The morning sun advanced slowly over the houses of Annabel Island, peering through every window, urging the inhabitants awake with its serenely glowing stare. In one particular house, a little girl named Madeline opened her eyes and blinked away the sleep before climbing out of bed. As she stretched her arms to the ceiling, she heard the cry of sea gulls just outside the house and felt her heart give a little shake of excitement.
Though she had been on the island for at least a week, she still couldn’t believe how wonderful it was — she had always been fascinated by the sea, thanks to the books her Poppy had read her, and now she lived right by it, and could visit it whenever she liked (as long as her new nanny accompanied her). She had even ridden on a ship now, which had been the grandest thing she’d ever done until the moment she had set foot on the island and felt its wild, surging promise of adventure.
Madeline glanced at her brother’s bed, which was vacant but neatly made, and half-sighed, half-snorted. He was always up before her, always quietly sneaking out and rushing off to have adventures without her (after meticulously making his bed, of course). Not wishing to miss anything, Madeline dressed quickly, leaving her bed unmade for the moment, and hurried downstairs, where she was greeted by the aroma of cinnamon-and-sugar porridge.
“Good morning, Morgan,” she said, sitting down at the dining room table, where a bowl of steaming porridge had already been set out for her.
Her twin looked at her blandly. “Morning,” he mumbled. Apparently he hadn’t been on any adventures just yet.
Madeline picked up her spoon and dug in. “So what are we going to do today?” she asked cheerfully, glad she hadn’t missed anything.
Morgan shrugged, his mouth full. He looked as if he was about to say something when an almost unbearably chipper voice sounded behind them.
“I’m going to teach Morgy how to play chess today!” cried their nanny, Nellie Webster. She swooped in from the kitchen and breezed past the table, patting “Morgy” on the head. After setting a bowl of cream on the table, she swooped back out again.
“Chess??” Madeline cried, ladling some cream into her porridge. She couldn’t think of anything more tiresome than learning how to play chess. Her brother seemed perfectly content with the idea, however, his countenance coming to life as he gulped another spoonful of porridge.
“Well, maybe Mama can take me somewhere,” Madeline said hopefully. “Like the beach. Or Main Street!”
“Mama’s not feeling well,” said Morgan, looking morose again.
Madeline glanced across the table at two empty bowls, a sadly familiar sight. Her father, who was building Annabel Island’s first and only hotel, always rose early and had his breakfast before going off to work, and her mother usually ate with him before going back to bed. Ever since Madeline could remember, her mother had been rather sickly and tired, but she did have good days when she felt strong enough to take them on an outing to the park or the sweet shop, and those days sparkled in Madeline’s memory like singularly precious jewels.
“I’ll go to the stables, then,” she said, finishing up the last of her porridge and hopping out of her chair. Her brother followed suit.
“Dishes first!” called Nellie as she glided in to clear the table. “Until your parents find a housekeeper, we all have to pitch in, you know.”
Madeline sighed and walked back towards the kitchen, much less cheerfully than her brother, who for some bizarre reason enjoyed scrubbing pots and pans, just as he enjoyed making his bed every morning. Madeline didn’t mind it, but it was still a chore, and certainly nothing to be enjoyed. She wished her father would get on with hiring this new housekeeper Nellie kept mentioning.
After the morning chores had been completed, Madeline traipsed out to the stables to visit her favorite horse, a huge chestnut mare she had named “Tasarla”, after a beautiful gypsy in one of the stories her father was always telling her.
“G’morning, Tasarla!”
The mare whinnied softly and moved towards the opening in its stable door.
“Did they give you anything good to eat today? Hay again? You poor thing.” Madeline reached up to pat the mare’s nose before plopping down onto a nearby bale of hay. “I wish I were big enough to take you out riding. We could go all over the island. We could visit Poppy at the hotel! And we could visit Grandma and Grandpa, if they were here. But they won’t be here until it’s almost Christmas.”
The horse snorted in response. Madeline continued telling Tasarla her woes, which were relatively few, and her hopes, which were much more numerous, until the mare seemed to grow tired of conversation and backed away from the door.
“Well, so long, Tassy.”
Madeline tromped around the lawn a bit looking for caterpillars, but, finding none and feeling restless, went back into the house. She found Morgan and Nellie in the library, still playing chess.
“What should I do next?” Morgan asked his chess partner enthusiastically. Madeline sidled up to them, her hands clasped behind her back, and watched them for a few moments, during which nothing at all seemed to be happening. As neither of them said a word to her, she flopped down onto a chair with a loud and dramatic sigh.
“If you’re looking for something to do,” said Nellie, her eyes still fixed on the chess table, “you could finish your arithmetic lesson from yesterday.”
Madeline whimpered in protest. “But it’s Saturday!”
“That doesn’t matter when you’ve got work to do. Look at your father — he goes to work nearly every day of the week. He does what needs to be done. And so should you.”
Madeline stared out the window, unconvinced. She wasn’t sure she liked this new nanny. Nellie had a much sweeter disposition than their old one, certainly, but she seemed to play favorites. She never told Morgan to go finish his lessons. Of course, that was because…Morgan always finished his lessons.
“I’m going to practice piano,” Madeline announced, jumping up from her chair. “That needs to be done, doesn’t it?” Without waiting for an answer, she marched off to the parlor.
(continued on Page 2)
Wow! I like this new family, but what is their last name?
I love the story so far. Where did you download that horse? And all that other stuff?
I’ve always wanted to try the Royal Family Challenge, but it never appealed to me. Which challenge would you suggest to try besides the Legacy?
Wow, that’s amazing. A real shock at the end, too. Alex, it’s Cecily Brayton, grown up with a husband and kids, living on Annabel Island. Oooo…who’s the husband?? I wonder if she married James, afterall. I can’t wait to find out!
Cecily is so pretty now!
Good job, Jen! What a great update!
Thanks, Alex, I put a note at the end to explain what’s going on for those of you who don’t know about the Braytons. Cecily was a Brayton but has a different last name now, which I purposely withheld (though I’m sure anyone who has been following the Braytons could probably figure it out! ;-)). I’m glad you like the story so far! I think I got the horse from either Mod the Sims 2 or The Sims Resource. Much of the other Victorian stuff can be found via my Timely Finds page (although I’ve gotten a few things recently that I haven’t posted there yet. Let me know if you’re curious about anything specific!). As for other challenges, quite a few people seem to be enjoying the Prosperity Challenge, which I think you can find on the Sims 2 message boards.
And hi, Jessica! Good to see you, as always! :-)
:O Seriously, man. We COULD have gotta a warning that this was Cecily. I admit, I was a little dissapointed when I saw that you had updated, but not on the Braytons. And then i saw this, whole Cecily business and I was like whoa. So early, we are tricked by Jen again. But a good trick nonetheless. I absolutely adore the Braytons and I was a bit perplexed when I saw that it was Cecily. (Ok i couldn’t contain my excitement and i accidently looked at the comments and saw that it was Cecily far before it wias time for me to know, which made the story alot more hard to get through, seeing as I zoomed through to find something of significane to Cecily). I did notice that Morgan reminded me heavily of Brandon, his bone structure and all, and that was before my little peeping incident. So she married Brandon after all? Even though she was deeply in love with Samuel? Or she didn’t but she had his children. Which is highly unlikely but interesting all the same. I can’t wait until the next update from this family so I can FINALLY figure out what’s up. I hope you dont leave us hanging for tooo long. :lol: Thanks so much for an update on the Braytons.
Cecilyyyyyy! YAY!
I love your Anabel island writing style. Your writing style gets more lush, it seems, and there’s always this air of mystery a la Agatha Christie. And as always the pictures are gorgeous!
OMG!! Its CECILY!! :o
I had absolutely no idea! Until I read the last few lines! OMG!
Sorry, couldn’t contain my excitement there, but I totally thought it was someone else. I love Cecily! Poor girl, nearly dying giving birth to twins though :(
Cant wait to read more!!
~kath
Omigod! Cecily?!
Sorry, I must have neglected to read the last few lines!
I thought Morgan looked like someone else we know.
Eva – Who’s Brandon?
A new update, great!! And a combined one as well! I love your victorian stories Jen, they’re not just sim lives, they are like good novels, totally engaging!!
Max! Max! We want Max! *chants* XD
Also, I’m such a geek. I just bought a 600 pages thick volume (mmm, glossy paper and color!) of house plans today. Only 12 bucks, though! But yes, it’s specifically for Sims 2. :D
Wow – even if I am not such a true reader of the Brayton’s I still was impressed by that horse! And of course, even I was stunned when I realized that the mother was Cecily! Really, and you started of with a cliffhanger already – that’s mean ;) Let’s see what this will turn out to be. Oh, and I finally managed to update at my blog. Aaaand generation six was born yesterday night, and ‘he’ is such an extremely cute boy! More later *lol*.
nice update :) Very interesting story going on. The last bit was the best, revealing the lady as Cecily, thought it took me a while to figure out who the father was and her last name ;) no wonder I was wondering why Morgan looked so much alike his father! Good job!
p.s. my blog’s once again active :) though now it’s not just a simming blog ;)
I don’t think I have the letters to describe the sound I made when I found out it was Cecily. This is so cool. I can’t wait to find out who her husband is, but I bet it’s Brandon, but she had James’ children. I think Brandon would have married her to make her and honest woman. But, we’ll see!!! :)
Yay!!! I’m so glad to see another Annabel Island/Brayton Family update! Great job Jen and I can’t wait to read more!
OMG!!!!!!!! Cecily’s back! and with kids and a hubby was it James ? Oh I can’t wait to hear all about her and what of her dad, his wife and her little brothers ? WOW!
Wow.. Cecily! Wonderful story.. I really love the twins. Can’t wait to see more. :D
I…I don’t know what to type. When I saw Morgan’s face I thought “Nah, it couldn’t be!” but now I’m thinking that I have to be right! Tell me that that little boy doesn’t look like James! From the Brayton legacy, didn’t Cecily have Maxis green eyes that she inherited from her mother? I know I’m probably totally wrong but sometimes I can’t stop myself from asking stupid questions. :lol:
Don’t pay attention to me! I’m not sure that her husband is James but it’s just that that little boy’s facial structure reminds me of one of those brothers, though I’m not even sure if it’s not Samuel anymore! I think Samuel had blue eyes but I give up! Am I an obsessive geek or what?
Yo umm….guys, who is this Brandon you talk about?
Kay – If you’re a geek, then so am I, because I buy house plan books, too!
Nita – You’re right, Cecily had the Maxis green eyes, but then I replaced the Maxis default eyes with Lyran’s eyes, because I liked them so much. So Cecily’s eyes are slightly different color now. Faded with age, I guess!
Alex, I think they mean either Max or James — I’m not sure where Brandon came from!
Haha my bad, I dont know where Brandon came from either. Must have been some crazy mix up of blogs because i was reading some other one. But yes i mean James. Samuel’s brother.
Jen’s a tricksterr :B
I didn’t expect that! I mean, at first, I thought “gee, this must be a new family’s intro!”, then I kept reading; and I thought for a moment that “hey, maybe this has to do with them? She said they were moving to the island.”
Then I threw it out of my mind. :D
She looks so different! Woah. Poor lady. Maybe it’s just the Lyran-eyes in action (I considered replacing mine, too, but I’m hesitant), or something, but I really didn’t think…
Also, I thought “gee, that boy has a pointyface.” Never chanced to think that the guy’s face was pointy, too…
I like Morgan, though. She’s got SPUNKY…NESS!
(Now, I’m off to comment on the most recent entry. And look for that pirate ship. Pirate ship~ yay.)
OMG!!! That horse download is the coolest thing we have ever seen!!! Where did you get it?? We have to know! Thanks!
Happy Simming =]
Tash & Izzy
Hi Tash & Izzy, I think I got that particular horse from The Sims Resource…but it might have been Mod the Sims 2. You could do a search for “horse” on either. I just did so on MTS2 and found a really nice horse that I’m going to have to download (the cart she’s working on looks awesome, too!) …