I know, I know…, I promised this part would be the end to this story but I don’t like to leave questions unanswered. That’s why I have inserted a chapter that could very well be considered as a ‘stand-alone’ story. Anyway… it has much to do with one of the main characters, so… Here you are! A story about Jeremy’s big mistakes. I have bleached out the colors of the screen shots that show memories.
Many thanks to the CC-artists without whose creations the story wouldn’t be the same. I know that they won’t read the stories because their work is time-consuming but anyway…! Here goes my gratitude to them and to all of you who read my stories. A big hug to Fredbrenny for helping me with the English language and for the ideas she has given me in this chapter. Thanks Fred.
*****
Liza Baker sighed; she was a little bit bored. She loved to go out and she longed to have a job. Not that she needed it. She was not really poor but she had to be careful with her expenses. She was considering to go looking for a job now that her daughter was a teenager. The girl was in her last school year. Very soon she would be a young adult. It hadn’t been easy to be both mother and father for her daughter and that was why she dedicated all of her time to her girl.
This particular morning she had just let in the plumber and she started to prepare something for breakfast.
She heard the postman opening and closing the mailbox. Oh yes…, surely the bills. She got up to go outside and sign those bills right away.
To her big surprise there was a letter from a lawyer. What was that? The only moment that she had met with a lawyer was a long time ago and, as a matter of fact, it had been her mother who had done all the talking.
After signing the bills, she sat down to read the letter. It didn’t explain very much but she was requested to go to Mrs. Noall’s home office of and she was asked to bring her daughter. Why?… she wondered. They were expected to be there tomorrow at 3pm.
O dear…! That name ‘Noall’! Wasn’t that the lawyer whose name was on the payments she got every month she still was living on? Suddenly she remembered the past if though it had been yesterday…
She used to be a diehard Riverview Football Team mascot together with her girlfriends and followed them wherever they played. One of the players, who had outgrown his teenage years and was a young adult by then, was already famous. They called him ‘Jemmy’ and all of her friends were fond of him. He was nice to all of them, giving autographs and hugs.
The team played in Sunset Valley, and afterwards all the girls wanted to be part of the after match. She got carried away by her own enthusiasm and just like all of her girlfriends she chanted… ‘Jemmy, I want your baby!’ He had looked at her and asked ‘Are you sure? I am not going to marry you though’.
No, it didn’t matter at that moment. She was trembling all over that he had chosen her over all the girls around. She was very flattered and without giving it a second thought she followed him to his hotel room.
He really had been very kind and careful when he noticed that it was her first time.
After that night her life changed dramatically. A few weeks later she started having morning sickness and very soon she understood that it had to do with her ‘first night’. She went to Jemmy’s house, but it seemed that no one was there at the moment.
She sat there on the porch, hoping that Jemmy would come home soon. It seemed he went to another town for yet another match.
After waiting for the longest time (and she even fell asleep), she had to go home and left him a note in the mailbox.
A few days after that, a woman came to see her. She apparently was Jemmy’s family lawyer. Liza’s mother had suspected something already and said that she didn’t want the entire world to know what kind of a daughter she had.
This lady, Jemmy’s family lawyer, had arranged everything… She had even bought her a small house in the outskirts of Riverview.
Her mother was pleased that everything had been solved, and that the girl was safe and out of sight.
The months passed and Liza had been alone up to the time she had to go to hospital to have her baby. She would be all by herself raising this little girl. Fortunately, the house had a nice garden and a pond. Although the environment to raise a child in was not too bad, they were alone. But in spite of all, those first years were remembered fondly by both mother and child.
When Caprice had to go to school, a problem showed. Their house was too far away from the main street, and the girl had missed her first school days because she missed the school bus. The only solution seemed to be living closer to the main road. So they moved. The new house was bigger and closer to the bus stop, but the surroundings were not as beautiful as they were used to.
Caprice would have her birthday very soon and Liza knew that she had to tell the girl about her father. It seemed he had no interest in getting to know his daughter.
She did remember however, that one very early morning, she woke up to Caprice crying out loud, telling her in her babyish talk, that a man had been looking through the window. Liza never found out who that person who had scared her baby so much was.
She felt a bit nervous the day she had to visit the lawyer’s office. On the envelope it showed a Bridgeport address, but in the letter she was asked to meet with Mrs. Noall at her Riverview office. She tried not to think too much about it. Caprice would come home from school very soon so she started to prepare lunch. The evening before, Liza told her daughter to come home directly after school because they had to go to an important appointment.
*****
That very same day, Sonya Hayser found a letter from the lawyer. She had been lazy and hadn’t looked in her mailbox until late. She recognized and remembered the lawyers name immediately and wondered what could have happened.
Her story was similar to Liza’s. Nothing new under the sun. The only difference for her was that it had not been her first time to be with a man. She accepted right away Jemmy would not be around when she turned out to be pregnant. Jemmy would never go twice with the same girl. He also told them on forehand that he wouldn’t take any moral responsibilities.
Being grateful that his family had been so generous as to give her a big amount of money, she never thought much about it. She loved her child. The only thing that bothered her was the fact that, eventually, she had to tell her son who his father was. Still…, that could wait. It could wait until his next birthday.
While sitting there she thought about all the happy (and less happy) moments she had shared with her little boy. Such a sweet little boy. She named him ‘Jerry’ and even as a baby he looked exactly like his father. Growing up, the resemblance was even more prominent.
Jerry was a happy a sociable child.
It had been a long time ago that she had first met Jemmy’s dad. A handsome and nice man he was. Jemmy looked a lot like his father. She met him again in the museum and greeted him. Most probably he wasn’t aware that she was the mother to his grandson.
Shortly after, tragedy stroke that family. First of all Jemmy’s mother died; and shortly after that, his father as well, to join his beloved wife in the afterlife.
That probably depressed Jemmy much, because he left the football team and he disappeared from Riverview altogether.
She sat down and thoughtlessly played with one of Jerry’s toys. Tomorrow she would see what the lawyer wanted.
*****
Marta Cienpies was thinking where she could find a child on short notice to take to the lawyer’s office.
She had been in love with Jemmy as well, but her bad luck was that the man wasn’t interested in her at all. She had no idea why.
He was kind enough when she greeted him, but lately he had stopped his wild nightlife outings.
She noticed that it was hard for him to maintain distance and that made her try more than once to seduce him. She wanted to have a child with him, the idea was very tempting. Oh…, she was sure that he wouldn’t marry her but she knew as well that she could be famous if she would take this story to the local newspaper.
She already found out that he had had two affairs, and that a lot of money had been paid. He was known as a womanizer. You only had to say that you went to bed with him and everybody believed you. Why didn’t he want her? She wasn’t ugly!
In those days, she had a friend whom she shared her apartment with. She told him that she was interested in getting pregnant. Perhaps he wanted to…?
The man was willing enough, but when she told him that she would use that pregnancy to get money and fame, he refused and left her alone. “You are insane! I dont want to have anything to do with you anymore!”
Then she wrapped a cushion with a belt around her body and stated that she was pregnant with Jemmy’s child. Exactly as she thought… even the lawyer believed her. And she got her money. Yes!
Some years later, in front of her house a lady who came jogging down the street stopped to greet her. The woman seemed familiar but, to be honest, she didn’t recognize her at that moment.
Lucky Perkins was there as well, and when the woman asked her about her child, Perkins said: “Child…? You never had a child here! Always when I come to visit you, you’re alone! No lady, she doesn’t have any children! You are confused and you must take her for someone else.”
It was then that Marta remembered who that woman was…. It was the lawyer!
She had been pretty nervous for some weeks thinking that she had to pay back the money she got, but after a couple of years without anything happening, she really was curious to see what tomorrow would bring.
*****
Marge Noall had sent the letters to the three families involved in the ‘Jeremy Captain case’. Knowing that they all lived in Riverview, she invited them over to her Riverview home office. She was getting old and with retirement on her mind, thinking about closing her Bridgeport office all together. It would mean she would have less work but that suited her fine. She prepared everything for those families to come.
She was almost sure that Miss Cienpies wouldn’t come. She remembered how that man… Perkins, stated that she didn’t have any children. Of course, Perkins didn’t have a very good name, so she gave Miss Cienpies the benefit of doubt. That’s why she had made an appointment with her as well.
They all arrived on time. The only one who didn’t bring her child along was, of course, Miss Cienpies. She addressed Ms. Cienpies about her not bringing her child. The matter at hand had everything to do with the children.
– “Well, I didn’t bring my boy here, because he went to spend the afternoon with a class mate.”
– “Miss Cienpies,, I must say I doubt the existence of a child of yours. These families here have been observed as well as you have been, without you all knowing so. There is no evidence of a child living with you.”
The others were looking at each other wondering what this was all about.
Marta Cienpies got up and started to complain that life had been difficult. She started to talk a lot of nonsense. In her defense she said that Liza Baker had told her to fake a pregnancy to obtain money.
– “What?” exclaimed Liza scandalized. “That’s a big, fat lie! Gosh, I don’t even know you!”
Marge Noall said: “Please, sit down Miss Baker.” Then looking at Marta she continued: “Miss Cienpies, would you be so kind as to leave this office? There’s nothing more we can do for you. And there is certainly nothing more you can get from us. You may be content that we haven’t asked the money back that you got in an illegal way… yet.”
Marta stood there spitting venom and telling the other women that they shouldn’t trust the lawyer, but Marge spoke louder now and said “GOOD AFTERNOON, Miss Cienpies!”
“Now that we are finally alone with the people involved…, Sonya and Liza…, I hope you don’t mind if I call you by your names, I suppose that you’ve spoken to your children about their roots? If not, this is certainly the correct moment to do so.”
Then she told them about Jeremy Captain who tried to repair the lack of interest he had in his off spring; in having children he didn’t really know about when he was younger. Now that he came of age he was… He regretted the days, months and years passed that he didn’t care.
Jerry and Caprice didn’t listen anymore. They looked at each other and were more interested to find out that they were half brother and sister. They looked up again when they heard the lawyer’s voice calling Jerry. “Young man, you take after your father but I definitely hope that you won’t get into the same kind of trouble as he did!”
Then she continued in general: “Mister Captain is aware that he is the father but understands if you have no wish to know him. If you however, would like to get to know him and if your mothers don’t object, he would be pleased to meet you as well.
Do I make myself clear? You are the owners of the Shipping Line and from the moment you will have your next birthday, you will have an allowance available each month, and when you are adults you may choose to sell the assets and dispose of everything. We are speaking about millions here… Your father is a very generous man. I hope you will take in consideration that the manager at hand is a trustful man and therefore I recommend you leave him in charge of the business. He knows everything about this Shipping Line and has the best interest in keeping the business flowing. I really hope that you will be able to keep your heads cool. I will retire very soon but, as the family lawyer, you may always count on me.”
After that, she showed them to the door and spent the rest of the evening rewriting the legal papers.
Next morning Marge made a phone call to Jeremy and told him not to worry. “You only have two children Jeremy, not three. Both your daughter and your son seem nice and well educated. They are trying to digest everything that happens to them right now and, eventually, they could be interested in getting to know you. I haven’t seen any negative reactions from the children nor from their mothers.”
She stopped to give Jeremy a moment to think about this and ended their conversation with: “It seems that you will get the opportunity to make up with them after all. Money shouldn’t replace the love of a father. I’m pleased for all of you Jeremy.”
To be continued…
From Sims to Real Life 