ellena for a special moment. In a couple of days it would be her 2nd birthday and Alice was excitedly preparing a huge party for the occasion. She sat Ellena down to teach her important words for the upcoming event; balloons, cake, presents, ice cream…

Having her daughter’s father present at the party was very important, but Alice knew he wasn’t keen on large groups of people, so she checked her plans with him first.

Nemm: I really like this photo. It’s the only one I think I have of Ellena with both her parents.

Donovan is not a foolish man. He knew birthday parties are an important part of a child’s life and therefore something he went along with. Still one of the quieter guests on the day, however he’d grown more confidant around people in recent years as he felt his daughter’s happiness more important than his own discomfort.
Ellena’s parents were practically opposites in their view of socalising and getting to know new people. For Alice it was one of her favourite things to do. She’d always loved it and tried to befriend every person she met.
One of the most interesting people Alice had ever met was Karri’s mother.

Nemm: “I’ll be impressed if you can tell them apart!… they are virtually identical aren’t they?!”

Mrs McQueen was proving that a lifestyle of late night partying and extreme sports (both of which she’d done a lot of in her youth) were not all bad, as she’d outlived her husband and was still breathing despite the fact both of her children were in their elderly years. At the rate she was going she’d outlive them too.

Tragically, as it turned out, that sentence was half true…

When Lucas’s mobile phone rang in the middle of a romantic meal that Karri had prepared for them early one evening, he did not hesistate in getting up from the table to answer it in private. Being the ‘Emporer of Evil’ was a demanding job which Lucas thrived on, but tried to keep separate from his home life. He took the call in the bathroom, leaving his disappointed wife alone.

The conversation between Lucas and the gruff voice on the other end of the phone was quite typical. His ‘employees’ had successfully completed their ‘job’ for the evening, but on that particular occassion they’d had to leave a man behind who’d been collected up by the police. The new boy apparently had been more worried about the muddy footprints they’d created than the job in hand. The man on the other end of the phone muttered something about the boy being not quite right in the head.
During this conversation Lucas heard a loud shriek followed by sobbing. Thinking it was most likely his niece’s annoying daughter, probably bumping her head on something again (Ellena had just learnt how to use her legs… sort of. She is still somewhat unstable), he ignored it. Business needed to be taken care of first.
However he came to regret that decision the moment he walked out of the bathroom and turned the corner into the kitchen. He was greeted by the most tragic sight he would ever see…

Something more intimidating than Lucas himself had arrived to take his wife to the other side.
Seeing that she was a lot younger than her husband and should have outlived him by many years, it could be believed that her heart had finally broken when he deserted her at the dining table that evening… again… … and she could no longer go on. That is of course only one theory. The truth we’ll never know.
The heavy sobbing that Lucas had heard before was coming from their daughter, Imogen, who had been the one to find her mother in the company of the deathly figure of the Grim Reaper hoovering in the kitchen doorway.

Nemm: I must warn you now, dear reader, to arm yourself with tissues at hand for the next scene because what I saw was so touching and heart-breaking at the same time…

Karri’s ghostly form heard the sad cries coming from her daughter, and so, as her final action within the realm of the living, she turned and floated over to her child and proceeded to whisper words of love, comfort and strength into her ear.

When the Grim Reaper deemed it finally time to go, Imogen’s beloved mother disappeared from the Newbrooks forever.

It goes without saying that Imogen and Lucas will need time to moan their loss and adjust to their worlds which have changed forever. However this legacy story must go on, so we will turn our attention to the youngest member of the family as she tries to make her first friend although still just a toddler.
They were born within hours of each other and their mums have built a good friendship so inevitably Ellena and Shannon met whilst still in nappies and played together on numerous occassions.

Another inevitability was that Alice and Jeb would someday come across each again because the young mums with their respective child were hanging out so often.

There was an intial silent awkwardness between them, but being the friendly pair they are, they overcame this and chatted together in a civilised manner. Alice asked Jeb how his job was going; to which he informed her that progression for him was very slow. Currently he is an Automated Spell-Checker Checker for the local newspaper, but has been trying to become a Freelance Writer for some time.
Jeb tentatively asked how she and her daughter were doing, which gave Alice an opening to put forth an idea which had come to her during their conversation. She invited Jeb to attend Ellena’s birthday party and was delighted when he accepted.
The birthday party was going ahead as planned even though Imogen’s mother recently departed, because Imogen knew her mother would have wanted it that way. In respect for her late aunt though Alice tried to keep it simple and invited close friends and relatives only. She ordered pizzas instead of laying on a formal buffet, which made Shannon happy as it was the first time he’d tried pizza seeing that he’d celebrated his birthday just hours before. (He is the kid sitting down in the photo below)

After the guests had eaten, the birthday girl was cheered and applauded and then she presented herself in her new light blue dress. Everyone expressed how pretty they though Ellena looked and many congratulated Alice on raising her daughter so well, with no negative characteristics… well no obvious ones.