Encounters – 2

Posted on 16/02/2014 by margotoele

Encounters BannerIn the first part, the twins found their biological mother but Jane hadn’t got the nerve yet to tell her about it.

*****

Ilona noticed the tension and asked ‘Is there something you should tell me?’

Jane was in despair and couldn’t stop the tears that came up to her eyes.

She quickly took a picture out of her pocket and handed it over to Ilona while she said between sob and sob: ‘Does this mean something to you? After our parents death, we discovered that our mother hadn’t been our real mother and…’

But then her voice refused to continue talking when she saw that Ilona had started to cry. Jeremy and Val where scraping their throat more often than usually.

Jeremy stood up and said: “I’ve prepared a buffet, so what do you think about going inside and continue talking while eating…”
While having dinner, Ilona told them the story from her point of view and she remarked: “I’m very grateful to both of you that you came here trying to find me and I’m very sorry for you that you lost your parents so soon. I remember the happiness on Lady Jane’s face when I told her I would have twins. I would like you to consider her as your real mother because she brought you up. As for me… just call me Ilona. I’m so happy that you found me”.

When she saw how Val, after dinner stood up and started to collect the empty plates to wash them, she looked at him and with a smile on her face she said: “My boy, I’m so proud of you”.

Jane got a lump in her throat when she noticed how her brother had problems keeping his tears back.
They had been talking all night and the sun was about to rise when Ilona went home.
Ilona had asked permission to come in the afternoon with her son Mateo who would have his birthday very soon. He always had longed for an older brother or sister and, she supposed that he was old enough to understand her reasons for having the children of a rather unknown man.

From that moment on, things went faster. Ilona brought Mateo after school to the ship. He found it very interesting and felt very ‘grown-up’ that his mother had trusted him, telling about her life in Valverde in the old Simworld. He looked once and again to Jane, trying to digest that she was his older sister.

They told him that Jane was only half of the surprise because her twin brother, Valdemar, would be there in a moment. He had gone to do some shopping.

Mattie was very pleased with his new ‘status’ of ‘not being the oldest’ anymore and he talked and talked to Val. It was friday and they decided to invite the boy to sleep on the ship. They would bring him home tomorrow. So the boy made his homework and slept in the same room as his older brother.

Ilona had waited for her husband to arrive and she explained everything to him. She was a bit worried of how he would take it. He knew her story of course but it turns so real when her first twins are around.
She didn’t have anything to worry about. Chester, a lovingly man, said: “Darling, I’m so glad for you that you got to know your first children. I suppose that you feel complete now, because… 8 is enough”. She embraced him thankfully.

It was already late when Ilona went to see her friend Cynthia who lived in the same street. She told her about the news and asked her if she could have the triplets during tomorrow night and Sunday. They would celebrate Mattie’s birthday and Jane and Val would be coming. She invited Raph as well.

Next afternoon the Hemmingways brought the little girls to Cynthia’s house.

Ilona saw that Risto, Cynthia’s youngest one, had grown a lot as well. She invited him to the birthday party but he had already a date with one of his friends. They went home and prepared everything for Mateo’s birthday.

Val and Jane had already known Mattie’s younger brothers: Marvin and Chessie. Ilona told them that they would see the triplets another moment. She wanted to spend some quality time with her 5 oldest children.
The moment was there when Mateo had to blow the candles out while everybody was celebrating already.

He was very happy because his best friend Raph Lightkeeper had come as well and could spend the night with him. Everybody was pleased… no not everybody… Marvin felt unhappy because he is a loner. There were too many people in his opinion.

Now… look how Mattie changed into Mat. He looked perfect and his friend Raph was very impressed to see him so big.

He asked him if he still wanted to be his friend. Mat embraced him and said: “Of course; you are my best friend. Within a few days it will be your birthday as well and, who knows, perhaps you will be taller than I am”.

But when everybody started to dance in the hall, Mat didn’t look so happy. He looked bad humoured! When Jane saw how that hurt Ilona, she told Mat to come with her to the living room. Val followed as well.
“Why don’t you feel happy? You look if though you didn’t like the birthday party”.

encuentros41Mat said: “I really don’t know. I suppose I always have been kind of ‘bad humoured’ but I know I have no reason for that anymore; especially not with a big sister like you” and he gave Jane a wink.

Jane and Val promised to take him on a holiday to the place where he wanted to go but not yet. First of all he had to finish school.
Ilona was really very happy to see how her 3 oldest children got along very well.

Then Jane received a phone call. It was an unknown number from Venice Lagoon.
“Miss Hunter? Here Inspector Patience from Venice Lagoon. I thank you very much for the forms you and your brother filled in. Thanks to both of you we have been able to put Chester Field behind bars for a good while”.
“Thank you for telling me, inspector. So we don’t have to go there to testify anymore?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. Thank again and good-bye”.

Jane: “Hello sir, are you still there?”
“Yes, can I help you?”
Jane: “Yes, perhaps you can. Have you heard something about that young woman who worked on the train…?”
Patience: “Daisy…, yes; that’s a sad story. In the contract she had signed there was a closure, stating that she wasn’t allowed to intimate with passengers. She didn’t know that and they threw her out. Poor girl, alone in an unfamiliar place without relatives and being pregnant!”
Jane: “What??? Oh… my goodness! Do you know where she lives?”

Patience: “She lives in the Dockstreet but I’m afraid that I don’t remember the house number. If you want to, I can investigate that for you”.
Jane: “That won’t be necessary mister Patience. Thank you so much for this information”.
Val decided to go back to Venice Lagoon to find Daisy. At the pharmacy he bought some tranquilizers for the flight and he went immediately to the airport.

When Jane told all this to Jeremy, she said: “That silly girl hasn’t been careful when she shared her bed with my brother!”
He looked at her and, scratching his ear, he asked: “Are you careful when you share my bed?”
Jane panicked and said: “oh goodness, gracious… no… I haven’t been careful either”.
Jeremy caressed her and said: “Don’t worry, I have been careful and will always be. I don’t want to bring an unexperienced woman into trouble”.

Val had already arrived at Venice Lagoon and he went to see the city map. Once he knew where the Dockstreet was, he started footing.

He crossed the whole town, up and down bridges until he reached the Dockstreet. Now… in which of these house lives Daisy? He started knocking on doors. The ones that opened didn’t know about Daisy.

The sun had already set and Val stood there, trying to forget his fear for the dark, when all of a sudden a taxi arrived. He saw Daisy coming out and walking to her house.

His heart skipped a beat when Daisy opened the door after he rang the door bell.

His heart was filled with love and tenderness. She was pregnant! It was his baby!

He caressed her belly and whispered in her ear: “My little flower, would you mind if I take you with me to Sunset Valley? There we can give birth to that precious little baby of ours together.”
Daisy smiled and answered: “Yes, I will be very happy to come with you but I doubt that you can give birth to the baby”.

She told him to spend the night with her and invited him into her bed but Val, first of all, wanted to make sure that the baby wouldn’t get hurt. So he read a book about pregnancy and when he saw there was no problem, he enjoyed the night with his beloved one.

Next morning, he called his sister to tell her that he found Daisy and that he would take her immediately to Sunset Valley.

Jane was pleased to know that her brother was so happy and she was very aware of Jeremy who, from behind, put his arms around her. She felt his warm breath in her neck and shivered with pleasure. There they stood together, wondering what the future would bring them.

The End

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Encounters – 1

Posted on 16/02/2014 by margotoele

Encounters Banner

This starts the final part of two stories: ‘The Hunter Twins – Travelling’ and ‘Tender Loving Care’. I really hope you enjoy it.

A very big ‘thank you’ to all the artists for the creations I have been using during these stories. Thanks to all of you who didn’t only read my stories but commented them as well. Though I always thank you personally, I want to transmit my gratitude here as well. ~ Margo

*****

It was just another day in Sunset Valley. The busses were taking children to school; people were on their way to work.

As Ilona Hemmingway lived in a Spanish style-house with a courtyard, every day the chirping of the birds woke her up very early. She was already tired before having done anything but she was already used to that. Every morning was the same. She quickly woke the boys up and, while they were dressing for school, she prepared breakfast. Kissed the boys good-bye, looked at her watch; she still had some time before the triplets would wake up.

So she went to gather the clothes that the boys had dispersed in their bedroom and she started the washing machine. She did a bit of tidying, only for the first sight; the assistant would do that later more thoroughly.
She tried not to make any noise because during the night her husband had gone to hospital due to an emergency and now he was still sleeping.

Some miles from there, Val and Jane Hunter were going inside the Town Hall. They had been travelling from the old Simworld to find their biologic mother. The few informations they had was her name: Ilona Picaso and that she had immigrated to New Simland about 20 years ago. Oh yes, they had a picture of a painting that, most probably represented Ilona as a teenager but that would be of no use at the Town Hall.
The clerk couldn’t find anybody with that name and he said that Sunset Valley is not the only place in New Simland. When he saw the disappointed look on the young people’s faces, he said: “Well, I don’t want to give you false hope but I could have a look how many ‘Ilonas’ are living here” and he started working with the computer.

After a while he said: “There are not many Ilonas here; only three. Two of them were born here and the third one came here quite a long time ago and… yes…; here name was Picaso but she married here with Chester Hemmingway!”The clerk was pleased with himself and confirmed: “You are looking for Mrs Ilona Hemmingway; I can even give you her address” and writing it on a paper he handed it over to them and wished them good-luck.
Jane and Val were very grateful and looked at each other. Hopefully they could find their mother today. They took a taxi and told the driver to take them to Rainbowstreet.

Jeremy Captain was thinking what would happen if Jane and Val couldn’t find their mother. He hadn’t had the patience to wait on the ship and had walked downtown until he found the public pool.

There he was sunbathing and had a swim while trying to bring a bit of order in his mind. Wasn’t she too young for him?

Ilona was aware that there were three old newspapers and picked them up to recycle them. Going outside, there were some young people talking in front of her house. She greeted with a nod of her head. While she was throwing the newspapers away, she thought: “Do I know these people? They look slightly familiar.”

When going back inside, she looked again at them from the corner of her eye and decided “No, I’ve never seen them before.” Then she hurried inside because she heard one of the babies crying.

Jane and Val were standing in front of the indicated house and they saw how a woman came out and, all of a sudden, Jane felt insecure. Val asked her why she didn’t say anything to her but Jane just said: “I don’t know how to begin.” After a while she took a deep breath and they rang the door bell.

A man came out. Jane and Val presented themselves as recently arrived and told him that they wanted to buy a house in the same street.

Mr. Hemmingway was a nice man but he excused himself very soon and said: “Sorry, I have to go to work; one moment please” and then he called out loud “Ilona! Please come down a moment. There are new neighbours to be, who have come to introduce themselves! Honey…, I can’t wait any longer, I have to go!” and he ran outside to go to work.

Then Ilona came into the hall. She greeted them politely and Jane told her that they arrived yesterday and they had made the journey by boat. “Oh, I surely would love to travel by ship” said Ilona and when she saw the unhappy look on Val’s face, she understood that he wasn’t fond of travelling. They made a little joke about that.

As they didn’t want to push things, Jane said good-bye but invited Ilona to come to the ship if she wanted to. “Well yes, I would like very much to visit a ship” and she promised to visit them tomorrow afternoon.
Then Val and Jane went to the Post Office asking for an international phonebook. The young girl who attended them asked for the name and Val prompted ‘Daisy’. The girl looked at him and said ‘Daisy’ and what more?” Val got all nervous because he didn’t know her family name. “Jane, do you remember her name?” Jane said: “No, she told me once when we first met but I really don’t remember.”
The girl looked at them with a dark look on her face.  “Then I’m afraid I can’t help you. Now, if you want to excuse me; I’ve got important things to do! Next please!”

The look on Val’s face was so heart touching that Jane tried to comfort him. They continued their stroll along the streets of Sunset Valley until they reached the little Bistro. “Let’s order something to eat.”
Nice place, nice music… but Val’s humour was below zero. While waiting for the food, Jane said: “Hey, I’ve got the telephone number of the Train office where we bought the tickets!” Very soon she dialled the number and asked for Daisy who was in charge of their Simexpress. As an answer they said: “You are so right… se was in charge but she’s not anymore. She has been fired!”
Jane: “Could you give me her phone number?”“No, I can’t help you with that. Good-bye.” *click*

“I’m so sorry Val.”
“Forget it sis, it’s not your fault.”

They ate in silence until Val asked Jane, why she hadn’t told Ilona the truth. Jane answered: “We’ve had such a long time to prepare ourselves for this and now I feel unprepared. Perhaps I will be able to talk with her tomorrow when she visits us. Now, let’s go to the ship. Jeremy told us that we could sleep there until we would have something of our own.”

Jeremy was pleased to see Jane back and she told him that she had invited Ilona on board next day. He said that there was no problem at all.

Ilona told her husband about the invitation to visit a ship and he said: “Oh fine! You love ships. So go ahead. I will have the afternoon off from work so you don’t have to worry about the girls. They kissed good night and went to sleep.

Jane had prepared everything for Ilona to come and she was sitting on the deck with Val and Jeremy. It was getting late and Jane got nervous thinking that Ilona perhaps wouldn’t show up. But then she saw that from the hillside, somebody was jogging to the ships’ direction. She stood up and went to welcome Ilona.

She brought her to the deck where they started to chat about anything but the important point. Jane was clearly nervous and Val said: ‘Jane…. tell her’.

To be continued….

 

 

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