When Max returned home that evening, Cecily was waiting in the parlor for him. Upon seeing her, he smiled, kissed her on the cheek, and went to warm him himself over the fire.
“Cold outside?” she asked, her tone one of friendly inquiry.
“Yes, there’s quite a chill in the air. Apparently a very unusual phenomenon on Annabel Island,” he replied, turning to his wife with a fond smile.
“Oh? Are we to expect snow anytime soon?”
Max laughed. “I certainly hope not. It would greatly interfere with the progress of the hotel. Unless we discarded Mayhew’s plans and built an ice palace instead.”
“It would be the grandest palace in the world, I’m sure, until it all melted into the sea.”
Though Cecily spoke with warm humor, Max noted a familiar note of wistfulness in her expression, and regarded her with tender concern.
“How are you feeling?” he asked her earnestly. “Did you you have a good visit with the Loves?”
Cecily replied that she had, and reassured him that she was feeling quite well. “I did have some trouble with the new housekeeper, though,” she said, lowering her voice, even though she knew the rest of the household to be asleep. “I think…” she hesitated, wondering how much to reveal to him. “I think she suspects you’re not Maddie and Morgan’s father. And she seems to be a bit of a gossip.”
A wrinkle appeared in Max’s normally smooth brow. “Well,” he said, releasing a heavy sigh. “It’s not something we haven’t dealt with before, though I had hoped being here, so far removed from Seldenville and May Green, the children wouldn’t have such suspicions cast on them. Oh, how I hate gossips! There’s no escaping them, is there?”
“I’m afraid not. I suppose we’ll just have to be careful. I would hate for there to be a dreadful scandal, for the children’s sake. And for mine, I admit. I don’t want to move again.”
“So you do like it here?”
“Yes, I do. It’s…well, there’s something so peaceful about it. And yet…everything seems more alive.” Cecily laughed softly. “Do I sound ridiculous?”
“As a matter of fact, no. I’ve heard others say the same thing, even Dunnavant. I had a good long talk with him tonight at the club.”
“Ah, so that’s why you were late tonight. Tell me, does the good doctor enjoy billiards as much as you do?” Cecily said this mostly in jest, but she couldn’t keep a bit of an edge from poking through.
Max raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Hmm, do I detect a hint of displeasure, my dear? Could it be that you’re starting to miss me when I’m gone?”
Cecily blushed and stared into the fire. “You know I always miss you.”
“But not enough,” he sighed. “No, I understand. It’s all for the best. I’m not sure I could handle much more felicity at the moment.” He smiled ruefully, and turned to go.
Cecily stood and intercepted him. “Max, don’t be angry. You’ve always asked me to be honest with you.”
“Yes, I know. But I can’t help hoping, even after all these years. It’s why I keep buying you little presents, and taking you to plays, and spoiling the children, and giving my heart to you, over and over again. I’ll keep doing it, too, Cecily. I’m a very stubborn man.”
Cecily smiled. “And loyal. Almost to a fault. But I hope you never change that. It’s what I like best about you.”
A moment passed between them which, to a stranger, might have looked like two lovers gazing at each other with great passion, but when Cecily leaned over and kissed her husband’s cheek, it was the kiss of one dear friend to another.
“Good night,” she said, touching his sleeve before leaving the room.
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.