What a beautiful wedding ceremony! Your lifespan choice was a good one because it seems realistic to me.
Thanks. The lifespan has been probably the biggest challenge here. I am constantly having to tweak things to make sure that sims don't age up before they should relative to the others, and I'm pretty sure there are a few inconsistencies in there, but for the most part it's all holding together.
Chapter 43 – Expecting the UnexpectedA quick shout-out to my baby brother, who just tied the knot with his sous-chef last month! Meet Sommer Bunch, my newest sister-in-law.
It has been a long time since I have seen Ian so happy. Congratulations man. I hope that everything goes well for the two of you.
These last twenty or so months have been relatively uneventful, which I have to say is a pleasant change of pace from the insanity that has been these last few years. At my age I can definitely appreciate a break to the hustle and bustle of our normal chaotic existence. We might as well enjoy the lull while it lasts, because I can guarantee that it won't last too long.
More on that later.
One thing that I have come to realize is that living with my nephew is an adventure in and of itself. Devon has quite the imagination, and some of the things he comes up with are just crazy enough to work. With Holly's assistance he was able to get his own seller's account at the consignment shop and makes a pretty decent amount of money—more than enough to pay for his materials and the damage he periodically does to his clothes and Elysia's garden.
She lost an entire crop of rare fruit when one of Devon's widgets exploded and set that part of the garden ablaze. Flame fruits are not supposed to flame quite that much...and neither are sweatshirts, for that matter.
He is still quite obsessed with that miner. We've gotten used to the noise.
Sort of.
Late last year Devon was busy working on another project, something major that he kept under wraps until it was fully completed. When he finally unveiled his work the rest of us were admittedly skeptical. He claimed that it was a time machine, and just to prove that it worked he pressed a few buttons on the keypad and hopped right in.
And promptly hopped out a few minutes later with a shocked expression on his face.
“He really DID exist!” Devon cheerfully exclaimed. “And here everyone thought that he was just a clever figment of an author's imagination!”
“Who?” Judd asked.
“Simlock Holmes.” He looked at me and smiled. “By the way, it was the salad.”
I was confused. “Excuse me...?”
“That gave you food poisoning on your first date with aunt Holly. It was the salad.”
Now that he mentioned it, something in that salad
had tasted a little funny if I recalled correctly. That was over forty years ago, and the details were fuzzy even for me. Perhaps he really
did just go back in time...
“Don't worry, I didn't mess with anything,” my nephew added. “Even I'm not crazy enough to play with the time stream. That would give the aliens the edge they need to take over!”
I think I will just take his word for it.
Kenji's fifth birthday rolled around a couple of months later. All of us had had a busy day at work, but that didn't stop us from throwing a party for the littlest member of the family.
I still can't believe my grandson is already in grade school. Talk about feeling old.
The months immediately following were relatively routine. Work, school, chess games, painting...you know the drill. About the only thing that was out of the ordinary was when Iris and Timothy decided to start house-hunting. When the two of them got married Malcolm and Darlene had made it very clear that they didn't need to be in a hurry to leave the nest, but as we were soon to discover, the newlyweds had their reasons...
Fast-forward to last week.
Holly and Darlene were in the kitchen eating a late lunch when Iris came home from work unexpectedly early. Her complexion was rather pale and she did not appear to be feeling well, something that my sister clued in on right away.
“You're home early,” Darlene commented. “Is something wrong?”
“Captain Goddard sent me home,” came Iris's reply. “I kind of got sick in the middle of an interrogation.”
“What happened?”
Iris opened the refrigerator and snagged a juice box. “Let's just say that lunch didn't settle too well. On the bright side, I managed to get a confession out of the suspect.”
“You know, this has been going on for the past four days. If I didn't know any better I would say that...” Darlene's voice trailed off. “You're pregnant, aren't you?”
Iris sipped her juice and sighed, a bare hint of a grin playing on her lips. “Maaaybe.”
That “maybe” was confirmed when Timothy arrived home. Iris wanted to tell him first before she made the official announcement that yes, she was indeed expecting. Congratulations to the new parents-to-be!
As it turns out, that wasn't the half of it. A few afternoons later while I was tapping away at my computer I noticed Darlene stumbling through the front door. She looked absolutely exhausted and ever-so-slightly distraught.
“Are you all right?”
“Ethan, can you check me with that scanner of yours?” She hesitated for a moment. “I think I might be pregnant.”
That was something that I had not expected to hear.
“Wh...
what?”
“I've been feeling under the weather for the past few days,” she explained. “At first I thought it was just that stomach bug that's been going around the school, but today during the staff meeting I about gagged at the smell of hot chocolate.
Chocolate, of all the crazy things!”
I should probably mention that my sister is a total chocoholic.
“That is definitely strange.”
“You're telling me! I got to thinking that the last time I had experienced anything like this was when I was pregnant with Devon...but that's just crazy. I mean, at my age?”
“It's certainly not impossible,” I replied. “Mom was a few years older than you when she had Ian.”
“Oy...” She sat down with a sigh. “I had forgotten about that. It's not like I'm adverse to the idea of having another child, but can you imagine how strange it would be to be pregnant at the same time as my own
daughter?”
“You have a point.”
I did as requested and pulled out my medical bag. The readout from the scanner didn't lie; my sister was definitely pregnant, and from the looks of the readings she was about three months along. Darlene took the news with a mixture of shock and amusement. My brother-in-law on the other hand...
“Love...there is something that I need to tell you.”
“Is something wrong?”
Darlene hesitated. “No...but it is rather unexpected.” She heaved a sigh. “I'm pregnant.”
He took the news well, don't you think?
