Things were really going Asa Populous’s way.  He was doing well at work and receiving regular promotions.  He had started to make friends in town, he had two beautiful children, and a new baby on the way.

Asa thought his daughter, Gail, was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.  She had dark hair, like him, though he though in her face she looked a lot like her beautiful mother.  Asa couldn’t believe he had such great kids, such a great family.  When he was younger he’d always been told he wouldn’t amount to anything, was told that he was mad, crazy, unlovable.  But Bebe and her children made him see otherwise, and not only did he have a loving family of kids and stepkids, he seemed to be liked in town – he would regularly busk in the park outside the theatre and draw large crowds – large paying crowds.

Asa wanted to make sure Bebe was as comfortable as possible during her latest pregnancy.  This was her eighth child, and she knew how to handle pregnancy, but she did so much around the house, cooking, gardening and repairing things, as well as working from home a lot, and he didn’t want anything to go wrong.

Asa would sing songs in front of the mirror when he thought no-one was looking, and would practice his speech for one day in the future when he was going to win awards for his winning film soundtrack compositions.  Asa had never had as much good luck as he was having right now.

Bebe was a little troubled by how much effort Asa was putting into her happiness during this pregnancy.  She assured him she was fine and encouraged him to focus on work.  The truth was that she felt a little guilty.  She knew in her heart that the child she was carrying was Pea Greene’s and should this child look like its father she would have to invent a very creative story to tell Asa.  Poor Asa, she didn’t want to hurt him.  The decision she made, long before moving to the Valley, to have  children by all different fathers was not because she wanted to cause anyone pain, quite the opposite, in fact.  But she hadn’t really realised how much she would need a partner, and how much more complicated having one made things.

Although Bebe’s body knew what to do perfectly when the time came, her heart was racing.  She had been so lucky with Gail.  Her real father, Leighton, looked a lot like Asa (though if you looked really, really closely when the sun was shining brightly, Leighton and Gail’s hair was a tiny bit darker than Asa’s).  But Pea was green-skinned and blonde… if this child looked like him, there would be some major questions she’d have to answer, not only from Asa, but from her other children, and from Pea.

Bebe couldn’t believe her eyes when baby Henry was born.  Perhaps she’d got it wrong, perhaps he *was* Asa’s child after all.  Either way, she might just have gotten away with this.  Bebe Populous thought she was perhaps the luckiest woman in the world.

Bebe and Asa weren’t the only lucky members of the family.  Declan Populous had recently become a teenager and this meant he was able to help out more with his younger siblings, and befriend them.   He also had a longer curfew and would spend evenings in the park playing tiggy with the neighbours.  He was gaining so many friends – fifteen at the latest count!  And now he was going to secondary school where his big brother Cameron could look out for him, that side of his life might also be getting easier.

Declan Populous was feeling incredibly lucky, and like his mum and stepdad, he was becoming increasingly popular.  Knowing he was liked by people outside of his family (as well as those within it) helped him feel amazing – a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.  Who cared what those kids at his old school thought, he was someone people wanted to spend time with, and he felt great.

Eddie Populous, like Declan, was having a hard time at school.  The kids didn’t like him.  Some ran away screaming when they saw him, or pretended to faint.  He knew it was because they were afraid of him, afraid of him being different to them.  His mum and Asa tried to comfort him by telling him he was special, he was unique, but knowing that didn’t make being different any easier.  Still, he poured his heart into his novels and paintings and that helped channel his sadness.

Knowing her boy was so troubled played on Bebe’s heart and she wanted him to feel special.  So when she could finally afford to build a bedroom for the boys, Eddie was the first one who got to see it.  He was so excited that he made all the beds, straightening the covers so they looked immaculate for his brothers when they saw it.

Bebe was delighted that she had finally been able to build the kids their own room.  Since she’d bought the Ambrosia recipe, she had nothing major she was saving up for and decided to pour all her money into the house and into the kids.  She would do her best to build more rooms as and when she could afford it, and to get them better beds, and to buy them whatever they needed to fulfil their dreams.

When Fitzy had his birthday, he decided that what he most wanted was to be a writer and a painter, like Eddie.  Bebe asked if he was sure, if he wouldn’t rather try a few things out first, but he was adamant – so her first purchase was another easel so her boys could paint together.

But unlike the rest of the family, things were hard for Fitzy.  Something had been preying on his mind and he finally plucked up the courage to ask Bebe who that green-skinned man was who was hugging his mummy some time ago, when he was little.  Bebe was shocked at first – she hadn’t realised Fitzy had seen Pea visiting, and certainly not thought that he would understand.  She explained that Mr Greene was just a friend, nothing more, and she’d just been hugging him because that’s what friends do sometimes.  She reassured Fitzy that she loved Asa very much and he and her children were the most important things in her life, and would always be so.

Fitzy set off for his first day at school thinking about what his mum said. But somehow he couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she hadn’t told him the whole truth…

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