The Hardy Legacy – Elderbough House (chapter 32 posted)

[mayayeti72]

Would be awesome if you wanted to share the download link for the house, it truly is fantastically structured.

[SimPenguin]

I'm really enjoying the story so far! Love the house and the interior!

Thank you!

Would be awesome if you wanted to share the download link for the house, it truly is fantastically structured.

That's so kind!  Thank you! I would love to share the house at some point - It may be a little while though...  There is a bug in it I want to figure out and fix before sharing and I also need to think about when the best time to share would be anyway. The house will be constantly evolving over the Legacy and there is still a long way to go! As I accumulate more money and have more time it slowly improves. But I will share at some point. 

The house is roughly based on a real house out of my own family history. Duagh House was the last house owned in County Kerry, Ireland by the Lords of Kerry before the title passed to a different family when my branch of the family fell to ruin. The house was destroyed 100 years ago, but here is a sketch of it from a book on Irish historical houses:



I've built so many versions of this house in the Sims, it's scary! My first one was in Sims 1 over ten years ago. I thought it would be a good design for the legacy because it could grow from small to large over the 10 generations without looking too unrealistic/awkward at any given stage.

[mayayeti72]

Wow! That is why this legacy feels so well done, you are really invested in the story and history of the house and it shows. I will be patient and wait for the download link when you think you are ready to share it 

[CreativeCrayola]

This is a great story! I am really enjoying it 

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Three: The Dog Days of Summer

Now in the throws of a mid-life crisis, Bridgid realized she better start Weston’s portrait. He was older than her and she didn’t want to leave it to the last minute. The next sunny day, she moved the easel out to the lawn to start.



Since Blake was helping take care of the girls now, she also found time to get out of the house to visit family once or twice.



Bartholomew and Adeaze still hadn’t had any babies and Brody was still single. She had hoped they all would have started families and carried on the bloodline, but perhaps it wasn’t to be.

Weston took advantage of the lightened load as well and took a day to visit his daughter from the first marriage (the ex-wife recently passed away). Their relationship had deteriorated and conversation was volatile, but by the end of the visit they had come to a sort of peace with each other.



Caledonia aged up to child and she was beautiful (especially after a makeover).





Weston and Bridgid started work again. Weston was in the Military and, interestingly enough, Bartholomew was his boss. Bridgid was on call at all hours and was regularly sent running around town, staging clinics. Both their hours were nuts, so it was good that Blake was on board with the caretaking and could cover things at the house.

Not that Blake wasn’t extremely busy himself, creating and tossing elixirs like mad trying to reach his LTW and fishing in every spare moment. He was also the go-to guy for collecting property investment dividends since his hours were flexible. He had stocked the pond at the house pretty well though, so he didn’t have to leave the property to fish during babysitting. And fishing at home did provide opportunities to bond with Caledonia, who had picked up a love of fishing somewhere.



Some spectacular sunset shots on the pond:











And a random shot of the family church that I thought was lovely:

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Four: Paths

Things ran quite smoothly (if a bit uneventfully) for several days. Even though Bridgid literally didn’ t have a spare free minute (work had her constantly on call, working long hours, and researching) she set contractors to work adding a few new rooms to the house. She had wanted a bit more common space for skill items, like instruments, and a proper couch.



And a small bonus room was added off her bedroom to house a small lab. This room would also have uses when future babies came as a crib room. Or perhaps an office when the science thing ran its course.





Bridgid was making rapid progress at work, due to her own talents, LTR helpers, and all the elixirs Blake was chucking at her in an attempt to reach his own LTW. What little spare time she had, she spent learning science to supplement her work.

Then came an eventful day when *many* things happened all at once…  Weston aged to elder:



Colbie aged to child:



Both Blake and Weston achieved their LTW’s. They both had quite the stockpile of LTR points after all that and they cashed them in for inheritances and miscellaneous needs helpers.

The family was flush and happy.

Both the girls started school and exploring interests. Caledonia was fairly aimless and had no idea what she was going to do when she grew up. It was clear that she liked small animals and had a LTW of collecting 20 of them, but a future career wasn’t as forthcoming and she would need to explore her options over the next few years. Colbie’s future was a little more obvious, but adulthood still a long way off – No sense in counting chickens yet. Bridgid had decided not to send them to boarding school and keep them home where she could manage their education and get to know them better. With the guys around and not being pressured by goals anymore, caretaking would not be the problem it had been for her mother. The girls were fairly self-sufficient anyway and Bridgid could find a few minutes here and there to bond with them.





In Blake’s entire life, he had never had a thought of romance. Not once. He was devoted to his fishing and alchemy and never seemed to need companionship. Over time he had thrown friendship elixirs and hung out online and was not entirely friendless, but that was in the course of achieving his goals. He never actually reached out to anyone besides his own family for socialization before. So it was a bit of a surprise when one of these acquaintances suddenly started calling him and asking him out on dates. She was rather aggressive actually, and called several times. Because he had little to do now (other than some babysitting duties) and he was intrigued by her persistence, he said yes to a few of them just to see what was what.





Beth Kinder was all over him every time they met – Hand holding, flirting, offering up personal information, etc. Within minutes on the first date they were best friends. Blake didn’t really know what to do with this new development – He was taken off guard.

While Blake was making sense of it all, he aged up to elder.



And Caledonia aged up to teenager soon after.



After a makeover, she was still very beautiful.



It was immediately clear she had inherited her father’s Witchiness. She also gained the Social Butterfly trait. The family watched her for a few days to see where this would lead. She seemed quite capable with art and music. She had achieved a nerd ranking on her own and she played around with rebellion, throwing herbs on fires and things. It had crossed Bridgid’s mind that perhaps she would be an Art Appraiser but there were better choices for a social girl like Cal.

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Five: The Long Snow Day

When winter came, the snow fell thick, heavy, and *endlessly*. There were several snow days in a row that kept both girls at home. Cal took the opportunity to learn how to drive.




When she finished lessons, her parents gave her a car.



The whole family found ways to spend time during the endless Great Blizzard.















Caledonia’s heart always melted when she would find her parents in a clinch…



After all this time, Bridgid and Weston continued to be thoroughly in love and it was hard to keep them from autonomously hooking up. Weston had pledged eternal love to Bridgid. After how they had met, it was encouraging to see how well the marriage had worked out. These things can so easily go wrong.

The girls all got along fine during this long forced confinement, but the lads started to get a bit of cabin fever and had to be separated one day when it led to fisticuffs.



Blake was sent out of the house in shame to cool off (so to speak) and did some fishing to calm his nerves.



One day they had a friends & family reunion party at the Toadstool. Unfortunately, few of the family actually showed up, but Beth did and she was immediately attentive to Blake.



Blake decided they had pussy-footed around long enough and impulsively kissed her.



She was more than happy to respond in kind and they broke off from the group to spend some time alone together. It was on this date that Blake learned Beth was married. Not that he cared, he wasn't sure he wanted anything more with her than a fling.







Adorable, random, candid moment of Dad/Weston watching his sleeping daughter at the party…



The next day, Collbie aged up into a beautiful girl.





Poor Colbie’s education was seriously suffering, between the weekend, the snow days, and the holiday she had only attended one day of school in her whole childhood and her grades were awful. Caledonia had a day or two on her, but the extended holiday wasn’t helping her education either. Bridgid was starting to regret not sending them off to boarding school. The girls did as much home schooling as could be managed, building skills and so forth. They also attended a prom (even though they had never actually attended school) and Colbie won prom queen. Cal had chosen the LTW of Zoologist and it was so ridiculously easy to accomplish (since the property was crawling with rodents), that she achieved it a few days into teendom.

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Six: The Field is Properly Played

Blake was invited to Beth's Holiday Party and they flirted and made out in the garage. Eventually, though, they had to join the rest of the party in the house and jealously ran rampant once her husband and Blake were in the same room.





The next day, Blake invited her over to the house and threw down his hand - Me or him?



Beth chose Blake.



While they were having their way with each other, Bridgid hit the peak of her career and, consequently, her LTW.

Blake was not the only one playing around with romance - Caledonia was also trying to meet new people. She met several people at school and through social media method and invited them over regularly.



She hit it off pretty well with most of them, but no bells had rung for her yet.

Wouldn't you know, the second Blake got romantically involved with someone, the phone started ringing off the hook with more women wanting dates! He said yes to Shavonne Rouse just for the heck of it.



No real connection there… In fact, she disappeared during the date so when another call came through, Blake accepted it. Two women in one night! Kim Alderman was an entirely different story from Shavonne - Bells rang when they caught sight of each other and within minutes they were flirting and hugging. Unfortunately, a zombie attack ended the date prematurely.



The next day, Blake took a break from his hectic dating schedule to give Colbie a driving lesson.



And Caledonia invited over another boy she met networking. He didn't take to well to Caledonia, but he clearly liked Colbie. The feeling was mutual.



Blake was invited on yet another date with Kim and things progressed rapidly…





He had turned into quite the player gained a "reputation". Can you say Silver Fox?

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Seven: The Family Digs Out

At long last, the Spring thaw came…



The girls were finally able to attend school again and studied hard to make up for lost time.



Blake received word that his holiday fling with Beth had resulted in a baby girl! He rushed over to Beth’s house to meet his daughter. Although Beth had divorced her husband, she remained living in the same house as him and he was not pleased to see Blake.



Blake couldn’t let himself care about that, his daughter (Beth had named her Dorothy) was a jewel and he still had feelings for Beth.





Having feelings didn't mean, however, that Blake was in a position to marry Beth or bring her and the baby to live at Elderbough House. He was grateful that she still seemed to have a close friendship with her ex as it meant Dorothy would have a father figure in her daily life and Beth would not have to do the parenting alone. The ex might loathe Blake, but Blake harbored no ill will.

Blake had just arrived home from his day bonding with his baby when Bridgid aged up to elder.



She had an immediate makeover and retired on the spot.



She wanted to focus completely on her science research and her years were dwindling. She started her work in earnest in her little lab off the master suite.





Time passed in routine fashion for a few days until Blake found time to go round to Beth’s house again and visit with Dorothy a second time.



She had aged up to toddler and Blake spent the day with her, teaching her to talk and generally bonding.





Life was leisurely for them all. Blake was still a difficult ** to live with and tempers would occasionally flare between Weston and Blake, but Blake would just throw a friendship elixir at him to repair any damage he had done and they would get along again fine again.





In fact, Weston had picked up fishing somewhere and it led to many spontaneous bonding moments.



Cal was a very social girl and she liked to invite over the handful of friends she had met at school or through social networking regularly. On her birthday she asked over a couple of boy friends and Colbie joined them on a group jaunt to the coffeehouse.





Their quiet get-together was unexpectedly interrupted by a loud commotion in the next room… When the girls ran over to see what it was all about, they were horrified to find that their Uncle Bartholomew had also been in the coffeehouse and had just died!





They were distraught but did what they could to comfort their aunt and texted the news back to the house. Before they could return home though, Cal aged up.



Aw, hell no…  IMMEDIATE MAKEOVER.

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Eight: THIRD GENERATION - CALEDONIA HARDY

Caledonia Hardy – First Child (Heir)



Sign: Libra
Traits: Easily Impressed, Clumsy, Loves the Cold, Social Butterfly, Grumpy, Angler (there are now more than five traits in the University Life EP)
Favorites: Chinese, Dim Sum, Pink
LTW: the Zoologist

The day Caledonia inherited Elderbough House was a sad one as her Uncle Bartholomew passed away before her very eyes at her Birthday party. Cal’s mother spared her the sadness of visiting the graveyard that night to retrieve his urn…



…and brought it to the family burial grounds on her own.



The family's grief did not stop them all from going down to city hall to see her graduate though.



She graduated with an “A”, but had not done spectacularly well and received the “Most Likely to be Mediocre” award. Cal still hadn’t a clue what she wanted to do with her life other than have a family. She decided that while she was treading water, she would make an effort to find a mate.

Cal invited over yet another guy she had met social networking. Donte Walsh seemed to hit it off with the entire family and they talked the night away.





The next day seemed as normal as any other when the family woke at sunrise. Little did Cal know that the next few days would be the worst in her life… Without school or work to go to she decided to invite Donte out on a date to the coffeehouse. They met there and still seemed to have a great connection.



Just after she left the house, the family received word that Aunt Adeaze had passed away. Not wanting to ruin Cal’s date, the family held off calling her about the news. Bridgid made her second journey to the graveyard to collect Adeaze. They would have a burial at the family church as soon as there was time.



Cal really liked Donte and he liked her right back - they were close friends already - but the afternoon wore on with no talk of going steady. She had been practicing magic every spare moment since she discovered her powers and had already figured out how to cast a love charm, so when her frustration and impatience got the better of her reason, she hit him with one.



They were going steady within minutes.



Little did Cal realize that back at the house tragedy was descending on the family …





Beloved Blake was gone. Unlike those who had gone before him, he did not greet Death gracefully. He did not want to leave…



But there was nothing to be done. He was gone and everyone was devastated. (No one more than me, I ADORED Blake. I’m telling you, I very nearly broke the Legacy rules to save him somehow when he fell to his knees.)



Back at the coffee house, Cal and Donte had parted for the night. Unaware of the tragedy back home, Cal continued on to do some shopping and invest in a partnership at the grocery/diner next to her mother’s bookstore/spa. When Cal did eventually return home that night, it was very late at night and she went straight to bed. It wasn’t until morning she was told of her Uncle Blake’s death.



To distract themselves from the grief, father and daughter spent the morning practicing magic together. It had been quite some time since they had one-on-one quality time and watching her father in action made Cal’s heart swell with pride.





Cal had arranged to meet her steady at the festival that afternoon. She poured out her broken heart to him and he consoled her.



But back at the house, an even greater heartbreak was in progress…





It would be a big funeral.

[CreativeCrayola]

It looks like its been a tough week for the Hardy's! I'm going to miss Blake to, he was defiantly one of my favorite characters in your legacy.

[SimPenguin]

I'm going to miss Blake to, he was defiantly one of my favorite characters in your legacy.

I've saved him to the bin and will definitely be giving him is own life in some other game.    It was so painful to see him beg... I wanted to cheat and save him SO BAD!

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Twenty Nine: Clouds With Silver Linings

When Caledonia returned home to the news her father had passed, she was exanimate. She could not sleep that night and wandered out to the one place that seemed to comfort her these days – Blake’s fishing spot on the pond. She pondered the state of her life and the family as she fished.



The family church was bathed in the moonlight across the field and it made her think of those already laid to rest there. Would her lost family be happy to see them? Would the elders welcome them into their fold? She didn’t know enough about her ancestors to have an answer to that. She really didn’t know anything – What she wanted to do for work, what any one thing interested her, who she would marry and start a family with…  Anything.

She wandered aimlessly through the house, watering Blake’s plants…



…and thinking.



Someone would have to tell Beth and Dorothy about Blake, Cal thought. She resolved to do so as soon as she could the next day. When morning came, she visited the Kinder household.



Beth was devastated by the news. She had truly loved Blake.



Cal had not thought sensibly before heading over to their house - Dorothy would be at school until 3pm. Not having slept the night before, she took a nap while she waited.



When Dorothy came home, Cal broke the bad news and they got to know each other a little. She promised that the family would make an effort to include her in their lives and that they loved her as one of their own.



Cal’s visit had dragged on into the evening and other guests arrived at the Kinder household. She was introduced her to a friend of theirs, Aubrey Connors.







Bells rang the second their eyes met and Cal was head over heels for Aubrey within minutes.  In her heart she despaired – Why had she so rashly trapped Donte with her magic? She hoped she could rectify the situation later and said nothing to Aubrey of her previous commitment. As the evening grew late and the Kinder’s patience wore thin, she invited Aubrey home with her.

Where, incidentally, Colbie had just aged up…



Colbie Hardy – Second Child



Sign: Scorpio
Traits: Insane, Evil, Vehicle Enthusiast, Hydrophobic, Angler
Favorites: Classical, Key Lime Pie, Turquoise
LTW: Emperor of Evil

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Thirty: Tarnished Silver

When Cal got Aubrey home, Bridgid and Colbie greeted him and were instantly swept away with his charm. In fact, everyone got along so famously Bridgid asked Aubrey if he wanted to move in (a tactic that had worked well in her own love life) and he agreed immediately.

The family accepted him into their fold completely - He came with them the next day when Colbie graduated, as though he had always been there. Colbie, the evil insane one of the family, had surprised them all by graduating with honors.



It was a day of joy, but also sadness, as the family still mourned so many of its dead. Like a champ, Aubrey was there to comfort Cal.



When it came time to bring the headstones to the family cemetery, Bridgid decided against having a big funeral and went on her own. The girls would have plenty of their own dead to bury in their lifetimes and she wanted to say goodbye to her family privately.



Cal had learned almost everything about Aubrey the first evening she met him, including the fact that he was a doctor, which meant he wasn't around much in the following days. But when he was, the two of them clearly had a connection. Kissing and chatting at every opportunity.

One morning they crossed paths in the bathroom and nature took its course…





Cal made Aubrey late for work that morning and when he arrived home, she was waiting to ask him if he would commit to her and go steady.



Aubrey didn’t hesitate a moment to say yes, or to move in to Cal’s room with her.



It wasn’t long before Cal realized their little tryst in the shower had made her pregnant.



She was not upset about this – She didn’t have many plans, but having kids someday was one of them. Since she still had no idea what she wanted to do for a career, she may as well start now. She was crazy about Aubrey and he seemed to respond in kind. Still, she hesitated to mention getting married.

It was a good thing she hadn’t tied herself to him so soon – After many days of intense loving and deep attraction, he suddenly became aggressive and violent. He accused her of cheating and she tried apologizing, confessing, talking with him, friendship elixirs, more love charms, and everything she could think of to win him over, to no avail. He would track her down all over the house and start screaming at her for no reason.







He even took it out on others in the house.



The baby came. It was a girl. Cal named her Dara.





Grandma came out of the lab for the first time in days to care for her first grandchild.







Eventually Cal realized that although she had never seen Donte again, she had never officially broken it off with him and maybe this was the problem. So, one day while Aubrey was at work she invited him over and told him they were through.



It did no good - Aubrey was more argumentative and vicious than ever and began to have mood swings…  He could be tender and attentive to the baby, kind to his housemates, and help around the house one moment, then he would be screaming at Cal and the rest of them the next. He even slapped Cal once. It was unbearable.

[SimPenguin]

Chapter Thirty One: I Would Not Advise This IRL

Cal was lonely and miserable and one day she remembered her promise to Dorothy. On a lovely Fall afternoon when she had the house to herself, she invited Dorothy over for a visit. As they chatted by the fishing pond, a sense of nostalgia and sadness fell over Cal. She remembered an evening like this so many ages ago as she fished with her beloved Uncle. And now, here she stood with his daughter. She should teach Dorothy to fish someday, she thought.





Several days later, before Aubrey headed off to work for the day, Cal found him flirting with her mother on the front lawn. She had officially reached her breaking point.



She didn’t want to kick him out, he was actually helping with the baby somewhat and she couldn’t let go of the memory of the man she fell for, but this could not go on. She broke it off with him just before the carpool came for him.

Grandma Bridgid hadn't really had time to spend with her family in a very long time. First she was working 24/7, then she locked herself in her lab and never came out. But that morning her research reached its end and she decided to start a new project - Bonding with Dorothy (who had just aged up to teen). She invited her over for the day and when Dorothy said she hadn't learned how to drive yet, Bridgid took it upon herself to provide the lessons.







Back at the house, Cal hadn't intended to waste any more time on Aubrey and just go about the business of raising her daughter, but a long day a work must have given him time to think - Immediately upon returning home he tracked her down in the parlor and began flirting and kissing her. She knew it was wrong to continue on with him, he had been horribly abusive, who knew if he would suddenly turn on her again? She really didn't care - He was the father of her daughter and she *did* love him, she would take her chances. She could always kick him out later if he turned on her again.



The wound up in bed and, her decision made, she reinstated their going-steady status and then proposed on the spot. He accepted.







As Dara was expected to age up that day, they scheduled the wedding for the following morning so everyone could attend. Cal spent the evening planning the dresses and the decor, but then…



In the wee hours of the morning, Cal realized she was pregnant again.

And, as expected, Dara had aged up.



I feel like I should say something about Cal's choice to stay in what played out as a very abusive relationship in case any readers should have personal issues this offends/triggers. I let the game guide me for the most part and I think the abusive actions of Aubrey were a glitch (or several glitches). True, I did chose for Cal to marry him anyway and the resulting story makes it look like I think this is an acceptable decision, but it's a GAME and I can get rid of him at any moment I choose. This in no way reflects real life and I would NEVER say it was ok to stay with an abusive, manipulative partner IRL.