A New Heir

It was only one year after I was married that my heir was born. Not my one hundredth child but my heir. My true heir. I had been waiting to see if this child was the one since the moment that my daughter had announced that she was pregnant but it had been impossible to tell until the baby had arrived. I had known that Eliya had been was going to be the parent for most of her life if I was being honest about it. She had always given me the same feeling that my father had when I was in his presence. I had managed to ignore it for most of Eliya’s life. What good would it have been to tell her, I had been afraid of the damage the knowledge would cause my growing daughter and with the childhood’s of my children fleeting at best, it had seemed best not to say anything. In the end she had known without me ever having to tell her.

*****

“I’m different, aren’t I”, Eliya had asked. She and Mika were due to leave in a couple of hour and Eliya and I had finally found a quiet moment to talk.

“How did…”

“Mum, please. Just tell me. I think I’m old enough to know” she insisted.

I hesitated, really didn’t want to tell her but she did deserve to know. “Yes”, I finally answered.

“Why me?”

“Why you? Why me? Why your grandfather? I don’t know? It’s really all the same question and I’ve never had an answer but I’ve always suspected it has something to do with your father both he and my grandfather had similar origins. Not that I know much about your father.” I explained, remembering a time when my own father had explained my grandfather’s background to myself and my siblings. “Grandma was never above manipulating a situation.”

“So it’s going to one of my daughter’s”, she had asked, concerned.

“I believe so, but I can’t be sure for all I know it could pass to a son.”  I explained. “I’m sorry Eliya, there is so much I just don’t know”

“What do  I have to do?”

“Nothing.”

“Sorry?”

“Eliya, you just need to be yourself. Live your life. Date. Get married or don’t. It’s up to you, Eliya. Your life. Your rules!”

“But Grandpa…”

“…had an accident” I said, instantly seeing her worry. “A tragic accident, yes, but still only an accident. Nothing more. My Grandmother’s parents lived a long, happy and healthy life. You are not destined to live my father’s life or to die like he did.”

I think she had felt better after that, at least she never let me see her worry. I couldn’t blame her, it wasn’t like I would want to wish my fate on any of my family. Not that it had been all bad, I loved my children. Every single one of them, admittedly I was closer to some of my children more than others but I had never regretted the birth of any of them. I also had an enormous amount to be grateful for and there were people now in my life that where there because of my destiny.

*****

Eliya and Mika had decided to attend university together and it was there that Eliya had met her future husband. I had been happy for her and at the same time I was worried. Eliya had grown up around my craziness, her new husband  hadn’t and his reaction when he found out that my daughter had dragged him into the family drama worried me.

I hesitated on the steps suddenly nervous.

“Are you okay?’ Dale asked.

“Mhmm”, I murmured. “How does one say ‘You’re child could be the one that has to bear One Hundred Children”?

“You’re asking me?”

“No, not really” I admitted, “I’m just…nervous. My mother threw a vase at Grandma’s head and banned her from the house when she found out”.

“Really?” he laughed, “I would have loved to have seen that!”

I looked up as the front door to the home opened and the next moment my daughter was in my arms.

“Mum!”, Eliya said, hugging me. The swell of her belly telling me why the invitation to visit had come now and immediately stole my attention away from my daughter.

“It’s a girl”, I said, my hand dropping to her stomach. I had no idea how I knew that but I was sure. I was also sure that the baby she carried was my heir. I dragged my attention back to my daughter. “I’ve missed you!” I told her, “the house has been so quiet since you and Mika moved out”

“That doesn’t surprise me” she laughed, hugging me back before pulling away and turning to hug her step-father.

“Hey, Eliya” Dale said hugging my daughter, “We’ve both missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too, Dad!” I watched them as Dale’s face lit up when she called him Dad, something that she didn’t always do.

“You have to promise me that you’re not going to freak-out” Eliya said, all of her attention was still focussed on her step-father.

“Why would we ‘freak-out’ “, I asked.

“Not you mum.” Eliya said, not taking her eyes of Dale.

“Why would-”

“It’s not like Marshall and I planned it and I don’t look like Mum, at all” Eliya interrupted, looking towards me. “It’s only when I was certain that I loved him that I even explained about mum. he knew I had a large family. I just never said how large” she said, glancing at Dale.

“Marshall?” I asked, suddenly knowing what had her worried. “You mean..?”

“Yeah..”, Eliya nodded.

“It might be easier if you just told me rather than making me guess” Dale finally said.

“Right” I said nervously. “Marshall is…” I stopped explaining when Marshall himself stepped out onto the porch drawing the attention of all three of us.

After a slight pause Dale was the first to speak. “Okay, I’m almost certain I don’t need that explanation any more.”  Dale said bluntly.

“You don’t?” Marshall asked.

“Really? I said, at almost the same time.

“Luc, we saw Paitar and the girls just last week and not one of them look anything like their mother but they do look an awful lot like Marshall. Especially Paitar.”

“Mahira…”

“… has your eye and hair colour but not much else” he interrupted laughing, taking hold of my hand and squeezing it.

“Everytime” I said , leaning up to kiss my husband.

Dale smiled at me before turning his attention to Eliya. “I hear you are making dinner for us!”

“Yeah, why?” Eliya answered, warily.

“When did you learn how to cook?” he teased, putting his arm around her and turning her towards the  house.

“I could always cook!”, she protested.

“That’s not how I remember it.”

The two of them continued to bicker as they made their way into the house.

“Everytime” I repeated as the door closed behind them, finally turning my attention to my daughter’s husband. “Hey Marshall”

“Hey Lucia” Marshall greeted me before asking. “Everytime?”

“Dale always manages to surprise me. Every single time”, I replied. Our attention was suddenly drawn to the house when we were interrupted by a shout from Eliya.

“MUM! MARSHALL!!!”

It was time…

*****

And here she is the heir for Generation 3: Joanne Gamble Young.

A/N: Joanne and all of her younger siblings were born in Story Progression. I didn’t deliberately match her parents together but after they had three children without any assistance from me I decided to let the relationship stay together rather than ignore that it ever happened. The babies were just too adorable.

I kind of like it. Lucia was born after I chose her father for my wishacy heir and he chose his own partner, so to me Eliya choosing her own partner felt like the right thing to do.  I will most likely show some pics of Eliya and Marshall and their little family as I get ready to start Joanne’s generation. 😀

Birthdays and Baby

The baby was nearly due and I was wondering if it was just my imagination or if this pregnancy was more difficult than my others had been.

It was certainly lasting longer and I seemed to napping more often than I had before.

When I wasn’t napping I found some time to practice a little on the piano – unfortunately I wasn’t very good. Many of my children had made it look like something that was easy to learn but it was a skill that didn’t come naturally to me.

Spooky day had been a couple of days previously and Esole and Sefela had been keen to give trick-or-treating a try.

The older kids willingly let their younger siblings tag along with them and they tried their luck at a couple of houses. One of homes belonged to their older brother Jerid and he had made sure to have plenty of candy ready to give the children. Mahira also made sure to get her share.

Paitar, Mahira and Kiruna had spent the next couple days making sure to complete all of their school projects so they would be prepared to graduate. Their birthdays were approaching fast.

When the day finally arrived they all decided that the twins should go first.

Sefela aged up receiving the Night Owl trait.

She was followed by her twin Esole who received the Never Nude trait for her teen birthday.

The were quickly following by the triplets who were ready to become Young Adults.

Kiruna was first receiving the Star Quality trait. She wants to become a Distinguished Director.

Mahira became Family Orientated. She wants to become a Master Magician.

and finally Paitar who received the Love the Outdoors trait. He wants to become a Heartbreaker.

Afterwards we all sat around the table eating cake and celebrating the seven birthdays which had just occurred.

Afterwards I took a moment for myself paint a little. The twins were inside packing and the time spent between their birthdays and the inevitable goodbyes were never easy. I never wanted them to leave but of course they had too.

I still wasn’t feeling the greatest so I made my way inside only to be surprised by the sudden pain gripping my stomach. The babies were on their way.  

The labour like the pregancy took longer than I was used to.

I made my way upstairs so I wouldn’t alarm the children and made myself as comfortable as possible.
 

Dale tried to convince me to go the hospital but I was determined to have this baby at home. The older kids kept themselves occupied, while Dale and I were busy.

Sefela, who was becoming more and more like her father everyday, distracted herself by working out.

Esole retreated to the sand pit.

and the triplets delayed their departure and organised a picture of themselves to give me when they were moving out.

When our daughter Belinde arrived it had been several hours since the labour had started. Far longer than it ever taken previously.

Belinde’s eye colour took me by surprise, it was rare for any of my children to have blue eyes unless it was inherited from their father and Dale’s eyes were yellow. After thinking about it for a while I realised that Belinde had the same coloured eyes as my sister, Amelia. Amelia had inherited her blue eyes from our mother while I had inherited my own brown eyes from my mother’s father, Luke McDermott (Riverview Townie) .

With the triplets finally ready to move out, Paitar made sure to have a little cuddle with his newest sister.

I made sure to give them all hugs when they said their goodbyes. I was going to miss them.

*****

A/N: I could be wrong but I think that there are only 2 chapters of Lucia generation to go. 😀

A Day at the Park

With only five kids in the house I finally got a chance to do something I hadn’t in a long time – make breakfast. I could cook, I’d had plenty of time to learn but really hadn’t had a lot of spare time to put it all into practice.

With two little werewolves in the house Dale was now spending more time in that form than he had for a very long time. Mostly because it showed Osole and Sefela it was all okay but also because with two new werewolves in the house lacking experience there were bound to be flair-ups and unplanned transformations.

The girls were very alike and I was close to buying a second rocking horse to stop Esole and Sefela from fighting over it.

Sefela always seemed to be the more upset of the twins when she lost the race to the rocking horse.

Esole would simply find something else to do and when she was last to get to the rocking-horse she usually ended up baking instead.

Which gave her yummy muffins to enjoy all by herself.

With the kids off school for the day we decided to take them all to the local park.

I had come prepared bringing a book that I had wanted to read for ages.

Dale was determined to join the kids in whatever they had planned.

Kiruna, Paitar and Mahira planned to do as little as possible and had taken over the park swing set.

Esole went straight to the tree house and pretended she was a pirate who was under attack.

Sefela soon joined her to help her keep a lookout over the entire park.

Dale had found the slip’n’slide and was having a great time not far from the twins in their tree house. I was happily reading my book on the hill above them occasionally glancing around making sure everyone was still were I could see them.

I looked up just in time to see Esole call her father over.

When she got him exactly were she wanted him to be be she asked him to stand still and emptied a bucket of water over his head.

   

Dale wasn’t very impressed but I’m not sure why it worried him considering he had just been on the silp’n’slide.

Esole was thrilled.

“I got you Daddy!”, she laughed.

I was glad that I had thought to bring along sketch pad and decided to try sketching all of them enjoying themselves at the park.

Mahira and Kiruna where still happily talking to each other on the swings. Paitar had decided it was time for him to leave and had left a little earlier.

   

As it got darker Sefela joined Dale on the slip’n’slide and the two had a great time together. 

By the time we left in the afternoon the pair were the best of friends.

When we finally made it back home we all enjoyed a meal of left over cake. They had all had a good breakfast so I didn’t feel too quilty.

Both Esole and Sefela were still having difficultly controlling their second forms and after dinner both experienced transformations.

This time they caught their older sister Kiruna off guard and she fainted.

When Kiruna finally came to, Paitar challenged his sisters to a game of Foosball in the garage.

and for the first time that day with the ids either asleep or busy I had some time to spend alone with my husband.

*****

One Hundred and One

The baby had decided it was time to enter the world.

Dale wasn’t far away when I went into labour and came to help out. He still needed to panic a little before he was in any condition to really help me. The birth went smoothly and it wasn’t long before the babies arrived.

And here she is Baby Number One Hundred Sefela, born with the traits Brave and Athletic.

and her twin Esole, who was born with the traits Brave and Loves the Outdoors.

When the twins were born all urgency involving my destiny disappeared. I was done, mostly. Esole and Sefela would age at the same rate, together but the spell/curse or whatever it was wouldn’t break until the girls became young adults.

The girls caught me by surprise the first time they showed that they were both werewolves.

Even after my experiences with both their father and their three older brothers I didn’t react well (Hopefully this will be the last time I faint). I’ll admit it is adorable when the both start stalking around the nursery.

The older kids keep themselves occupied. For some reason Kiruna and Mahira love the see-saw and sometimes spend hours out there talking.

Dale and I got a start on the twins toddler training.

They did well. I don’t know if because we were more relaxed that maybe they were too but this time toddler training seemed to fly by.

Leaving us plenty of time to sleep and do other things.

Paitar gave us a hand potty training the girls,

and Kiruna decided she was going to try to teach Sefela to talk.

Sefela proved to be the most stubborn of the twins but even her training was finished easily enough.

because the girls had been such quick learners we made sure to put out the toddler learning books something that I had always forgotten to do previously.

Paitar, Kiruna and Mahira always made sure to visit Esole and Sefela in the nursery both before and after school.

They also started taking their homework into the nursery.

Dale was definitely in awe of his two little angels and took every opportunity to spend time with them both.

It was unplanned but before I knew it I was pregnant once more. 

I was going to have to learn a slower way of parenting as this new baby would age normally.

Because it was finally Summer the teens had plenty activities to keep the occupied when the were not busy with school or their younger siblings. Mahira seemed to enjoy the slip’n’slide.

 

The sandpit was also popular.

   

Mahira even tried out the trampoline.

In contrast to his sister Paitar preferred the indoor activities which included gaming,

and Foosball with Kiruna.

Before we knew it was time for the twins birthday. Little Esole was the first of the twins brought to the cake.

She received the Perceptive trait for her birthday.

Sefela was up next.

 

She received the Over-emotional trait.

*****

Potion Making

I asked the quads not to move out straight away. With the sudden reappearance of their imaginary friends I hadn’t been prepared before their birthdays and now wanted to make sure they had potions for their IF’s before they left. They didn’t have to use them unless they wanted to but I wanted to leave that choice to them.

Dale decided to workout downstairs rather than in the gym upstairs. I knew he was keeping an eye on me. He’s never been a fan of the potions table and he worried that the whole thing was going to blow up in my face. He really didn’t need to worry it’s been ages since that has actually happened…

Tuck and Hilde’s IF’s seemed to realise that potions were being made

Both seemed to be trying to convince Tuck and Hilde to make them real. I’m not sure if their constant pestering was helping their case or making their owner think about putting them on the shelf forever.

Sari used her extra time in the house to scare her younger brother.

It doesn’t seem to have the same effect as it used to.

Kiruna decided to spend all her free time painting. I might join her when I get a spare moment – if I ever get a spare moment…

Tuck was happy spending his remaining time in the house consuming some of the mountain of left-over cake.

Dale took to relaxing in the pool – but only if I wasn’t making potions at the time.

When I had finally finished all four potions, I went to find the quads and one by one gave them their potions.

Joslyn seemed the only one unsure of the gift. I’m not sure if her Imaginary Friend will become real any time soon.

With the potions all given out it was time for the quads to move out. I was going to miss them, with the wedding and all of the other interruptions they had been in the house for quite a while.

I hugged my children one by one and told them I would see them soon.

When they left the house felt remarkably empty. For the first time in a very long time there were only three kids in the house. Mahira also continued spent nearly every waking moment outside.

While Kiruna spent some of her time in the garage trying out the games while she had the area all to herself. It made the main part of the house seem vacant and really quiet.

They also all spent a lot of time together, especially Kiruna and Paitar who could always be found gossiping together.

It meant that Dale and I had a lot of time without the children which we made sure to spend together.

The rapid expansion of my waistline indicated that our moments of baby-free-time would be over shortly.

It was later that evening that I finally went in labour.

*****

A/N:

1) Baby One Hundred will be here in the next chapter. 😀

2) Family Portrait: I’m not happy with the background on this one but here it is. 😛

3) Ahhh! The new ITF Dip Kiss Interaction is adorable. So far it’s the only thing I’ve really used from that expansion…oops. 😀

Home, Sweet Home

When we finally made it home a couple of weeks after the wedding there was a surprise waiting for us. The Quads imaginary friends had reappeared with no explanation.

Sari and Joslyn were quick to reestablish their friendships with their IF’s

Both girls were soon too busy hitting their new-found friends with pillows to worry about where they had disappeared to for all that time.

Paitar also didn’t take long to discover that his Imaginary Friend Doll Rollo was also alive. It was just what the household needed. Seven children, five of whom now had IF’s to distract them.

Hilde decided to help out by cooking. The Hotdogs that she cooked turned out perfectly but Kiruna still tried to choke on hers.

Now that we were all home again I made sure to read the triplets bedtime stories whenever I could.

I admit I spent a fair bit of time those first couple of weeks sighing and smiling over my new husband.

In the quiet moments (mostly when the kids where either asleep or at school) I decided to work on my alchemy.

It was while I was working on this skill that I finally got my newest baby bump. I doubt it’s big surprise that I came home from the honeymoon pregnant.

With the wedding and everything else that had happened in the previous couple of weeks all the kids were now due to have their birthdays. Paitar made it to the cake way ahead of his sisters.

As a teen Paitar took a sudden liking to cold weather.

Mahira received the Natural Born Performer trait.

and finally Kiruna received the Flirty trait.

Tuck, Sari, Joslyn and Hilde celebrated their birthdays right after the triplets. They were looking forward to starting their young-adult lives.

For his final trait Tuck received the Clumsy trait. He plans on becoming an World Renowned Surgeon. I find that a little scary given his new found Clumsy trait but okay…

Joslyn became a Dog Person with plans to become a Canine Companion.

Sari received the Frugal trait. Her Lifetime wish is to become a Superstar Athlete.

And the last of the triplets Hilde received the schmoozer trait and is aiming to be a Persuasive Private Eye.

I made sure I was there to cheer them all on.

After the birthdays were complete we all sat down to some cake.

 Unfortunately we will have leftovers for a very long time.

A/N: Sari and Joslyn’s human pictures. 😛

Joslyn.

Sari.

Wedding Bonus Pics

Lucia’s children – Some were there and I didn’t get a good pic, the vampires are inside so they don’t burn and I missed a few.

Please ignore the occasional brown eyebrows when they should be purple. Everytime I tried to fix something my game would give me issues and finally I gave up with most of it fixed but not all. 🙂

Tuck, Sari, Hilde and Joslyn.

Egwene, Kirstian, Alesinde and Chiad.

Tylin and Beslan.

Galad and Bodewhin.

 Akir and Ravashi.

Elmindreda, Aviendha and Elayne.

 Danelle and Laila.

Amathera, Eldrin and Desora.

Leane and Tigraine.

Darlin and Faile.

Alesinde, Faile, Mierin and Leane.

Niella, and standing behind her Owein, Jaem, Jahar, Matrim and Gawyn.

Ryne.

Josef, Rosana and Caraline.

Aisha, Careane, Joal and Aisling.

Nicola.

Bonus Pics from the Wedding (I took too many photos…again)

                     .                              

                                 

😀

Wedding Day

The moment had finally come. I had delayed the wedding for so long simply because I had needed to be able to say my vows and mean them and now I could.

I was getting married to a man who had not only patiently waited for more years than anyone should be made to wait but had also helped me raise the thirty-one children as if they had all been his own. I knew I didn’t deserve Dale, but I was so relieved that he had stayed.

Most of my kids had shown up to help us celebrate. Seeing them all together was amazing and something that didn’t happen nearly enough. I hoped that now that my destiny was almost fulfilled that I would find some more time to spend with all of them.

As I made my way down the aisle I turned most of attention to where I was placing my feet. When you are as clumsy as I sometimes am it becomes a problem and today, falling flat on my face was the last thing I wanted to happen. Glancing at Dale made me realise that he knew exactly what I was doing.

I couldn’t help risking a couple of glances in either direction at my family. Jerid and Josef had taken seats on either side of Mika but as yet there seemed to have been no outbreak of the pranks and spells that had plagued my home when they had lived there.

I also noticed that Rolan was here and considering who had organised most of the wedding I hadn’t been sure if he would attend. I was pleased to see him, even if he didn’t seem too happy about it.

I also noticed that he was seated only two seats away from his son, with only Eliya and Taric seated between the two. As far as I was aware it was the first time the two of them had been in the same place since Crux was a baby. I doubted anyone had bothered to fill Rolan in on his son’s ability and Crux was sure to be getting to know his father better without Rolan even being aware that it was happening.

Bael and Sierin had been given the responsibility of looking after the youngest members of the family.

Although Bael did seem to be a more interested in the family drama unfolding at the end of his row.

Worrying about the kids was my way of trying to settle my nerves, it wasn’t working. In fact, the butterflies playing havoc with my stomach only stopped when I reached the end of the aisle and finally gave Dale my full attention.

There was really no need for nerves.

I was exactly where I wanted to be.

*****

A/N: Just so you know, I did something with the pics that I don’t normally bother with. Just for this chapter some of the pics are labelled. Mainly because I don’t expect anyone to remember all of the kids, there’s a couple that I even have trouble with. 

Catching Up

A week later found us in Sunset Valley.  As it was the town that my grandmother had been born and raised in, I was naturally curious. Although, it had been more than one hundred years since she had finally moved away, I imagined that the town must have changed considerably.

The house that had been organised for our stay for the next couple of days was beautiful and large enough that we wouldn’t be tripping over each other trying to get ready on the morning of the wedding. The girls would be staying on the third floor while the boys took the remaining rooms on the other floors.

Crux, true to his word had organised everything. Venue, flowers, my dress. Nothing had escaped his attention. He had even organised Eliya and Mika to help look after the younger children allowing me to see to those tiny final details that he had been unable to, not there were many. The only thing I really had to worry about had been the fit of my wedding dress and even that had required very little adjustment. He had even taken it upon himself to organise attendants. Dale’s oldest boys Maeric and Jheran would be standing with him, while Niella along with my eldest daughter Nicola would be my bridesmaids.

“Anything we need to change”, Crux asked. “because the wedding is in two days and we will need to be quick?”

“No, I think it’s all perfect. I can’t believe you’ve organised all of this!” I said,  leaning over to give him a hug.

He shrugged as if it was nothing, admittedly having access to the thoughts of both the bride and groom had to have made organisation a lot easier.

Glancing at the clock, I realised the entire morning had slipped away without my notice.”When was Nicola meant to arrive?” I asked. It had been a while since I’d had the opportunity to spend any time with Nicola and I was looking forward to reconnecting with her.

“She’s late”, Crux muttered, clearly unimpressed. “She was due to arrive early this morning”

It was another hour before Nicola arrived. “Okay, I’m here!” My eldest daughter exclaimed as she made her entrance through the side door. She gave her bag to Crux whispering as she did so, “A little more warning would have been preferable. I had to finish up certain things earlier than I originally planned. It all became a little bit messy”

“If you hadn’t been lying in the first place it wouldn’t have been a problem”, Crux stated. Something told me the pair had been in contact for a while and that Nicola had been causing Crux  a few problems.

“Nicky?”

“Mum, there you are!”, Nicola came over and gave me a hug.

“You’ve changed” I said, “You look good. What happened to all the black and the short skirts”

“I grew up” Nicola replied, “and then I worked out there were other ways to get what I want. You know, I really hate that Eben was right. He’s really annoying when he’s right about something but I’ll admit that it was so much more relaxing than what I was originally trying.”

I was silent for a while trying to work out what she meant by that. That Crux was standing behind her slowly shaking his head and looking uncomfortable was not helping. Until suddenly it hit me, Nicola had been married at least three times that I was aware of and I remembered what she and her twin had always joked about when they had been teens.

“You don’t?”, I exclaimed. “Nicola!”

“Technically, they’re usually younger than me ” Nicola continued, ” so I don’t see how I can be accused of…”

“Nicky!”

“Oh Mum, don’t be such a prude. They get what they want, I get what I want. It’s win-win and it’s not like I kill them, I’m not in that big a rush, ” Nicola responded, her eyes dropped blatantly to my stomach. “at least not yet? I just wait for them to go away on their own.”

“Uh, what do you mean by ‘Not that big a rush’?” Dale asked.

“You must be Dale, right?”

“Yes?”

“Well, Step-Daddy. What I mean is that once Mummy here gives us all a new baby brother or sister, the clock starts ticking. For all of us.” Nicola explained, she looked around the room. “I really might have to think about marrying for love for a change. That would be an adventure don’t you think?”

“Mum, are you ready to go yet” Niella asked as she stuck her head into the room, oblivious to the discussion that had been taking place.

“Yes, I’m ready.” I responded, before turning to Nicola, “Nicola, are you coming?”

“Sure” Nicola said, and chased after Niella who had left as soon as I said I was ready. “Hey, little sister wait up!”

“Was she serious?” Dale asked, after the girls had left the room.

“Probably” I shrugged, “She always had a unique way of looking at things”

“Exactly how old is she?”, Dale asked, curious.

“She’s twenty-two years younger than I am,” I said sweetly, before continuing. “Do you really want me to be more specific?”

“Ah, no?”

“Right answer” I said, smiling before I leaned in to give him a kiss.

*

“The beach, we’re going to the beach?” Nicola complained when we reached our destination.

“Yes. Why, is that a problem?” Niella asked. The pair of them had been eyeing each other for the entire drive and I realised that the two of them couldn’t be more opposite personalities, hopefully they would get along – at least for a little bit.

“No, no problem” NIcola replied, “but I better not get a sunburnt”

The pair began to discuss the schedule for the morning of the wedding, I t was clear that in some ways they had more of an idea of what needed to happen than I did.

“So, 10am arrive at venue. Then we have the morning to make Mum beautiful”

“Mum’s always beautiful” Niella stated.

“Suck-up”

“What?”, Niella looked towards her older sister confused and slightly hurt.

“I’m joking!  You’re right, of course, but its her wedding day – Yes?…. She has to be the most beautiful creature in the room and you know that’s going to be hard with the two of us there” Nicola joked. Niella burst into laughter and I stopped worrying about the two of them getting along.

“So I know why I got asked to be a bridesmaid, eldest daughter and all and mum trying not to play favourites but why you little sister, where do you fit in. ” Nicola asked, “I’m curious, it’s been a while and I’ve kind of lost track of all my family connections.”

“Why me? That’s easy. Bride’s eldest daughter” Niella answered pointing at Nicola explaining, before pointing back to herself. “Groom’s only daughter”

“So your Mum’s getting married to your Dad”, Nicola responded wistfully. “Nice – unusual for this family, but nice.

“Yeah”

*

The three of us spent a good portion of the afternoon at the beach. Niella was a little hard to get out of the water but that gave me plenty of opportunity to catch up with Nicola, when I thought about it I couldn’t really remember when the last time I had seen her was. She tended to move a lot, never staying long in the one place. At least now I knew why.

When Niella finally joined us, Nicola thought to ask. “So is there going to be any cute guys at this wedding?” she asked. “I mean weddings are kind of boring if there are no cute guys”

“That you aren’t related to?” I asked, dryly.

“Of course”

“Then no”

“What? Are you kidding?”

“Nope, the only one there who isn’t your brother will be your Stepfather” I told her.

“Well, you have no hope then” Nicola told Niella.

“Please, don’t hit on my Dad because that would be weird”

“Well, this is lame. The only person who’s going to get any action at this wedding is our Mother. Now, that’s just embarrassing” Nicola complained.

We all lay there quietly enjoying the sun until finally Niella broke the silence, “Maybe one of the waiters will be cute?”

*

A/N: For a little bit of background and to hopefully avoid some confusion. Nicola and her twin Eben where baby no 2 & 3 way back at the very beginning of Lucia’s journey. They were an interesting duo, both rolled the snob trait at birth and Nic was also born with Neurotic trait. Their child traits were rather boring but as teens Eben rolled Mean-Spirited (my very favourite trait) and Nic rolled Evil. To further round out her character Nicola received the Rebellious trait as a Young Adult. So yeah, Neurotic, Snob, Artistic, Evil and Rebellious equals a hard to handle but very interesting sim. I’ve always seen them as one of the more destructive sets of multiples that Lucia ever had in the house. For their LTW’s Nic received Emperor of Evil while her twin wished to become a Gold Digger, since leaving the house Nicola has decided that her brother’s LTW suits her more than her own. 😛

Winter’s End

The combination of snow days and weekends off had left the kids with entirely too much time on their hands and I was really starting to look forward to the coming spring.

Sari and Hilde had taken up residence in the hot tub.

While he had been update to go to school Tuck had started to experiment with cooking and prepared breakfast for the family a number of times.

In addition to the hot tub Sari decided to make use of the gym.  And Paitar had taken to brushing his teeth over and over and over again.

Of course it was still winter and that meant the kids had plenty of outdoor snow activities to engage them.

Hilde liked to make Snow Angels. 

And all of the kids convinced Dale to join them outdoors for a Snow Ball fight.  They all had a lot of fun.  

Although some of the kids had better luck with the snowballs than others.

Yet another Igloo was built and Mahira decided to try her hand at building Snowmen. Kiruna soon came outside to give her sister a hand.  After they finished they decided to continue to keep building snowmen. Kiruna was the first to discover the Grim Reaper Snowman. Mahira quickly copied her sister, Mahira and Kiruna also convinced Joslyn to helping them in the quest to build a snowman army, By the end of the day the snowman building team had been busy and we had plenty of snowmen guarding the front of the house.

*

As the first Day of Spring arrived I had still been unable to contact my grandson. One moment I was reassured that he had obviously been in contact with some of his aunts and uncles, at other times I was concerned that he still hadn’t taken the time to contact me even though I had started to leave messages on his phone almost daily. It didn’t help that I still hadn’t worked out the problem I had wanted to discuss with Crux in the first place. 

So I was still one short of my one hundred baby target with no idea what my next step should be.

Later in the week after I had spent the morning drawing and Dale had come downstairs after his workout, the two of us curled up together on the lounge to watch a movie that the children had left in the DVD player. I had fallen asleep against Dale’s shoulder twenty minutes in so I missed Crux entering the room.

“Pa”

“Crux? Where on earth have you been, your grandmother has been trying to contact you for weeks?”

“I’ve been busy”, Crux told Dale.

“Doing what?”

“Organising something,” Crux continued.

“Luc, wake-up” Dale shook me gently awake, “Crux is here”

“What? Crux!” I came awake with a start.

“Hey Ma!”

I started to ask where he had been, why he hadn’t called and a number of other questions that occurred to me suddenly but I was interrupted by my grandson before I had even opened my mouth to speak.

“I think you’ll like what I have planned since I got most of it from you”

“Sorry?” I asked even more confused that I had been to start with.

He looked at me sadly, “You still haven’t worked it out have you? It’s all there in your head you just need to recall it.” Crux said, “I even gave Grandpa here the answer but he didn’t understand it so he didn’t mention it” He turned and looked at Dale “You weren’t meant to understand what I told you, but Ma would have – if you had told her”

“What did he tell you?” I asked Dale, the feeling that I had been missing something important had stayed with me for weeks. “Do you remember?”

“He just gave me a number, the number Eight” Dale said, ” Do you know what that means?”

I thought about it for a moment, and only one answer came to mind “It can’t be that easy. Please, tell me I haven’t been stressing over a number for the past 3 weeks? ” I asked Crux, “Is that right?”

“For you it’s an important number”, he shrugged.

“No, it’s too simple” I exclaimed,  pointing at Dale, I struggled to contain my excitement even as I questioned what I now knew to be true.”it’s way too simple…NO…that can’t be right?…really?”, I asked Crux to confirm my answer, barely waiting for his answer before turning to kiss Dale.

“Luc?” Dale asked concerned, after I finally let him go.

“It’s…” I started to explain before turning to accuse Crux, “You could have told me this weeks ago”

“I was going to but….” his voice trailed off.

“But what?”

“Uh, the two of you were kind of busy at the time so I didn’t interrupt” Crux replied, I hadn’t believed it was possible but Crux went slightly pink.

“Busy with what? I would of been okay being interrupted anytime to find out that bit of information”

“Uhh, Lucia” Dale interreupted, as Crux turned a brighter shade of pink, “Umm, he means..” 

“huh?” I said confused, before I realised what they both meant”

“Oh…right.”

“Anyway, because you were both busy I organised it all by myself” Crux started to explain.

“You both need to meet us all here next friday”

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise!” Crux told us both, “I think you’ll both like it”

“I don’t like surprises” I told my grandson “Every time someone organises a surprise for me I usually end up pregnant” Crux just stared at me and suddenly I felt like an idiot as I worked out what Crux had planned. “Oh wow, Crux you didn’t need to do that, are you sure you don’t need me to…” I was suddenly teary.

“Ma, you’ve already given me everything I need.”, he said, kissing my forehead before he made his escape outside.

With Dale standing beside me obviously still confused I had only one thought running through my head. “Dale?”

“Yeah?”

“You haven’t changed your mind about wanting to marry me, have you?”, I asked, suddenly nervous that now the time had come that he would suddenly change his mind.

“Never, why?”

“How about next weekend? Would you be interested in maybe getting married then?”

“But you said you wouldn’t marry me until you had reached One hundred children? Dale asked.

“My number is eight, Dale”, I explained.

“You know, I still have no idea what that means?”

“It means the two of us together have only reached seven, we still have one more to count” I smiled at him, before continuing. ” and I’m only one short”