Sorry this took so long! We all know what it's like when (a) motivation fails to strike (b) real life takes over. But now that both of those issues are out of the way, here's a long awaited update!
1.5 -- The Town Pariah
Having Shawnee around was a relief and a blessing. While I never really had been forced to before, I now didn't have to do the whole single parent who's a pariah to the rest of the town thing. I can't begin to tell you how many times I was tempted to pack up my little family and leave, but Shawnee's constant presence eliminated that almost every time. The two of us lived a married life without being married, because he was still married to Cheyenne. Why? I really didn't know. But who was I to demand a divorce? The two of them were bound by matrimony, ties that you don't just break as easily as you blink an eye, and I was just the mother of his illegitimate child. Children if you count the one that hasn't been born yet.
So rather than fretting, I just lived life as if it were Shawnee, Antoine, and I. A happy little family. We picked out baby names, poured over renovation blueprints, did our best to put food on the table and formula in the baby's bottle and in the dog's bowls, went on 'dates', spent evenings on the couch watching tv...happy little non-married life. Antoine began to sprout like a weed. Soon he wasn’t fitting his old diapers and onesies and he was a full fledged Toddler. I took quite a few pictures of him as a kid---He got on my case about it later in life. But he's such an angel!
He was a very self-sufficient little boy. Much like his mom (never mind how much I depended on Shawnee while I was/am pregnant, otherwise I'm very self-sufficient thank you!). He played with his toys, he played with Shep and he crawled around the house nosily exploring things while I continued to write. Shawnee’s main focus during this time was to train the dogs to hunt.
Cinnamon just doesn’t seem to get it, and more often than not just gave him a clueless look, but Shep improved greatly. One day while I was stationed at my computer, he dropped a glowing gem right next to my desk and went about his business. It was odd. I'd never seen it before, but the glow was almost entrancing. I stored it in my bag and made my way to the Alchemy shop. I remember a bit of nausea coming over me in the taxi, but I just chalked it as pregnancy sickness and continued on my way.
“I was hoping to cut it into an oval.” I said to the girl behind the counter at the Cosignment shop. Turns out, the Gem cutter was only allowing me a Spire Cut, “That sells better, wouldn’t you say?
“Actually, the Spire cut is one of the most popular. But either way, the machine can only do Spire with that type of gem. Spire or Heart according to the manufacturers, but we haven’t worked out how to get the Heart Cut, so you’re stuck with Spire. Besides, you shouldn’t cut that into anything else. It won’t grow if cut it any other way.”
I arched an eyebrow as she mentioned the gem ‘growing’. For a brief moment, I opened my mouth to protest. Growing? Gems don’t grow. But she looked at me with such sureness that I wasn’t willing to break her spirit by reminding her of reality. So I simply nodded, then turned on my heel and moved over to the gem cutting machine.
I knew I should have sold it. It probably would have sold nicely. But the house needed some brightness. So I packed it away and headed home. Upon arriving, I kissed Shawnee, set the gem on the dresser and started to work. I never saw behind me that the gem—what I assumed to just be an ordinary emerald—was sparking and popping behind me.
Within a few moths, my stomach was to big for the desk, so I began teaching Antoine how to talk.
“C’mon, baby, say it with me. ‘Re-no-va-ti-ons' It'll make the house all pretty! Isn't that exciting?”
His face constricted into a look of confusion and he simply mumbled incoherently. I could tell he was trying very hard to learn, and that he was fully dedicated to the cause. And not to mention if I ever so much as made a small movement that closely resembled me standing up, he let out a wail of protest. He seemed a very
Disciplined little boy. At one point I managed to get him to say ‘Treadmill’ and he got very excited when I explained what it did. Apparently the idea of being
Athletic appealed to him, and I realized that what needed to happen was not talking, but walking first. But it would have to wait.
Because baby number two was on it’s way. I moved into the bedroom so my screams wouldn’t upset Antoine, but still he cried. He cried, Shawnee screamed, and the dogs slept on the bed.
Welcome to the world,
Marcel Delacour! With a toddler who had to learn motor skills and a baby that would require a lot of attention, I knew there were a few busy days and sleepless nights ahead of me. But I had Shawnee to help me.
For a little while anyway.
I should explain. In short, things got very…well, interesting after that. For one, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my glowing green emerald looked a little bigger than it had when I first put it there a few months ago. Well...more than a little.
And the dust that the gem cutting machine had left behind? It sprouted up into an equally large green gem! I remember just staring at it for quite a while before I yelled into the dining room.
"Shawnee...do emeralds grow?"
And then he came into the bedroom, a look of confusion on his face, "What are you talking about?” He faced the dresser, his head tilting to the side a bit as he examined the larger gem, "Giselle…that’s not an emerald. That’s
Tiberium. How did I never realize that before?!"
Suddenly, Shawnee was very excited, and I saw it in ever inch of him. He rocked back and forth from heel to toe and a giddy sort of grin was on his face.
"What is Tiberium...?" I questioned stupidly but a hint of excitement in my voice. Something about his happiness just seemed to lift me up and I answered a bit more excitedly than I normally would have. Still, I felt quite unintelligent if I didn't realize this emerald to be something as common as 'Tiberium'
"I’ve only ever read about it." He answered hastily, "—Tiberium is an alien substance. No one knows how it got to earth, but traces of it have been popping up in recent history. But it’s extremely rare and it grows when you cut it from it’s raw form, and the residue sprouts up into a full piece!”
So it wasn't common. No need to feel so dumb anymore, I supposed, "So it—grows?”
“Yes! The small spires sell for about 7k alone, but the large ones--these ones! They'll sell for forty thousand simoleons. EACH.”
“Really?!”
I felt my legs go weak. Forty thousand each. Eighty thousand! All at once, there was enough money for me to finish of the renovations. I could have the house of my dreams! Antoine and Marcel didn’t have to live in a half-finished room anymore. But that’s where the good news ends. One evening I found Shawnee in the nursery with Antoine while Marcel slept quietly in his crib.
The sight of it made me smile. We were a little family, a small, suddenly very rich family. But was it genuine? Was it real? He was still married. Cheyenne was still his wife. I couldn't even imagine why he hadn't ended it, at first. For a while I just blissfully ignored it. But every now and then it would come back and bite me that he still hadn't gone to City Hall and filed for divorce. How do you remain married when you've found love elsewhere? How do you remain married to an unfaithful person? I was confused. And moreover, I'd set so many lives into turmoil and doomed two more to lives of questions because I couldn't fight back the urge to kiss a man on a rainy evening.
I left him to take care of Antoine for a little while and headed over to the Bistro for a meal. For once, I wasn’t in the mood for Lobster Thermidor. And lo and behold…
I remember her looking up at me with such disdain and malice that I wanted to run, but I knew she’d just find me again. The town was only but so big. But the sight of her being pregnant...sporting that ridiculous little yellow shirt that barely hid the bump---It made me so mad...so mad! There was no denying that Shawnee had been unfaithful first, but through his mistakes he strove for redemption. He lived with Cheyenne and continued to tend for his children, and he took care of me. What was her response? To have an affair and become pregnant. And since he left, not once had she tried to bring Shawnee back. No phone calls, no visits, even a court case would have shown she cared at least a bit for the family I'd destroyed. It was as though she didn't want him back.
Cheyenne Fox had continued to live a little life with Zac. Only when she saw me did she ever try to coerce me into sending Shawnee away, otherwise neither of us heard from her. Both parties were wrong---all of us were wrong. But wasn't Cheyenne the worse of three evils?
“Tell Shawnee to come home.”
“I won’t be your messenger.” I said, my tone low and steady. It was all I could do to stay calm, "Come get him yourself if he's so important to you."
“No. You WILL tell him. You came in the middle of a happy family and forced it into pieces. You ruined my children’s lives and you ruined my life! And now Shawnee's living in a shack on the side of the road!”
“You cheated on him. You cheated on Shawnee and lied to me about it saying that this is his baby when it’s not!”
“So what if I did?!” She snapped back, “I did it to get him back. Shawnee KNEW about this baby and he still loved me. He was going to stay. Then you popped out an illegitimate kid and worked whatever twisted magic you had to—“
“I DO NOT USE MAGIC!”
Cheyenne reeled back, nearly bumping into the table at my sudden shout. I sucked in a deep breath, closed my eyes and tried to bring my anger down. But I failed. Oh, did I fail. I let out a slow, steady breath and slowly opened my eyes, glaring at her.
“It’s my turn to talk now. And you’re going to be quiet. And you’re going to
listen. You lost. Fair and square. I don’t know what it is he failed to see in you that he sees in me, but whatever it was, he wanted it and he got it. He’s not going to go back to you and your live-in boyfriend. He’s not going back to a woman who’s prone to infidelity and be forced to feed and change and take care of the child that looks like another man. I’ve had it with your attitude. Being old as
dirt doesn’t entitle you to tell me what to do or how to live my life.”
I was gone. Giselle was gone completely. Checked out, out to lunch, on vacation, vamoosed and out of the picture. What stood before Cheyenne was not me. It was
her and all of her attitude, all of her vindictiveness, and every little bit of the bloodline I was trying so hard to escape from. And Cheyenne looked absolutely horrified as I walked towards her.
“I can and will break you, Cheyenne Fox, if you open your mouth one more time at me. Mention my child, mention my relationship, say one thing against any of us or anyone I know and I will hunt you down like a dog and
end you without mercy or hesitation right in front of your boyfriend and children and animals. Are we clear?”
Cheyenne swallowed hard, “…empty…that’s an empty threat. You wouldn’t.”
“Do you want to test that theory?”
And she was gone. Cheyenne turned on her heels and left. I followed her with my eyes until she disappeared down the street, and then sucked in a deep breath, ready to cry. As quickly as the anger over took me, it left and she went with it. I could almost see the ghost of the attitude leave my body and disappear down the street behind Cheyenne. Hastily I walked home, mentally kicking myself. This had to stop. It all had to stop. Cheyenne, Shawnee, Shep, Cinnamon, Antoine, and Marcel. It all had to
stop
