11: Nectar, Party Dancers, & Weddings. Oh My!Marc’s disappearance was no surprise to anyone. Each family member walked around in a sort of somber, knowing silence. They all knew what had transpired in the basement below. Demelza and Damien knew they no longer had a housekeeper, having never believed they had a father to begin with, but it was sad for them all the same as it was still a
death. Alessandra knew speaking up wouldn’t be a smart way to begin her life with the infamous Morae family. Marrick and Edwin, however, knew their father was gone. But no one spoke.
Not at first anyway.
“Aunt Isabelle, where’s my dad? I saw his ghost last night…why is his ghost here but he isn’t?”
Isabelle’s face constricted, torn between the desire to tell him off and be kind. He was still a child after all, and she first and foremost was a mother. Maternal instincts did still exist in her “Your father died, Rufus. He starved to death and didn’t tell anyone he was suffering. He was only found last night---but you listen to me!”
“I had a hand in raising you, didn’t I? I taught you to walk, I taught you to talk after your father gave up the venture. And I know for certain that I raised you to be just as strong as any of my children. You’re going to overcome this. Understand? You’re stronger than the grief. There’s no place for it in this house.”
Rufus sniffled and nodded. She still looked a bit cross, but it was the face Rufus had come to know over the years. Aunt Isabelle was not an easy person---but he loved her very much, whether she was aware of it or not.
Isabelle then had to go to work, and so she spun into her career outfit and darted off. Alessandra, who was unemployed, came in shortly after to autonomously comfort the little boy. And she then proceeded to make the two beds in the room in what Watcher is assuming was some kind gesture to help ease the little boy’s pain.
All the children, save for Rufus who had just aged up, went to school. Marrick picked up a job at the hospital as a Bed Plan Cleaner (glamorous work, really) but his first day wasn’t until the day after, so he stayed home and continued to concoct Young Again Potions for his mother. By the end of the day he had made her 20 (and ate up a bit of the family funds)
After work, Isabelle received something in the mail she hoped she’d never see again.
There are cleaner ways to empty a room
But the deed is already done and that price will be paid later
Keep Rufus alive, Keep Rufus happy
Such will ensure the birth of the next generationThe next generation was dependent on Rufus? The woman would hear none of that. It was dependent on her, not a boy she was going to turn into a genie housekeepr. Isabelle crumpled up the letter and tossed it in the garbage can before leaving the house again, setting herself back on the path to finding out about the origins of the Morae family. Monte Vista didn’t have a Library of Antiquities. All the files and records were well secured within City Hall, and not even Isabelle who was now Empress of Evil could get in. She had to find a personal source. Someone who knew her family all those years ago when they were here. And that thought led her to Isabella and Patrizio Monty, the eldest and still living members of the town.
“My, don’t you look young again, Isabelle.”
“Crazy thing that Chemistry Table I got Marrick all those years ago.”
“Immortality comes with a price.”
“A small one. Listen, Isabella. You already know who I am, so I’m going to assume you also know why I’m here.”
“You’ll have to try a lot harder that being blunt to get me to tell you anything about your family, Isabelle. There’s a reason why the town trusted me all those years ago. They knew I’d never recount the havoc your great grandmother wreaked on this town.”
“Great Grandmother? What about my Mother?”
“Your mother was never in Monte Vista.”
While Isabelle and Isabelle spoke, I was notified that Demelza was going home with Bianca Monty, Isabella's daughter. So when she appeared on the doorstep and saw her mother, there as a small wave, but aside from that nothing more. Instead, Demelza spent the time seeking solace in her good friend .
Isabelle went home that night (she receieved a promotion when she went to work earlier that day and had to go back again in the evening), more curious than ever about her family and what Isabella Monty knew of it. But she no longer had time to worry about that. Not when her youngest children were to become young adults the following day.
With so many sims to keep an eye on, some just happen to go un supervised by Watcher every now and then. This time around it was Demelza---and this happened.
The next day, early in the morning like on their teen birthdays, the triplets gathered in front of three birthday cakes. But not before Demelza and Edwin stood off to the side alone.
“Did Damien tell you?”
Edwin gazed at his reflection in the water, “About you and Bianca? Yeah. Congratulations.”
“Thank you…I’m leaving, Edwin. After all is said and, I’m moving out of the house.”
“Why?”
“Because, I can’t stand by and continue to ignore Mom’s actions. She killed Marc. We all know that. She’s after something in particular and none of us are safe if we stay in her path. She chose you as heir…so she won’t do anything to you. But the rest of us, Damien and Marrick and I, are all disposable. And moreover, Mom is after Isabella Monty for some reason. So I have to be there for Bianca. Just promise me one thing, Ed.”
“Sure…anything, Dems.”
“Don’t become like Mom. Don’t let her corrupt you and Cipriana.”
“I promise.”
All three of the teens lined up in front of the cakes and blew out the candles one by one. And, as always, they aged up wonderfully turning out more beautiful than they were previously. Grown up, Demelza is a near exact clone of Isabelle, while Edwin is an even mix of both his parents, and Damien I still believe to be the product of two other Sims because he still doesn't look anything like his parents (I mean...that HAIR. Suppose he has some traces of Marc but I digress)
Now that he was not restricted to a curfew, Edwin left the house late in the evening and took a cab to the Costa household where a newly aged up Cipriana was standing in the living room staring at her brother who somehow glitched himself into the floor.
“Rina?”
“Edwin! Happy Birthday, you’re so handsome…”
“Hang on, Rina, let me do this before I lose my nerve.
“Yes! YES!”
Edwin promptly brought Cipriana home after asking her to move in with him and
I was Isabelle was finally able to take a flat iron to that unkempt girl’s head.
Another beautiful Morae wife. The family will be cursed with perfect genes throughout the generations if this keeps up. That evening, another couple celebrated the joys of marriage.
And the next day was graduation day for the triplets! Watcher doesn’t remember what they graduated with, though she does remember that Edwin got Most Likely to Take over the World like Marrick and Demelza got Valedictorian. Aged up, Graduated, and made over, Demelza convinced Damien to move in with her and Bianca who had aged up the same night she and Demelza went steady
And so only two of Isabelle’s children were left. The last of the children she cared for, Rufus, she sent off to Fort Starch Military Academy. He was still to young to be of but so much around the house or of much help anywhere in her life. And with his grades slipping, Boarding School seemed the best option. She saw him off and Rufus happily left for the school Isabelle believed would be perfect for him.
Back on the homefront, a wedding was to be planned. But more importantly---the bachelorette party.
“Yes, you’re coming, Mama. Could you bring me my juice keg?...It's in my closet...I've had it since I was a teen...Yes, that's where the juice from that house party came from....no I didn't get rid of it when you told me too. So bring it please? Mama! It's my bachelorette party you can't withhold it from me!...Mama!...Thank you. I love you."
