meet the Nova family

May 2076 - Jeremy Nova is 60, Alice is 54, Stephanie is 16. Patrick Nova is 24. Chad and Riley Hathe are 24, Liza is 6. Talin Collins is 61, Abigail is 60.

Abigail Collins, Jeremy Nova, and Sophie Phoenix are the three children of Castor Nova. Twins are very popular in the Nova family. Jeremy and Abigail are twins, Jeremy's children Riley and Patrick are twins, as are Sophie's boys Hayden and Jackson.

Patrick and Riley are Jeremy's oldest, by his first wife Trista who died when they were just five years old. Patrick and Riley are a lot alike and nothing alike in many ways. He graduated college, she dropped out of high school. He's a talented and promising classical pianist living in the city, she's a penniless humanitarian living in the country with a house full of animals (her husband and child included!). But they are both kind-hearted people who love their families.

Patrick lives in Lake City for the moment, "bachelor's row" as they call it, with his roommates Roland Ellis and Benjamin Long. His fiancée, Lara, graduates at the end of the semester. He's guessing she probably wont want to live with these characters, but they'll decide where to go once she's done.

Riley and her husband, Chad, are only 24 years old, and their daughter Liza is 6, which if you do the math, would make her about a senior prom baby. They got married because they thought it was what they were supposed to do. A lot of times they just seem to be on the wrong page about things.

Riley runs the Bluewater Animal Shelter, which is long and tiring work, and Chad helps out. They take in, train, and clean up local strays, and arrange loving homes for them. They honestly never really imagined their lives turning out like this. They don't actually know what they imagined their lives turning out like, since they never really got a chance to imagine.

Chad is the farthest thing from a country boy and would rather be living in the city, but Riley wanted the space to raise her animals. Sometimes he imagines himself running off to be a space pirate or something. Crazy, I know! But instead, he ducks away to Bluewater Township's one single local pub when he can, for a little drink, a little music, a little cards, and to check out bartender Clara. Everybody knows she's not as pretty as Riley, so it's harmless, he thinks. In their time together, he and Riley have both met people who would have probably been better matches. More than anything, he just feels like he's missed his chance to be young.

This isn't the first time Chad has spent the night out, while leaving Riley home to take care of all the animals and their daughter. She can't call her brother Patrick, since he's newly engaged and so in love, and she just doesn't want to get him down. So she calls her little sister, but all Stephanie wants to talk about is soccer and movies. Well, she is sixteen after all. It is times like these Riley wishes her mother was was still alive.

Liza (Elizabeth by birth) is an quiet and amusing little girl with her daddy's eyes. She is never much trouble and plays quietly while her mother is on the phone.

But Riley feels terrible. While she was busy being mad at Chad for staying out all night, Liza had put herself to bed.

But Chad does love his wife, and though they didn't plan it, they recently found out that she is pregnant, again. Chad makes her breakfast the next morning. "Don't be mad, Honey, here have some pancakes." Well, she is pregnant and hungry.

Who knows, maybe it's enough?

None of them are really very fond of Jeremy's second wife, Alice. She's a bit of a snob, to tell you the truth, and Jeremy only married her because he was lonely after losing Trista and didn't want to grow old alone. Riley and Patrick don't always get along with their step-mother, but if not for her, they wouldn't have their baby sister Stephanie.

Stephanie is quiet, silly, and energetic. She plays on the school soccer team and dreams of seeing the world. It was at her Aunt Abby's cabin in Three Lakes when Stephanie was bitten by the travel bug. She hasn't told her parents yet that she doesn't want to go to college. And she's already started saving her allowance money to get her jet-setting started.

Aunt Abby and Uncle Talin never got around to having any children of their own (shame too, since they're both pretty attractive), so they enjoy spoiling their many nieces and nephews. They spent their lives and fortunes dedicated to the education of Lakeside Heights' youth. Abigail Collins founded the Jessa Nova Art Gallery in the Lakeside Heights city center, as well as two buildings on the LCU campus, the Collins Hall Center for Science, and Nova Hall Arts College. Many brighter minds in Lakeside Heights are thanks to Aunt Abby and Uncle Talin.