Brae grabbed onto her and wouldn't let go. "Mama."
Cherie snuggled her youngest child. He had her facial features and coloring, but his Dad's eye color and fae blood.
Noelle wanted to grow up and cook just as good as her Grandpa. It would just take practice, practice, practice.
Katarina was not feeling so well. Her tummy felt all jumpy and yucky.
She put her hand over her mouth, she was going to puke...
Had she just puked up a toad??
What in the world had she eaten that caused her to...she paused in her thought; her eyes narrowed. "Alder!!"
Ryder decided to go for a walk, he had been feeling a bit stir crazy all cooped up inside the house. He was walking past the graveyard, when he saw something that caused him to stop and look. Curious, he entered the graveyard in the early dawn hours.
He could hardly believe his eyes when he got close enough to see exactly what IT was that had caught his attention. "Um, hello?" he greeted cautiously.
The apparition did not appear to be surprised at his appearance, in fact, it had almost seemed to be expecting him. "Ryder." it said. It knew his name!?
"How do you know my..."
It smiled at him. "I've been expecting you."
"How..."
"I'm your great-great grandfather, Ethan." Ryder had to force his mouth closed. How could his great great grandfather Ethan be standing in front of him? How could Ethan have known that he would be walking by the graveyard on this day? How did he know his name?" The questions tumbled around in Ryder's brain. Ethan chuckled. "I know I have surprised you, but this meeting was foretold eons ago. I do not have much time before this door between us closes, and it will not open again until the time is right. So listen carefully Ryder."
"I'm listening." Ryder laughed, kind of nervously. He was listening, not so sure he was believing what he was seeing or hearing though.
Ethan smiled at him, almost as if he was aware of what Ryder was thinking, but that was impossible, right? "A great Tragedy approaches our People and our Land, there will come a time when they will have a great need for your descendant. It is imperative that the Book be kept protected, and secret. Wherever the family roams to, the Book must follow."
"Roams? We're not going anywhere, and, book? What book?" Ryder was puzzled. This hallucination of his was confusing him.
"The Book my son Kit gave your father before he joined me in the Netherlands, so you will have to ask your father about it. Keep it safe Ryder, there will be those who seek to destroy it, and the secrets it holds. Our family is doomed to roam all Lands until the Day of Peace." With those words Ethan started to fade away. "When the time is right, and this door opens again, he who seeks will find me."
"Wait!" Ryder called out. How dare his hallucination leave when he wasn't ready for it to go? It was too late, Ethan was already gone. By the time Ryder got back home, he was convinced he had imagined it all, that the stresses of his life had caused him to have a mini break down; the Book faded from his mind.
~<>~
Noelle tried to convince her teacher that her father said she could quit school and join the circus.
It backfired on her though, when her teacher, Miss Diane McKinley showed up on the doorstep, looking for Noelle's father. Noelle was glad that her Dad wasn't home, Miss McKinley would end up talking to her grandpa instead.
Noelle told her Grandpa about her, ahem, prank gone horribly awry, and then she quickly skipped off to school. The sounds of yelling, and doors slamming upstairs, had Diane wondering about her idea to talk with Noelle's father about Noelle's penchant for telling tales.
A few minutes later, a smiling Alder ushered her into the office, and she forgot all about why she had come by to begin with. She had never met a more attractive guy, she felt all tongue tied and shy, like she was a twelve year old girl again. Alder Kahekili was standing. In front of her.
"Sorry, Noelle's father is out at the moment." Alder apologized. "If you have concerns about Noelle, you can talk to me about them, we're close, Noelle and I." Alder looked at Diane and waited. And waited.
"Hmmm? What?" She said dreamily. "You have the most amazing eyes."
"I've been told that a time or two." Alder chuckled.
Diane left moments later, her cheeks fiery red, stumbling and stuttering the whole way out.
Alder grinned to himself. Yep, he still had it.
"How dare you!" Spring screeched behind him, making him wince. "It's bad enough that you're having an affair with our so called roommate, but to add insult to injury you're now letting your girlfriends in?"
Alder sighed. "How many times do I have to say it? Kat and I are only friends! And that was Noelle's teacher, she wanted to talk about Noelle."
"Oh really?" Spring said snidely. "If that's true, then what did she talk about?"
Alder hesitated. My eyes, he thought, but there was no way he could say that. That would really send his wife through the roof. Why had the teacher come over? Oh yeah. "Noelle's pranks have been getting out of hand that's all." Alder said dismissively. "I told her I would take care of it."
"I bet you will." Spring said bitterly.
"Spring, your jealousy is getting out of hand." Alder said, exasperated. "I can't help that other women find me attractive, since the day I committed to you, I have not been with another woman!"
"I don't believe you." Spring said stubbornly.
"That's not my problem." Alder angrily told her. "That's yours." He stomped out of the room, infuriated.
~<>~
The weeks passed in an uneasy silence, Alder refused to talk to Spring, and Spring refused to talk to him. They slept in separate beds, and passed messages to each other through Ryder, until he'd had enough of it and refused.
Alder spent his time with his grandkids, he taught Brae how to walk and talk. Their favorite game was airplane, and Brae would laugh and laugh. His laughter lightened Alder's heart a little.
Noelle's birthday took everyone by surprise, including Noelle.
Katarina could feel Spring's hostility towards her, and she began to look for another place to live, there was a housing crunch though, and she was having a hard time finding an apartment. Alder assured her she could stay as long as she needed, but she was more than ready to get away from Spring and her craziness.
She made herself useful, trying to stay on everyone's good side, especially Alder's, and she pitched in to help with the baby. She still wanted a baby of her own, and Brae's warm little body helped ease that ache inside her.
Ryder debated what to do, or if he should even do anything. His son was sensitive to what was going on around him, which caused him to be extra fussy. Ryder wasn't sure how much more he could take. Maybe they should move to another town? It might give everyone a fresh start.
He was tired of dealing with the Paparazzi that hung around outside all hours of the day and night, just waiting for the newest scoop. They wanted to know if it was true about Alder and his many loves, and sleeping around. Ryder always said the same thing. "No comment." as he chased them off with the threats of trespassing and calling the police. He used to comment, until he discovered that they would twist his words up and create an even more sensational story. Now he just kept it simple.
Brae didn't like the paparazzi, whenever they came by, his daddy would put him down. When Brae got old enough, he would show those people what would happen to them if they messed with his family. He'd tear their little heads off, just like that.
He was quite surprised when suddenly he got bigger. He looked around for those guys, but his Dad had already chased them off.
He did double check under his bed, just to make sure none of them were hiding under there. He wasn't quite sure if he was relieved or disappointed to realize no one was under his bed.
Spring, for her part, went around town asking every woman she ran into if they had slept with her husband recently. "Have you been sleeping with my husband?" She demanded to know.
"No." Holly answered her. "He's family. That's just gross."
"Oh."
Spring went home deflated. She stared at herself in the mirror, the mirror that had mysteriously arrived in the mail, causing another huge fight between her and Alder. It had said, "To Alder with Love, thanks for the memories." He had claimed he had no idea what the note meant, and he was just going to throw the mirror away, along with the note. But Spring had looked at the beautiful ornate mirror, and decided contrarily that she wanted to keep it. Alder had thrown his hands up in disgust and walked away. She put the mirror in their bedroom, the one they no longer shared.
She could see every wrinkle, every defect lined on her face as she stared into it. She was getting old, and she hated it. She hated that Alder still looked young and sexy, while she looked like an old hag. Or maybe not. "Maybe I'm over thinking it." She whispered to herself. "Maybe Alder only sees me, the woman he says he loves, the one he met, not this ugly person I've become."
"Maybe he's telling the truth. Maybe he really does love me as I am, and really does think that I am still beautiful." She felt her heart lighten, and a huge burden fell away. If Alder was telling her the truth, she owed him a huge apology. She would gladly apologize if she was wrong, she started to turn, to seek him out, and ask him directly, but the sound of laughter stopped her.
"You think, " the voice laughed harshly. "That a man such as him, could ever find you beautiful? You are ugly inside and out, and there is no hope for you two. Let him go, you selfish creature, you are only holding him back. If you truly loved him like you say you do, you would let him go."
Spring stared in horror at the green face in the mirror. "Yes, I'm speaking to you." it spat out. "Are you stupid as well as ugly?"
Spring felt the tears rise up. "No." she whispered.
"You knew this day was coming." the voice continued on, hard and unrelenting, echoing all of her inner fears and doubts. "You knew, so how dare you weep over it? Isn't it bad enough you have been a boat anchor in his life? He could have had the world, instead you got in the way. You got pregnant, and clipped his wings, crippling him. Now you must suffer the consequences. Do what must be done."
"You're right." Spring whispered with a sob. "It's time for me to stop being selfish and let him go." She looked at the mirror again, but the face was gone, it was just her reflection staring back at her. "I know what I must do." she repeated.
She slept on it, but in the morning, the mirror's words echoing in her head, she knew she was going to go through with it. So when he came into their room to grab some clothes, she took a deep breath and said a silent forgive me, then launched into her attack. "I can't take this any more Alder." she stated calmly.
Alder turned to face her, a cautious smile of relief on his face. He couldn't take it either, the cold silence between them. He loved her, and he hated how things had been between them, he was thankful that she felt the same way. His smile slid off into a frown of disbelief as she continued talking though in that icy voice of hers. "I've had enough of your philandering ways, and don't even bother telling me otherwise." She pointed her finger at him.
"I'm only with you because you have lots money, and" she shrugged, "you aren't bad to look at. With our boys being adults, I've realized that I don't need to be married to you any longer. I can still live here, and have my own life."
"Spring," Alder whispered, "what are you saying?"
"I'll put it bluntly into words that even a slow wit like you could understand, " she said coldly, "that I don't love you, I've never loved you, and I will never love you. It was a fun lark for a while, but I grow weary of this game, and I've found someone else." She lied. "You're free to go, I want a divorce."
Alder stared at her, he couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't have heard that right. "A divorce?" the words felt foreign on his tongue. "Spring, wait a minute here, can't we talk..."
"No." She said tonelessly.
He tried again. "Spring..."
She cut him off again. "I'm not interested Alder. How many different ways do you need me to say it? We're done. Over. Through. Kaput. Do you need more?" she asked cruelly.
"No." he said shortly. He was having a hard time wrapping his brain around it, he kept expecting to wake up at any moment. Surely he would wake up and find it all a bad dream. It was a bad dream right? He pinched himself hard, then flinched when he felt it. It wasn't a dream, but it was a nightmare. "What of all those times..."
"I lied."
He glared at her. "You lied. That's all you have to say." She shrugged. "And you're really seeing someone else." Whoever it was, Alder's first order of business was to beat the crap out of him. He was pissed and hurt, and he could use a good punching bag.
"He's better in bed too." She inwardly winced at the low blow, the death knell to her marriage, she felt like weeping. He didn't look like he was acting, he looked devastated, like she was breaking his heart, but Spring knew that was a lie. He deserved his freedom, and she would give it to him, no matter the cost to herself.
"Who is he?"
Spring laughed. "You think I'm going to tell you?"
"It's the new butler isn't it?" Alder growled. "I knew I didn't like him. I'm going to kill him."
"Don't be absurd. A butler is way beneath me. Face it Alder, the better man won." she taunted.
"Now you can sleep around as much as you want to, have a dozen more bastards, and I won't care one whit." With that Spring turned around and stalked out of the bedroom, tears running down her cheeks. Alder didn't notice her tears, he was too busy dealing with his own raw emotions.
Spring was the one that announced the divorce, Ryder didn't believe her at first. His parents had weathered many storms together, surely they couldn't be splitting up now after all these years? She assured her oldest that they were indeed getting divorced, and that she was seeing someone else.
The next few weeks she disappeared for hours at a time, at night, most nights she did not even come home. Alder sat at home, and glowered at the clock, and any one that dared to approach him. Ryder would sit silently beside his father for hours, doing his best to be of some comfort to him, and at night he would hold his wife Cherie extra close and tell her that he loved her. She would sleepily pat his arm and tell him that she loved him too.
After several months had gone by, Katarina couldn't stand to see Alder looking so unhappy all the time, he looked like death warmed over. She missed his jokes and pranks, even his puking toads prank. So she decided to take matters into her own hands.
"Alder, " she said to him one night. "I just wanted to tell you that Spring was right."
He glared at her. "How is that?"
"I do love you, and it's killing me to see you this way." She tentatively reached out and touched him. "I would do anything to make you feel better."
He captured her hand, and nicely let her go. "Kat, it's only ever been friendship on my end."
"I know."
"I love my wife." He corrected himself. "Ex wife."
"I know that too. She's with someone else now, otherwise I would never have said a word to you about how I feel." She reached up and kissed him, he didn't pull away, but continued to steadily watch her.
"I'm messed up right now." he warned her. His phone started to ring, but he ignored it, and kept his gaze on her.
"I'm a gambler Alder." She smiled at him. "All I know is that I've dreamed about being with you for a really long time, and now here's my opportunity, I want to take it." She grabbed his hand.
"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly as she led him towards her bedroom.
"I'm more than sure." she said confidently. All she needed was a chance, and she could help him forget all about Spring. If she had Alder for her own, she would never treat him the way that Spring had. Once in her room, she removed her clothes and kissed him again, passionately, pressing her body against his, after a moment, Alder kissed her back.
When they were done, Alder rolled over and sat up. He rooted around in the pile of clothes on the floor, looking for his clothes. He tossed Katarina her clothes, and she silently put them, before laying back down to watch him get dressed. "It doesn't need to be this way." she said softly.
"I'm so sorry Kat." he said as he fumbled with the snap to his leather pants. "I shouldn't have..." he paused then sighed heavily. "I had hoped, well," he interrupted himself, "it doesn't matter what I had hoped. Please forgive me, but this was a mistake."
"Alder don't go." Katarina pleaded. "I know this must be hard for you, but we can work it out."
Alder smiled sadly at her. "That's just it Kat. I don't want to work it out with you, I want to work it out with Spring. I feel like I just betrayed her, even though we're no longer a couple." He turned and started to walk away.
He felt bad about hurting her, as he closed the door on her sobs, but sometimes gamblers lost, and in this hand, no one had won.
~<>~
Spring eyed the lamp suspiciously. The old man at the Elixir shop swore that a Genie lived inside it, he had charged her a pretty penny for the lamp. He told her that Genie's have great powers, they have the power to make a person wealthy. Spring wasn't interested in wealth, she already had plenty of money.
It was what he said next that convinced her to buy it. The Genie would have the power to make her young and beautiful forever. They could even make someone fall in love with her. This was her ticket to getting Alder back. All she had to do was rub the lamp, and wish for it, and all her dreams would come true.
_________________________________________________________________
Notes: *hugs Alder* I'm so sorry Alder! *hugs him again* It's not my fault, I swear. You sims and your autonomy and then I start writing it all in and this is what comes out! None of this was in my plan!!!
I had a glitch of some kind, and Spring autonomously broke up with Alder, color me surprised. The whole time I was taking pics I was thinking, I can't believe she's doing this! Crazy woman---are you out of your mind?? This is Alder we're talking about here! Of course, he didn't take it too kindly.
Meanwhile I'm still playing the other sims, they have homework and skills and stuff that I have to push them to do. About a day and half later, I'm clicking on the roomie to see what she's been up to relationship wise (using MC) and the baby option is there. I'm thinking, what? She's pregnant? Who's the father? You could have knocked me over with a feather when it showed Alder as the father---at 12 hours pregnant. So I checked his KS skill, and sure enough, there's one notch---a TFB between them. So he had a one night stand with her while I was busy elsewhere. I figured it was an excellent opportunity to use those one night stand poses (spladoum--afterwards). I let her keep the kid, but kicked her out once it was born, I have one other roomie (a male) that will be moving out soon, and then I am done with roomies for a while.
I was surprised (and pleased!) to see Ethan roaming around the graveyard. I took pics for the fun of it, then decided to add that into the story. Was it just a hallucination, or something more? That was spur of the moment writing---so---I don't know what's going to happen either, lol
The Paparazzi are actually a bunch of sims Ryder found through the Sim finder app, for his challenge. I usually disable celebrities, but if I had it enabled, Alder would probably be a 5 star celebrity right now, and have a bunch of paparazzi hanging around him, so the idea fit.
Lastly, a few pics---a couple are funny ones to help lighten the mood after that downer of an ending, lol I swear next chapter won't be like that!
This is how Miss Diane came dressed when she showed up unexpectedly at the house. She's the second oldest daughter of my copy of Luca and Emily. Notice the lovely pigtails----and all the hair! I died laughing, but I took pity on her as you can tell in the story, and cleaned her up a bit.
Lastly--a couple of *kid* pics.
This is Turana, one of the daughters of Talfryn and Evie. She grew up nicely I think.
Brady---Niall's (Ryder's brother) oldest son. How did a blond and an orange hair sim have a kid with this color brown? It's a mystery, lol
Thanks for reading! =)
