“That’ll be twenty-five cents please,” Darcy Sutton told Jill Fleig. It was early spring and the days were still a bit cool, but Darcy was excited to sell lemonade to the neighbors that walked by and she hadn’t wanted to wait for warmer weather.
Her father Cecil worked on the side deck of the family’s home, building toys for the store. Even though it was cool outside, the hard work was causing him to work up a sweat. He worked all day, until the sun started sinking low in the sky and then headed inside for a break.
Cecil grabbed a glass from the counter. “This must be some of Darcy’s leftover lemonade,” he said.
But after he took a sip, he knew that it was not lemonade. It was bug poison that Sunny had used to get rid of some roaches earlier and had forgotten to pour the rest out when Anna distracted her by needing a diaper change.
Sunny was busy getting Anna ready for bed and the other girls were in their room, so by the time that Audrey noticed her father lying crumpled on the kitchen floor, it was too late.
The family was heartbroken, especially Sunny. She had finally felt that whatever had been bothering Cecil since before their wedding had gone away and he was more attentive to her and the girls than he’d ever been before. And now, he was gone.
After her meltdown, Sunny tried to pick herself up and appear strong for her girls, but it was hard.
That night was Anna’s birthday and although she didn’t feel like celebrating, Sunny put on a brave face as she helped the baby blow out the candles.
Sunny could see Cecil in Anna’s face and it made her heart ache even more. Would Anna have any memories at all of her father?
That night, Darcy didn’t want to sleep in her bed and Sunny secretly was glad for the company.
The next morning, Cheryl Gates rushed over to help get the older girls ready for school and to tend to Anna while Sunny slept late.
“I know you’re upset about Cecil, honey,” Cheryl told her daughter. “I just lost your father, so I know how you feel.”
“You had a lifetime with dad,” Sunny said. “I had only a very short time. My girls aren’t even grown yet and now I’m left to raise them alone. Sorry, Mom, but you don’t know exactly how I feel.”
“Maybe you should do something nice for yourself,” Cheryl said, trying her best to cheer Sunny up. “Maybe some nice jewelry? Cecil would have liked that.”
No one really understood what Sunny was going through. Whenever she was alone, she would give in to her depression.
“You sure you’re okay?” River asked his sister. “Mom told me to come by and check on you.”
“I’m fine,” Sunny grumbled. “Why does everyone keep asking how I’m feeling?”
The girls helped their mother out as best as they could, by cleaning up around the house without being asked.
Their cousin Xander Gates came over one afternoon to visit, having been sent by his parents to go cheer up his cousins. But Audrey and Emma barely noticed his presence and preferred to whisper and play solemnly with each other.
The house was always full of people in the days after Cecil’s death, as if everyone was afraid to leave Sunny and the girls unsupervised.
It was exhausting having so many people around and Sunny was grateful for the twins’ birthday.
With them now teens, maybe everyone else would back off and let Sunny and the twins take care of Darcy and Anna on their own.
The girls did a great job of helping out with their younger sisters.
They even took Darcy to the park on Saturday afternoon so that Sunny could have some time to herself while Anna was napping.
Emma had another reason for going to the park that day–she was meeting Seth Lloyd there. They’d become friends as kids and now that they were older, Emma had taken a different kind of interest in Seth. He was cute and they got along great, but still Emma was too shy to make the first move. So they just hung out and played kicky ball together.
As time passed, Sunny tried to regain control of her life. She began working on toys again, though she still wasn’t brave enough to go back to the store. Cecil had built that store and she knew everything in it would remind her of him.
At night, when the girls were asleep, Sunny would look out into the darkness and worry about everything–her future, her girls’ future, their safety, their lives without their father.
At the end of spring, Anna grew into a child. She was ready to go to school along with her older sisters.
The next day, while the girls were at school, something happened that Sunny was ashamed to admit.
She didn’t know how it had happened. She was lonely and she had seen Eric Lloyd walking by the house. They had been friendly once, back during high school and college. But then they had kind of lost contact. Sunny just wanted someone to talk to and Eric kind of knew what it was like to lose the person he loved, although his situation was different since Sarah hadn’t died.
Afterward, Sunny couldn’t look Eric in the eye. What was she doing? She was in mourning, she shouldn’t be jumping into bed with someone else. She hurriedly dressed and asked Eric to leave before the bus dropped the twins off.
Sunny tried to act casual, but she wondered if her girls suspected anything. Could they see the guilt written all over her face?
—————-
As you can guess, Cecil had the ROS “Sim accidentally drinks poison!” I downloaded this poison drink to use for it. The effects last for 12 hours and every fifteen minutes, there’s a chance of death. Otherwise the Sim could just get sick. Well, Cecil died right away after drinking the poison. I almost quit without saving and started over. I really considered it. But I decided to just let things play out and see how this affected the family.
Sunny and Eric’s jumping into bed was their own decision, thanks to ACR. Well, they’re both lonely anyway.
Outtakes:
See how lonely Sunny is? As you can tell from the red tombstones over everyone’s head, Cecil has just died and Sunny immediately spun up wants to fall in love and get married again (and have another baby, but I really don’t think she needs a fifth child!).
LOL, Darcy is very concerned over her cousin Logan’s bad report card.
Look who walked by right after Sunny and Eric woohooed.
Emma and Seth Lloyd have a high two bolts together. They haven’t flirted with each other or anything, but it’ll be cute if they end up together since Sunny and Julie are best friends.
awww poor sunny!
that must suck
poor cecil though i wonder how clover will react?
great update!
Poor Cecil. I had no idea who was going to drink the poison at all, so I was totally shocked!! Sunny’s bereavement was so sad. But jumping into bed with ERIC?! Wow, ACR causes some interesting twists.
Eric looks actually really depressed in that shot of them sitting on the edge of the bed. Sunny has this secretive smile on her face.
All the Sutton girls are gorgeous!! I love their clothing and hairstyles. You always make your Sims look lovely!
Poor Sutton family. I like ROS because it makes things more random but I hate to kill for a sim even more so the one that I really like.
The girls are really pretty by the way
aww.
poor Cecil 😦
the good die young!
😦 so sad, just when things were looking up for the family
That was an amazing update. I’m glad you saved the game that was a really interesting update. This family is now my favorite.
Poor Sunny AND the girls! 😦 The ROS, it is a cruel mistress, indeed. Yikes to jumping into bed with Eric!
Oh, wow, I wasn’t expecting that! Poor Sunny. I hope she’s careful with Eric though!
As always, I’m in awe of your writing talent – really good way to incorporate your ROS, didn’t look forced or anything… Am so sad it was Cecil though- just when he had grown up emotionally and was ready to take on his family!
Random question though: where’d you get that double-deck bed for the girls? I’d love to have that too, would be a great space saver!
Thanks everyone! Cecil wasn’t my favorite Sim in this hood, but I was still really sad to see him die because I like Sunny and her daughters so much.
I don’t know what Eric and Sunny were thinking though! LOL
arcadata – The bed is part of the Grand Trianon collection at MTS2. I love it, it’s great for fitting several kids in one room! 😀
Thanks Shana! That collection is amazing! I downloaded the beds, but I’m tempted to get a couple of the other stuff too. Another spacesaver I saw there is the desk with built-in bookcase that I saw in one of your earlier posts (I assumed then that it came from a stuff pack).
Oh-no!!! This is heart-breaking, the poor family! He’s going to miss seeing all those beautiful girls growing up 😦
These family Sims are quite erratic when they’re grieving. I never knew how to make sense of all those love/marriage/baby wants, so I just consider them to be complete and utter confusion.
And ack! Eric! LOL! We suppose that’s just more complete and utter confusion!
Good luck to Sunny and the girls!
Ack, poor Sunny and the girls! Just as things started to get good with Sunny and Cecil:(
The girls all look pretty, but I like Anna the most. I just love the picture of her on the wall.
Wonder, if that thing between Sunny and Eric will only be an one-time thing 😉