Calm Waters
Tabitha is standing in the middle of the kitchen, staring at the Peacock table, trying to think why she had gone into the kitchen in the first place! She looks at the table, looks round, catches sight of two little pigtails, and remembers! The spare nappy bags! Quickly she digs through the drawers where she was sure she had some stashed away, and dashes out of the kitchen the moment she lays hands on them. Great! Now, where is Eva? “Eva, where are you, sweetie, come here quickly, because Mummy needs to check on Theo.”
Tabitha grins to herself, and can feel her smile growing the moment she lifts Eva high up in the air! She has a daughter! A sweet, cheeky toddler, cute little face, little pigtails, auburn hair of course. She still needs to remind herself that it is really true, she has a daughter, and now, in the bassinet there is a little baby. She actually laughs out loud, which sends Eva into a fit of giggles!
“Do you think that’s funny?” She croons, tickling her, “You have no idea how special you are, little one, you really have no idea! One day, when you’re old enough, we will tell you. We will tell you about the miracle that you are, and why we called you Eva. I suppose we will tell you also why your little brother is called Theodore, which means Gift from God. You are, yes, you are, you both are,” she continues, and probably would have continued a lot longer, but for the footsteps coming into the lounge.
Cousin Chris, she groans to herself, just what I need. I wonder how much he heard. I know I shouldn’t care, really, but I do. She looks up, mainly because of Eva, who is looking up with a very confused expression. She never knew that toddlers could look that confused, and it worries her a little. Chris is standing nearby, a scowl making his eyes almost disappear under his bushy eyebrows. “Great way to go, cousin,” he grates out at her, “nice and kind, ha ha. Great to rub it in, as if you’re the only ones favoured by your God. You know, some peace and quiet in the house could also be a gift from God, and that is exactly what I would be enjoying, if your kids didn’t make such a racket.”
With that, he is out of the lounge again, leaving Tabitha almost as confused as Eva. The little girl looks at her face, and Tabitha brings on the sunniest smile she can pull, and they both giggle, and spin round, and play, until Tabitha feels all the anger floating out of the huge latticed windows. She tidies herself up a bit, straightens the lounge, and as she turns to go to the room with the bassinet, she glimpses a shade of red going round the corner. Victoria.
Tabitha’s happiness has a little wobble, she feels so sad for Victoria! After all, the girl grew up in an amazing house, a mansion, richly decorated and furnished, with fun loving people. Now she is living in their cluttered house, as varied in colour as the ‘amazing technicolour dreamcoat’, apart from the amazing bit that is. She wonders if Victoria ever regrets marrying Chris? Not at first of course, as Chris was all smiles and hugs whilst courting her. He dressed immaculately for their wedding, and even for the wedding reception. The pictures show him smiling broadly at Victoria, hugging her, talking to her.
Tabitha tries to think when that changed. She knows that straight after their wedding Richard was diagnosed with Llama Flu. She shivers, like she always does when she thinks of that time. Her stomach still does a flip when she remembers the fear and anxiety of those days. Victoria had been so sweet then, helping her, supporting her and Richard. They had lived in the Granny Annexe for a while, until just before Eva was born. Victoria had suggested they moved back, and she and Chris would live in the Annexe.
Tabitha thinks through the moments they have had, and that is when Richard notices her. He is feeding Theodore when she walks into their room. “You alright?” he asks, looking a bit concerned, but still focussed on his son. His son! He can’t get over it, one moment he is going to live with Llama Flu, and all that entails, the next moment he is the immensely proud father of two children! “You look like you’re thinking,” he smiles at Tabitha, “trying to remember something you needed to do? Bath Eva? Clean Theo? Kiss me?”
Tabitha laughs, honestly, Richard can cheer her up any time! “I was just thinking about Victoria,” she says, “I was trying to remember when Chris stopped being outgoing, smiling, and returned to his usual sulky self. I spotted Victoria walking past the lounge, and I just wondered how she really is doing at the moment. You both grew up in such a lush environment, with so much luxury, it must be hard to leave all that behind.” She looks at Richard, and tries to smile at him. She doesn’t want to sound like she thinks he is ungrateful or materialistic, but she is a realist!
Richard looks at the tasteful blue room, the little boy in his arms, beautiful wife standing in front of him, and his smile reaches from one ear to the other ear, splitting his face in two. “Oh sweetheart, don’t you worry about that, not ever! I have all I need, all I want, you’re the best thing any man can have. I also have two adorable kids, what more would I want? I’m the richest man in Sims Mobile, who cares about stuff? You know, having the Flu helped to get life into perspective. It’s so sweet of you to think about that though, you’re my love!”
Tabitha is relieved, she knows he really means it. He really is the kindest man she could imagine, and to be married to him is, well, amazing doesn’t really do it justice! She looks round the room as well, happy with the blue bedspread… “I’m so glad we have a blue bedspread,” she says with great conviction. Richard straightens up from the bassinet, and stares at her.
“Excuse me?” he hesitates, looking totally confused, “did I miss part of the conversation? I thought we were talking about something different?”
Tabitha laughs, “It’s my wild train of thought,” she jokes, “it just took an unexpected turn. I was thinking about the Llama Flu, and the horror of those days, and how I used to wake up looking at the yellow bedspread. I vowed at one time that I would get rid of it, and never sleep under a stripy yellow bedspread again! Life is so different now, the Llama days seem a different lifetime, something that happened to another generation, and I just thought how grateful I was to have a blue bedspread.”
They laugh, her wild thought patterns a standing joke between them. Tabitha maintains that it helps her in her job, that it makes her a more creative photographer. Richard winds her up, and says that she just uses it as a smart excuse in order to get away with chaotic conversations! They look at each other, holding hands, smiling into each other’s eyes. “Can you remember that party Victoria threw for us? The one straight after Eva was born? Everyone seemed to turn up in yellow! In fact, one of the guests thought they had misread the party invite, and missed the fact that it was supposed to be a yellow party!”
“That was such a wonderful night, and I remember the feeling of your hands, your kisses, when we renewed our vows…It was so special, I was so moved…” Tabitha’s throat isn’t being very cooperative just now, she can only swallow, not speak. “I remember,” she manages to squeak out, “I remember us both promising to love and to hold, to cherish, in everything, in sickness and health… By then we really knew what those words meant, we weren’t just rattling our way through them in order to finish the Event. We meant them. Doesn’t that seem forever ago? But I can still see us both, standing under the arch, you in your canary shirt…” she can’t talk, she is laughing too much now, remembering Richard, by then the picture of health, wearing a ridiculous getup, love radiating off him in huge waves, encapsulating her, captivating her, enveloping her, until they were the only people on Sims Planet, let alone Sims Mobile.
Nothing else mattered, nothing else was needed, just the two of them. She remembers the tiny pitter patter of Eva’s staggering first few steps, and how it had reduced her to tears, overwhelmed with God’s goodness in all their riches.
Looking at the little bassinet, just able to spot a tiny fist waving about, she thinks back to those days, dreaming, floating on the memories. She looks up at her Mr Handsome, and says, in a much more serious voice, “You know, I can’t ever forget those hair raising days, the heartache and grief, but you know, I realise how easy it is to become placid. It is so easy to slide into everyday life, and to just take it all for granted!”
Richard agrees, “Yes, I sort of vowed that I would never take good health for granted again. Most days I do, though, and it’s scarily easy to do so! Life is so full and busy, and we lap it up, and we forget to actually stop and thank God for it. We just live it, love the gifts, enjoy the gifts and use them, and we actually in all our busy moment forget the Giver! It’s only when things go wrong that we look for something or someone to blame. We never blame anyone when things go the way we want them to go… It’s just so easy to do, I mean, life is so amazing, and the days just glide from one day into the next, it’s so surreal after the manic stress and devastating terror of those Llama days!”
Tabitha goes back to the kitchen, thinking about this. Victoria helps her to get dinner ready, and they chat a little in between grilling and stirring. “How are you doing?” asks Tabitha, “I meant to ask you the other day, we just seem to move past each other all the time!”
Victoria smiles, she always smiles thinks Tabitha, and shrugs, “Oh, I have been busy too, although not in the same way as you have of course! The Court is just quite busy at the moment, there have been quite a few parties in town, so that always brings extra work of course.” Tabitha grimaces and nods, parties can be like that. Looking at Victoria’s cute pixie like face, she realises that she could actually listen to Victoria’s voice for ages, it’s so sweet!
“I saw your friends quite a while ago, you know, the guy with the cowboy hat? They came in to register their daughter’s birth! It can’t have been that long before Eva was born, it was definitely around the time of…of…well, you know, that awful time, when everyone in town was so worried. Penny they called her, so sweet! She really is a cute little girl, and they are so happy! They were both at the Celebration Party as well, you know, after…after…” Victoria’s melodious voice actually harpers a bit, Tabitha notices in shock, “They said they had someone keeping an eye on Penny, and they took it in turn to pop back home to double check. I wonder if they have had another baby yet, or whether they will just have the one. Its such a responsibility, you know, so I can understand about families with just one child. Seems a tiny bit sad for the child though, if you know what I mean. Also, it’s then easy to put all your hopes and expectations on the one child, which could be awkward, like with…” she stops, blushes a bit, and turns to the microwave, “Oh, this one is done, I just love how you can nuke things quickly!”
Tabitha is a bit dazed after all that, and grins in herself, “I know I said I could listen to her sweet clear voice all day? Well, I think I just did…!”
Victoria breezes out of the kitchen once they’re finished, smiling, and chattering to Adrianna. Tabitha looks at the two of them disappearing off to some project no doubt, Mum loves projects, an Victoria always seems to have a surplus of energy… I wish I could borrow some, at least till Theo sleeps through the night… Interesting that she suddenly stopped though, when talking about small families. Maybe she isn’t as happy as she looks. After all, Chris is Mr Awkward at the best of times, with his longsuffering attitude…with the stress on suffering… Honestly, I’m sure he just looks for opportunities to become the victim of something or other! I wonder what they think about our children? I have seen Victoria watching, smiling as usual, and Chris seems to glare every time they make a noise. I just wonder…poor Victoria,, I hope she really is alright?