Chapter 6: House of Testosterone
I brought little Geraldo home, and sadly showed him to my portrait of Mom. It was one of those times when my parents had been cuddling on the couch, and I started painting them in that candid moment.
"Mom, I wish you were here to meet him." I had whispered.
I missed her so much.
Thankfully Dad was there to help. Since he was family-orientated he was a savior when it came to training the boys. It seemed that he could get it done in half the time either Yves or I could.
Secretly I was thankful Dad taught them how to talk, I'm not sure how I could handle someone else in the house with such a thick accent.
The boys loved the little turtle table Dad had taken out of storage from when we were kids. They liked to chew on blocks and chat away for hours. Which was good because I would soon be heading back to work, and Yves was working all the time now.
Since I had my own guitar already, Yves started to use Mom's old one. I think it made Dad really happy to see it getting some use. Yves was now a major part of the family, and I was glad he was there.
And as family tradition would demand it, Yves played in the park to raise tips when not at the theatre. Though I didn't understand everything clearly, I knew that Yves wanted a much bigger kitchen.
It was his plan to rebuild the house to raise our kids. "It is too crowded." He would exclaim.
"Imagine what it was like with six kids running around!" I would retort.
One night Dad insisted the two of us go out to dinner. "On a real date."
We went to the local bistro, and I worked really hard to understand everything my husband said. He confided that the guys at work gave him a lot of ribbing due to his heavy accent. It was getting better, but you could still place him as a non-native.
"They like to teach me bad words, which embarrasses me since I do not know they are bad words until I use them with the boss."
I felt bad for him. He was such a sweet guy, and I really had grown to love him. He was always cooking such great things in the kitchen, and he would let Dad ramble on about nonsense all the time patiently.
"Would you like to visit France?" I asked softly.
He looked off in the distance as I admired his handsome profile. What if he said yes, and once we got there he decided not to come back? I couldn't imagine a life without him.
"No, but I wouldn't mind seeing my brother Jules again. Do you think he would come here to visit?"
Father was the only one there when Jules arrived. Jules was a bit of a grump, and he rarely spoke more then a sentence to anyone but his brother.
The two would chatter on for hours. I was shocked to hear how much Yves actually had to say when he spoke in his own language. I was afraid that Jules would convince his older brother to move home again. I actually started to dread when Jules was due to go back, I loved my husband so much that I would just die without him.
A bit dramatic perhaps, but he was everything to me. I hadn't realized it until I began to fear he would leave me.
That night right as Yves crawled into bed, he woke me and pulled me into his arms. "I have something very important to tell you."
I had tensed, afraid that he was going to say he was going 'home' again.
"Don't leave me, and the kids!" I exclaimed, tears springing to my eyes.
Yves looked startled for a second and then showered my face with kisses.
"I could never leave you and the boys, you are my breath! My soul! I would die without you near me!"
I sighed with relief, and he chuckled at my expression. "What I wanted to say was that Jules asked if he could move in. He missed me, and loved Sunset Valley very much. So I said yes. I hope you are not angry, but he is my brother and I want him as happy as me."
So that was how another male came into the homestead. I was surrounded by them! He got a job in the science field, and started to help Dad with the garden. Jules was bit of a hit with the ladies in the town, even my sister Frida liked him.
But he was very grumpy, and would snort, "I have no time for love. There are fish to catch." And he wasn't talking about ladies, he really meant fish.
Dad kept visiting all the other kids every day, and showed me this picture of Jaiden grown up into a teenager. She was very lovely, and it made me sad that I didn't have a little girl of my own. But, if I wanted to reach my full potential I needed to keep working.
I was very close to becoming a Rock Star, and the outfits I wore home seemed to only excited Yves. It was about this time the boys grew up again.
Even though he was over a hundred, Dad would run around outside with the boys playing tag all the time. All three boys loved him more then anyone.
After going on about how he missed the days of being on the team (He had retired by now) Yves insisted he go see a game at the stadium. Dad was thrilled and talked about it for days afterwards.
Like the new house? That's not a neighbors, that was what Yves and his brother Jules built one day when the boys were in school, and Dad was at one of my concerts.
"You did all this in a few hours?" I said in shock.
"It wasn't much" Jules, who had mastered Simlish a lot faster then Yves ever had, snorted.
Yves had merely shrugged, and gave me a big kiss. I couldn't wait until Dad saw.
He had smiled weakly, and announced he was going to bed. He was now 110, and tired much easier.
And just as he climbed into bed, his time finally came.
Phillipe was the first to sense something was wrong. We all rushed downstairs to witness Dad shake the hand of Death, and go to the other side without a fuss. He was ready to be with Mom once more.
And immediatly afterwards, both Phillipe and Jean became teens.
Jean was now a snob, and brave.
And Phillipe, who seemed to look most like his father, was now brave and inappropriate on top of being evil.
We thought it best to put Dad near Mom in the back of the house. We may not have all of the family line buried in the back, but Yves felt it best to keep the founders there. "To preserve the hard work they did to make this all possible."
My husband was a deep man, and I only grew to appreciate him more and more all the time.
Jules liked to stay outside and read in the little garden area he had made. While he wasn't my favorite person in the world, he was very good with his nephews.
It was also his idea to put the little playground out back for Geraldo. While he wasn't the softest of guys, Jules really cared for his family deeply. I don't think he planned on having any kids of his own, but he really loved Yves'.
All three boys loved playing chess on the balcony on the second floor. Jean, in fact, wanted to be a chess master just like my brothers Ernest and Billy had.
Geraldo decided he wanted to be a Robot Cross Breeder. I think he really looked up to his Uncle Jules, and seemed to follow him around fishing all the time. Jules would just snort in disgust, and pretend he didn't notice.
While it was still a bit before the boys would have to move, I started a small fund to make sure they got good houses when they did move. It made me sad to think that one day I would have to let them go, but it had nearly wiped us clean buying homes for my siblings I wanted to be prepared.
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In memory of Alabaster Landgraab, a fiesty and fun sim that was fun to know.
You will be missed. RIP Alabaster, dying at 110 with over 260,000 LTH points.
Prologue Part 1/ 2/ 3/ 4
Chapter 1/ 2 / 3/ 4 / 5