3:14 Painful Truth

It was still raining the next morning. Shaena's first day of school, and Taylor's first day back at work since she'd realised she was pregnant. Shaena was nervous now, and her brother and aunt flying out the door immediately behind her made her embarrassed. She hoped no potential friends were on the bus yet, otherwise they'd all know she lived with fairies. She wasn't sure whether this would make her 'cool' because it was different, or 'weird' because she wasn't magical in the slightest. She was the only human she knew besides her grandfather, and she craved the company of 'normal' sims.

Almost as soon as everyone had left, the triplets decided they were all hungry and all needed changing. Madison went to start her first day alone with three toddlers. She hoped she'd be able to find time to research alchemy a little more, but the triplets were the priority right now. She set about trying to stop them from screaming as she could only change one diaper at a time, she started singing lullabies. She loved singing, and would love to have been a professional singer, if she hadn't had Luis so young maybe she would have persued it. She was happy with the alchemy set though, and wouldn't trade her children for the world.

While the kids were playing, Madison noticed that Rose already seemed to be able to control her powers. While Jake could fly a little, as she, Taylor, Devon and Luis could at his age, Kaity didn't seem to be able to do anything. She was definately a witch, but she either didn't know how to use her powers, or just didn't want to. Madison was a little worried by how easily it came to Rose. She didn't know any witches that she could ask about this, and wondered if it was normal for her to be so powerful at such a young age. Or maybe Kaity was the odd one here?

Whether it was mother's intuition, or just that she had used her own powers more than her sister, Taylor could sense that Rose definately had more magic in her, whereas Kaity seemed more content with everyday things, and seemed drawn to her human cousin, Shaena. She hoped that Kaity would be able to use her powers at some point, even if just so she wouldn't be jealous of her sister. Of course, if Kaity didn't want to, or couldn't, Taylor would love her just the same.

Taylor insisted Madison leave the house, and after she'd taken her latest batch of potions to the consignment store, she headed to the local kareoke bar, still in the mood to sing. The place was deserted besides the proprietor (Taylor's childhood friend, Chiquita), but it was still early in the evening. Madison was quite glad that she was almost alone, as she wasn't confident in her singing abilities. Chiquita came up to her at the end of the song, and insisted she sing it again for practice. She said she had 'real talent' and it just needing fine tuning. Madison smiled and started singing again, trying her hardest to hit the right notes and thoroughly enjoying herself, she promised herself she'd do this more often (maybe 5 hours a week?) and get really good at it.

The singing had taken her mind off a lot, but as soon as she stepped away from the machine she remembered Shaena and the questions she had about Geoffrey. It was best to tackle this sooner rather than later, and so on the taxi ride home she tried to prepare herself for the conversation, she knew it would be hard, but Shaena deserved to know.

She found her daughter in the room they still shared, looking at the pictures of her parents that filled the walls. She took a deep breath as one last preparation, and walked around the bed.
"Hey, honey. Are you ready to talk about Daddy?" Shaena nodded, excited to finally be let in on the bubble of secrets that surrounded her father.
"I want to know everything about him, and I want to know why he left us..." Madison's sharp intake of breath cut her off.
"Shae, baby... Maybe we should sit on the bed?" Madison suggested, wondering the best way to tell an elementary school girl that her father died when she was born. Maybe just come right out with it? Shaena jumped up onto the bed, and Madison joined her, crawling over the sheets to 'her side' of the bed. "Honey. Daddy didn't leave us. He..." She closed her eyes, wishing it wasn't real. "He died the day you were born."

 Madison watched as Shaena's face fell, and the usually loud, bubbly girl was replaced by a silent, lost child. She reached up and started running her fingers through her ponytail. She decided to stay quiet for a minute or two, waiting for the information to sink in.

"Why?" Was all Shaena could get out, as she hugged her legs to her chest, and continued staring off into space. Nobody had ever told her he'd left them, but she'd never imagined he was dead. There had always been that glimmer of hope in the bottom of her heart that he would come back to meet her, but that was gone now. There was no hope of him coming back, she'd never met him and never would.

Shaena's one-word question reminded Madison of when her daughter had been a toddler, and 'why' was all she'd ever say. That seemed like so long ago now, she'd grown up so much in those few short years since then, and it wouldn't be long until she was a young woman herself.
"Your Daddy worked long hours to make enough money for us to have a good life. He came over as much as he could, and when he found out we were having you he was the happiest man in the world..."
"Mummy. I asked why." Shaena cut her mother off. She'd been kept in the dark about this all her life and didn't care to wait any longer.
"Ok, honey." Madison moved to kneel infront of her daughter, and took her hand, which Shaena kept away, still holding her legs to her.

"Sweetie, your Daddy was fit and healthy, and nobody expected it. One afternoon he was on his break, and he walked off the site he was working on to get some lunch. His break ended and he wasn't back yet and then his friends at work started to worry. Your Daddy was never late in the morning, and was never late back from break, so they went looking for him. They found him on the street and he was unconcious." Madison held back tears as she watched them begin to fall down Shaena's cheeks. "They took him to the hospital and the doctors hooked him up. He was in a coma, which is like when you go to sleep but you can't wake up. And then he died the next day, about an hour after you were born."

Shaena sat in silence, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Madison slid off the bed and knelt on the floor infront of her, pulling her round so she was sitting with her legs over the edge of the bed.

"I see him in you everyday, and I know he would have loved you with all his heart. He would have been the perfect father to you, and he would have supported us all through everything. Every day I wish you could have met him, honey, I really do..." Madison had to stop. She didn't know what else to say, but also because she wanted to stay strong infront of her daughter, and she could feel the tears begging to come out.

"I don't blame you, Mummy." Shaena looked her mother in the eye, just for a second, but it was enough to reassure Madison. "I don't blame you for not telling me. It's a horrible thing to think about, but thank you for telling me even though it hurt." Madison let a single tear escape her eye, as she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Shaena didn't hate her.

Madison pulled her off the bed and into a tight hug.
"I love you, Shae. I really am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted you to be old enough to understand..."
"I know Mummy. I still love you."



So, we finally know most of the story. I doubt it will ever be explained in more detail, but if you want to know the darker parts from the depths of my mind, just ask.
Madison's hobby will be kareoke (she rolled a want for it when I was deciding hers) and Taylors will be working out. I don't know how much I'll feature these hobbies, but I'm planning on Madison doing hers on week nights, and Taylor doing hers at the weekend. I am aware I have waited pretty late to start this roll, but I completely forgot until the triplets were born, and then I just couldn't get either of them in a good enough mood to do anything when they were babies! The whole thing will be easier when the triplets are kids. Not long now! And also, when the triplets age to children, Shaena will age to teen the same day, and Luis will only be a few days away from YA!
Also, "How can Shaena stay warm enough in that tiny dress?" I hear you ask? Well, truth is, it was the first day of summer when I was last in-game, and I just haven't got around to getting everyone else into cooler clothes. It should be done by next chapter, because I need to name the seasons 'this year'. Phew, wish me luck! Still not really got many ideas, but I kinda want 'summer' to have something to do with Summer (the season, the girl). No idea how that will work.
And, I shall introduce Summer's daughter soon. Hopefully next chapter too! She is one day older than the triplets, and a vampire.