Chapter 12 - Growing Pains

Things started going south when my dad died.  He kept us all laughing when he was alive.  No one here is laughing much now. 

My mother oscillated between tears and rage and I wasn't in a good place myself. Mother's tears abated after a few days; the rages, not so much.

We all have our ways of coping.  For me it's video games, whether it's developing them, modding them or playing them.  Lia cooks and gardens.

Mother has given new meaning to the expression "merry widow".  Someone should probably have a talk with her about her reputation and how that could affect her granddaughter.  Me? Not bloody likely!

Luc Desjardins is the newest member of our family.  Mother and baby are both fine.

Between the romances and the rages, it's probably not such a good idea to leave the children with Mother.  Lia and I both work nights; what else are we going to do?

We're paying the price for it; our darling little social butterfly has had a metamorphosis.  She's now a hormone-ridden bundle of mischief.  She's invited Uncle Jean-Paul to a fake party, told one of her grandmother's paramours that she's a criminal mastermind and those are just the ones I've been told about.

Given her grandmother's proclivities, it could be much worse; at least she's focusing the hormones on one particular boy, her childhood friend, Roman Rose.

Luc is still a delight but I fear for his future, as Humberto, his best friend forever, is an evil little piece of work.

I'm getting much too old for all the drama; Yvette is grown and Luc is nearly so.  The better part of valour seems to be to hide out and wash my hands of it.