Things were never quite the same for Cecily Brayton after she shared a kiss with Samuel Haddaway and told him she was in love with his brother James. The weekly invitations to tea at Haddaway Hall stopped coming, and when Cecily called on the family, she was told they weren’t accepting any visitors. Cecily had a feeling that Samuel, incensed by rejection, had somehow turned the Haddaways against her. His mother Sophia already disregarded the Braytons as being too low-class, so with her on his side, it probably wasn’t very hard to convince the rest of them.
Cecily dealt with the Haddaways’ collective cold shoulder surpisingly well. Instead of fretting gloomily all over the house as she had for the past several months, she threw herself wholeheartedly into her late mother’s favorite pastime — painting. She had been terrified by her last encounter with her mother’s ghost, but her dreams about her mother afterwards had inspired her. “I still love James,” she wrote in her diary, “and I still miss Samuel, but as I can’t do anything about either circumstance at the moment, I will simply bide my time. They can’t — and won’t — avoid me forever.”
As for the rest of the Braytons, Arianna spent several months confined to her room before finally giving birth to another healthy boy, whom she and Harry named Frederick John, after Harry’s employer, Dr. John Hutchins. Arianna relinquished many of her duties for the Votes for Women campaign in order to stay home and care for Frederick during his infancy.
In the meantime, firstborn son Arthur had grown into a clever little boy with an extremely serious disposition. He enjoyed playing with toys well enough, and he and his father were always coming up with new games to try out, but his favorite activity of all was chess. At times Harry or Arianna had to pull Arthur away from the chess table in order to make him do schoolwork.
Arthur also found it amusing to ask his parents strange questions, such as “What makes the wind blow?” and “Why do we have eyebrows?” Much of the time they didn’t know quite how to respond.
Harry and Arianna were quite proud of Arthur’s keen mind, but unfortunately there was a downside — he often cried out during his sleep and had nightmares that startled him awake. Since he shared a room with Cecily and Frederick, he sometimes woke them up as well.
Usually when this happened, Cecily would light a candle and ask Arthur what was wrong, but all he would say was, “Nothing,” and glance around anxiously before going back to sleep. Cecily began to wonder if he could sense the presence of her mother’s spirit roaming Brayton Hill. As far as Cecily knew, she had been the only one in the family who had actually seen the ghost of April Brayton. But Arthur seemed especially agitated on the nights that April haunted.
As little Frederick grew quickly into a toddler, Arianna returned with renewed vigor to her Votes for Women campaign, and Carol the maid became more involved in Frederick’s upbringing. Carol always remarked how much Frederick reminded her of Arthur at that age, and how they would most assuredly look like twins when they grew up. In fact, she sometimes called Frederick “Arthur” by accident, so close was the resemblance.
Although it seemed like Harry spent his every waking moment at the hospital, where he was now a respected surgeon, the Braytons were not entirely without their moments of domestic happiness.
(continued on Page 2)
Very nice update. I like the way you ended this ‘episode’ Jen. Sorry I have commented in a while I have been rather busy with my own site and school things to play Sims 2 or visit many TS2 blogs. Thanks for your comment, by the way. It was lovely to hear from you again. I’ll be checking more often for some more of these well written Brayton updates.
Sincerely, Dustyn.
Great Update! It was exelcent how you finished the update, well done! Jen your the best blog I’ve come across so keep it up! I’ll always be checking when the next update is so happy Simming!!!
another great update! Good to hear about the other family members and their lives, though I cant wait to read more about Cecily’s dramas!
I loved it! Especially the part about renaming the hospital..comedy at its finest.
Wow, that was such a sweet update! Especially the businessman-in-the-making Arthur. It might just have been because he wanted more room to play…
Frederick is so cute! It’s such a blonde family at the moment. But I feel really sorry for Dr. Hutchins. But he got his own hospital!
E-Liz :)
Yay Jen! The omniscious story writer! Great job, as usual, and I look forward to the next update.
I wonder what will happen with Cecily Rose…
Jen, you are really an inspiration to me. I can’t say that my writing is up to your standards at this point, but I can definitely say that what you do with the written word is an inspiration to this write who aspires to publish a great novel one day. Heh, and I’m not even a fortune sim, I’m a family sim!
Great update as usual, though I’m not so sure that I like Arthur. Maybe it’s just because he’s not as developed yet as Cecily is.
Nice update. I was hoping to read more on Cecily and after reading that poem I was hoping you wouldn’t kill her off :)
Cool. Interesting way to explain the remodeling the shack. I got what I wanted. So now we know that maybe Arthur is the kiind of sim who will go into the buisness career. Now, is Arthur the heir or have you changed your mind? Also, I just want to ask about their aspirations. I’m guessing Harry is knowledge, Cecily family, Arianna family? Oh, and now I know people would figure this out on their own but there is a new motto already.
What happened to Cecily? Haha. No but it was a good update. Good job.
Hehe. I like Arthur. :3 He’s an interesting boy.
Hopefully he dosen’t grow up to be a pushover like his dad, though :D
I love everything made by you, you must be a very creative person with a great imagination.
Keep going with the good job.
Oh man! I only just now see that I spelled kind kiind! I’m usually better about spelling!
Arthur is so cute! He reminds me of my kids at that age, forever asking questions you couldn’t answer! Poor Cecily. I hope it works out well for her. Great update Jen!
Great update Jen. I hope your new home is as nice as the Brayton new home. I’m truely loving the direction you’re taking in this story.
Since you’re moving i’m sure it will be a while till next update but i’m so looking forward to it.
Happy Simmings
and i hope you had a productive weekend.
THanks Jen for sharing.