Chapter 27 Hello?….Dad?

I woke up the morning of what I referred to as “D” day, with the feelings of great anticipation and complete dread. Sometime during my restless night’s sleep, I resigned myself to the understanding that regardless of the answer to the question, I really had no control over the situation; so why was I losing sleep?  After that I did finally fall asleep and did so without dreams or nightmares to haunt my already anxious spirit. When I awoke,  I spent the day keeping busy cleaning of all things, which seemed to always be my go to these days when things were unsettled within me.  I tried to read a book or two, turning the pages yet unable to absorb a single word my eyes crossed over.  I might as well have been staring at blank pages for all the typed words did for me.  I began to pace then, trying to determine what to do next.

I had my laptop open to my email, checking for new messages every five minutes even though I had heard no ping to indicate any.  Should I call?  Oh right, no phone and Caeruleus wasn’t home to ask him for his.  Should I email my father and just casually ask if he had any word? At this point it was my only option, yet two hours later, I still had no reply. Now what?

Think Jin, think!  Absolutely no reason to panic here…….I mean there was no actual definite date set to finding out the results.  I had chosen the date for “D” day because it was exactly seven months from the day the results were sent off.  Perhaps he still didn’t know.  I’m sure there were all kinds of reasons to explain why they still wouldn’t know. Things often take more time than expected, labs get backed up or more pressing matters take priority.  Right, all kinds of reasons for sure.  If I let it, this could drive me crazy! What I needed to do was get out of this house and be with people!  Katie had agreed to come over earlier, but then suddenly became busy with something more important.  When I checked her house, she wasn’t there.  Seriously what was there to do in this boring town? What else, but hit the bar and hope that some juice would help to soothe my nerves.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Caeruleus placing a glass of water on my bedside table.  I had no idea how I had gotten home or had any memory of the day before after arriving to the bar.  I sat up, holding my throbbing head and glanced at the glass of water.  I knew drinking it would help my head but my stomach had other ideas and before long I was tossing my cookies in the throne next to my room.  I felt incredibly lousy and the cool bathroom tiles felt so good against my very hot head.  If it would have cured me I would have stayed there all day.

Down in the kitchen, a quick glance of the computer told me I had no emails.  Yesterday, I had even gone so far as to email Caeruleus’s number and a quick reminder of Mrs. Monty’s number to my father as well, in case my mom was the one who had made all the arrangements for me to come here.  I hadn’t told him what happened to my phone, just that I no longer had a working one.

When my stomach felt stable and I managed to keep down some food, I decided to head over and visit Mrs Monty to see if she had heard anything.  It was then I noticed a for sale sign on her front lawn.

“Oh Jin, I’m so glad you are here and you are just in time too.  Come with me.  There is something I need to do and I would like us to do it together.”

Mrs Monty got in my car and instructed me to drive to the cemetery.  There she got out and walked to an empty spot.  She turned to me and said “It’s time for me to say goodbye,” and at first I didn’t know what she meant, until she placed a headstone on the ground in front of her.

“It’s time for you to go my darling.  I will always love you.  You were the best thing that ever happened to me.  I shall see you soon.”  Then she burst into tears.  I didn’t know what to do.  Let her mourn alone?  Comfort her?  But before I could make a decision, she stopped her tears and said “But not TOO soon.”  She blew his headstone a kiss, turned and walked away.  I was amused, to say the least.

We got back into the car and she directed me to the town center to this little house in a very pale pink plaster with a sold sign on it.  It was a one bed, one bath two storey home just behind the Pizzeria where I used to work.  “My new home, she said.  Come see, I decorated the way I have always wanted a house to look.”

I walked into the house and was blinded….by pink.  Pink and cream everywhere!

“What do you think?  Pink is my most favourite colour!”

So, uh, yeah what does a guy say to that exactly?  “It’s very bright!  Unlike anything I have seen in this town by none.”  Convincing enough?

She went on to tell me that the night I moved out of the house, she took a long hard look at her life and realized that I had been right.  Her husband as a ghost was not the man she married and she hadn’t been happy for a very long time.  If her husband had died then remained gone, she would have mourned the way everyone was intended to do.  That the life she had been living wasn’t real.

“I had a very frank conversation  with my husband,” she said “and told him neither of us was at all happy.  That his time on this earth was done and he needed to let me get on with mine.”  He agreed he wasn’t happy either and certainly didn’t like the man he had become since turning into a ghost.  He decided to pass on.  He left her that night she said and while she finally grieved his loss, it was a bit of a relief as well.

“I’ve started dating, just a few simple dates, but it’s a start and who knows where that will lead. But for now, I am in the middle of town where I can walk to whatever or wherever I want to go and I am very happy.”  Mrs. Monty seemed very proud of herself and I was very happy that it seemed her life was heading in the direction it needed to go.

On the drive home that night, I wondered how long it would be for my life to get on any sort of track forward.  It wasn’t till I was half way home that I remembered I hadn’t asked if she had heard from my family.

When I got home, I called Katie but she told me she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to be seen.  We talked on the phone for a while before she said she was tired and needed to go to bed.  I went to sleep that night feeling very lonely indeed. Another day had passed and still no message from my father.

The next day Caeruleus excitedly told me he was in the beginning stages for planning a birthday party for Cameron, but for the amount of people he wanted to invite, he didn’t know where to have the party.  So I offered to scope out venues while he was at work.  He was just walking out the door when I yelled, “Did you hear anything from my father?”  He sadly shook his head at me, but promised again that I would know the moment he did. Even if he had to ask his father to send out every police car in a man hunt to find me.  I chuckled and nodded at him as he walked out the door.  With breakfast out of the way, I set out in search of the perfect place for Cameron’s party.  It didn’t take me long, before I settled on the Sunbather’s Retreat, which would make for a perfect beach party for her young adult transition.

It took me a the full two weeks to finally get all the plans made because as Caeruleus said, Cameron was always around.  Even taking the time to grow a garden on the side of the lot which took up a lot of time to care for.  If she wasn’t in the garden she was in the house.  It made simple party details all the more difficult because of it.

Everyone who was invited to her party arrived full of enthusiasm and gifts.  It was a real testament to how well liked both she and Caeruleus were in this town.  The guests enjoyed dancing on the beach, swimming in the water and catching up with everyone.  Not everyone had transitioned to young adult, but it was great to see those who had and how they turned out.  We were still waiting on most of the girls: Maria and Katie, Ally, Jessa and Sarah to complete our group of friends who had moved on with their new lives.

Caeruleus brought out a cake for Cameron that was far too small for all the guests he had invited.  She made a wish, then blew out her candles and……

Voila!

I knew I didn’t think of Cameron that way, but even I had to admit just how gorgeous she was after her transition.

Caeruleus had fore warned me that he had this big surprise for Cameron and I kept waiting for someone to bring a car with a big bow on top or something just as flashy.  Yet the day turned to dusk and he still hadn’t brought out this big surprise.  The guests all left and I had just begun to clean up all the mess from cake plates and drink cups scattered around the deck of the retreat.  Next thing I knew, I looked over and saw this:

Instantly I felt like someone had just shoved a knife into my gut, taking away my ability to breathe. I struggled to get air into my lungs and as the pain worsened in my chest, I turned to hide my panic from my friends.  Lowering my head past my waist while supporting my upper body with my hands on my knees, I began to feel better.  I turned and gave my best friend a thumbs up just seconds before Cameron jumped into his arms. 

When I looked back, they had begun to stroll down the beach, stopping every few feet to kiss one another, or to speak in animated faces with words I could no longer hear.  I didn’t need to.  I remembered that same excitement I had felt myself, not that long ago.  I remembered the love I had felt for Sun that moment when I knew in my heart I could never let her go, and dropped on bended knee to ask her to be mine, and mine alone.

The knife in my gut twisted and the pain enraged me.  I would have thrown back my head and yelled if I had been in a place to do so.  I missed her.  I missed Sun, more than I was willing to allow myself to feel any second of the day.  I shoved the memories deep within me as a way to cope and survive, when I knew I would drown otherwise.

I could still feel my arms around her as I pulled her to me.  I remembered the way her lips would part ever so slightly as she waited for me to finally lean in to kiss her soft, full lips. The love I felt from her went straight through to my soul with every kiss, no matter how deep or how long.  I couldn’t do this, these moments when I pulled her out of me to feel, to remember.  It hurt too deep, leaving scars on my heart each time I chose to allow myself to drown in the memory of her.  I couldn’t go home either, not tonight.  No matter how happy I was for my two best friends in the world, I didn’t have it in me to paste that fake look of excitement on my face I knew they would be expecting as real happiness for their news.  I only hoped that somehow Caeruleus would understand.

I pulled the juice keg over beside a beach chair, settled in and poured myself a drink.  It was going to be a long hard road from now on.  Engagement joy, parties, planning and the ceremony was everything I had to look forward to in the next while, which I was sure wouldn’t be long at all.  They would want to start their new life together quite quickly and oh, then I would have that to look forward to as well.  There was only so much fake merriment I could provide!  When the keg gave the familiar gurgling sounds of being empty, I threw my cup down onto the sand, closed my eyes and fell asleep to the rhythmic sound of the surf on the beach like a child’s sound machine.

By the time I saw Caeruleus the next evening, plans were well underway for a small beach wedding just two weeks away.  Luckily Cameron was too busy with her family finalizing plans to be around the house.  Luckier still, as best man  I didn’t need to throw a bachelor party.  Just another thing on their list of things that fairies just didn’t do.  I was however put in charge of setting up the arch and chairs on the morning of the big day. Which I happily did, as it kept me out of the wedding chaos happening at both houses.

Assignment complete, I stood on the beach, tossing rocks into the small swells of water. Two more weeks and still no word from home.  No answer to email and no one picked up the phone.  I could not understand what would have happened to change the members of my family I knew and loved, to treat me with such disregard.  My only conclusion was that the D.N.A. test had not come out in my favour.  I tempered down my anger reminding myself that the day was already going to be hard enough, without adding to it.  There was nothing else to do but start making a life for myself and here was as good as any place else. I had no where else to go and no one else to go to.

 

I skipped a few more flat rocks across the water and decided to take advantage of the great weather, relaxing on the beach till I was needed.  Oh happy day, here we go.

 

Caerul and Cameron had a beautiful barefoot wedding with both sets of parents and all of our friends.  All but one.  Katie was missing from the party, her sister giving the excuse that she was sick.  I had talked to Katie just the night before on Caerul’s phone and she hadn’t mentioned anything about being sick, but I let it go with the intention of getting to the bottom of my missing girlfriend for the last few weeks.

(See the rest of the wedding pics HERE)

Before Mr Daniels left, I stopped him to chat about an important matter I had been bouncing around in my head.  He was very happy that I had done so and we made arrangements to discuss it more the beginning of the week.

 

It wasn’t till the end of the evening did I realize that this was Caerul and Cameron’s first night together.  Not only that but their first time for both of them. I didn’t want to go home and cause any discomfort, but I also didn’t want to stay at the beach either.  So I headed out to the teen hangout.  

I stood at the edge of the lot watching the lighthouse lantern make colourful patterns in the dark night sky.  I had made it through the day better than I imagined I would.  I was impressed.  I poured myself a drink from the juice keg and toasted, “here’s to me” and downed it quite quickly.

Then another

Feeling quite warm from all the juice and the keg close to empty, I climbed up on top of the picnic table and continued to watch the light, circle round and round. Sleep took me easily and my night was filled with no dreams or nightmares.  Just a black empty void, till the morning sun nudged me from the ledge of despair I was cautiously teetering on. I stayed away from the house for the rest of the weekend, giving the happy couple the honeymoon they deserved.

Monday morning, I gathered myself together while I stood in front of the door that would begin to change my life.  I stared at it for quite some time trying to buck up the courage to walk through.  This wasn’t what I had envisioned for my life, but I had to start somewhere. I couldn’t remain an unemployed bum living off his best friend forever.  An hour later I emerged a newly employed man of the police department as a snitch.  They thought I was perfect for the job because I apparently “looked” the part.  I had no desire to ask what that meant so I just took it as a good thing and carried on.  After that I hit the gym and worked on the already well established muscular physique I had acquired from so much dance.  Work began the following day and I wanted to be as ready as I could.

I spent the day at the gym, something I was sure I would be sorry for in the morning, and tried to decide what to do next.  I still had no desire to go home.  It was then I decided I was finally going to get to the bottom of what was up with Katie.

The Barton family recently had quite the lifestyle change after Mr. Barton had come into quite a lot of money.  His wife had quit her job and the family  moved into this large Villa across town.  It was the first time I had visited the family since the move and even I was impressed with the obvious display of wealth.    Maria opened the door to my knock and immediately gave me this sly look before putting her finger to her lips to silence me from talking.  She pointed in a direction around the stairs, then waited till I had just rounded the corner to yell “Katie, Jin is here!”

Katie turned with this sad fearful look on her face.

“Katie!  Thank goodness,” and I dipped her into a kiss.  “Where have you been?”  Then I looked at her.  I mean really looked.  “What have you done?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied in this whisper of a voice.

“I know what my girlfriend looks like and this isn’t it.”

“Don’t you like it?”

“Katie, you were gorgeous before.  What did you do?  Nose job?  Is this why you have been avoiding me all this time?”

“I didn’t want you to see me all bruised and bandaged up.  You don’t understand Jin.  I had to do it.  Just go away.”  Then she turned and quickly made her way out the back door to the pool.

“Katie wait!”  I followed after her.  “Stop, wait a minute.”

She turned to look at me, and I said “I do like it.  Of course I like it, I just don’t understand what you mean by you had to do it.”

She looked around as if she was looking for someone to sneak out of the bushes then whispered to me that her father had signed her up with a modeling agency and it was one of their requirements, as well as losing about twelve pounds and lightening her skin.

“Are they crazy!  You DO NOT need to lose weight.”

“Jin, you don’t understand.  Things are different now and whatever my father says goes.”

“Come away with me then.  We will start over together.”

“You are sweet Jin.  You always have been, but I can’t.  Not yet anyway.”  Then she whispered into my ear, “Find us somewhere to be alone.  Somewhere no will ever know so we can be together.”  Then she stepped back and said loudly “you need to go. It would be best if you didn’t come back.”  She walked me to the door and closed it behind me as I stepped out onto the porch.  I stood there reeling. What had just happened?

I returned home that night and greeted Caerul and Cameron as the new couple they were. If Cameron could radiate moon beams from her skin, I swear she would be, for as happy as she looked.  I excused myself and went upstairs to check my email, although at this point I really had no idea why I continued to do that.  When I found nothing, I sat for a few moments and just stared at my screen saver pic of Katie. Something wasn’t right and it just wasn’t the change in her appearance. Her demeanor had changed as well, and she appeared frightened or subdued even. One thing was for sure, I wasn’t going to let this go until I knew what was going on.  She clearly needed help and help she was going to get.

Caerul, Cameron and I settled into a routine quite easily from that point on.  I started work and was promoted on my second day to a desk, which I was none to happy about.  They did give me a phone so I no longer had to rely on friends to use theirs, which was good.  All was good till five days later when I went looking for the two of them to ask if I could treat them to dinner.  After a quick search of the house, I went outside to see if Cameron was in her garden.  The moon was full and the sky was almost as bright as a cloudy day.  I called Cameron’s name once and stepped off the stairs from the second floor into the garden.  I found them all right, in between the potatoes and the life fruit woo hooing in the grass.  I threw up my hands and spun around spewing apologies and marched down the front yard, across the sidewalk and into the restaurant that was located next door.  I was so embarrassed, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to look them in the eyes again.  I stayed till closing, watching the lights in the house till they were all turned off.  Only then did I return home.

The next morning Cameron corner me at the breakfast table.

“Well that was awkward,” she said, then sat there in silence just staring at me.  I broke and finally looked back.

“Uh, just a little,” I replied

“It was Caerul’s idea.  Apparently if you, well you know, outside under a full moon, then you are more likely to become pregnant.”

“Oh.  I see.  Trying already then.”

“We don’t want to waste any time.  We both want a very large family and I know, even though he won’t say so, he is worried about the Sim-fairy combo making it more difficult.”

“You could have just told me you know.  I would have made plans to be out and then this wouldn’t have happened.  Just tell me for next time okay.  Outside, inside, standing on your heads-wait scratch that, I don’t want to know that much.  Just give me some kind of signal and I will take off.”

“I hate to bring this up, but since we are trying and the house only has two bedrooms…..”

“You’re kicking me out? Of course you are.  I just thought, well I hoped, that I would have more time is all.”

“We aren’t ‘kicking you out’ Jin.  At least not right now,” she said with a smile. “But we will need that bedroom when the baby comes along.  You understand right?”

Well as it turned out sooner came faster than I had anticipated.  Moonlight and fairies, who knew?  Cameron and Caerul were over the moon with excitement!  She spent most of her day hanging around the house because she couldn’t stop doing this.

It got to the point where I became very worried and I encouraged them to head to the doctor to find out what was going on.  When they got back, Cameron went to lay down and Caerul asked if we could talk.

“Jin….”  Then he just sat there with this strange look on his face.

“What?  What’s wrong?  Caerul, yo buddy.  You are freaking me out here.  Earth to Caerul……CAERUL!”

Yelling at him seemed to bring him out of the trance he was in.  “I can’t believe it.  I mean…I think I am in shock.  You will never guess Jin.  Its triplets!  Three babies.  That is why Cam has been so sick and its a good thing we went to because all this throwing up is not normal and the babies are really suffering because of it.”

Note to self, when dating a female fairy, avoid moonlight loving…..  I mean,  “Triplets! Wow!  Congratulations!”

“We can’t stay here.  Even with the extra bedroom, this house is way too small to raise three babies, and well that kind of means……”

Dang it!  Big sigh, “How soon did you want me out?”

CC Used In This Chapter

Sims –Sims Used In This Story–  Caeruleus, Cameron, Jessa, Ally, Dallas Daniels, Maria,

Pattern (lfntwindfrost) – from Mrs. Monty’s house on walls-by marcorse at TSR
recoloured to pink and a light grey/green

Accessories– Katie’s earrings  Katie’s Eyes  Wedding Dress

Hair- Caeruleus     Cameron (teen)  Cameron (long)  Cameron (wedding)   Katie   Ally 

The Barton’s New Villa is the Paraiso Villa from the store