Changing Seasons. Winter III, part 1

Winter III, part 1 “I like your lion.” Amber needed a break and had wandered out of her room to see what the others were doing.
“Thanks. I could see him in the wood. Plus, Minnie’s daughter – Julie-with-the-gallery – says that animal things always sell well. Talking of Julie, she asked if we’d seen what Minnie was doing.” “I might go down and have a look. I’m brain-dead at the moment. I need to chat to Clara again – I swear she understands my heroine better than I do!”
“Does she get co-author then?”
“No, but I’m dedicating it to her. Don’t tell her – I want it to be a surprise. Do you want to come as well or are your creative juices flowing nicely?”
“I could do with some fresh air. Let’s bike down there.” “Wow! When did all this happen?” Amber was amazed at the changes.
“I last saw Julie a couple of weeks ago, and she said they were about to start. She said Minnie had got the whole tribe in on it.” “Minnie, this is amazing,” Amber said over her shoulder.
“Christmas stuff,” said Rafe. “We need to think about Christmas. And do it in style.” “It’s fantastic! I can’t believe how hard you must have all worked.”
Minnie smiled at Amber’s evident admiration. “Well, I’ll tell the rest of them that you’re right impressed with it. Mind you, Susie’s Dan, this is what he does for a living, so he’s kind of got the experience, if you know what I mean, and we didn’t waste time with silly mistakes. His boss was fine with him borrowing the tools he didn’t already own too. You get on real fast with good tools.” “Be sure to tell me if there’s anything else I could be adding to the stock. There’ll be some more Christmas things coming in – but I had me some little bits left over from last year, so I put them out right away just to be reminding folks that Christmas is coming. And I figured that nice Honey might be wanting to pick up some little things, but I know they’ve not got a lot of money. What’s this I hear about Frank’s stepmother moving in with them…?” “Tell you what, little brother, you make a mean ratatouille.”
“Thanks,” Leo said, pleased that his cooking had turned out well.
“Come the spring, I’m going to trim those bushes out there into a nice hedge,” Amber said. “Marcus says the grass will help hold the soil together, and a hedge will shelter whatever we plant. I’m thinking outdoor sculpture garden.”
“That could work well,” Rafe agreed. “Well, we’ve nearly done a year here. First Christmas coming up! I think we can celebrate, don’t you?” Marcus had given them some wine as a thank you for their help over the last two weekends – this seemed like a good time to open it. “Okay, Lucie, you’ve been in charge of our day-to-day running costs. And this is the end of our third quarter. How are we doing?”
“We’re easily within our estimates for them. We’ve got nearly three months in hand, but we have been being very economical: we’ve bought no new clothes for instance, so I want to keep that buffer…” Amber listened admiringly as Lucie explained clearly and concisely exactly where their money was going. Lucie closed her folder and Rafe opened his.
“I think we probably could open this place as a gallery inside our original three year estimate. Based on what we’re selling and how our names and Lachlan’s are getting known. But we need more here than just a gallery. I think it’s time to consider some of the other buildings and how we can develop them as well. Tomorrow – in the daylight! – let’s go and have a look at the bar/restaurant place. Now, as to the details of our income in this last quarter…” “This place is opposite the gallery. If we can get it looking good, outside and in…”
“Yes,” Lucie said. “People will come to a neighbourhood much more readily than to a single building.” “Talking of neighbourhood,” Amber said, “if we could get this room alone looking good again, I think people would come here. Artie and Old Tench for two. Us. If we get Lachlan to fix the table football – and Clara to paint it! – then there’d be something fun and silly to do. One of us could babysit for Lachlan and he could take Marianna out on a date…” And presently they were all deep in discussion as to what to do and how to do it, and what order they should do things in… “Before we start filling this with rubbish, I think I’ll just see if there’s anything good in it.”
“Sooner you than me,” Amber said. “We’re going to need to read How to Restore Old Stonework if we’re going to get this place looking good on the outside.” “Lachlan is amazing! This works like a dream now!”
“No it doesn’t,” Rafe said. “My men aren’t working properly at all.”
“You’re only saying that because you’re losing,” Amber said, teasing him.
“Too true,” Leo said from behind. “I’ve heard that one before. About his chess pieces not working properly because I beat him!” “It’s looking cleaner, but I don’t think we’ve got to welcoming yet. Any suggestions?”
“Posters.” Amber called out over Rafe’s groans as she scored another goal. “It’s got no atmosphere, it’s not telling a story. And maybe better lighting. Perhaps Frank could help with that.” Leo left his brother and Amber to their noisy game and went upstairs to look at his restaurant-to-be – and spotted the pictures on the walls! They’d do for downstairs to help brighten up the place. Perfect! And free! “I had no idea I was so good at upholstery!” Lucie had re-covered all the stools after Rafe and Leo had sanded them down and varnished them.
“I still think it needs more work,” Rafe was busy saying to Leo. “These walls would look better panelled. We could hunt through the other buildings, see what we could repurpose…” “The stonework next,” said Leo.
“I think the space out here,” said Lucie.
“Yes. This paving’s not bad. I think we need to make a garden out here, somewhere you’d be glad to sit,” Amber added.
“Somewhere for the non-art gallery types to enjoy. What type of food works for the art gallery and non-art gallery types both at once?”
“Italian,” said Rafe promptly answering his brother from behind. “Works for everyone. Make your restaurant genuine Italian pizza and everyone will love it. When we get to that stage.”
It was the shortest of walks back across the road to their home – and one of the reasons why they’d got so much done, so fast.
“We’ve got to get the outside of this building looking good before we can open as a gallery as well. That’s going to take some thinking and some doing too.” “If we cleaned up the brick…” said Rafe.
“And painted the walls,” said Lucie.
“And made a roof garden up there,” said Amber.
“You’ve got a thing about gardens,” Rafe said.
“Yes,” Amber said seriously. “I think we need to bring back the green. Bring back nature. What colour were you thinking of painting the walls, Lucie?”
“Colour?” said Lucie. “Who said anything about a colour? I’m planning on painting these walls, not colourwashing them. This is going to be an art gallery, so let’s get it looking like one!” “What are you working on?” Rafe liked Lucie’s studio, with its sketches, paintings and smell of turpentine and oils.
“Sketches. Plans. Ideas for painting the outside.” Lucie’s voice was abstracted and Rafe recognised the signs.
“I’ll cook tonight then, instead of you. Clara’s coming for dinner.”
“Oh good. I might need her help.” She was still concentrating furiously and Rafe left quietly. “I know what she’s running from, even if the reader doesn’t at this point. And why she’s running. Why she’s scraping a living scavenging for junk in the asteroid belt. But I don’t know what she wants beyond the short term.”
“I could give you some ideas if you’d tell me what she’s running from!” Clara pointed out.
“But I don’t want you to know either. What you’re brilliant at is telling me Darya’s motives. Why she does things. Not what she does.” “Clara! Just who I need,” Lucie said, coming into the room.
“I’ve got first dibs on her,” Amber said. “I need to know what Darya wants long-term. Even if she doesn’t really dare hope for it, the longing’s there, deep inside her. Are you getting changed for dinner, because it’s nearly ready.” “You think that’s it then?” Amber asked Clara. “She wants the opposite of what she’s running away from?”
“That makes sense,” Rafe said. “Else why would she be running? She’s not escaping with a treasure that she has to hide, is she?”
“No, that’s for the sequel to The Scarlet Hawk,” Amber said absently.
Leo caught Lucie’s eye across the table. What had Clara been running from, and what was she looking for? They’d have to try and help her find it, whatever it was.

The factory building is by CycloneSue at TSR.
The bar/restaurant was a gift to me from LMC6254, from the SummerFest gift exchange and can be found here:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9395270

Changing Seasons. Autumn III, part 3

Autumn III, part 3 It looked easy. But it wasn’t! Marcus and Annette needed help and were willing to pay, so this made a lot of sense.
“We had a guy coming, but he broke his arm the day before he was due to arrive. And of course getting last-minute help at this time of year is almost impossible,” Marcus had explained. “Another coffee? It won’t take a moment to boil up the kettle again.”
“I can’t believe you found a yellow kettle,” Clara said. “She’s got a bit of a thing about yellow, in case you hadn’t noticed. She doesn’t actually like that breakfast cereal, but the packet matches…”
“Oh, hush, you. How’s Honey doing?” “It’s going nicely, thank you. They do PE outside in the yard. That hopscotch grid’s a hit.” “I repainted that. And the dolls’ house. And quite a lot of other bits of the school, now that I think about it.”
“You can’t frighten Clara with paint,” Annette said, smiling affectionately at her. Were they sisters? Frank didn’t like to ask, but they did look alike. “So how was your day toiling in the vineyard yesterday?” The kitchen had stopped smelling of paint, but would be again pretty soon – Honey was planning to paint the table and chairs as well. They still wouldn’t match for style, but if they were all the same colour, that would be something. “Marcus showed me their cellar and their wine racks – he says they’re steadily producing more and more. When Blake moves into his own farm, they’re going to need some more help on a semi-permanent basis. But I can have as much piecework as I want at the moment, so that’ll help our finances. We can paint our bedroom, as well as putting that new door on it!” “And I really enjoyed it, though I can feel in my muscles! How was your day yesterday? Do you still feel like you’re finding your feet?” “It’s very different from my teacher training! But we’re improvising some good PE lessons. And when Patience isn’t in with her three, then we use the kindergarten room as well. We’re doing lots of maths by playing shop with the nice grocery stand that Leo made for the school. Play is so the best way to learn at that age: much better than sitting at a desk.” “These kitchen colours suit you. They make your eyes look very blue.”
“Thank you!” Honey was enchanted by the compliment.
I should say nice things to her more often, Frank thought. I should tell her what I really think more than I do. “Well, I better get going. Time and tide wait for no man, and Marcus is pretty impatient too at times.”
“Cross impatient? He’s never struck me as that kind of guy.”
“No, just let’s-get-going impatient. That sort of keen and enthusiastic rush-at-things impatience.”
“Ah, now that I can believe. Which probably explains his cooking – I’ve heard about that…” Frank headed off to Marcus and Annette’s, and Honey took the breakfast dishes over to wash them up. They’d found the old-fashioned china still on the shelves where Frank’s grandparents had kept it – dusty and cobwebby and unappealing until they’d washed it and Honey had been delighted by its charm.
“Vintage, Frank! Vintage is really in. And I love it anyway, fashionable or not.”
She held her hands under the tap, waiting for the water to run hot enough. School started at ten and finished at half-past two – that was long enough for a class of four! Sometimes Patience came with her three: it wasn’t too far to walk – and then she got to chat with her, ask her for ideas or advice. “They’re nearly out of those summer dresses. I need to make some more clothes for them!”
“That play table’s been a good birthday present.”
“Two years old now! Time goes so fast! Euan, we’re going to have to extend the house though. They’re a bit young to be in bunk beds yet. Maybe we could fit one more cot in upstairs, but what if it’s twins?” (What if it’s triplets again? they both thought. But didn’t say).
“I’d been thinking that too. Let’s take Barnabas outside with us, and I’ll show you what I thought.” “If we built out over the kitchen – that would give us space for a big bedroom and maybe another bathroom as well. What do you think?”
“I’m guessing you’ve also costed this up,” Patience said with a smile in her voice.
“I have,” Euan said cheerfully. “We can afford it. I’ve asked around for free labour as well and all the lads are up for it.”
“Lads? You mean you didn’t ask Clara? You’ll be hearing about that!” Euan laughed. “Actually, Rafe and Leo told her she’d be more of a liability that an asset.”
“And they’re still alive?”
“Yes, because they explained exactly why, showed her the difference height and strength makes. Give the girl good reasons and she gets them. She’s offered to come and paint though. Are you happy with the plan?”
“Sounds good to me,” Patience said.
“We’re starting at the weekend then. Rafe and Leo will pick up the wood for us. Tom and Artie are coming to help too, but not Marcus or Blake or Frank: they’re too busy.” “How’s all the school stuff going? I haven’t heard about that for a while.” Bedtime was a bit of a rodeo, and Patience was going to bed pretty early herself as well. It was nice to have time to catch up with each other.
“Nicely,” Patience said. “That kindergarten room works really well.” “Hope was playing with the dolls’ house the other day. She was being so cute! Picking up the daddy doll and saying, ‘Daddy go work. It getting dark now. Daddy go work.’ And then picking up one of the baby dolls and saying ‘Nabus, no. Nabus, no. Nabus be good!’” Patience laughed a bit ruefully at the memory. “And while she was saying that, Barnabas was shouting ‘Appu! Appu! Shop! Appu! Buy appu!’ at the top of his well-developed lungs.”
“So what about Joy?” “Well, she was sitting there with a book, trying to look at the pictures. But she did look a little shell-shocked.”
“Our poor girls are going to grow up bomb-proof with Barnabas as a brother!” “And how’s Honey shaping?”
“Very well. She’s got the makings of a really good teacher, especially of little ones. She’s so nice. Really sweet and kind and patient – I don’t think there’s a mean bone in her body. She always wants to find the best in everyone, think the best of everyone.”
“Hmm. It’ll be interesting to see how she and Clara get on.”
“They’ll get on fine,” Patience said firmly. “But I’m not sure they’ll understand each other. Respect each other – I reckon so. Understand? That’s a different one.” “Now you can open your eyes.”
“Wow! Where did all this come from?”
“The plates came from Honey and Frank, the glasses from Rafe and Leo, the cutlery’s ours and so is the candle. Dinner will be ready in about another fifteen minutes, so let’s sit down for a bit first. I hope you’ve got some space after your afternoon tea out!” “And a happy birthday to the most amazing woman I know. I can’t take you out to a fancy restaurant, though I’d love to and you deserve it. So this is my best offer in return.”
Patience felt her eyes fill with tears of pure happiness. Not just for the table and the meal, but because Euan was sitting opposite her, happy and comfortable. He hadn’t let coming here to Two Lakes destroy him, as it might well have done, and she was so grateful for that. Bother. She’d been banking on living rent-free for a few months. For the last three months, actually. Now she was going to have to use her income to pay her rent. No little luxuries for her.
Her third marriage had been disappointing. Stephen Hatter had looked so promising – elderly widower with business interests. She’d turned on the charm for him, hooked him nicely, left Fred Enstein with an explanation of how she had recognised Stephen as a soul-mate, and true love couldn’t be denied…And told Stephen in all confidence how Fred had been unkind to her, but she didn’t want to make it public because his son would suffer, so please could he not tell anyone because Frank didn’t deserve that.
And then Stephen’s two sons had come along and made sure that Stephen left them the lion’s share of the business interests. She hadn’t complained, had told Stephen that of course his sons mattered, their futures mattered. He’d told her she was a wonderful woman – but before she could sweet-talk him into leaving her a bigger share of things, he’d died. And now Frank was out of reach as well. Gone to the lakes indeed! Gone to the lakes. Or gone to Two Lakes? He couldn’t have, could he? But he still owned the house there. (She hadn’t minded not getting that house. Who would buy it anyway? It was worth nothing.)
It had been a big house too. She could go and look – visit people she knew in Newborough, get them to put her up. The letter was forming itself in her head already “…just wanted to visit where I grew up one last time…could you put me up for a couple of days...?” She wouldn’t need any longer than that. It was so much milder here. She’d forgotten, almost. Elaine had been willing to put her up for those couple of days, and she’d played her grieving-but-bearing-it-bravely-widow act. Now she was back in Two Lakes for a couple of hours – Elaine had dropped her off on her way through to Hillside, and would pick her up on her way back. Maddie could see the Enstein place from here and it looked as deserted and run-down as the park she was in. Shabby too, apart from a new-looking front door. The Sunday-quiet lay heavy on the place. No-one was around. Round the side of the house she found clear evidence that someone was living here. A newly-painted room, food on the larder shelves. But it didn’t follow that it was Frank and Honey. The place would have been a magnet for squatters or hippies. She went up to the house and peered through a window, cursing the thorns that threatened to snag her clothes. And there, on the mantelpiece, she saw a handful of objects that she recognised. She’d spent a tiring week cleaning, but she wasn’t going to give the landlord reason to withhold any of her deposit. And she wouldn’t have to do any more cleaning – Honey could take care of that. Her suitcases were packed again, with all her clothes.
And now she was going back to Two Lakes. “The home of my youth…I would love to spend my last few days here…The doctor said…” Already she was planning how to get Frank and Honey to let her stay there. Rent-free for the rest of her life, with a bit of luck. “Well, that was exhausting, but great fun!”
Like the Saturday and Sunday before, they’d spent all weekend helping Marcus and Annette – along with nearly everyone else! “First Euan and Patience’s house and now this,” Rafe had groaned, but you could tell he was enjoying it really.
Honey had surprised herself with how much she’d enjoyed it. “I always thought I was a city girl at heart.”
“Do you think you could like living here, then? Stay, I mean?”
Honey looked at the table, with the old but pretty china on it, the fresh strawberries that Annette had given them from her garden – “Go on, it’s the very last of the crop. Have them! You’ve earned them twice over.” – and then at Frank’s face, losing the signs of stress and worry that had been there at their last house.
“Yes. Yes, I do think I could like living here. Very much indeed.” There was a knock at the new front door.
“Okay, which of us left what behind?” Honey asked. “I thought I heard a vehicle. It’ll be Lucie or Amber with whatever-it-is.” But it wasn’t Amber or Lucie. Standing outside on the porch was Maddie. And on the path beside her was a pile of luggage. It looked like she’d invited herself for a long stay.

The house and family were made for me by Hidehi as a lovely gift.
I’ve tweaked them slightly to fit the scenery of Two Lakes, so if you’re going to play them, they won’t look quite like this. I’ve tweaked Maddie’s personality too…
Link here for the house:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351879
And for the family:
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=9351878