Prologue

Ruby

"I don't know what I'm gonna do!" Sofia wailed into the phone. Her cry was followed by multiple sniffs and another sob.

"Just calm down." I pleaded, running my fingers through my red-brown hair for the tenth time this morning. "Just take a deep breath-"

I was interrupted by yet another loud wail.

"I'm having a baby Ruby!" Sofia yelled after a moment. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Not flip out, that's for sure." I replied, gritting my teeth, my annoyance beginning to show in my voice.

"Well, I don't have 15 kids, thank you very much-" Sofia snapped.

"I'm aware of this." I responded, sighing. "Have you told the father?"

"It was a random guy I met in a club. I barely got his name, much less a phone number."

It was unthinkable. My sister, Sofia Falls, getting knocked up by a random man. It was something that would have happened to me at some point, being a 100 baby challenge mom. But Sofia? No way. 

Yet, it had happened. Mom had already hit the ceiling with me storming off and having 15 kids, she must be through the roof with Sofia. A small smile came to my lips, imagining how badly she was freaking out by now.

"What about an address?" 

"I think I remember it... but what am I supposed to tell him? Oh hi, we met a few weeks ago, by the way your going to be a father?"

"Well, your gonna have to tell him sooner or later."

---

"Is this Sofia Falls' sister?" The man on the other line said. His voice was unfamiliar, a complete stranger.

"Yes..." I replied my uncertainty clearly showing in my voice.

"Ms. Falls', we regret to inform you that Sofia and her fiance died in a crash on the way home from the hospital."

I dropped the phone and it landed on the carpet with a small thunk. 

"Ma'am? Hello? Hello?"

I didn't reply, I just sank to the floor, my body shaking, tears falling as I lay down.

"Mom?" a voice yelled, followed by the steps of someone running up the stairs. "Can you help me with this math problem?" 

Austin.

The footsteps grew louder as they came my way. "Mom?" They stopped. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I muttered, reaching for the phone. "Go ask Colin. I'm busy right now."

"Alright..." The footsteps faded away.

"Sorry." I whispered into the phone. "What?"

"Their daughter still survives ma'am."

"What's her name?"

"Amelia. If it's alright with you, we can have custody given to you. If you don't want to, she'll go to your mother."

It was all too fast. My sister was dead, along with her fiance, and now I was being asked to take care of another baby. I could handle it, that wasn't the issue. But they way it was being handled, it was too sudden. 

But the alternate was that Amelia would go to my mother. I couldn't let that happen.

"That's fine."

---

Sofia Jane Falls died with her fiance, Joe Smith in a car crash, leaving behind their infant daughter, Amelia Ruby.

That would be their legacy. No death date. I refused to put one. It seemed too final. Too sudden.

Joe was actually a decent guy. When Sofia finally worked up the courage to tell him, he decided to actually take responsibility. He actually took the time to get to know her and they fell in love. He proposed a month before Amelia was born.

A love story with an interesting beginning and a tragic finish. 

---

Amelia

My aunt didn't hate me. She never did. She could have, since my birth indirectly caused the crash. But she didn't. Instead, she showered me with love and affection and I think a grew up a little spoiled.

From the start, I knew she was my aunt. She constantly told me about my mother and father, how wonderful they were and how much I looked like them. I saw the pictures though, and I couldn't see it. I got my dad's strawberry blond hair and somewhat of mom's face, but that was it. I looked like a stranger, not their daughter.

I didn't get Ruby to myself, there were a whole bunch of kids ahead of me. I was closest to the twins, Skye and Aqua than the others, but I still knew Austin, my other cousin pretty well. And of course, the ones that moved out constantly came to visit Ruby, making sure she was alright. 

Ruby didn't have any more kids after I came along. The other challenge moms tried to convince her sometimes, but she replied that her heart wasn't into it and that was that. 

---

"Whoa, slow down." I replied, plopping down on the couch. "What's going on?"

There was a note of hysteria in my blue haired cousin's tone as she spoke again. "Mom's gone."

---

I had a suspicion that Ruby was going off the deep end, but none of us expected for her to get up and leave, the house untouched and her clothes still in the closet. No note, no phone call, she just took off in the middle of the night to God knows where and never looked back. 

In one night, Ruby Falls dropped off the face of the Earth.

---

I moved to Twinbrook after that. It was too hard to stay in Sunset Valley, where I grew up. It wasn't the best move, as the only decent house I could afford was basically a trailer. At least I wasn't in the swamp. 

I was furious at my aunt for a while. She could have died and we would have never known. We were stuck just twiddling our thumbs until she came home. But as the months passed, we lost hope and just tried to live life as normally as possible.

It was during that time that I made my life changing decision. 

I was starting the 100 baby challenge.