Previously on Cash Legacy…
The Cash Family say goodbye to Haven
Mallory has some news for Ben
Ben and Mallory move out
Kristine goes into labor
Chapter 2.5: Extended Family
It was a good thing that Dalia had just come home from school otherwise, who knows what Kristine would have gone through.
The couple returned home with a sweet little girl that was named Eliza. The new parents couldn’t let her out of their sight for even a second but all little Eliza wanted to do was sleep.
Or at least that’s what they all thought until Dalia came into the baby’s room. For some reason, Eliza would just light up at whatever Dalia did. Perhaps Dalia’s magic would come in handy when Eliza started giving her parents sleepless nights.
Shortly after the birth of his daughter, Adrian and his siblings were celebrating their birthday.
While Adrian and Kristine focused on their newborn, Dalia focused on her social life. Getting out of the house unnoticed was a breeze.
She could easily go to any event that she was invited to and was often called the life of the party. Whatever career she pursued, she knew it had to involve social events.
She grew close to a boy called Mikel. At first, he was a rival at school but soon, their common interests drew them together.
Dalia never openly called Mikel her boyfriend, though they hung out a few times and openly kissed, but they enjoyed each other’s company and made a good team and that was all that interested her.
The months flew by. Adrian got promoted to Development Captain (and got out of shape in the process) while Eliza grew into a miniature clone of Kristine, inheriting her blonde hair and green eyes.
Eliza loved to sleep. She would play for just a bit and then nag her mom to put her to bed.
Shortly after a nap, Eliza would wake up and watch videos on the tablet Adrian got her. Kristine was worried that Eliza was still too young for it. The videos helped with her communication skills and that was worth the worry, they thought.
But sometimes she could be quite a drama queen, acting out like the characters she saw in videos or television shows. Adrian thought she got it from her mother’s side.
Perhaps he was right. Mallory would sometimes show up at their door in the middle of the night, begging to spend the night there because she needed a break from the baby (not sure if she was referring to Ben).
Adrian, still groggy, would say to her, “Mallory, your house is that way. Go there. Sleep there.”
Kristine was more sympathetic, offering help whenever she could.
“I wish they could all be like Eliza,” Mallory would say whenever she saw her niece.
But Kristine would always tell her that she would get used to it. Well, some of it.
There were some things that seemed new no matter how many times they happened, like Eliza’s “performances” before daycare and the tantrums she threw if no one read her story before bed.
Meanwhile, Adrian was dealing with his new weight issues, which was ironic since his wife was a fitness trainer.
Kristine suggested that they jog to Ben and Mallory’s house, since they were going to see the baby on a Saturday but he refused because conveniently, Dalia was out (on a date).
Catherine saw Dalia with Mikel a few times but she didn’t say anything and assumed that Adrian knew about it.
With or without Dalia, the Adrian and Kristine got together with Catherine to visit Ben and Mallory.
The next morning, Kristine tried to convince Adrian to join her aerobics class. He wasn’t interested, and used his work as an excuse.
But Dalia was interested. She took the class very seriously and even began jogging in the morning.
Dalia’s 18th birthday and graduation was coming up in two months and she wanted to look great in all the pictures.
It wouldn’t be difficult though, having professional trainer Kristine as her sister-in-law.
In the weeks leading up to her birthday, Dalia would visit her parents’ graves, just to tell them what had happened since they left.
While Dalia was out and Adrian was probably at work, a certain man would come over.
His name was Clinton, Kristine and Mallory’s younger brother.
Kristine didn’t really like having him around. He was quite rambunctious and hung out with dodgy people in dodgy places.
He would come over asking for money and Kristine would give him a large sum and tell him to stop coming back but of course, he would return every month.
Kristine was getting really sick of it. She threatened to stop funding him and he threatened that she would regret it. No taking him seriously, she refused to give him any more money.
Clinton didn’t say a word. He just left – or so she thought.
He hid in the garden and waited for Kristine to take Eliza to daycare so that he could follow her.
When Dalia went to fetch her niece that afternoon, she was nowhere to be found.
Dalia came home and found Clinton in the living room, dancing to music.
“You must be Dalia,” Clinton said, “I’m Kristine’s brother. Tell her that if she’s looking for Eliza, she should give me a call.”
And then he left.
Dalia found the whole thing weird so she phoned Kristine and told her what happened.
Over the phone, Kristine was very panicky and kept begging Dalia not to tell Adrian.
“Why shouldn’t I? Is something wrong?” Dalia asked Kristine.
“Just tell him that Eliza is with me,” she said before she hung up.
It was also Dalia’s birthday party that day so Adrian went straight to the party venue after work.
Adrian did find it a little odd that his wife and daughter weren’t there but he was distracted by Dalia’s boyfriend that he didn’t know about and Rain, who he hadn’t seen since she started working at another company a year ago.
Kristine was at home, wallowing in misery. She sent Clinton tons of messages, saying that she would give him any amount he asked for but he wasn’t satisfied with that. He wanted to make her suffer.
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