Chapter 2 - Fruitful Years: Part one-New Beginnings

As the years passed, Generation 2 spread out and their families burgeoned. But the founders were not yet done. Hester and Abhijeet were fast approaching elderhood but they still had a family to care for and careers to consider.

Abhijeet was a theoretical scientist but really wanted to become the top scientist in the area.

Hester had been dishonorably discharged from the military some years before, something about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. (Wrong person's bed, perhaps?) She then took a job in the entertainment industry and was now an exotic dancer and what could be more exotic than a romantic alien?

She and Abhijeet worked diffferent days which made it easier for their romancing, though they still kept their encounters out of the house for the most part because of the children. Except for Abhijeet romancing the maid, Kaylynn Langerak. She was quite young, only 18, and a high school dropout. She was also an orphan who had been raised by Social Services and starved of affection her whole life, so when love of any type was offered she could not refuse. All she wanted out of life was to be loved, get married and have a family. (And Abhijeet was still an unmarried man.)
Abhijeet did have other friends besides his romances and frequently brought a young scientist, Ricky Cormier, home with him. Abhijeet had taken a fatherly interest in the young man's career and they spent a lot of hours talking shop. Ricky's winning ways made him almost a part of the family and he often pitched in to help out with the kids.

Ricky bathes Spring
Hawer Enabler did not give up on Genesis easily. He frequently called though she refused to talk to him. Finally he came over one day when he knew she was home and Hester was at work and begged to see his son. Genesis allowed him one time then told him to never come back. With tears in his eyes for what might have been, Hawer complied. Hawer had been a wide-eyes country boy of 18 when he, his younger sister and his cousins moved to Heritage Hills. Naive and inexperienced and with the strong hormonal drives of any young man his age, he had been easy for Hester to seduce. Only one in a long string of younger men. The affair had been brief, quickly broken off by Hester when she realized she was pregnant. In late middle age already, she thought she was past that danger. When Hawer later met Genesis, he realized that what he felt for Hester was never really love for now he knew the real thing. But it was too late. She would have nothing more to do with him and both she and the son he would have treasured were lost to him forever.

The babies grew and first Opalessa became a toddler...

then Spring

and finally Kester.

Squeals of delight were often heard from the nursery.

All was not sweetness and light in the Genester household however. Lester was a romance sim too and was not quite as careful as his parents. He had decided that if his dad could romance the maid, he could too. One day he was busy in the hottub with Kaylynn when Meadow and Abhijeet walked in.

A ferocious row ensued with a lot of slapping and crying. Finally Lester packed his bags and stormed out of the house. He was tired of having to be so careful and had no intention of giving up his swinging love life for one woman and also didn't want to have to worry about competing with his own father. Meadow cried for hours. A few days later when Ricky Cormier came home with Abhijeet again, Meadow sobbed out her distress to him. She and Ricky had been friends since they were teens and Meadow had often felt as close to him as to a brother. Ricky did his best to comfort her but was torn by his feelings. He had never felt anything the least brotherly toward Meadow. No, he had been in love with her all his life but had lost his chance when she had moved in with Lester. A large part of the reason for his frequent visits was so that he could be near Meadow. Now he could no longer hold back. He poured out his feelings to Meadow, stunning her, then clumsily kissed her.

Ricky dropped to his knees and proposed. He had carried that ring in his pocket for years hoping that someday he would be able to give it to her. If he could only get her on the rebound from someone else, so be it, as long as she was his wife someday. He swore that he would do everything in his power to make her happy. Meadow was overwhelmed. Her head was in a whirl and she could hardly think. But she knew Ricky was solid. He was offering her not only love but security. Now Meadow realized that the strong feelings of friendship she had always had for him were stronger than what she had felt for Lester. So she accepted.

Ricky moved in immediately with Abhijeet's consent and they started making plans for their wedding. But before the wedding there were birthdays. Hester and Abhijeet became elders


And Opalessa and Spring became schoolchildren.


Finally it was time for the wedding. On Spring's first day of school, her mother and Ricky tied the knot. It was a simple ceremony on the front lawn with Hester and Abhijeet the only witnesses. Kester, still too young for school, was in the nursery.

After the ceremony, Meadow expressed her feelings for Hester in a most dramatic way. Hester had always been too busy to establish much of a relationship with Lester's live-in girlfriend, and Meadow had often felt slighted while living here and also blamed Hester for Lester's behavior.

The young couple then left to establish their own home elsewhere. They had wanted to take Spring with them but Hester and Abhijeet had convinced them that Spring would be better off with them while the Cormiers were getting established in a new home. Now poor Spring, only 5 years old, had been abandoned by both parents.

Things quieted down for a while then. Spring still had her grandparents and Aunt Genesis and got extra attention from them to make up for her parents absence. Abhijeet finally got his last promotion and even though eligible now for retirement both he and Hester continued working. They still couldn't afford to retire. The family was just too good at spending money. An elder exotic dancer? Why not? With green skin, what difference would white hair make? And Hester kept herself in very good shape. When they weren't working, or romancing, or spending time with the grandchildren, they spent some time together.


Meanwhile, what had been happening with their other children?

Pendillis was the first to marry, to former headmaster, B.J. Ryan. They began constructing a home across the street from her parents.

Married over five years now, their home had grown to a comfortable small cottage.

With room for a baby. Their first child (and Hester's third grandchild) was born when Kester was two.

Pendillis named her Bertillis and presented her to an ecstatic B.J. when he got home from school. He had waited a long time for this moment. One he had long thought he would never see.


Estarr built her home next door to her parents. Former headmaster Korey Jitmakusol moved in with her right away but they decided to wait for marriage until they had completed their home and had the money for a nice wedding.

They finally had to have the wedding a bit earlier than planned as Estarr unexpectely got pregnant. She asked her sisters to be bridesmaids and Lester was best man as Korey had no relatives in the area.

A few months later, Estarr went into labor and gave birth to a son. They named him Jeekobey. This wasn't something that Korey (secretly of a romantic nature)had dreamed of but he decided he kind of liked the idea and soon became a doting father.


Korey and Jeekobey check each other out

Lester built across the street from Estarr. None of these kids went far from home. They all remained close to their parents and to each other, both physically and emotionally.

Lester continued to rocket through the political career. He was now a Congressman and had his own staff of aides and interns. Almost all female for some reason.

Lester listens to his aide's ideas
Ricky and Meadow Cormier settled in a lovely cottage just around the corner from Estarr, on Nostalgia Lane. Though not really part of the family, Ricky still had strong bonds of friendship with Abhijeet and Meadow wanted to be close to Spring.

What happened to Genesis, the quiet, stay-at-home, family girl while all this was going on? After Kester's birth she poured herself into her sports career, completely ignoring men. Her heart was broken by what she believed about Hawer and she wanted no repeat. Until one day when she thought she saw a roach in the yard and called the exterminators. The young man who came to take care of the problem found no bugs. When he reported this to Genesis they chatted for a while and she found she liked him. He seemed very nice and he was really nice looking too. His name was Robi Charvat. She found herself thinking about him often and started calling him up and they eventually began dating. By the time Kester was ready to start school, they were deeply in love. No whirlwind romance here. Genesis wanted a solid relationship that would last, just like her sisters had. When Kester had his birthday, Genesis and Robi became engaged.

Other children have had birthdays too

Bertillis


Jeekobey
Finally, when Kester was seven years old, Genesis and Robi married.

Guests gather for the wedding
In the years since Ricky and Meadow wed in their modest ceremony, the house continued to grow and the family fortunes increased. So this wedding was anything but modest. The entire family plus friends gathered for it. Kester however was not happy about it. He didn't like Robi and was mad at his mother for marrying. So he refused to dress up in a "monkey suit" as he called it. Neither of the little girls were happy about the marriage either. They didn't want any changes in their lives. With Abhijeet's and Hester's roller coaster love lives despite being elders, the atmosphere in the household was always electrified and any change increased the girls' stress levels. However they weren't going to pass up a chance to dress up and both agreed to be flower girls.

The Ceremony
After the ceremony Robi and Genesis posed for a wedding portrait to be painted by Hester. She had taken up painting as a hobby several years previously and had become quite good at it. Spring took the opportunity to visit with her parents whom she didn't get to see as often as she would have liked. She still missed them both very much. She saw more of Lester than of Meadow. Despite his busy life he came to see his parents as well as his daughter. Meadow preferred to visit when the adults were not there as she still did not care to be around Hester. She and Ricky had had no children together yet. After effectively losing one child she wanted to make sure the relationship was going to last before taking the next step.

All the guests enjoyed chatting and playing together

Then had a sumptuous wedding dinner

Before Genesis and Robi left on their honeymoon