In the previous part of the story Inge started to doubt about her husband and by chance, she ran in to Melissa Newman, the woman who had written the diary they found in the basement.
*****
On her way back Inge thought about what Mel said that she would love to see her back with a baby. She wasn’t very sure if she wanted a baby at the moment. Although she had put her confidence in Peter, he himself had made a mistake by sending her that stereo as a gift. It looked if though he was sorry…, but sorry for what…? Had he been unfaithful after all? That gift was the reason of her doubts.
She tried to put her mind on other things.
At home everything was alright. There were no signs of the cat having been around. She wasn’t really hungry and took a piece of fruit before going to bed.
Very early next morning, she received a phone call from Peter. He said that he would be coming home a bit sooner than planned and that he would take the general with him. – “Could you make something nice for dinner, darling?”
– “Alright. I’ll do my best to prepare something special.”
She went through the house to clean every single nook and cranny and she prepared an autumn salad to accompany the steak she would grill.
She knew she would have a hard time because she couldn’t possibly start asking Peter about his eventual ‘roundabouts’ while the general was there with them. I wonder why he takes the general with him. Was the general his partner in unfaithfulness? Would they go out to look for dates after work?
All those questions came to her mind. Now that she finished the salad she was going to take a shower and she told herself to keep cool… just if though she didn’t suspect anything.
She looked out the window and found herself dumbfounded when she saw Peter coming home with a blond woman… the General!
She tried to hide her discomfort when Peter introduced her to the general, Josephine Armor. *Call me Jo*. Jo seemed a nice person, perhaps a bit bossy but that could be due to her work.
Although diner was very good, Inge hardly ate anything. Now she understood! The general was his date…! A blonde…, so he had the perfect alibi. He accompanied the general who happened to be a precious blonde.
To pretend everything was normal, Inge related what had happened with the couple that had been imprisoned in the basement and both Peter and Jo seemed very interested to hear that.
Certain moment Jo said: . “Well, time to go home! Peter, could you order a taxi?”
– “No, of course not! I will drive you home. If you just give me 10 minutes. I need a shower but then I’ll take you home.”
While Peter was showering, both women looked at each other. Then Jo approached Inge. She looked in her eyes and said: “I can fully understand why Peter is so mad about you. You look gorgeous. If you ever feel like something ‘different’… give me a call. I’ll send Peter on some mission and we can have a very good time together… I love your looks and I’m dying to get to know you better.”
Inge’s heart started singing…. She looked at Jo and said: – “You don’t know how grateful I am to you. You have just taken all my doubts away!”
When Peter was ready, he gave Inge a kiss and said to be back within the hour. She told him that she would be waiting for him.
She went inside to put on her nicest outfit for the night and waited for her husband. Very anxious to love him and above all… to be loved by him.
She was already feeling the butterflies fluttering about in her body.
Peter didn’t take long and when he saw her in that outfit he hardly had the patience to do anything else than caress her.
Kissing and hugging, he said with altering voice: – “Darling, I supposed that they were referring to the general when telling you about a blonde *kiss* *hug*. You don’t have to worry. This woman is a nice person but she isn’t feminine at all. I wouldn’t like to have somebody like her in my arms. How can I show you that I love you…; how much I love you. Only you!”
They got lost in each other’s desire.
Next day, Peter didn’t have to work so they were making plans. First of all they wondered if they would continue living in this house or if they should buy a new house.
. “This one is really very small. Perhaps it would cost the same buying a new house as making this one bigger.”
Peter said that he would accept her decision whatever that would be but he would like to stay in this town.
They spent the day in each other’s company and enjoyed the sunny day. Inge considered the rainbow as a good omen for their future.
When everything was back to normal and Peter worked again, Inge took a long walk to look around for a new house that appealed to her but she didn’t find anything.
At a certain spot, very near a park there was the ice-cream truck. She went there to buy herself an ice-cream. While doing so, she noticed an open spot between the trees on the other side of the sand road. It seemed familiar to her but she didn’t understand why.
She looked at the ice-cream truck driver and asked; “Could you tell me if there has been something on that open spot before?”
The man answered: “Yes, there used to be a small gypsy camp but they moved not long ago. Now that lot is for sale”.
“Thank you”, Inge was delighted. Of course! She hadn’t recognized it at once because she had been there following the cat through bushes and shrubs to get there! So… the gypsy woman moved and with her the whole camp, the horse and that horrible cat! She smiled with satisfaction. Now she knew a short cut to go home.
“Honey, I know you are tired right now but… please come with me and see that empty plot of land.”
Peter had no choice and he accompanied her to that place she was talking about.
“You see…? It doesn’t need to be a big house…, only a bit bigger than our actual one. Look, there’s not much traffic because there’s only this sandy sack road.”
“And look… on the other side of the sandy path, there’s a small park for children. It really is an ideal place for kids!”
“Hey… wait a moment! Why are you talking about ‘an ideal place for children’ all of a sudden, when you never talked about that before?”
Inge blushed and she put her hand protectively over her belly. “Yes, we’re going to have a baby….”
Peter’s face brightened up and he took her in his arms. “A baby of my very own….”
“Hey Peter…, don’t monopolize that baby! It will be ours!”
Peter rectified: “O yes, of course… I’m so happy with this news…! Yes, let’s buy that lot and have a house built. It must be ready before the baby’s birth.”
In time it was! They had moved to their new home. It wasn’t really a modern house because Peter loved the idea of having a country house like his parents had.
Inge spent the last days of her pregnancy gardening and preparing the baby room.
She felt already uncomfortable with her swollen belly and the baby moved often if though it was uncomfortable as well and wanted to get out.
One day when Peter had come home from work, she took his hand to make him feel the baby’s moves and he was so impressed that he exclaimed he would like to have been a woman if only to experience this himself. His eyes became wet due to the emotion of the moment.
That same afternoon Peter had to take Inge to hospital. He was so nervous that he ran to the entrance of the Hospital to tell everybody his wife was coming.
That night a baby girl, Ann-Mary, was born. Peter was still nervous and he ran to call a taxi to drive them home. Everything had gone well. Mother and child were alright. Inge felt very tired but that’s common in those circumstances.
They felt very proud to take their baby home… It was late.
After having fed the little one, Inge put her in the crib and she went straight to bed as well while Peter cleaned the dishes that were still on the table from ‘before he was a father’. He felt very emotional.
The minute the baby let herself hear, he jumped out of bed and ran to the baby’s room. He changed the diaper, gave her the baby bottle and snuggled her. ‘That’s daddy’s girl… now go to sleep again. We don’t want to wake mommy’.
From that day, he called his wife ‘momma’. He had been given some days off from work to help Inge with the household and the baby.
Not seldom, when taking Ann-Mary out of her crib, Inge would sit watching television with the baby on her lap.
Too often to Peter’s taste. He started to complain about it.
Inge noticed he was jealous of his own daughter. She smiled and put the girl again in the crib and dedicated some time to her husband.
He followed her with every step she took. In their girl’s room, before she even could hold the baby, Peter would hug his wife again because he knew the minute she took the baby out of the crib, she would only have eyes for Mary-Ann.
They sat together in the garden and took walks… There was no young family happier than they were.
Inge worked hard in the garden and after some time she was pleased to be back in shape again and could wear her regular clothes again.
The inevitable moment arrived when the General needed Peter again to accompany her on a mission and he told Inge so.
She said: – “We’ll be fine darling. Don’t worry about us. We won’t be bored.”
– “Yes, I know but I really wouldn’t like to continue with this work schedule of ‘one week away and one week home’. I suppose I’ll have to study hard to be promoted *sigh*.”
– “Why don’t you take a break and go to University? There you would have a lot of time and you can work on your skills. If you stay here…, there’s always something you have to do to help me.”
– “Yes, I’d like to but right now we can’t afford it. We are paying quite a lot of money to the bank for this house. No, I’ll have to try another way.”
“If I would solicit a job, I would have to pay someone else to take care of Ann-Mary. I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
– “You’re right. Don’t break your precious head thinking about this; we will work it out!” He kissed her and went to work.
Winter had started. She went inside and lit the fireplace.
While she was busy with the stove Inge thought: I promised Mel I would pay her a visit but with this weather…. No, I’ll wait until springtime. Then Ann-Mary will be a toddler and at the moment I don’t want to take her out with this cold outside. Or perhaps Mel prefers to visit me here. Then she can see our new house as well.
She called her friend to invite her over.
Mel didn’t have much time, but she visited in the afternoon for a short while. They built a snowman together. It was a pity that baby was sleeping and they didn’t want to wake her up. Mel promised to come back in spring time.
The weeks went by. Ann-Mary’s birthday had been celebrated and springtime had come. Inge called Mel to invite her over for tomorrow and Mel told her she would be there early. She had time to spend the whole day with them this time.
They were very pleased to see each other again…
– “Oh Mel, haven’t you heard anything during the night?”
– “No Inge, when I sleep it’s very unlikely something wakes me up… Why?”
– “Well… I woke up during the night because I heard kind of an explosion… My bed was shaking. I jumped out of bed and ran outside to see what had happened”
– “Oh no…! Did something serious happen?”
– “I don’t know but I think there was a fire somewhere near because the sky looked strange!
It really was a bit scary. Peter is on service but today he will come back. Ann-Mary woke up as well and I sat up half the night with the child on my lap. Now she is sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up… but we have the whole day. Sit down and let’s wait for the newspaper. No…, that one over there, is yesterday’s, I forgot to recycle it. In today’s one there might be something that explains the explosion.”
– “That’s a good idea Inge. Oh… I’m so pleased the weather is nice again! It must be the cold that causes my bones problems! O look, there’s the news paper boy!”
Inge stood up and received the newspaper.
– “Oh…, it’s on the front page! Listen to this Mel….
From our graphic collaborator Joan Newsence.
During the late hours of the night there has been an meteor rain here in Hidden Springs. I happened to pass by and have been able to take this picture. In very short time, the house suffered many impacts. People from the nearby houses came running. There was one woman who cried and I asked her if it was her house. Here is what she said: “No, this house is for sale but not long ago I saw a cat jumping inside through one of the broken windows… I cannot help it but I love cats very much. That’s why I’m so upset”.At that moment the fire fighters and the police arrived and we were sent away. Tomorrow we might be able to tell more about this meteor impact. We will keep you informed.”
– “I suppose we’ll have to be patient Mel. Perhaps this afternoon when Peter gets home we can take a walk there and have a look for ourselves. By the looks of that picture, it sure looks like our old house. If so…, can you imagine what would have been of us and the baby if we still would have lived there? Better not think about that! …And what about that cat…? I am really curious to know more, but I certainly don’t want to take Ann-Mary out to that place!”
– “So true! Shall we go and take a look at your garden?”
– “This seems always a miracle to me. Not all the plants survive the winter and many of them freeze but, with love and care, they give fruit again when winter’s gone. … Do I hear the baby?”.
No… it wasn’t the baby. Ann-Mary was still sleeping. Both women laughed. Inge was anxious to show the baby to her friend and Mel was dying to meet the baby. Although they tried not to laugh out loud, Ann-Mary woke up.
Mel hurried to take the girl out of the crib. Such a sweet little one!
After having fed the child, Mel took the present she had bought for her. A beautiful music box! While she was winding it up, Peter came home.
He was very pleased because the local Police Department had contacted him and offered him a good job with much better pay than what he had. He wouldn’t have to go out on services abroad again either.
They talked about that during diner. They were really very happy with Peter’s new status.
Then Inge told him about the meteor impact.
– “Honey, would you mind staying here with Ann-Mary? Mel and I want to go and look at the place where the explosion was. We think it was our former house.”
– “Of course, go ahead. Take care and don’t come too close. You never can tell! If it was our former house, I sure am glad the real estate agency bought it from us.”
It was what they expected… this was their former house. After swallowing this bitter pill they walked around the house. It was impossible to go inside. If there had been anyone (even a cat) inside, he couldn’t possibly have escaped.
….. There they found him…. He must have been thrown out during the explosion. On the tomb they read… ‘Here lies Catso Thether’.
The End
Credits:
Wolfspryte for her ‘Tumbledowns’ house. You can find it here: http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/929667
Fredbrenny for helping me sifting the language errors and giving her opinion and ideas.
Thanks to both of you.
My gratitude as well to the creators of the CC used in this story.
From Sims to Real Life 