Madeline had plunked her way through two songs when Morgan joined her, having been told by Nellie to find something productive to do while she prepared luncheon. They took turns dancing and singing while the other played, which brought Madeline’s spirits up considerably, since it was very amusing to watch her brother dance.
After luncheon, they escaped to their bedroom to play pirates. Madeline played the “good” pirates, while Morgan, of course, played the evil ones.
They entertained themselves in this way until it grew dark outside and Nellie popped her head in.
“Madeline, would you be a dear and see if your mother wants to come down for supper?”
“Yes, ma’am!” Madeline stood eagerly and tossed her pirate hat aside.
It was the best thing her nanny had said all day. Normally they weren’t allowed to bother their mother — she needed her rest, and “peace and quiet”, as their father always said, but whenever Nellie permitted it, Madeline jumped at the chance. She raced past Nellie and down the hall, slowing down slightly when Nellie admonished her to “walk like a lady”. The nanny went back down the stairs, shaking her head.
Madeline knocked gently on her mother’s door, but heard no response. As quietly as possible, she opened the door and entered the room, where she found her mother curled up on her chaise longue, asleep.
For a moment, Madeline simply observed her mother, who looked frail but beautiful in the dim lamplight. She thought she noted an improvement in her coloring — she wasn’t nearly as pale as usual, but seemed to have a faintly rosy glow about her. Or was she just imagining it?
“Mama,” she said softly, taking a step closer. Her mother stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
“Oh,” she said, her voice just above a whisper. “Maddie.” She pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and smiled at her daughter.
“Supper’s ready,” said Madeline hopefully. “Are you feeling better? Do you want to come down?”
“I…I’m not dressed,” her mother said, glancing down at her gown. “I do feel better, but I…do you think Nellie could bring me up some bread and butter, and perhaps…some soup? I don’t feel well enough to come down just yet. Though,” she added quickly, seeing her daughter’s face fall, “I am improving.”
Madeline perked up. “It’s the island. It’s magical. I know it!” She tapped on the side of her head to indicate its great store of wisdom.
Her mother gave a murmuring laugh. “Magical, hm? I doubt that very much, but the air does seem to be fresher here, more invigorating. It’s the sea, I think.”
“We should go to the seashore. Think how invigorating that would be! How about tomorrow?”
“We can’t tomorrow,” her mother said gently. “Dr. Dunnavant and his wife are coming for dinner. We must all help Nellie with the preparations. But perhaps on Monday, if I’m up to it, I’ll take you to the beach.” She reached out and gave Madeline’s hand a squeeze.
“I want to go, too!” cried a voice from the doorway. Morgan strolled into the room and gazed at them happily.
“Of course,” their mother said, smiling. As she looked upon her two children, her eyes grew suddenly sad, as though the spectre of some old memory had forced its way into the room. “I…need some rest now,” she said, closing her eyes a moment. “We’ll see each other tomorrow.”
“You’re not coming down?” asked Morgan, taking a step closer.
His sister glared at him. “You danderhead, can’t you see she’s not feeling well?”
“Madeline Jane!” their mother shouted, though her shouting voice wasn’t much louder than most people’s speaking voices. “It’s not polite to call people names. Now be a good girl and go eat your supper.”
Hanging her head, Madeline shuffled out of the room, her brother trailing in her wake.
Once they were gone, their mother rose and closed the door, then went to the window. She could see what she thought must be her husband’s carriage traveling up the road, its lanterns swaying in the darkness. It comforted and saddened her at the same time.
Leaning forward against the window ledge, she heaved a shuddering sigh. She felt weak in both body and spirit, like she was only half alive, but she was used to it by now — she’d been sick ever since she had almost died giving birth to the twins. She hoped what they said about the island was true, that even if it wasn’t exactly magical, it had the power to mend her. It seemed to be doing so already.
Feeling a slight burst of energy, she went to her easel and began to paint, while below she could hear her children crying, “It’s Poppy!” and racing to the side door, then her husband’s booming voice as he greeted them, and Nellie offering to take his coat and hat.
Cecily sighed. Despite everything, she had ended up with a beautiful family. So…why didn’t she want to be a part of it?
(NOTE: This is a continuation of the Brayton Family saga. All Brayton family updates will now be posted under “Annabel Island”.)
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!) …