Bobbi Jo Cooke aka Brandi Broke Ch 2 Her New Life

Updating from Oct. 21 post. Bobbi Jo Cooke was formerly known as pre-made Brandi Broke in Sims 2.

Author’s note: I’m sorry this update was so long in coming. Frankly I got tied up with certain of my first families and their stories leading up to several teenagers leaving for University. I hope now to be able to continue some of the threads I started and then dropped. So this is the story of Bobbi Jo’s new life with Julian Cooke and her daughter, Elle.

As was mentioned in the last update on Bobbi Jo, Julian Cooke asked her to marry him and he would make a home for her and Elle. Julian was an important chef at an exclusive restaurant in the big city and had moved in next door only a year ago. In fact, that was how Bobbi Jo and he had met. Once they were officially engaged he built a second floor to his house with a bedroom for Elle right next to their bedroom.  He knew it would all be a big change for a little girl who had only been with her new family for about four years. He also wanted to build an art studio for his soon to be wife, an artist. 

Just before the wedding Julian and Bobbi Jo moved all of her things (including most of the portraits she had done of her kids) and all of Elle’s things to the new home. It was comforting to Elle that her big brothers Jody and Leonid would only be next door.

The Cooke home with Bobbi Jo's former home on the right of the picture. (It is now owned by her youngest son, Jody).

Julian and Bobbi Jo took only a weekend honeymoon, leaving Elle with the boys. Bobbi Jo gave them the lecture on keeping an eye on their sister as men tended to get tunnel vision and had been known to ignore or simply not notice children getting into trouble, or even getting into danger. 

When Julian and Bobbi Jo got back late Sunday night the old house was still standing and Elle looked to be well-fed and safe although she was up way past her bedtime and not in her pajamas. They had planned to leave her there for the night because they thought she’d be sleeping. Bobbi Jo just had to check on her though and Elle was so excited she was hopping back and forth as she gave her breathless report.

"Saturday we went ice-skating and Jody ordered pizza afterward. The good kind with mostly cheese and pepperoni. Then today we went to the Arcades and to the movies and afterward we went to the drive-in, but we ate inside. Leonid let me have a cheeseburger and a banana split! I almost couldn’t finish them. And Jody was talkin’ to the waitress all the time, she liked him a lot.  Mom, she has to wear skates to work there!”

Bobbi Jo nodded, “Goodness, it certainly sounds like you had a marvelous time.”

She looked up at Jody and Leonid with a somewhat accusing look in her eyes.

“Well, she said wanted two of them,” Leonid pointed out. Elle looked back and forth between her mother and her brothers.

“I only threw up a little bit on the way home, honest,” Elle helpfully informed Bobbi Jo, hoping to rectify the situation she was starting to think she had caused.

Bobbi Jo put her hand on her daughter’s forehead, testing how warm it was.

“I’m better now. And I had a marvelous time!” Elle repeated her mother’s phrasing (she often did that) and then asked, “Are we going to Julian’s house now?”

“It’s your house now, too, Little Bit,” Julian told her.

“I think we’d better take her with us, but I’m going to call her in sick tomorrow,” Bobbi Jo said.

“Mom, I guess we got carried away,” Jody said.

“It’s okay, Jody, you heard her; she had a ‘marvelous time’,” Bobbi Jo finally smiled, “And she has no fever, but she definitely won’t be able to get up in the morning being up this late.”

“She can stay here again,” Leonid spoke.

Elle looked anxious, she loved her brothers but she wanted to go with her mother now that she was back.

Bobbi Jo shook her head, “No, I’d just have to come over and wake her when you two left for work.”

She looked down at Elle, smoothing her hair which was in disarray with one ponytail lower than the other because it was slipping out of the elastic, “Anyway, I think she wants to be with us tonight.”

She thanked the boys for keeping Elle and assured them she really did appreciate it and Elle would be fine.

Elle loved her new room right away. It was in her favorite colors; light pink and dark pink. It was also a little smaller than her old one, but everything had its place and she loved the new canopy bed. Bobbi Jo kissed her and tucked her in saying she should sleep in the next morning.

Elle was just too excited, though. She woke up before dawn, turned on the lights and began playing with her beloved dollhouse. Her mother still kept her home that day and, in fact, Elle began yawning around lunch and fell asleep on the couch for a couple hours.

The following weekend Julian fished and her mother spent a lot of time playing with Elle in their pool. Elle liked to go down and see how long she could hold her breath, but her mother was not fond of her doing that in the deep water. So they played Marco Polo most of the afternoon until Bobbi Jo wanted Elle to get out of the water for a while. Julian grilled ribs and they ate in the kitchen. 

Time passed, Elle continued to do well in school, and Julian treated her like his own little girl. She had become friends with some other children, but her closest friends were Holly Ferguson, Lori Lassiter and Melanie Flynn. A new girl moved in, Chelsea Lomax, and she became a part of this circle of friends, too. She had bright red hair just like Elle.

It was getting to be time for her birthday and Elle knew that her childhood days were nearly over; it was time for new and different adventures.

On the day of her birthday she wanted to play with her dollhouse one last time. It would still be there, in the corner of her room, but somehow she knew she would never play with it the same way again.

Around 6 p.m. Julian called up the stairs, “Little Bit, it’s time to come down and have supper.”

After supper they would celebrate her birthday with a big cake and Elle could make a wish. When she stood in front of her cake Julian starting blowing a horn and her mother began swinging a noisemaker. They certainly were excited, Elle thought.She very calmly made her secret wish and blew out the candles. And just like that Elle was a teenager. She looked in the mirror and liked what she saw. She knew she had unique looks and that suited her just fine.

The next morning she was off to high school. She was eager to learn to cook as well, starting out with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Meanwhile, Bobbi Jo had some news for her beloved Julian. She’d been nauseous that morning after breakfast and barely made it to the bathroom. She’d had three children already and she recognized morning sickness when she experienced it. She knew Julian would be happy and she loved him, there was no doubt, but when she had her head in the toilet, her thoughts of him were temporarily less than convivial.

Julian was not happy; he was ecstatic. When Bobbi Jo’s tummy popped out and she really looked pregnant, he was always patting her mid-section. She too began to be really excited about the baby now that the morning sickness had passed. He told everyone that he did not care whether it was a boy or girl, as long as the baby was healthy. Bobbi Jo was more pragmatic; she was not likely to have another pregnancy after this; she was getting on. Julian said not, but she knew he would like a son to carry on his name. She’d had three boys, perhaps she would again, and she secretly worried that Elle would feel displaced by a baby girl. When they found out the baby was definitely male, she was content.

Since she did not want to work outside the home, Bobbi Jo began to work on her memoirs. “Her memoirs”, she thought with an inward smile, they’ll have to be published in a boxed set, like the Twilight Saga.  So many things had happened to her already.

 

As Bobbi Jo reviewed her life she realized that one of the best things, after her children; was Julian. She’d thought she’d loved Skip as much as anyone could love someone, but it was so long ago it was hard to remember the intensity. And they'd been so very young. Bobbi Jo had to be honest with herself; Julian was a kinder, nobler man than Skip had ever been. She’d actually never been happier in her life.

One morning they woke up and Julian headed for the downstairs bathroom while Bobbi Jo was going to use the master bathroom. She barely got in the door and went into labor. Julian freaked, but Christopher Julian Cooke arrived safely that morning. Julian couldn’t wait to get his hands on his son, who responded happily to both his parents.

As for Elle, since she often rose earlier than Bobbi Jo, it became her habit every morning to check on her baby brother and change him if needed. She didn’t seem jealous at all; instead she doted on Christopher, right from the beginning.

Now that she was in high, Elle could go out with friends by herself. Trey Lassiter was one of her favorite escorts. They weren’t involved romantically, really, but he was funny and he didn’t seem to mind squiring her to basketball games, roller-skating, or just to Sonic or Sam’s for a bite to eat.

Sooner than seemed possible, it was time for Christopher’s birthday.

What a little doll of a toddler he was, too, everyone said so.  It was plain to see he had his father’s nose and his mother’s eyes.

Bobbi Jo took time to enjoy her son; things had been so stressed and money so tight with Dustin and Beau and then she'd only recently become a widow when Jody was born. So she wanted to savor every moment of Christopher's childhood. At times he reminded her of Jody when he was small, but mostly he just looked like a stamped out miniature of Julian. He was as affectionate and sweet-tempered as Julian, too.

It was getting near to the time when Elle would leave for college. She was so excited, but she dreaded leaving Christopher behind. She cried about it to Bobbi Jo one night,

“He’ll be all grown up by the time I see him again!”

Bobbi Jo hugged her daughter, “I don’t think he’ll be all grown up by Christmas, sweetie.”

“You know what I mean, I’ll miss everything!”

There was one last party to attend, the send-off pool  party at the Lassiter’s. They always gave great parties and there was so much to do at their house. That was only three days before Elle left for the University.

The last day before she left she spent most of her time with Christopher, but in the evening she talked on the phone with Holly about their exciting future. She would miss her little brother, but she was very excited now about starting school. All her friends would be going with her, Lori and Trey Lassiter, Holly and Harvey Ferguson, Melanie Flynn, Chelsea Lomax, Colby Goth and especially Corky Lomax, whom she thought was hot.

Bobbi Jo actually dreaded Elle leaving, although she did not tell her. She was so much help around the house and with Christopher for one thing. But also Elle had hardly been out of her sight since she arrived from the Children's Home at six years old. She was extremely close to her daughter and they talked all the time, she would miss her terribly.

She was very glad she had Christopher and she knew he would keep her busy. Besides Elle was so smart, Bobbi Jo wanted her to have every opportunity to continue her education. In reality, she knew Elle was not prone to trouble and she would have many of her friends around, but even so, it is hard to let your child step out into the world without your protection. So Bobbi Jo kept her qualms to herself and assured her daughter they would always be there for her. Only Julian knew how hard this was for her and how she worried at times. Thank goodness for Julian.

That was the last installment on Bobbi Jo Broke, news of her will appear from time to time in the Lomax thread...you'll see why in the Lomax thread if you read the University stories from Pinenut Plaza. But her daughter Elle's story will continue through University and beyond.

Next update: The Lassiters Ch. 9 Senior Summer

To read about Elle at University go HERE