Nellie peeked out the kitchen window at her young charges. Satisfied they would stay out of trouble for the duration, she sat down to take a much-needed rest. Her solitude was interrupted by Flora, who flopped down into the chair next to her.
“Finally, a moment’s peace!” Flora declared. “I just put fresh tea and sandwiches out, so we shouldn’t be bothered for a good half hour or so. The three of them are chattering away, as old friends often do. So, are you prepared to hear Mr. De Groff’s tragic tale? It’s not for the delicate of disposition!”
Nellie opened her mouth to speak, as she felt her disposition to be far too delicate, but Flora, whose sternness of earlier was completely forgotten in her desire to gossip, silenced her with an exclamation.
“Oh! Where to begin? Ah, yes. Well. I don’t know how much you know about our employer,” Flora began, lowering her voice slightly, “but even the circumstances surrounding his birth were ignominious! His father was an Austrian, Count De Groff, very rich and supposedly a generous patron of the arts. But he was a reckless man, and a drunkard, with a more-than-healthy interest in women.”
Nellie gasped, but said nothing, and Flora continued animatedly. “His mother was no better. She was born to a band of gypsies who roamed throughout the continent robbing poor innocents. They ran afoul of this Count, who had them all thrown into prison…except for Mr. De Groff’s mother. He took a liking to her, and you can imagine what happened next! They ran off together, and how they lived, nobody knows. But they had two children, Mr. De Groff and his sister, and they were raised in very wild society.”
“How do you know all this? Who told you?” Nellie asked, finding it hard to believe that the seemingly well-bred Mr. De Groff could have such sordid origins.
Flora leaned closer and whispered, “I learned it from his ex-wife.”
“Ex-wife!” Nellie’s shock doubled. “He’s divorced?? How can that be? Such a respectable man!”
“I’m sure he seems so now, but he wasn’t always so respectable! When he was a young man, the Count sent him and his sister to New York to live with the Count’s grandmother, the only relation who still spoke to him, and from her they were able to learn their manners and mingle with good society. It was there he met his first wife, the lady of whom I spoke. They married very young, and it was a terrible marriage, by all accounts! He was never at home, and when he was, he was cruel to her, very cruel. When his parents died, he went quite mad, and terrified his wife so much that she had to leave him. But he refused to put forth any money for the care of their child, and never spoke to either of them again! It was if they had never existed. His own child!”
Flora’s indignation caused her voice to rise, and Nellie glanced around uneasily.
“I don’t believe it!” she whispered. “He’s been nothing short of wonderful to Maddie and Morgy. And if you believe it, how could you possibly work for such a man?”
“No doubt he’s softened over the years,” Flora answered stiffly. “I needed work, and he’s known to be a generous master. And…I was curious. I’ve already seen so many things since I came here, I’m surprised you don’t live in constant wonderment! The children, for instance…I don’t think they’re his…”
Before Nellie could give voice to her surprise, she heard footsteps behind her, and Cecily entered the room. Flora did her best to look nonchalant, but Nellie couldn’t help turning away, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.
“Nellie,” said Cecily calmly,”the children are thirsty and don’t want tea. Could you take them some refreshment?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nellie rose from the table. “Right away.” She hurried over to the icebox, glad for an opportunity to keep her guilty expression hidden from Cecily for the time being.
“Flora,” said Cecily, her voice harder than Nellie had ever heard it, “you might find us more forgiving than your former employer, but gossip isn’t tolerated here, either. Unless you wish to find another line of work, I believe it’s in your own best interest to be more respectful of those who make your livelihood possible.”
Nellie’s face burned hot. So Mrs. De Groff had heard them! But how much? Nellie didn’t dare turn around until Cecily had gone. Flora rose from her chair, released a loud “hmph!”, and hastened icily from the room.
(continued on Page 4)
O.O It’s Maxxy boy! Wowy, you’re still keeping us in suspense. *pant* I want the next update now!!! Hehe. Ok, enough rambling. I think I’ll go see King Kong now, maybe that will eat some of my excitement…but it doesn’t mean I’ll be checking hourly! ;)
*haha, correction: it doesn’t mean I WON’T be checking hourly :P
Oh, great update! I’m glad that we found out who Cecily married, but I wonder if the twins’ father is who I think it is… :D
YAY! That was wonderful.
Oh yay! The Braytons merging with Annabel Island! I LOVE it! Can’t wait till the next one!
Shock! Horror! Illegitimate children and a platonic marriage for Cecily! How exciting! Sorry about all the exclamation marks – I’m quite excited. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the story. I’m not so fond of Flora though – what a mean-spirited windbag!
My goodness this story is certainly full of twists and turns! I can’t wait to find out who the father of the twins was. I have to say I like how you set up Flora as a character. I’m not sure if the back-story she provided was true but it was certainly entertaining! She seems to really look the part that she was set out to portray; she looks like the gossipy, slightly hateful, house help. Did she look that way originally and you wrote her to match, or did you create the Sim to look like the character you had in mind? I’m really enjoying this story and love your writing so much. Keep up the great work!
Max! MAX! She married Max! *cheers!*
.. but awww, not out of love. Poor Max! :(
Wow, so she married Max after all. They can’t be his children though, right? I can’t wait to see what’s actually happening. Keeping us in suspense all the way.
Flora is so mean. I mean…really MEAN. What did Nellie do?
Looking forward to the next update…
:o:o:o Cecily is married to MAX?? What happened to James?? The children must be James children, Morgan looks just like him!
What an interesting update, I love the way you have continued the Brayton’s lives while we havnt been seeing any updates, it’s really fun to read!
Can’t wait for nest update :)
Dito to what Claire said :) – what a suspense!! Though I still like the Ravelos and Shanleys more, I must admit that I continually get fond of your Victorian stories more and more! So – very good work :)
Oh my! Gossip afoot…. Smells like trouble brewing. Cicely is truly gorgeous, a breathtaking character, and lovely wardrobe too. Your style is consistent to every detail. A delight to read and view. More! More! More!
I knew Max would have something to do with it. Well, i did in the beginning. And i knew those kids belonged to that man, whose name i forgot. But it was a great update. We learn more each update, but we haven’t learned what has been going on all of these years. I can’t wait for the update, which will be tommorow, because you love us so much. :lol: That was funny, wasn’t it? I hope the update is soon though.
Max looks so respectable without his hideous beard. Where’s James, I hope his life went poorly. Grr… Poor Cecily and Max. She needs to learn to love him. Wow, what a great story. Double Yay! :)
Ewww feed that maid to the cowplant!
So glad to see Max in the picture again without that full beard now we can see his face better. So is James going come by for a visit too? Morgan has Sam’s eyes though? Hmmmm did Cecily have a romp with both brothers or did Morgan just take on his uncles eyes?
This story is getting good and maybe another little love story with Nellie and Tom when he becomes older?
Oh, no! I can see where this is going! Cecily’s going to go out and do something stupid like sleeping around! She’s unhappy with her great life and her just a friend husband! Then her children will be angry and confused and they’ll find out about their real father! And then…*head explodes*
—Cool : D
Max! I knew it!
Flora seems like a sneaky gossip…pretty mean sneaky gossip actually…
Something with Flora’s eyes sort of makes that “sour look” the sour look. They’re pretty though :D
(writing as I read the entry! It’s most fun that way!)
Oh holy fishpaste cow mr. saturns!
Drat you, taking me by another surprise!
MR. SATURNS, INDEED!
>_>; Little too much Earthbound for me. Adding Mr. Saturn to my list of surprised phrases? Uh…
I mean, I thought “what’s that about him? Nah, maybe he’s just a dinner guest…?” when I saw someone mentioning him in the comments on the main page’s sidebar. Then I saw all “oh, you mean CHARACTER!?” (Yeah, I’m trying hard not to spoil anything for anyone reading the comments before the entry. ^^;;; I’ve done that accidentally a couple of times, and been like “nooOoOOHOOHOOonoo! *weep*”. Or, um, more like “oh. *blink*”)
Anyway, what? Huh? Oh, right. “Oh, you mean our employer guy!”
So I was just like “duuuuuuude!” And then “duude!” And then “dude!”
And then I swam off with those Turtles from Finding Nemo! ^^;
Carol is looking great! Hannah is pretty cute, as well. :D
Oh, man, I barely even noticed until the third page, how Cecily’s hair looks the same way it used to. I guess that’s another thing of her changing, isn’t it? Her old friends and family being there, so that’s kind of symbolising that– for now, at least– things are more the way they were back at the old place than they were in the previous entry, right? What with the old friends and family visiting…
…or maybe her hair was down because she was sleeping.
You know, one of the two.
Oh, maaan.
I liked this entry so muuuuch. Makes me just want to hug you! Even though I Mr. Saturn hate you for making me say Mr. Saturn! But no real hate. :D
Great writing and picture-taking, both! I especially liked the brayton218.jpg one– the one beneath the text about how he hates gossips so much. The way the lighting is, and the angle that it gets him from are really nice.
Boing!
(um, I don’t know if you played Earthbound, but that’s something the Mr. Saturns said a lot, and I would have just ended my comment with Boing, but it would have been odd.
Zoom!
…which is another thing they said.
Funny game. :D)
Cecily’s husband is so nice.
Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. I especially like when you tell me what you figured out beforehand, what you enjoyed, or what’s still confusing, because it really helps me improve my writing, which means I can post better stories!
For some quick individual notes –
Vivi – How did you like King Kong? I saw it yesterday!
Bitsy – I had the character of Flora in mind before I created her, so yeah, I did try to make her look a little sour and snooty. I’m glad it was effective!
Amy – Hi there!! Thanks for commenting! And because it can’t be said enough, your site ROCKS!
Blu – You make me laugh. :-) And I have to add Earthbound to my list of games recommended by Blu (along with Harvest Moon). Is it a Super Nintendo game? We have a Super Nintendo system and a PlayStation 2.