The birth of Arthur George brought such undiluted joy to the Brayton family that for many months afterwards the whole household radiated a kind of hazy contentment. Arianna had plenty of time to spend with her son now that the new maid was established in the house, and she would fill up her hours doting over him or reading to him from books of nursery rhymes. Often she would rise in the middle of the night just to observe his rest and regard his lovely features, which reminded her of both Harry and her own father.
The new maid, Carol, contributed to the overall sense of well-being in the house by preparing delicious meals and keeping the tiny house remarkably clean. She was even quieter than Arianna had been as a maid, and rarely spoke to either her or Harry. In fact, Carol seemed to get most of her satisfaction from being alone in the kitchen where no one bothered her, except Arianna, who intruded occasionally to make a suggestion for dinner (such as poached salmon, Harry’s favorite).
At times Carol was almost invisible — she moved so quickly and quietly in and out of the parlor that she was gone before Harry could even look up from his medical books. This bothered him in some instances, as when he and Arianna would think themselves alone and share an impulsive kiss, only to find that Carol had entered the room and seen the whole ardent encounter unfold. To Carol’s credit, she usually turned away and pretended not to have seen it, but Harry made a note to be more mindful of Carol’s whereabouts whenever he wanted to steal a romantic moment with Arianna.
When Harry wasn’t working, studying, or kissing Arianna, he could be found playing with Arthur in the nursery. He was mightily proud of his boy and never tired of swooping him into the crook of his arm and gently poking him until he laughed. Having never received much affection or praise from his own father, Harry was determined to instill in Arthur the knowledge that he was loved and treasured.
Secure in that knowledge, Arthur grew into a rather precocious little boy, precocious and pampered — at least as pampered as Harry’s middle-class income would allow. He learned new things so quickly that he sometimes astonished his own parents, who thought him a genius at age 3 and loved to declare as much during dinner parties.
Arthur’s half-sister Cecily Rose was the only one in the house who wasn’t wholly contented with life at Brayton Hill. Over the past few years she had blossomed into a lovely young woman and come out of her shell somewhat, but she yearned for so many things she couldn’t name them all. Most of them had to do with love — she wanted desperately to fall in love with someone — and belonging — she felt she didn’t belong in the Brayton family, so she pinned all of her hopes on the Haddaways.
The Haddaways moved in an elaborate social circle of their own making, and since they were the wealthiest family in town, they could afford to be choosy about whom they befriended. For reasons unknown, the elderly matriarch of the family, Mrs. Haddaway, had become rather fond of Cecily and taken her under her wing. Perhaps she had a feeling that the Braytons were destined for great things and thought it only appropriate to teach Cecily the social graces that would be expected of her one day.
On Saturday afternoons, Mrs. Haddaway would invite Cecily over for tea and ask her to play the piano. Every week Cecily counted down the days until she could visit Haddaway Hall. She felt comfortable there, and Mrs. Haddaway was always so kind. The house was also splendid — a huge Tudor Revival mansion with the biggest drawing room Cecily had ever seen.
“Play ‘I’ll Be Your Sweetheart’ again,” Mrs. Haddaway would say, and Cecily would oblige, having learned that song from Arianna years before.
Mrs. Haddaway’s daughter-in-law, Sophia, would sit with them in the drawing room and pretend to enjoy the music, though she hated that particular song and wasn’t overly fond of Cecily. She thought the Braytons entirely too low class for her and wished they lived in a larger town where they would have more “fitting” company from which to choose.
On one particularly cool Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Haddaway invited Cecily over for dinner. It was to be a special event — her grandson James was going away to college the next day, and it would be the last time the family had dinner together until he returned for the holidays.
Cecily had been smitten with James since she saw him at the wedding ceremony of her father and Arianna. She could remember quite clearly the horrible flutter in her stomach when he so much as glanced in her direction, and how she vowed she would marry him someday. Over the years, her feelings had only grown deeper. She rarely spent more than a few minutes in his company, as he was usually helping his father run their many businesses around town, but everytime she saw him, or heard his voice, her stomach fluttered just as powerfully as ever.
(continued on Page 2)
That was a very interesting post. I love all the Victorian clothes, there awsome! Keep up the work!
Wonderful, Jen! I love the Haddaway’s manor! It’s definitely elaborate. I love the wodden floor with all the patterns. Poor Cecily! I hope she finds true love, whether it be in James or Samuel… ;-) Your downloads are so beautiful and fit your story so well.. I especially like Cecily’s outfit. Well keep up the great work! I can’t wait to see more of the Braytons. They are very entertaining.
By the way…There seems to be another Jessica commenting on this site…So hopefully that won’t get too confusing!
Aaahhhhh. *sigh of relief* I loved the haughty expressions you caught on the Haddaway family’s faces. The story is so believable. Beautiful.
This musta taken alot of energy Jen. ;D But it was worth it.
Good story =3
What a nice story ..here’s hoping Cecily finds her niche, poor girl sounds so displaced
Sorry, about the confusion! I’ll spell my name like this Jessic@.
Aw, poor Cecily…she’ll find love…hopefully.
I love Arthur’s little suits, they’re so sweet! He looks a bit like MY little brother, apart from the hair. I hope Carol perks up soon – she’s a bit depressing!
E-Liz :)
What a beautiful update. Love the period clothing. I always enjoy reading your stories. As a fan of historical romance I am really enjoying the Brayton family. Jen, you NEED to write a novel!!!! Have you ever considered it?
Great update, Jen! I still love all the clothes, Arthur looked adorable in his little blue suit! I don’t think Cecily should get together with James, but with his brother Samuel, they’d make a much nicer couple!
Looking forward to the next post! :D
I have a very important question. I don’t know how to download clothes and items from websites! I download them on to a file and then when i go on to the sims 2 it doesn’t work *growls*! Its so annoying! Can you tell me how to do it? You have so much nice stuff I’m so jealous! Great story keep it up Jen! I love Cecily Rose. She is so pretty! Happy Simming *wink wink*!
Tash, if they are package files when you download them have your download client, Win Rar or Win Zip, extract the files to the Sims 2 Downloads directory, or just copy and paste them there yourself. ;) The Downloads directory is located on your computer under My Documents > EA Games > The Sims 2 > Downloads.
If it is a .Sims2Pack file then you are going to need to download a program called Sims2Pack Clean Installer which installs those types of files automatically for you. You can probably google it and come up with the program, it’s free.
If you are still having problems post to the Sim Scribes forums and I will try and write a more thorough response there with some links to help you. Hope this helps!
Jen, great update, I love how you manage to capture such great emotions on these Sims faces and of course the attention to detail in both the shots and the story telling is amazing. Keep up the great work!
OMG Bitsy! Thank you so much! You are so smart! I will consult this website again if I have any problems because everyone here know so much! I have to go I am going to download Sims2Pack Claen Installer! Thank you so much!
Once again brillaint story telling! I love those clotehs and how you furnished the houses and created those interesting shots. cant wait for more of the Brytons!
Thanks to Bitsy for answering Tash’s question! I wanted to add that I use The Sims 2 File Maid to install my various ZIPs and RARs, and it’s very handy. You just open up the Maid program, drag all of your files onto the “lawn,” and it goes to town installing them for you (though you do have to click “OK” for all of the SIMS2PACK files). It doesn’t sort them into folders for you, but my downloads folder hasn’t been organized from Day One, so that works for me.
Also, the author of the program isn’t really supporting The Sims 2 File Maid (I think he got burnt out supporting the one for TS1), so use it at your own risk. I haven’t had any problems with it myself, though.
I’ve been using the Sims2Pack Clean Installer. I might check out that File Maid though. What I like about the clean installer is that if you download a lot from the Exchange you can install it without hacks or families. I also use it when I’m playing around with my own lots. I like to test a house first so I’ll create a family to test with then I can repackage it and upload it again without the family so I can keep all of my furnishings intact to play or put on the exchange.
I use The Sims 2 File Maid, also. It’s absolutely wonderful for lazy people like me. Like Jen said, you can extract hundreds of files all at the same time without having to do any work other than dragging it into to the window. Well, except for when a Sims2Pack file comes along, then it just pulls up the default Maxis Sims2Pack installer. It goes very fast and takes a lot of pain out of moving things into the folder yourself. Anyways…I won’t take up too much room with my useless ramblings… ;-) Basically, I highly suggest using The Sims 2 File Maid
Awww … poor Cecily. Doesn’t her father realize how she feels? And I don’t think that James is the right man for her. I’m getting an uncomfortable feeling about him … and he might be a romance sim. I think she ought to stick with Samuel. :) That’s my opinion anyway. Hehe.
Hi Jen. Wow i loved the story. I think you are setting us up for Samuel to be the future hubby of Cecily. It is sad that she feels so left out. I’m kinda thought you would have done it where she was very envolved with the family but i like the road you are taking with the story.
I’m truely looking forward to your next update.
Happy Simming Jen. :-)
I’m late getting here, Jen, but this was a really beautiful update. I’m really impressed with the way that you’re handling this! Great job as usual. I can’t wait to find out what happens with the Braytons and the Haddeways!
Thanks, guys! I hope to have another update ready very soon…