Chapter 3.8 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 3.10

Generation Three: Red

Appearance: Red hair, scandalous clothing style
Traits: Romantic, Hot-headed, Art Lover
Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Occupation: Art Critic
House Goal: 30,000 worth

All The Tomorrows

The next week passed by in a miserable blur. Kado never did come back. I picked myself up by my bootstraps, as they say, and decided I'd better start actually looking for a real partner. Charlie, however, was taking it the hardest. I finally had to sit down and explain that Kado has other kids, and a wife.. a real family, and that was probably where he had gone. She cried herself to sleep in my bed that night, and I felt even worse for having told her the truth. Perhaps I shouldn't have?? .... But I'd sworn I'd raise her right, and lying to her had just seemed.. worse than breaking her heart, somehow.

So, the next day, I called in sick, packed a lunch and took Charlie off to the Oasis Springs Desert Bloom park. She immediately found some new friends to play with, as if the night before had never happened. Meanwhile, I took the chance and kept a careful eye out for good looking male sims. Kiyoshi was my first pick, and he seemed more than happy to flirt back with me. ... Until his girlfriend and their toddler caught him. He turned beet red, and sheepishly left with his little family.

I called Charlie over for a picnic lunch, which she was more than ready for, and chattered brightly about her new friends. Her eyes kept wandering back to the playground, however, so I excused her with a knowing smile, and sat back to enjoy the sun... and the views.

It didn't take me long to find another target.

Naoki, luckily, was single. I made sure I asked that within the first couple minutes of chatting him up. Things went smoothly, and he was easy to talk to, even if his looks reminded me a bit of Kado. Brushing away the thought, I asked him a million questions, and flirted shamelessly. As the sun was starting to go down, Charlie walked over, and I could see how tired she was from the hard day of play. I turned back towards Naoki to invite him back to the house... only to notice the horrified look on his face.

"You're a MOM??" he asked, as if it was the worst thing possible. He stuttered a bit, then mumbled something about work the next day and didn't walk away so much as he almost ran.

Sighing... I crossed him off the potentials list, and packed everything up. Within minutes, Charlie and I caught the bus back to Sulani, and I let her chatter happily about her new friends without really hearing a lot of it. I was lost in my own maudlin thoughts, thinking about the past few days.

To our utter shock, Kado was sitting forlornly on our doorstep in the dark. Charlie looked at him suspiciously, looked at me for reassurance, and accepted my gentle nudge to go get ready for bed. Kado stood up awkwardly (he was NEVER awkward!), and walked towards me.

Sighing, I motioned to the front door, commenting that I never bothered locking it, and led him inside. Before the door was barely shut, and definitely before I had put down the picnic supplies and my bag, he was apologizing. He stumbled over his words, but I understood enough of what he was saying.... to realize he had been gone for a good reason. Apparently he had been getting a quickie divorce. Now, let me just stress, I had never asked him to do this. I would never have asked for him to leave his kids, because I understood exactly how important those little creatures were to a parent.

Before I could even reconsider, I dropped to one knee and popped the question. I only had one ring to offer him, a precious seashell ring I had been gifted from one of the dolphin pods, but it seemed like that would be appropriate, so I held it out to him. I stumbled over my words, and made sure that he knew the ring came with the knowledge that he had to become a mermaid, too... and was trying to explain I would NEVER keep him from visiting his kids, and they were welcome to visit, too - when Kado grabbed the ring, tried it on, and pulled me to my feet to kiss me.

I eagerly kissed him back, then pulled away to try to explain that I'd had to tell Charlie the truth about his "other" family, but he shushed me.

"I never expected you to lie for me, Kali. I honestly thought Charlie already knew, or I would have told her myself. I never wanted to hurt either of you. Life can be complicated, sometimes, though, and I wasn't ready to call it quits yet. My ex and I haven't gotten along in ages. It wasn't good for either of us, and it was awful for the kids. I had been spending more time at work than at home already, so they barely noticed my absence when I started spending more time here. I know, now, that this is where I belong. I love the sand, and the sea.. and above all, I love you and Charlie. I would love to become a mermaid and marry you, Kali. As soon as possible, in fact."

I looked at him, trying to hide the tears of relief. Finally, I gave up, wiped them away, and walked into his arms. "Welcome home, Kado."

Within moments, we performed an impromptu ceremony, and I handed him the Kelp that my mother had handed down to me. With a bemused shrug, he ate it, grimaced, and quickly stripped off his clothes and jumped into the ocean.

His tail was magnificent. And his joy at being able to swim like a mermaid was contagious. I watched him for a moment, then went to tuck Charlie into bed. I told her that Kado would be staying with us from now on, explained why, and she looked back at me from her bed with a knowing smile. I blushed, then shut her door behind me as I went to join Kado in the water.

The night may have begun in the ocean, but it certainly didn't end there.

In fact, the sun may have been coming up before either of us got any sleep at all. I heard Charlie in the morning humming happily as she got ready for school, and leaving... but I was too tired to get up, and she certainly didn't bother us.

I did remember to call into work, at least, before going back to sleep, and my boss congratulated me, reminded me that I had two columns due this week, but - he pointed out - there was no reason I couldn't work from home on a limited basis this week. He slyly commented that he didn't expect to see me until the next Monday - and he didn't.

Charlie took to the new family life as if nothing had changed from when Kado was basically staying here to avoid his wife. And, really, what had changed? Giggling like a schoolgirl, I grinned, knowing that all the important things had changed. Both of us were loved, and now we knew it.

Charlie joined a scouting troop, and quickly started acquiring badges. I had a set of monkey bars set up in the side yard, remembering how much she had liked the ones at the Park, and she spent a lot of her time "working out" as she called it. She was determined to be strong and ready to swim everywhere after her teen birthday.... I didn't bother to mention that her body would immediately be ready to swim with or without the working out, because she seemed so very determined.

Before long, it was obvious.. it was no longer going to just be the three of us in this little family home. Kado and Charlie were overjoyed... and even I was feeling the joy of an upcoming baby. The only part that wasn't quite as overjoyed ... was my bank account. I refused to let Kado help (it was against family policy, I told him).. but I had ordered a contractor visit, and had the home expanded. I'll include those pictures with this entry, because I'm terribly proud of all I've made possible on this little plot of land... and it really is a gorgeous little house. The new baby would have his.. or her own room, and the master bedroom got moved to the new upstairs. I still kinda liked the breezeway, so I was careful to keep it, and the deck was expanded, because.. yes. More space for catching the sun rays was always good!

Chapter 3.8 | Rules for this challenge | Chapter 3.10