Young couples’ business was their own; Mia and Molly kept out of it. If anyone needed advice, they knew where to find them.
Since Anya wasn’t home, the sisters didn’t stick around Maplewood Estates for long. They got up and headed out together.
No sooner had they stepped outside than they bumped into Chunky, who was on his way to see Leo.
Chunky spotted them and lit up inside—it was like running into celebrities. Still, he tried to sound casual, greeting them like an old friend: “Mrs. Cedillo, what’s Andre up to at home?”
“Trying to teach his little rascal the alphabet,” she replied with a smirk.
Over at the Cedillo house, Andre was in the living room, so frustrated he looked about ready to explode.
Wayne sat nearby, watching his uncle and big brother, totally lost.
Chad glanced from Henry’s lesson to his own son in his arms, starting to worry a little himself.
“A, O, E. Henry, this is ‘E’—and no, you can’t eat it,” Andre explained, keeping his patience.
Henry scrunched up his nose and asked, “But Dad, why can’t I eat eggs?”
After finally getting past ‘E’ and ‘egg,’ they moved on to “I, U, Ü,” which only brought more confusion.
Henry tilted his innocent face up, puzzled. “Dad, why can’t I eat fish? I’ve had fish before!”
Andre took a deep breath. “Because today, ‘fish’ is your dad’s name, so you can’t eat it.”
Clearly, alphabet lessons were going nowhere. Andre decided to switch gears and teach Henry to write. But as soon as he took his son’s little hand, Henry flopped across the table. “Daddy, I want Grandpa’s pen, not yours.” Grandpa’s pen had a soft tip and was great for drawing. Dad’s pen was boring.
Meanwhile, Hansen was loving every second—watching his son get schooled by his own grandson was better than TV.
But when the attention turned to him, Hansen’s grin froze. “Nope! Grandpa’s pens are special—you already messed up one.”
One day, when Andre got home from work, he heard laughter floating from the living room before he even stepped inside. “Son, your brain—spin your brain, spin it around!”
He walked in to find his flustered wife gently spinning Henry’s little head, while the boy giggled nonstop, loving every minute.
It just so happened that the Conner family was hosting a baby shower for their daughter during Lantern Festival, and all of Newtown was buzzing.
The festival itself brought parades, lion dances, street performers—everywhere you looked, there was something going on.
There’s always a light show for Lantern Festival, but this year the whole town felt especially festive.
Word around town was Mr. Nettleton’s daughter’s baby shower lined up with the holiday, making it a double celebration. People said it was good luck, and it sure felt like the whole town was in party mode.
Most of the performing groups had been brought in by the Nettleton family, and the celebrations went on all night long.

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