A Woman Scorned, Chapter 6
“What?!? No… I… no, Stella, I didn’t know anything about that… are you sure?”
Cassandra hurriedly hung up the phone, pulled on a robe and rushed out of her bedroom.
“Mom! Mom? It’s Uncle Leod!” Darla hollered at the same time.
“I told you not to call him that anymore!” was Cassandra’s snippish response. She threw open the door just in time to see a fire truck pulling away to make room for an ambulance and a police car.
It didn’t take time for the horrible news to make it’s rounds through Riverblossom Hills. The fire was rumored to have been caused by the fireplace, which was old and old fireplaces had a habit of causing problems if you didn’t keep them maintained. The police were conducting an investigation, but they would likely rule in favor of the obvious.
Cassandra, for her part, had more things to worry about than if Leod McGregor’s fireplace was truly faulty or not. Malone’s birthday had arrived and her due sate was fast approaching. Her other baby would soon be making his or her appearance.
The resemblance between Malone and his father is so uncanny that for a moment, Cassandra is very wigged out. Her cousin Stella knows that she came from Bluewater, and Mary Sue Pleasant also knew she was there. For a moment, it occurs to her that if anyone connects the dots between her son and that horrible man… well, she’d best not think about that, because despite her son’s appearance, she loves him and there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him or Darla.
Laila Goth arrives early one morning as her children were preparing for school. With Leod gone, Cassandra is forced to go tot he hospital on her own while Darla and Malone ready themselves for school. It’s not ideal, and the next few days are rough while Darla takes care of Malone and Cassandra waits for the hospital to release her.
But in the end, Cassandra returns home with her precious little brown-eyed, brown haired bundle.
The weeks fly by for the kids. With Cassandra busy taking care of Laila and trying to find a new job, Darla and Malone bond like siblings do. The winter is passing and spring means playing out of doors.
Cassandra is surprised to learn that the investigation into Leod’s death is still on-going.
“I thought her died in the house fire?” she asked when Office Love approached her with some very vexing, very accusing questions.
“Officially, yes,” Officer Love admitted. ”But there have been rumors, Ms. Goth.”
“Rumors?”
The police shrugged off the cold tone which crept into Cassandra’s voice.
“What kind of rumors, Officer Love?” she asked.
“People say that you and Leod had a thing… a sexual thing…” Here she looked Cassandra up and down like some kind of trash which didn’t belong in their town. ”And that he threw you over for his true love…”
“Ms. Shikibu,” Cassandra corrected her, and then she laughed breezily. ”Officer Love… Demi… can I call you Demi?”
“I’d rather you not.”
“Demi.” Cassandra smiled coolly anyway. ”Allow me to dispel some of your ‘rumors.’ Leod and I … had an arrangement. Nothing more. Being with him pleased me for a time… and then our arrangement ended.”
“An arrangement, huh? We’ll see about that. Is the child his? The baby you just had?”
“She is, but that’s hardly the issue here,” Cassandra assured. ”And I trust you’ll leave my children out of this. They are minors, after all.”
“Of course,” Officer Love replied just as coolly.
She left, and Cassandra heard nothing more to indicate that she was in any way a person of interest in the case. In fact, it wasn’t long after that Cleo Shikibu corroborated Cassandra’s story of a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship with the farmer.
The case was officially closed, and so was that chapter in their lives.
The new chapter evolved mostly around daily life and school. Cassandra was still struggling to find a new job. The unpleasantness with Leod’s accident had many people looking at her with distrust.
At the same time, their little house was getting smaller and smaller. More cramped as her children grew.
Malone and baby Laila shared a room with Cassandra because it was the only room big enough for all of them. Darla’s bedroom was smaller than a bread box, practically. But the downside to this a general lack of sleep. Laila was a fussy baby who cried a LOT and often woke Cassandra and Malone in the middle of the night.
Cassandra hoped that once she left the baby stage behind, the crying would also stop and some normalcy would return.
Alas! it did not, and Laila was as unhappy a toddler as she had been a babe.
With her children grumbling all the more about no space and friends who were no longer allowed to visit because of ‘those awful rumors’ Cassandra decided it was best to look outside of Riverblossom Hills for work.
She began putting in applications everywhere, as far away as Strangetown and Veronaville. In the end, it was the Strangetown Medical Institute which made the first move. She was contacted by a Ms. Circe Beaker, and invited to go to Strangetown for an interview.
Leaving her children with her Roth cousins for the weekend, she flew out, and when she flew back, she not only had a job, but a place for them to live. They were moving to Strangetown.
Mirrored from The Simming Life.