Five years have passed.
ExH [65]: Francesco Martinelli (Wordsmith)
- DW [60]: Marlene Marie-Claude Martinelli, née Widmer (solros)
ExW [62]: Claire Delphine Villeneuve, formerly Martinelli (Julia)
- ExBF [47]: Callum Baz “Cal” Barlow (Story)
- DBF [59]:
DS [39]: Thomas Lorenzo Martinelli (RowenaRavenclaw)
- DGF [39]: Holly Carol Tailor (greenbean)
— DD [18]: Coline Dove Tailor Martinelli (aPerson)
- ExW [41]: Safa Martinelli, née Soliman (Ohad Yigal)
— DD/DS [7]: Livia Maram Armida Martinelli (solros) & Dorian Hussein Francesco Martinelli (Story)
DD [36]: Rhea Ginevra Martinelli-Hellström (Darkbone)
- DH [37]: August Viggo Martinelli-Hellström (ari.)
— DS [6]: Leonardo Alexander Martinelli-Hellström (Ohad Yigal)
— DD [4]:
— DD [1]:
Having tired of the south of France, Claire has moved to Barcelona, where her company have recently opened a new office. While there, she’s started a dating a Spanish businessman who splits his time between Barcelona and New York — she sometimes accompanies him overseas, but finds that having him be away for a week or two at a time helps their relationship.
Thomas and Safa, on the other hand, divorced more or less amicably after five years of marriage, when the twins were four. Parenting hasn’t agreed with Safa in the way she’d anticipated, and she intentionally increased her hours at work in order to spend less time at home. Eventually, Thomas decided that he couldn’t maintain this relationship, and agreed to have Livia and Dorian stay with him the majority of the time. This was more or less the opposite of his former custody agreement with Holly regarding Coline, who recently turned 18. At her 18th birthday party (the family one, not the undoubtedly alcohol-fuelled gathering she held with her friends), Thomas and Holly reflected on the years they’ve spent raising her together — and this, eventually, spilled over into an agreement to try out a romantic relationship.
Rhea and August, on the other hand, have found that parenthood suits them, and have welcomed two sisters for Leonardo. In between pregnancies, Rhea has started making occasional appearances on the kind of art-history-based television programmes that are watched largely by retired old dears and people who can’t be bothered to find the remote to change the channel.
Claire’s DBF’s first name is a short Spanish name, his middle name is a Spanish name with a religious connection, and he has two Spanish surnames.
Rhea and August’s elder DD’s first name is from Norse mythology, and her middle name is an Italian name which is a diminutive or nickname of another name.
Rhea and August’s younger DD’s first name is an old-fashioned English name, and her middle name is a Swedish name which does not end in -a.
"Do you not find it happens very often, that you are as gay as Garrick at dinner and then by supper-time you wonder why God made the world?"