1.07 Life and Death

Previously...

After a long wait, the family can finally move into their new house, even if it isn't quite finished yet. Another exciting thing happens - Tilly takes her new boyfriend home for dinner. And unexpectedly, he takes Mort aside and askes for his permission to marry Tilly... Mort gives his consent to Carl proposing to Tilly and she of course says yes. Amelia, meanwhile, has a secret that she knows she has to share with her husband. After telling him she is pregnant which results in an argument, they finally make up, and decide to keep the baby.

---

Just one day after the birth of baby Primrose Sterling, Amelia started insisting on being released from the hospital.

“I need to get back to work. At home I can at least get some work done on the computer. I'm going stir crazy in this hospital bed.” She pleaded to her husband the moment she'd been woken up by the baby's screams in the morning. Mort looked down at his beautiful but determined wife, and the tiny, soft skinned little person at her breast. What had he been thinking, bringing a child into the world with a mother who couldn't wait to leave for work and a father who might drop dead any day? He knew he wasn't that old, he certainly could have some good years left. But who knew? Being in the hospital certainly didn't help, either.

“Okay, I'll go talk to the nurse. Wait here.” He replied with a sigh.

Mort hadn't been allowed into the nursery for some weeks before the birth.

“I want it to be a surprise!” Amelia had squealed every time he had objected or tried to get a peek inside. As he now entered the room for the first time, his jaw dropped. The room was covered in pink from floor to ceiling.

“Goodness!” He blurted out. “What is this place? Cotton candy heaven?” Amelia couldn't help snickering, but she then gave him a very forced, stern look and went to put the sleeping baby carefully into her crib.

After staring down at that innocent, content little face, she turned to Mort, who was smiling at her.

“Aren't you glad I changed your mind?”

“Yes.” She answered, with no doubt whatsoever either in her voice or her mind.

Primrose's first visitors were Tilly and Carl. They were officially visitors now, as they had been in the process of moving to their own house for several weeks. The only thing that had kept them was the birth of the baby. Their new home was a small but cute one story villa just a couple of minutes walk from the Riverblossom Falls town center.

“Are you settling in okay?” Amelia asked as they came through the door.

“Yes, yes.” Tilly answered impatiently with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Can we see the baby?” They started sneaking up the stairs as silently as they could.

“Oh, she was just waking up when I heard the door bell so you don't have to be quiet.” Amelia said quickly. “You can pick her up if you want, or she will just start screaming her head off in a moment or two.” Mort smiled. Amelia had already started learning the baby's habits, she was taking to motherhood like a duck to water. As Tilly walked into the room she looked around in awe.

“Woow.” She let out. She hadn't been allowed in, either. Her eyes rested on two brightly colored paintings on the wall.

She recognized them. They had been in her room when she was a kid, too. “Amelia must have found them in some old box.” She thought, as she turned around to see... Carl, standing by the crib, holding the baby confidently in his arms as he cuddled it and mumbled what sounded like a lullaby or nursery rhyme.

Tilly quickly looked away and bit her lip, trying to stifle an automatic smile. She knew Carl was very keen on having children, it had never been a secret. Maybe she was ready, after all?

Seeing him with her little sister, so natural and loving, stirred something deep inside her. She was distant and absent minded for the rest of the visit, but nobody seemed to notice much, all the attention being on Primrose.

Even before the birth, Amelia and Mort had made sure there was a good nanny on stand-by when they would need it. Ned Billows had the perfect resume and a very kind, quiet manner that they had latched on to right away. None of the applicants they had seen after his interview really had had a fair chance – everyone were compared to him and fell short. So Amelia and Mort could safely go back to work while Ned spent his days with Primrose, trying to cram some studying in during her naps.

But if Amelia thought that going back to work would mean the same routines as before, she was wrong. The moment she stepped foot at the company headquarters her old friend and co-worker Laura rushed at her, making excited noises.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” She panted.

“I told you it was a girl, Laura.” Amelia sighed. Laura had said that she didn't trust ultra sounds and “that stuff”, but it didn't matter, Amelia was in a hurry and didn't have time for baby talk just now. “Come by after work and we can talk, I have to go, okay?” She continued as she headed for the elevators, not really listening to Laura's response as her mind was occupied with the presentation she was about to do.

Amelia was doing laundry when the door bell rang.

“Who on earth-” She started mumbling to herself before remembering that she had made plans with Laura. “I'll get it!” She yelled when Mort's heavy foot steps sounded from the second floor. Laura burst into the house the moment the door was opened for her.

“Can I see her? Is she sleeping? Oh I can't wait to see her!”

Amelia smiled faintly. What would she have done without Laura? Being over-excited was not always a good thing, but it did have its advantages. The pain, the doubts, the annoyances at not being able to move as she was used to – Laura had been able to pacify everything and make Amelia feel better just by a phone call or quick lunch. She had been there to support her all through the pregnancy.

“Of course you can see her.” Amelia beamed and led the way up to the nursery. This was the one person, aside from Mort, that she could share her deepest thoughts and feelings with. Sharing her most treasured little Primrose was a given. Amelia gingerly lifted Primrose from her soft sheets and walked over to Laura who had seemingly frozen in the middle of the room.

“Here she is.” Amelia whispered, brushing the blanket off her face so Laura could see her better.

“She's beautiful.” Laura uttered dreamily. Her fingers stretched out to touch the soft skin, but then she jerked back with an almost frightened look in her eyes.

“What if she wakes up?”

“If she does, I'll just sing her back to sleep. It's okay, Laura.” She was surprised by her friend's reaction. For a long time, Laura stood there, stroking the tiny hands and fingers eagerly but carefully.

“Let's sit down.” Amelia finally said, showing Laura to the white wicker chairs that had been sent all the way from Bridgeport.

To Amelia's big surprise and slight worry, Laura spent the rest of the evening in relative silence. Since they had become friends she had rarely seen Laura quiet, she was the type of person who usually just couldn't hold her tongue, even when she should. As Laura stood up to leave, Amelia went to put Primrose back in her crib. She could hear Laura snivel behind her.

But as she turned around to see what was the matter, Laura had turned and started walking out of the room.

Suddenly time seemed to be on fast forward compared to the snail pace during the pregnancy. Every day, or so it seemed, Primrose showed off some new or improved skill. The day when she started locking onto her parents' eyes came and went, she started making all kinds of sounds, and one day out of the blue, she could sit up without support. Amelia enjoyed the time she had with her daughter in the mornings before she went to work, but she was very happy that she had a job to go to.

As much as she loved Primrose she just could not see herself spending all her time at home. In the evenings Amelia often came home late and was usually so tired that a quick feeding and some kisses was all she could offer before collapsing onto the bed.

Before they knew it, Primrose had turned one. Mort and Amelia decided not to make a big fuss about it, since she was still too young to understand what was going on anyway. But for her second birthday there was a different tune.

“Let's get balloons, and a cake – and I can make waffles!” Amelia said happily before shoving a forkful of fish into her mouth.

Mort nodded absentmindedly. He had other worries. His hip had recently started to hurt something fierce and now, whenever he was home alone and nobody could see him, he let himself limp around the house. It was a sweet relief. Walking around all day as if nothing was wrong was starting to take its toll.

“Yeah, sure honey, that sounds great.” He added when Amelia made another pause, to convince her that he was listening. As he stood up to put his plate in the dishwasher he stifled a groan of pain.

But not even the pain or worry could dampen Mort's spirit on his little girl's big day! At his wife's request he had bought multicolored balloons and as he stood back to look at their placement on the porch he was very pleased.

Even though Primrose still didn't have a very good idea of why they were making such fuss over her dress and hair today, or why there were balloons on the porch, he wanted this to be a birthday to remember for her.
“Who knows” he thought, a quick stab of gloominess coming over him “maybe it's the last of her birthdays I get to attend”. He waved away the thought though, and went inside to make sure that Amelia's waffle making wasn't going overboard. They hadn't invited that many people after all.

As Primrose's birthday happened to be on a Thursday, they had to have the party in the evening. At half past seven the first guests started to arrive.

“Carl!” Mort exclaimed warmly as his son-in-law stepped into the kitchen. He and Tilly had gotten married in a private ceremony a few weeks after Primrose was born. “We're just waiting for a few more people" Mort continued. "and then we'll let Prim blow out the candles. It's nearly her bedtime and you know how rigid Amelia is with that stuff.”

He chuckled softly and patted Carl on the back before hurriedly striding over to one of his colleagues who had just come through the door. The guests were soon in place in the kitchen and Amelia came through the door with Primrose in her arms. Everyone smiled and waved at the little girl who was rather overwhelmed by the amount of people standing in her usually so calm and quiet home.

“We want to thank you all for coming to celebrate Prim's special day.” Amelia said as she stood by the cake that Mort had just placed on the kitchen counter.

Primrose stared at it with eyes like saucers. Maybe she didn't quite know what a birthday was, but she definitely knew sweets when she saw them. Mort joined his wife and daughter.

“Yes, we thank you all, but I think we should get a move on 'cause this little beauty is tired.”

He put his hand on Primrose's head and kissed her on the forehead. “You get those candles you little rug rat!” He whispered affectionately and stepped back to give Amelia some space. Everyone cheered loudly as the candles were blown out and Primrose threw her hands in the air with a “yay-yay!” that was followed by laughter and another set of cheers. She loved being at the center of attention and was furious when her mother only minutes later re-dressed her and put her in her crib.

“Up! Up” She whimpered. But Amelia knew that all this excitement would have made even Primrose exhausted, and sure enough, it only took a few minutes before she was sleeping, having happy and loud dreams. Amelia tip-toed out of the room and re-joined Mort and their guests who had already started munching on Amelia's crunchy waffles.

The party – including the waffles – was a success!

But the contrast between good and bad becomes even greater when the good is so good that one, in that moment, can't remember any of ones woes or worries. Mort came to this painful realization a few days after the party when he was in town to look for some new ties. He had hoped to get some for Father's Day but as Tilly had given him a copy of her latest book instead, this was now his main goal as he strolled the little streets scanning the shop windows. Like a bolt from the blue a pain hit his hip and traveled down his leg and up his spine simultaneously.

He almost fell down on the ground from shear shock of the intensity. He looked around cautiously and sighed of relief. No one seemed to have noticed. After sitting on a park bench for over a quarter of an hour, Mort decided that he would have to move eventually or the cold of the evening would make his aching bones feel even worse. He walked down the street heading for the nearest bus stop when he saw a shining wooden cane in a window. It wasn't really shining of course, but the way the sunlight hit the polished, rounded surface of it, to Mort's eyes it looked magnificent. “I must be going mad” he thought to himself as he went into the store. "I have a toddler. I can't walk around with a cane... Can I?" He looked at the cane from inside for a moment before laboriously walking over to the cashier.

“Hello. Hmm. That cane, in the window, how much is it?”

“I think 220 simoleons, sir, I could go check if you-” said the pretty young cashier, but Mort quickly interrupted her.

“No, no, it's alright. I'll take it. And... You don't happen to have any ties, do you?” As it turned out, this was a store that stocked a little bit of everything and a couple of minutes later Mort left with a brand new vintage cane in his hand and three silk ties in his pocket. As he walked towards the door he almost bumped into a young boy who was running towards the cashier with three large lollipops in his hand.

“Oh, sorry mister!” He said and ran along.

Mort glanced back at the boy for a second. In a few years that would be his little Prim. And who knew if he would still be around to be in her way and buy her lollipops?

 ---

Wow. I usually don't get very attached to my sims, but man... I don't want to see Mort go. He's the solid rock in this family. They need him! I actually can't bring myself to check his life meter thingy so I don't know how long he has left. Hopefully he gets to see his daughter at least grow up to a child! I'm playing on a long lifespan though, so maybe it just feels like he's been an elder for forever. :P


Aaanyway. This chapter is mostly focused on developing a couple of storylines that will be more fleshed out in the next chapter, and of course to show off little Prim! She's the cutest thing, though I really wonder where those blonde locks come from...?

/Alexandra

 PS: Anyone who can guess the inspiration for the baby's name gets an ice-cream! :D

Tilly and Carl's private wedding ceremony.

I found a skeleton at the bottom of that pond on the picture above... Creepyyyy!

"Look at me, I'm a duck!"

There are some real scary ladies walking around town at night.

I think the baby's sad...

A close-up of my prettyful little Primrose! We're going back to the future here - this pic will probably be in the next chapter but I couldn't help putting it up early!

And then we have some family photos taken at the local photo taking... place.