Chapter 9: The Simple Life

Nights were long and hard.  Gunther tossed and turned until a peaceful calm permeated the room.  Then he slept his most deep and refreshing sleep.  He somehow always managed to wake up feeling younger and ready to take on the day.  Gunther's favorite morning sights were that of his grandchildren.  He counted himself lucky that he was afford so much time that he was able to meet them and know them.  Gunther lifted Jada into the air and zoomed her around the living room.  She fit perfectly with the family, as if Mortimer and Bella had created her themselves.  The love that emanated from his son and daughter-in-law brought more joy to the Manor than the previous generations combined.

Cassandra and Darryl made another friend at school, though they only had a short amount of time play together.  Amanda's family recently transferred to Sunset Valley so her mom could do some training at the military base.  In a couple of months the training would be finished and they would be moving to a new military base.  Cassandra noticed that Amanda had a hard time making friends because she moved around so much.  She invited her to come over after school to play.  Cassandra, Darryl, and Amanda spent time playing tag, talking about other students, swimming, and telling ghost stories.

Bella enjoyed the sound of Cassandra with her friends and her toddlers playing with their toys.  This pregnancy was the easiest of them all and so far Dr. Jolina said everything was progressing as it should.  Bella started to gain back some weight as it was expected.  Especially since she craved grilled cheese sandwiches.  She occasionally mixed it up by using a blend of different cheeses or by adding a slice of pastrami, but as long as she could have grilled cheese she was set.  Bella wanted to limit herself but since she was pregnant she gave herself a free pass with a promise to herself that she will hit the gym once her little one was born.

On the days her friends couldn't come over to play Cassandra got on the laptop to do more work.  Gunther sometimes caught a glimpse of her and watching in awe as her fingers danced over the keyboard as she was practicing buying and trading stock shares.  He knew that Cassandra was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the boardroom at Doo Peas.  He hoped that she would one day rake the Landgraabs over the coals and give them a run for their money.

Mortimer and Bella knew they were only having one baby, but she was getting so big it was fun to joke around that there was a twin hiding in there somewhere.  Bella was good natured about it, but the comments from the people around town sometimes grated on her nerves.  They would joke about the same thing; saying things like 'are you sure there is only one in there' or 'you are only 8 months pregnant?  You look like you could go into labor anytime now'.  That second one stung the most.  She actually could go into labor at any time since Alexander was premature.  She just wanted the baby to stay in the womb as long as possible.  Bella did not want to have to go through another ordeal like she did with Alexander.

Time had passed with ease.  Cassandra was spending more time at home playing with Alexander and Jada.  Bella noticed Cassandra was having a hard time dealing with Amanda moving away.  She knew Cassandra didn't like to show it or talk about it so she let her be.  Bella figured anytime Cassandra spent with her siblings was a step in the right direction regardless of the motivation.  Cassandra would soon be back to her normal self; treating Jada and Alexander with indifference and spending all of her time with Darryl.  Until then, Bella enjoyed the feeling of the wholeness when they were together.

It took only about a week before Cassandra was tired of playing with her brother and sister.  She had better things to do.  She wanted to hang out with Darryl some more, but his family was going through a rough time with his grandparents so he wasn't really around.  Cassandra really didn't want to go back to playing with the toddlers so she grabbed the paper and sat down by her grandpapa.  Cassandra knew that his work was very important and she wanted to do important work, too.  She flipped to the money section of the newspaper and pretended to understand the financial mumbo-jumbo.

When Bella made it to 35 weeks she was exstatic.  Then the 36th week and the 37th week passed without so much as a false alarm.  She was relieved beyond measure.  Bella's pregnancy was half way through the 38th week when she noticed the contractions one morning.  She decided not to say anything to Mortimer and let him go to work.  Throughout the day Bella spent time making meals to stick in the freezer and cleaning the house.  When she became agitated she went outside for a walk.  By late afternoon, she knew this labor was the real deal and called Mortimer to come home.

Mortimer called Dr. Jolina to let her know that Bella was in labor.  At the doctor's suggestion they waited until the contractions were closer together before heading to the hospital.  Dr. Jolina told them it would be fine to labor at home as long as Bella felt that everything was going as it should.  Later than evening Bella and Mortimer left for the hospital when the contraction became seven minutes apart.  Bella would grab Mortimer's arm during a contraction or if she felt like he was speeding.  Sometimes he didn't know whether it was the first or the second reason or both at the same time.

When they arrived at the hospital Bella's contractions had sped up to 3 minutes apart.  They were going to have to use valet parking so Bella could get up to the maternity floor in time.  Dr. Jolina had agreed to meet them at the hospital even though she wasn't the only OB/GYN at the hospital anymore.  Since Bella had done most of her laboring at home, they did not have time to get the epidural ready.  Later that night Mortimer and Bella welcome their son Damen into the world.  All Bella's pain melted away as the nurses laid Damen across her chest.

Cassandra sat at the kitchen island waiting for her mom to get home with her new baby brother.  She got to visit them in the hospital for a little while, but they wouldn't let her stay.  Having Grandpapa in charge wasn't bad but Cassandra was ready for her parents to be home.  Bella didn't need to stay in the hospital for more than a day and Damen got to come home right away.  Cassandra was excited they got to bring the baby home.  She remembered how sad her mom was all the time when Alexander was in the hospital.  Cassandra tried reading to pass the time but she realized she was reading the same paragraph over and over without actually remembering what she was reading.  She looked at the clock.  Her parents and the new baby should be home any minute.

Cassandra jumped off the stool when she heard door open.  She rushed to her mom to see the new baby.

"He looks the same as other babies," Cassandra said.

"I know.  Isn't it funny how that happens, Cassandra?"  Bella replied with a smile.  "He'll grow into his own before we know it."

"I like him mom.  Is he a good baby?"

"Yes sweetie.  Just remember, he is a baby so he will cry and be smelly sometimes, and he'll need your father's and my attention."

"Oh, I know.  I read it in a book.  I'm just glad you're home now.  Grandpapa tried cooking."  Bella smirked.  "I tried telling him to get the dinners that you cooked out of the freezer but he wouldn't listen."

"How about I make you your favorite dinner tomorrow to make up for it?" Bella offered.  Cassandra hugged her mom and they played with Damen until it was time for him to eat and sleep.

A couple weeks later Bella and Mortimer blind-folded Cassandra and brought her upstairs.  She knew that the surprise was going to be her new room.  Cassandra didn't know what it was going to look like.  Her parents had kept that a secret.  Cassandra jumped up and down with joy when she took off the blind fold.  Her easel was still in the room, right by the windows so she could look out and get some ideas.  She got a brand new bed with some tables and lamps; new sheets and blanket, too.  She even had enough room to have a slumber party.

Mortimer and Bella took turns doing the overnight feedings.  They took a joint paternity/maternity leave to care for Damen and to spend time with Alexander and Jada.  Cassandra understood the attention a baby would need, but the toddlers wouldn't be able to understand.  They both became curious about Damen, then they would go back to playing with their own toys, only peeking up at the baby if he made a fuss.  Mortimer dreamily smiled at his son while feeding him in the night.  Having children was intoxicating.  Mortimer started think that Bella should be pregnant all the time again.  They had the independent wealth to raise a large family.  He knew that Bella would murder him in his sleep for suggesting such an idea.  Mortimer would have to wait until Damen was a toddler, at least, before he mentioned having more children or Bella might have him committed.

 As Damen grew his schedule became routine.  Mortimer spent nap times with Alexander and Jada.  He was amazed at the transformation Alexander was going through.  Preschool was working wonders on him.  Mortimer was able to sit and play and babble with Alexander.  Mortimer left like the luckiest man alive when he son looked him in the eyes.  During one of their play times Mortimer thought he would fly to the moon in back when Alexander wrapped his little arms around Mortimer's neck and said "I wuv you da".

Cassandra was annoyingly bored without Darryl around.  Bella called Darryl's mother Bebe to arrange for Darryl to come over after school for awhile so his family could get things in order.  After that Darryl started coming home with Cassandra every day.  Bella or Mortimer made them do their homework straight away before they took off to play.  Bebe was grateful that the Goths took care of Darryl for a couple of hours every day; he started improving at school by leaps and bounds.

Cassandra enjoyed having her best friend over every day.  He was like a brother.  She wouldn't know what to do without him.  After they had their turn to run themselves ragged outside.  Then they would come inside to watch TV before Darryl's mom came to pick him up.  Of course they wasted the first half hour debating what show to watch.  Darryl wanted to watch the cop drama Order & Law; Cassandra wanted to watch Outlast, a reality show featuring regular sims trying to outlast their teammates on Twikii Island.  Cassandra managed to win the argument every time and they both had their favorite contestant they wanted to win.  During commercials Cassandra and Darryl would make plans to be on the show one day and win together so they could split the winning jackpot.

The simple life was some of the best moments the Goths would cherish.  Bella would stay home and care for their three little ones during the day.  She watched her husband head for the company car and her daughter for the bus to school before gathering up the newspaper and taking a moment to herself.  Later in the day Mortimer and Bella briefly crossed paths.  They kissed each other as Mortimer would come in the door and Bella walked out the door for work.  Some days it seemed hectic, but it work for them.

Occasionally Bella would hire a babysitter and run some errand around town.  Bella started volunteering at the school after the principal approached the diner for an extra curricular cooking program.  She rotated her time teaching lower elementary students to make fruit parfets, upper elementary students to make mac and cheese, and a variety of foods for the high schoolers who were interested in a cooking club.  Bella had always thought it was adorable that Cassandra and Darryl were best friends.  Once she started spending time at the school she realized that they were the only friends they had for each other.  They seemed happy with that but Bella hoped Cassandra would be able to reach out and make some other friends.

Gunther's career was coming to an end.  His run as Leader of the Free World was just about up.  He felt that he had another election run in him, but he was unsure if it is something he wanted to do.  He had decades in office.  Research was indicating that his policies were outdated.  Truth was he had outlived most of his constituents and friends.  Gunther knew he was well beyond young and hip.  He visited the gym on occasion, though it wasn't something he could really get into.  However, the gym was a hotspot for the younger crowd and if Gunther was going to find more acquaintances for another run for office he had to start somewhere.

 Bella met up with her friend Donna Landgraab at the gym for an aerobics class. Their husbands may hate each other but they kept the family feud separate from their friendship.  Bella and Donna met at the diner and became fast friends.  Unfortunately, their children would not be raised as the best of friends.  That didn't stop Bella and Donna from meeting at the gym or grabbing a cup of coffee occasionally.  They had hoped they could work towards getting their husbands to be civil to each other but the grudge ran too deep.

As she promised herself after too many grilled cheese sandwiches, the gym became her second home.  In the past she worked alone on the treadmill or the weight machines, then she discovered the fun of working out with a friend.  Slow and steady and the baby weight started coming off.  Eventually, the aerobics class was not needed anymore.  Bella only stopped by a couple times a week to maintain her weight goal.  She decided to shake things up a little and take up swimming for exercise so if she needed to miss a day or two she could make it up at home in her own pool.

Life was busy for all.  Even the simple life can keep those who are living it on their toes.  Bella and Donna, both distracted by family and work, met less often than they would like.  They still managed to meet every once and awhile.  During one of their follow-up gym visits Donna announced that she got the promotion she was working towards and that she was expecting her second child.  Bella hugged her tightly.  She was excited for her friend even though she was hoping for the same promotion.  The most exciting news was the pregnancy.  Bella had experienced the miracle three times.  The women shared in the joys of their lives and families.