Chapter 14 - I Promise I Love HimRose had butterflies in her stomach.
She and I had been working on something special, not just for her, but for the future generations of Morvens as well. And now she needed to show it to Norman, and ask him a very important question as well. She urged him to follow her outside to the yard, telling him it was her turn to show him something.
Clueless as he was, Norman followed her obediently.
"I know it's dark out now," said Rose, "but it will look beautiful in the morning sunshine. Don't you think so?"
"Oh ho, it is pretty," said Norman, gazing up at the leaves of the cherry trees.
Rose took a deep breath. "This isn't all I wanted to show you," she said.
She took a deep breath, and tried to sort through all the competing thoughts that were running through her head. She had written everything she'd wanted to say, but reading seemed tacky. What were the words?
"Uh, sure Rose," said Norman, looking at her expectantly. Finally, she got down on one knee.
"The truth is Norman," she began, "I think I'm in love with you. You make me laugh, and you drive me insane. You're everything that I'm not, and yet you complete me. My youth is going to be a whirlwind of adventures - of raising kids, of accomplishing goals, of learning, of growing, of spending time together. I've been thinking for a long time about who would be the best sim to help me out on this adventure, and I think I've finally found him."
"Norman Johnston," she said, "will you marry me?"
Norman seemed to stare at the ring for a very long while, and Rose started to get worried. Maybe she'd rushed into this. Maybe she'd been so worried about whether or not she was ready, that she hadn't thought that maybe he wasn't. Maybe she should have done what her parents had done, and spent plenty of time together, working together and becoming best friends with one another before they even started looking at one another romantically.
It seemed all these thoughts rushed through her head at light speed, so that she was almost ready to put the ring back in her pocket and ask again another day.
"Hey," said Norman, finally, "I thought I was, uh, I thought I was s'posed to ask you."
"What?" asked Rose, confused. "I mean, I was gonna ask you. I thought I was s'posed to."
"Well, typically, yes, it is stereotyped that the guy asks the girl, but that doesn't mean the girl can't ask. It just means we're a little bit different," said Rose, slowly, "a little bit more progressive, perhaps?"
"Oh ho, so I can say yes?" asked Norman?
"Oh yes, please do. My knee is starting to hurt."
Norman took the ring from Rose and examined it closely. Even in the dusky evening light, it seemed to shine. He liked the way it shined.
"So Norman," said Rose again, starting to get a little bit annoyed, "will you be my husband?"
"Oh yeah, Rose. I would love to be your husband," he said at last.
Rose breathed a sigh of relief, and finally pulled herself up from the ground.
"I mean, I can't think of anything else I'd rather be," said Norman, "but your husband. That sounds alright! And you would be my wife! Oh ho, this is going to be great! Come here!" he said, finally cluing in to the romance of the moment, "let me kiss you."
"Now that," said Rose, "I can definitely do."
"Now," said Rose, pulling away, "would you like me to show you the newly redecorated bedroom? Maybe we can even try out the new bed?"
"Oh ho, yeah! I would love to see the new bedroom!" Norman exclaimed.
And so try out the new bed they did.
But due to consuming a moodlet solver after returning from work, Norman can't sleep. Even though the rest of the household is asleep, he decides to get up and try to get some reading done for his daily task.
So Joaquin decided to pay his soon-to-be son-in-law a visit.
"Hello there," he said, politely, "You must be Norman. Rose has told me about you."
"Oh, uh, hi?" said Norman. "Sorry, I gotta read some books for my daily task. Rose is going to help me become a journalist!" he said.
"Is she now?" asked Joaquin.
"Eeyup. She also asked me to marry her," he continued.
"Did she really?" asked Joaquin, not sure if he should be surprised or worried. The last time he spoke to Rose, she was less than enthusiastic about her perhaps premature decision to invite Norman to move in. But if she did the asking, maybe that meant she'd made up her mind? He hoped this was the case.
"Heck yeah!" said Norman, "you're looking at this dynasty's official generation 2 spouse!"
This wasn't exactly the Dad-meets-daughter's-boyfriend chat Joaquin had anticipated, but Norman seemed pretty harmless. Perhaps Rose could have done better, but if she was happy, he was happy.
The day of the wedding started off perhaps a bit slowly. Most of the household had stayed up far too late, so Sergio was the first one awake.
"I got a call from one of the Bjergsen girls. Apparently Sofia had twins! That's three little girls in that house," he explained.
And that makes a total of 14 children, not the 13 I initially anticipated. Great work, Sergio!
Breakfast for the Bride and Groom is a little bit different.
"I'll wear a lavender-tinged wedding dress, I think. Should I change my hair? I quite like my hair the way I wear it normally. No, I don't think I will. Have you arranged for a suit, Norman?"
"Om-nom-nom. Why do I need to arrange for a suit? Don't I just get one automatically?" asked Norman.
"Well, you could do that. But wouldn't it be more fun to go to the dresser before the party and choose your own clothes for the wedding? That's what I've done," asked Rose.
"Eh, doesn't sound like that much fun to me. This salad is delicious, Rose. Did you make it?"
Rose beamed. "I did, actually. I know Mom said she was going to take over most of the cooking, and we've still got Uncle Sergio's delicious meals, but I was feeling so inspired to cook yesterday that I just had to try it. I didn't want to make anything that needed the stove, though."
"Oh ho, you could be a great cook! I never like salad, but this one is tops!" Norman continued.
Rose beamed. She lived for Norman's compliments. Unfortunately, she also suddenly felt very nauseous, and had to excuse herself.
Unfortunately, neither Iris nor Sergio had made their way round to fixing the only bathroom on the ground floor. (Do clumsy sims break things more often?)
I don't care how sick I was, Iris, I definitely would have picked the kitchen sink over that. Gross!
I would have needed twenty showers to recover from a face full of toilet water, but Rose just takes one (long) shower before she calls all her friends, and she and Norman make their way outside to the wedding garden.
You don't have to go through with this if you really don't want to. You could find someone else. She could hear her father's voice in her head.
No Dad, I really can't. I have a very limited amount of time to complete Big Happy Family, though the watcher said she'd keep Leader of the Pack on stand-by, in case it starts to look like it won't happen in time, but I'd still really like to at least try. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm already pregnant.So your eldest child and heir can be Norman's, but you can find someone else to marry, said the Joaquin in her head.
No, I promise I'm happy with Norman. He's been my friend since high school. I know he's a bit simple, but he's genuine and loyal, and usually pretty optimistic. I do
love him, and I will marry him.
And when she held his hands and looked him in the eyes, she knew that it was true.
And so marry him she did.
With the ceremonies over, it was time to mingle with and entertain the guests, in order to ensure that this would be the gold medal wedding party she needed.
"Mom, you dyed your hair! It looks amazing - you look so much younger!" Rose exclaimed. She'd been so preoccupied with everything else, she hadn't spoken to her mother much before the ceremony.
"Oh, honey, that looks painful. You just put your arm through a tree!" Iris replied.
"Oh, this? I'm fine Mom, I swear. Did you just dye your hair for my wedding?"
Iris smiled. "That was definitely part of it. But I guess, if I'm going to be effectively ageless for the next 7 generations, I'd better look the part as much as I can."
Rose nodded. "That makes sense. Grey until you eat Ambrosia, then ageless."
Iris nodded. "That's the idea."
Though Joaquin himself had missed the ceremony, he showed up for the after party to provide the entertainment. He needed to at least make an appearance at his daughter's wedding.
Sergio's cooking (and children) made the party a roof raising success, and they easily earned a gold medal, early enough that they could end the party an hour early so that everyone could go home.
This was just as well. As wonderful as the day had been, Rose was absolutely knackered. Though it was barely ten o'clock, she made her way upstairs to bed.
But she didn't quite make it to bed before she received the 100% assurance that she was indeed pregnant. The generation 3 heir was on its way, and Rose could hardly wait to be a mother!
