The Shep Ferguson Family Ch. 5 Pt. 2

Gillian Ferguson Blackford and her family, continued...

Although Lucy Hanby had died mysteriously minutes before, Jeremy's young son Robby was waiting outside and Jeremy went out to play basketball with him as promised. After a couple hours they took a dip in the pool to cool off and then went fishing. The Blackfords soon sent the urn of the unfortunate and seemingly deranged Lucy Hanby to her family in Toledo. 

Gillian felt rested after her nap and made barbeque ribs and cherry pie, Robby’s favorite dessert. Robby ate a second piece later on in the evening.

That night Gillian said to Jeremy,

“We’ll have to call the service and request another maid, I guess. Seems so coldhearted to just replace her so soon.” 

She put off calling the maid service still feeling sad about Lucy. But the next day at the usual time the maid service van pulled up and a brand new French maid got out. Her name was Leesa Leelaporn.

It was another weekend morning and the family was eating cereal. Gillian was due any minute and did not feel up to cooking omelets or pancakes. When she took her afternoon nap, Jeremy and Robby read books. Suddenly they heard Gillian call out in distress. Jeremy rushed into their bedroom and there was a soft and very sweet new baby boy in Gillian’s arms. Robby liked the name Ryan; he wanted his little brother and him to have the same initials, so Ryan Jeremy the baby became.

Robby had been very frightened when he heard his mother cry with childbirth pains, but she hugged him and said she was just fine now and not to worry. Then she went out to fish with Jeremy. Sims 2 women had a tradition of being truly remarkable when it came to childbirth; almost like pioneer women. Nothing fazed them in life anyway except someone else ascending a set of stairs at the same time they were. That absolutely freaked them out. Just stay out of their path at all times and life with a Sims 2 woman could be blissful.

Robby was the same active, adventurous little boy he'd been and he was anxious for the time his younger brother could join him in pranks and activities. It was hard for him to imagine the little pink morsel in the nursery would ever be able to make newspaper airplane with him.

Margo Ferguson Candeloro and her family... 

Two blocks down and one block over from Gillian and Jeremy Margo and Kevin were busy with their toddler twins when Margo’s oldest brother Nicky, decided to come by to visit. It was just about suppertime so he sat down to the meal with them. Jamie and Maddie were playing on the floor behind them. 

As soon as he finished his meal Nicky was over playing with the twins. Kids always took to Nicky right away. The thing that had surprised Gillian and Margo was how comfortable he seemed to be when it came to bathing or potty training, or wiping up spills of this or that. Nothing fazed him. Kevin and Margo had been dealing with potty-training for two weeks with minimum success. That night right in front of their eyes Nicky got both Jamie and Maddie to use their potty with no problems. 

“Okay, that could have been just that one night that they did it,” Margo told Gillian later, “and it’s true Kevin and I have been working on it for a couple weeks. But the thing is, after Nicky was gone, the twins have used the potty every since with no coercion. They just get up from play and toddle over to the it and do their business. Frankly, I’ll be eternally grateful to Nicky.”

Once the twins were in bed, Kevin and Nicky played some cut-throat SSX3 and Margo joined in to cheer. It was late when Nicky said goodbye and headed to his new house. 

“You forgot to tell him about the baby,” Kevin suddenly remembered.

 “I can’t tell  him, Kev, I haven’t even told my mom about the pregnancy yet. Believe me, she’ll get the word out,” Margo laughed, “another baby for Nicky to spoil. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t settled down yet, he can always come and visit all of our kids and then leave when he’s tired of it.”

She spoke to her mother, Madeleine, by phone the next day and after her announcement regarding the new baby told her about Nicky and the twins, 

“I think he has the gift. What a shame if he never has children of his own. Gillian said Nicky is the one who talked Robby into giving up his ‘Nikey’. Maybe it’s just that the kids love him so much they want to impress him, I don’t know. But Jeremy and Gillian both had tried everthing to get Robby to let go of that pathetic dog-eared remnant of a baby blanket. They were afraid he would still be carrying it right into high school.”

Madeleine laughed, “Well, I’d just be happy if he’d meet a nice girl. Instead he keeps taking up with women twenty years older than him or, and I hate to say this, a few frisky housewives.”

Since potty-training was a done deal thanks to Nicky, Margo and Kevin worked on other necessary training, like learning to talk, learning to walk. Creativity, logic and mechanical skills were part of their play every day. The twins started each day early, usually waking at 5 am and screaming for a while. If they didn't actually need to get out of their cribs to potty or eat, they would settle down and amuse themselves for a while. Then it was potty time, followed baths and breakfast.

 

There was a new baby on the way---or two? Twins certainly ran in the Ferguson family. And then it would be time for Jamie and Maddie's birthday.

Holly and Andy

After the little get together for Harvey and Lori, Holly was hinting to her mother to invite Andy’s family over. She wanted ribs to be served and she promised to help Madeleine prepare for the party. That was more than Harvey had done, certainly.

It was a Sunday again. Madeleine and Shep had never met Larry Max—they had only got to know Andy in the past few weeks that Holly had been home. Larry Max brought his oldest son, Mike and his wife, Lucy. They had been married about 18 months and were still living with Larry Max.

The Fergusons had recently changed a few things in the house. The downstairs art studio was now a game room. The studio had been moved up to the second floor where Debbie’s bedroom was previously. Debbie now had a larger room and a bathroom for herself on the same floor. So Mike and Lucy and Debbie played DWTL in the game room before dinner.

The meal of ribs was as big a success with the Lomax family as the turkey dinner had been with the Lassiters. Madeleine could not know but no one in the Lomax family had enjoyed good home-cooked barbequed ribs since Jenny Lomax left them a few years ago. 

After the meal Holly and Debbie cleared the dishes while the rest of the family visited in the living room. 

Andy had earlier asked Debbie to wait till the dishes were done and then tell Holly he would wait for her out on the back porch.

Holly came out dining room door which led onto the side porch. As she stepped into the quiet summer night looking for Andy she heard him whisper.

“Holly, over here, babe.”

As soon as she came near Andy took her hand and dropped down on one knee. He proposed right there and gave her the ring. After quite a bit of kissing and hugging, understandably of course, they strolled into the living room and announced that it was official and everyone, though hardly surprised, cheered for the couple. Now when would THIS wedding come about? Before or after Harvey and Lori's wedding?

 

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Former player, Nicky Ferguson was enjoying his new home; in fact, it was his first home. There was a small pond and a friend of his, Lonnie Hammond, often came over to fish with him. He could relax around Lonnie, they enjoyed a lot of the same things, including women, but in Lonnie’s case, he just wanted to stay unaffiliated; while Nicky had now decided he wanted to settle down, if it was possible.

The trouble was he was unsure where to meet a woman, the right kind of woman anyway. He didn't feel it was likely he'd meet a future wife and mother sitting at the bar in some place called "The Affair". However; he was getting pretty lonesome in his self-imposed exile so one night he went to Bluewater Village to Dante’s Club. Plenty of men came in that night, including seniors, but only a few women, none of them his type at all. Most discouraging; although, admittedly, it was early. Then to his great surprise his younger brother Harvey walked in to the joint.

“What are you doing here, kid?” Nicky said with a look of disapproval. Harvey was 13 years younger than him and Nicky still thought of him as a youngster in some ways, even if he was 21.

“Oh, I just thought I’d check it out,” Harvey shrugged.

“Where’s Lori?”

“She’s at home.”

“You got a good thing going with her so don't louse it up.  You don’t need to be here; you should stay home or better yet, take her out to dinner or a movie.”

“I know I’ve got a good thing, I just wanted to get a look. Sheesh, Nick, try to chill. Hey, is that guy over there the owner?” Harvey pointed to a dark haired gentleman who was chatting up some customers.

“Yeah, that’s Dylan Ottomas. They’ve got the D.J. tonight, but Dylan frequently plays with whatever band is here on weekends, why?”

“Does Brian Ottomas ever play here?” Harvey asked.

Nicky thought that over,

“Yeah, I’ve seen him here once or twice with his band, that was over a year ago though. Why? How do you know him?”

“Man, you are one suspicious guy. I don’t know him personally, okay? I’ve heard of his band. I found out this place was owned by someone named Ottomas and I didn’t know which one.”

“So that’s why you came here?”

“No. Well, sort of,” he admitted, “Lori once knew this Brian guy. Anyway, I can see it’s kind of slow tonight, so I guess I’ll leave.”

“You’re right, it’s dead in here. Harvey, I didn’t mean to sound so grumpy, but I don’t want you to get off on the wrong foot in life the way I did. Stay out of clubs like this. In fact, that’s good advice for me too. I don’t need to be here either.”

He paused a minute,

“Did you get a job yet?”

“Just today,” Harvey smiled, “I was getting worried. I start on Monday.”

“You’ll do great, Harvey, you’re educated and you’ve got ambition. Get married and have some kids while you’re young, I wish I had.”

Harvey was so surprised at that statement he stood there and watched as Nicky left. Then he went home too.

Although he’d been a playboy, Nicky was a better “catch” than might have seemed to most people. He really did not hang out at the clubs anymore. He was a good cook, a natural with children and loved gardening, raising his own vegetables year round.  He also painted, having inherited artistic talent from both his parents. He even cleaned toilets and showers when necessary.

When Nicky went over in his mind the women he’d known in the past he kept wondering where he’d made his mistake. There were really two main reasons for his failure to connect, he realized. For one thing he’d always seemed to be attracted to women who were unavailable for long term commitment for one reason or another. And he’d been way too busy having a good time to really think about the future. No plan. He remembered once he’d been quite serious about a couple different women, but Allyn Thompson was the only one who stuck out in his mind. They’d dated several years ago, but when he’d left town for a couple years he had not even kept in touch with her. He never ran into her around Pleasantview; so he figured she had married long ago and had three kids by now.

When he was tending his cucumbers early one morning he saw her on the sidewalk in front of his house. He almost stumbled trying to get out to her before she went on by. It really was Allyn, she looked the same. A pretty blonde with a sweet smile. She seemed surprised and happy to see him. They talked for a long time until the heat got to them and he invited her in to the house for a cold drink.

As they talked Allyn admitted with a smile,

“You know, I’ve had a crush on you since I was 15, Nicky,” and she looked up at the portrait his mother had drawn of him at just that age, “When you asked me out years ago, it was something I’d dreamed of for quite a while. When you left several months later it kind of broke my heart, but," she teased, "I forgive you.”

It turned out that she was not married and she had no children. Almost as though she’d been waiting just for him, he thought. Nicky knew it had to be fate. But he had no intention of leaving it up to fate alone; he planned on working to get the girl he wanted this time. He would make her happy, that he promised himself, and make her forget, or at least forgive, his former callousness.

So the Ferguson family seemed to growing by leaps and bounds in various ways. Perhaps Madeleine really would get her dream of at least six grandchildren.

 

Next update: The Shep Ferguson Family Ch. 6 His Brother Scott