(no subject)
Yes, another update. I wrote this this morning. This one is lengthy, too. If you didn't read yesterday's update ("Pomp and Circumstance"), don't read this one. This covers Erin and Thomas' graduations, a few weddings, a few happy announcements, and some other things. Playing my Sims is entirely too much fun now that I don't have to wait to get University, if you can't tell.
Elisa didn't return to her parents' home after leaving campus. Instead, her taxi brought her to the home of Dougie and Laura Angelo, Michael's parents. They were leaving Salieri for a retirement community, and would be turning ownership of the house over to Michael and Elisa. The Angelos lived in a nice house with three bedrooms, and the engaged couple knew it would be an ideal place to raise a family. Michael arrived a few hours after Elisa, and the two of them had a late dinner date with his parents while talking about the wedding. They had been engaged for four years, so there had been plenty of time to plan the wedding, which was taking place the following day, right outside. Tired from the traveling, Michael retreated to his old room, while Elisa spent the night in Kira's old room.
The next morning was nerve-wracking for the two lovebirds as the wedding plans kicked into place. Soon Ian and Maria arrived. Ian got to shoot the breeze with Dougie on the back porch while Maria helped Elisa into her dress. Soon the guests were arriving and the ceremony was about to begin.
(Michael is not impressed by his father's headgear.)
And so, Michael and Elisa shared their first kiss under the wedding arch and in full view of their family and friends. The wedding party went well, except for a couple of incidences. Marco decided to pelt Elisa with a water balloon instead of rice after the reception, meriting some evil stares from Maria, Amalia, and pretty much every other female on the premises. Michael also disappeared during the reception. A search of the house found him in the bathroom, listening to his MP3 player. Elisa was miffed at him for changing out of his tuxedo, but fortunately for him the relatives had taken all of the pictures that they needed. Dougie and Laura said "Toodle-oo" and left the newlyweds to do…well, what newlyweds do. After disposing of the party guests, Michael and Elisa leapt into a limousine for their honeymoon. They returned several weeks later, eager to start their new life as man and wife.
(Michael attempts to carry his bride across the threshold, but realizes he has a problem. The doors have to be pulled open, and his hands are kinda full.)
Michael began work in his chosen field of science. Elisa, too, had a job, but it wasn't a job anyone had expected her to get. If she chose to work, everyone figured she'd work for her uncle Marco. Outside of that profession (culinary), philosophy majors weren't good for much. But Elisa had found a job as a commercial actress. Her face was selling bottled water. Mike and Elisa started settling into life as a married couple, but something happened to give their life together a little boost:
Babies, burglars, and other things that go "BUMP" in the night.
The family, of course, was overjoyed. Ian and Maria couldn't believe that they were going to be grandparents. Ian and Maria were doing well. Jessica was preparing her move for college, but life was on the whole a bit boring, since Jimmy was on assignment. Maria, encouraged by how much fun she had in her daughters' pool, pressured Ian to build their own pool -- just as he feared. But he finally let her have her pool.
Since the plot of land the house was on was small, the pool had to be small as well, but it was big enough for Maria's purposes. Erin, meanwhile, had graduated from college, but hadn't yet returned home. What was the point? Jimmy was away, off at sea, and Erin wasn't that eager to jump right into real life so soon after college. So, she waited. After all, she figured, she might as well enjoy the master suite of the girls' house, since it was hers until she left. She found a surprise waiting for her in the bedroom -- a painting Elisa had done, depicting Erin talking on the phone. She thought it was funny. While Sarah and Wendy continued going to class and working on term papers, Erin slept in every day. After a few weeks, she began to feel sort of useless, so she decided to move back to Salieri and start attacking real life.
She found work immediately, in her uncle's office. Chandler had won the mayoral race a few weeks back in a landslide, ousting the unpopular mayor Jonathan Monty. Monty had been mayor for quite some time and had actually been an able administrator, but the people of Salieri were weary of the Monty/Capp family conflicts and didn't want someone from that generation in City Hall. Of course, Jonathan wasn't even a Monty by birth. He had taken his wife's name because he wanted to use Monty influence to get him into City Hall. Erin's job didn't involve much work, not at the moment. She was too young for voters to trust, so she wouldn't be getting a seat on the city council anytime soon, but Erin was the only one of his brother's kids that Chandler liked, and he saw her as his protégé. He would teach her the things she needed to know to carry on Nichols legacy in the mayor's chair.
Erin got a little surprised, though, when she came home to find Jimmy, who announced that he had managed to get himself leave for the weekend. This might be their only opportunity for months, so Jimmy and Erin decided to get married -- that weekend. It was going to take nothing short of a miracle to throw a wedding in two days, but somehow they did it. While the adults roamed Salieri trying to find party supplies, Jessica and Dawn worked the phones, sending out invitations over the telephone lines instead of through the mailbox.
Their wedding was as nice as Elisa and Michael's, although no one made as big of a deal about it as they had over Elisa's. She was the first daughter to get married, so she had received most of the gushing and eye-dabbing. Of course, the fact that the wedding plans and wedding had taken place so rapidly didn't help. No one had time to dwell on the gushy, romantic elements when they were trying as hard as they could to make sure the wedding happened in the first place. Jimmy got extra leave time since he had gotten married, and he and Erin evidently made the most of their time together, because she was soon able to make the announcement that they were pregnant.
Ian and Maria couldn't believe it, of course. They were thrilled that their first two children had married happily and were now both pregnant Things were looking better all of the time, too -- Thomas would soon be graduating and marrying Isabella, not to mention Chris and Brianna's wedding.
Of course....no one who was at the wedding of Christopher and Brianna could help mentioning it. It had been scandalous. Christopher and Brianna had been dating since high school. They had been engaged for about a year and a half. He was going to have a fine career in business, and she was destined for a great career in whatever she chose. The two of them were renting a home in Salieri while they saved up money to move to the city (which is where Thomas and Isabella were also headed). The day they moved in was the wedding day, and soon the relatives were all invited. Everyone was sighing and dabbing their eyes as Christopher said his vows. Then it was Brianna's turn, and everyone waited expectantly.
And they waited. And...waited. Why did Brianna have that "deer caught in the headlights" expression on her face? Why did her knees just buckle? Why was she running away? Running away? Hey, wait --
And just like that, Christopher had been left at the altar. Humiliated yes, but confused and hurt were the adjectives that most described him. He had no idea what went wrong. She had been looking forward to it when they were making the plans. She hadn't been sick. They both felt great before the ceremony started. But now she was gone. The wedding party was, of course, a disaster.
The Montys left, Brianna retreating to her parent's home. Christopher wanted to be left alone with his thoughts and ran his family off as politely as he could. His future was now uncertain, as uncertain as the gossip that was being spread in the town's rumor mills. Some people were mentioning Brianna's possible pre-engagement fling with Dean Vargas, Chris's half-uncle and renown womanizer. Some people said Jonathan Monty was behind the altar fiasco, spreading lies and discouraging Brianna, and was doing the same thing to hurt Isabella and Thomas's wedding.
Thomas was finishing up his final semester at SSU. Now that Jimmy and Christopher were gone, the frat house no longer seemed like home. Thomas had promoted two pledges (Pete Cooper and Peter Rice) to the rank of senior member. They were good guys, but Thomas's mind was focused on his future with Isabella. He hung out at her house most days, his visits increasing after Brianna's debacle. Isabella refused to say if her father had anything to do with Brianna's decision to leave Christopher, and likewise wouldn't say if he was trying to discourage her. What her father said or didn't say was irrelevant -- Isabella wanted to be married to Thomas. Their graduation "party" was small, the festive spirit all but suppressed by the failed marriage.
The two of them decided to go with a different wedding. No big to-do in a church or a lavish backyard wedding. There would be no big reception where Winslows and Montys (and possibly Christopher and Brianna) would have to be around each other. They had a quiet courthouse wedding, witnessed only by their parents, Thomas' sisters were disappointed that they hadn't gotten to see their only brother get married, but understood his decision. The wedding proceeded without a hitch, and Tom and Isabella left for their honeymoon.
They returned a few weeks later and started planning their future. Isabella, despite being a superb athlete and accomplished student politician, had no real career plans. All she had ever wanted in life was a huge circle of friends, and that goal had been accomplished during college. Brianna was interested in politics, but Isabella wasn't. She decided on a job in fashion photography. It was a high-paying job that she had gotten with some help her father. He wasn't mayor any longer, but he did have some old favors he could cash in to help her. Isabella could've gotten the job without him, of course, but she would've had to start from the bottom to make her name known. Patience wasn't a virtue the Montys possessed in any amount. Thomas, meanwhile, had gotten a high-paying job in a science lab. Ian was disgusted by the amount of money his son was making right out of college. Ian's fortune had been earned by clawing his way to the top -- Tom had just strolled up there. Still, he was happy that Tom was going to so successful, even if he was a tad jealous.
A few months after the wedding, Thomas flew something by his mother. "By the way, mom -- did I forget to tell you? We're pregnant." He underplayed it on purpose, but Maria was ecstatic. She was going to be the grandmother of at least three children, and she wasn't even old yet. Best of all, none of her kids were going to have to struggle like she and Ian had done when they were younger. She just hoped their success didn't spoil them or her grandchildren -- spoiling them was HER job.
As was the custom in Salieri, they threw a "We're Pregnant!" party, which their friends and family attended. Thomas and Christopher had been big pool players (some would say they were hustlers, but they'd never cheat anyone) back during college, and Thomas had been saving for a pool table for quite some time. It was affordable because neither he nor Isabella were fond of watching TV. She preferred being active to lounging around all day, and Thomas didn't want to go back to being the couch potato that he was in his early high school years. Time progressed and the small lives inside Elisa, Erin, and Isabella continued to mature. Erin and Isabella were a good ways off (Isabella was long ways off -- she was barely showing), but Elisa would be in spitting distance of her due date if she were a spitter. (She wasn't).
With the weddings and pregnancies, the spotlight had been removed from Wendy and Sarah, still toiling away at SSU. They didn't mind. Sarah's huge family annoyed her (Sarah may come off as a sweet bookworm, but she was in most ways her father's daughter, as were her half-siblings. The difference between them and her father, though, was that they tried to act civilized.), and she was content to work on improving herself. She didn't care much for a career -- she was going to devote her life to educating herself. Knowledge was her chief pleasure. Wendy, on the other hand, missed her family. She had always been apart of a huge family, to the point where she took them for granted. Wendy loved living with her two "nieces", and couldn't wait to move back to Salieri to start raising her own family with Peter, taking care of her father in his old age even as they raised little toddlers. When she came to college, all she wanted was to be popular. Now she yearned for her family. But her own family would have to wait. She was only a junior. However, this meant she'd have the opportunity to get to know Jessica and Dawn, her other two nieces, as well as their cousin, Brigit. She wasn't related to Brigit or Sarah, but considered them quasi-relatives, since they were relatives of her relatives. There was also Joan to think of.
Tobias' youngest child had grown up without anyone noticing. Joan was a very shy girl who preferred painting and reading to playing with friends from school. She had a few friends, fellow introverts like herself, but kept to herself. Her childhood had been quiet, and now she was coming up on her teenage birthday. She'd be a freshman in college by the time Dawn was in her junior year. Josh, meanwhile, was preparing for his move to college and the Annya Annya Cham frathouse. He looked up to his "nephew" Tom and Jimmy, having spent a lot of time around them due to Tom's frequent parties for his younger relatives. He liked Christopher and Michael, but Tom and Jimmy were the two he spent most of his time around. Christopher had always been sick in bed and Michael was…well, Michael was Michael -- serious, eccentric, and yet somehow likable. Erin's favorite word for her brother-in-law was "mellow". Joshua was bookish, but he liked doing things outside, too.
It was a quiet night at the Angelo house. Michael and Elisa had been woken up by his cell phone ringing ("Who carries a phone in their pajamas?!,"Elisa wanted to know) and hadn't been able to go back to sleep, so they were both up late at night. Michael was doing some work in the living room. Elisa had enjoyed a nice salmon dinner, then used the restroom. She was about to sit down in front of the computer to work on her novella when It happened. It was time for the baby.
"It's time for you...it's time for you...
It's time to spread your wings and do the things you've always wanted to do...
It's all out there -- you have come of age.
So many places to be, faces, to see, break outta that cage!
So what I'm sayin' is, don't sit there stallin'.
While you're mopin' the open road is calling.
I'm telling you that dreams come true
Your time is now, you've earned your bow,
So take it on cue!
Elisa had enjoyed an easy pregnancy -- no morning sickness, no dizzy spells, no inconvenient fainting -- but labor wasn't easy -- hence the name. But soon the baby was delivered. The baby was a raven-haired, brown-eyed...
Doesn't Elisa look happy? Oh, right. The sex of the baby and such. The baby was a raven-haired, brown-eyed....girl. This continued a trend in the line -- Isabel's first child was a girl, Maria. Maria's first child was a girl, Elisa. And now Elisa had given birth to her baby girl, Elizabeth. (They'll call her Liz or Lizzie, not sure which. Elizabeth isn't based on Elisa, by the way. Elisa or more or less the Spanish equiliviant of Lisa, and Elizabeth is the name of England's best monarch.) Elisa called her parents and siblings with the news, and soon they would start coming over to see their granddaughter or niece. Elisa also called her grandfather, even though she knew he couldn't come to see her.
(Michael introduces himself, probably something along the lines of "I'm easy to remember. Just look at my absurd headgear! My father wore this to my wedding, and now I'm wearing it at your birth!")
The weeks after the birth were busy for Elisa, but fun. She was on maternity leave from work (although her agent was furious at her for actually accepting the leave -- in his eyes, she was committing career suicide), and enjoyed her new role as a mother immensely. One morning she had just changed Elizabeth's diaper and put her down for a nap when she saw a familiar face on her front porch.
It was her grandfather, who was so feeble these days that he hadn't left his house in over three years. Elisa was very attached to her grandfather, but was ashamed to admit she hadn't seen him much since she had gotten married. He hadn't left his home in three years, but for some reason he had made his way here, through some Herculean effort. Michael was at work, so Elisa spent the day alone with her grandfather, catching up. He asked that she keep his visit quiet for the time being -- he had only managed to sneak out because no one was at home. At one point, Elisa had to take a shower (she attempted to play with the baby right after feeding her and Elizabeth returned the favor by throwing up on her), and Tobias was left to tend to the baby.
When Elisa returned, he mentioned that it felt like old times. Maria had not had the easiest time of it when she and Ian were a young couple. When Elisa was a baby and she was pregnant with Erin, Maria's condition was downright deplorable. She had not anticipated how hard it would be to take care of an infant and take care of herself at the same time. She struggled valiantly to do so, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Her doctor threatened to put her on bedrest if she didn't stop wearing herself out. It was then that Tobias stepped in. He had just retired his position at the hospital in order to spend time with his kids and future grandkids, and when Maria called him one day out of desperation, he was only too happy to help. While she soaked in a tub and then went to bed for some well-deserved rest, Tobias tended to Elisa. Soon it had become a pattern -- he'd come over several times a week to help her out in this manner. He continued helping her as she delivered Erin and then became pregnant with Thomas. Once Tom was born, Elisa had grown enough so that she didn't need constant attention, and could even help out a little.
It was for this reason that the three oldest Nichols children were so attached to their grandfather. He wasn't just a friendly relative -- he had been a constant factor when they were growing up. After a lengthy lunch that consumed most of the afternoon (because they spent so much of it talking, instead of eating), Elisa and Lizzie drove him home. Elisa had enjoyed the day immensely, and looked forward to future dates with her grandfather. To be sure, he couldn't sneak over -- it wasn't good for him. But she could visit him.
Around four am the next morning, the phone rang at Marco Winslow's house. His father-in-law, now living with them, answered. When he handed the phone to Marco, he informed him that it was April, Marco's stepmother. Marco knew there was only one reason why his stepmother would be calling him. "He's gone, isn't he?", Marco said into the receiver. April confirmed it. Tobias had passed away during the night. April left for her job at the hospital very early in the morning, and had discovered him when she woke up. Marco knew his father was going to pass on very soon, and had known for quite some time -- but he hadn't realized it would hit so hard.
As the dawn broke, the phone calls began. Marco informed his sisters. Peter and Wendy would be driving home from SSU as soon as possible. He called his two sons, neither of whom took it well. The hardest calls, though, were for Ian and Maria to make. It would be impossible to imagine how badly Elisa, Erin, and Thomas reacted once they were alone in their homes, but suffice it to say the loss hit them hard.
Tobias was buried in the Winslow-Nichols cemetery, between his first two wives, both of whom he had outlived. And then it was over -- the patriarch of the Winslow-Nichols clan was gone. He was survived by his wife, April; his children -- Maria, Marco, Wendy, Joshua, and Joan; his grandchildren -- Elisa, Christopher, Erin, Thomas, Caleb, and Dawn; and one great-grandchild, Elizabeth.
And with that, things changed, forever. Ian, Maria, Marco, and Amalia knew that their roles had changed. Now they were the elders -- the buck stopped with them. In the weeks and months to come, they would be the ones who had to guide the family, even as they themselves were dealing with the death of the man they all called "Dad".
Elisa didn't return to her parents' home after leaving campus. Instead, her taxi brought her to the home of Dougie and Laura Angelo, Michael's parents. They were leaving Salieri for a retirement community, and would be turning ownership of the house over to Michael and Elisa. The Angelos lived in a nice house with three bedrooms, and the engaged couple knew it would be an ideal place to raise a family. Michael arrived a few hours after Elisa, and the two of them had a late dinner date with his parents while talking about the wedding. They had been engaged for four years, so there had been plenty of time to plan the wedding, which was taking place the following day, right outside. Tired from the traveling, Michael retreated to his old room, while Elisa spent the night in Kira's old room.
The next morning was nerve-wracking for the two lovebirds as the wedding plans kicked into place. Soon Ian and Maria arrived. Ian got to shoot the breeze with Dougie on the back porch while Maria helped Elisa into her dress. Soon the guests were arriving and the ceremony was about to begin.
(Michael is not impressed by his father's headgear.)
And so, Michael and Elisa shared their first kiss under the wedding arch and in full view of their family and friends. The wedding party went well, except for a couple of incidences. Marco decided to pelt Elisa with a water balloon instead of rice after the reception, meriting some evil stares from Maria, Amalia, and pretty much every other female on the premises. Michael also disappeared during the reception. A search of the house found him in the bathroom, listening to his MP3 player. Elisa was miffed at him for changing out of his tuxedo, but fortunately for him the relatives had taken all of the pictures that they needed. Dougie and Laura said "Toodle-oo" and left the newlyweds to do…well, what newlyweds do. After disposing of the party guests, Michael and Elisa leapt into a limousine for their honeymoon. They returned several weeks later, eager to start their new life as man and wife.
(Michael attempts to carry his bride across the threshold, but realizes he has a problem. The doors have to be pulled open, and his hands are kinda full.)
Michael began work in his chosen field of science. Elisa, too, had a job, but it wasn't a job anyone had expected her to get. If she chose to work, everyone figured she'd work for her uncle Marco. Outside of that profession (culinary), philosophy majors weren't good for much. But Elisa had found a job as a commercial actress. Her face was selling bottled water. Mike and Elisa started settling into life as a married couple, but something happened to give their life together a little boost:
Babies, burglars, and other things that go "BUMP" in the night.
The family, of course, was overjoyed. Ian and Maria couldn't believe that they were going to be grandparents. Ian and Maria were doing well. Jessica was preparing her move for college, but life was on the whole a bit boring, since Jimmy was on assignment. Maria, encouraged by how much fun she had in her daughters' pool, pressured Ian to build their own pool -- just as he feared. But he finally let her have her pool.
Since the plot of land the house was on was small, the pool had to be small as well, but it was big enough for Maria's purposes. Erin, meanwhile, had graduated from college, but hadn't yet returned home. What was the point? Jimmy was away, off at sea, and Erin wasn't that eager to jump right into real life so soon after college. So, she waited. After all, she figured, she might as well enjoy the master suite of the girls' house, since it was hers until she left. She found a surprise waiting for her in the bedroom -- a painting Elisa had done, depicting Erin talking on the phone. She thought it was funny. While Sarah and Wendy continued going to class and working on term papers, Erin slept in every day. After a few weeks, she began to feel sort of useless, so she decided to move back to Salieri and start attacking real life.
She found work immediately, in her uncle's office. Chandler had won the mayoral race a few weeks back in a landslide, ousting the unpopular mayor Jonathan Monty. Monty had been mayor for quite some time and had actually been an able administrator, but the people of Salieri were weary of the Monty/Capp family conflicts and didn't want someone from that generation in City Hall. Of course, Jonathan wasn't even a Monty by birth. He had taken his wife's name because he wanted to use Monty influence to get him into City Hall. Erin's job didn't involve much work, not at the moment. She was too young for voters to trust, so she wouldn't be getting a seat on the city council anytime soon, but Erin was the only one of his brother's kids that Chandler liked, and he saw her as his protégé. He would teach her the things she needed to know to carry on Nichols legacy in the mayor's chair.
Erin got a little surprised, though, when she came home to find Jimmy, who announced that he had managed to get himself leave for the weekend. This might be their only opportunity for months, so Jimmy and Erin decided to get married -- that weekend. It was going to take nothing short of a miracle to throw a wedding in two days, but somehow they did it. While the adults roamed Salieri trying to find party supplies, Jessica and Dawn worked the phones, sending out invitations over the telephone lines instead of through the mailbox.
Their wedding was as nice as Elisa and Michael's, although no one made as big of a deal about it as they had over Elisa's. She was the first daughter to get married, so she had received most of the gushing and eye-dabbing. Of course, the fact that the wedding plans and wedding had taken place so rapidly didn't help. No one had time to dwell on the gushy, romantic elements when they were trying as hard as they could to make sure the wedding happened in the first place. Jimmy got extra leave time since he had gotten married, and he and Erin evidently made the most of their time together, because she was soon able to make the announcement that they were pregnant.
Ian and Maria couldn't believe it, of course. They were thrilled that their first two children had married happily and were now both pregnant Things were looking better all of the time, too -- Thomas would soon be graduating and marrying Isabella, not to mention Chris and Brianna's wedding.
Of course....no one who was at the wedding of Christopher and Brianna could help mentioning it. It had been scandalous. Christopher and Brianna had been dating since high school. They had been engaged for about a year and a half. He was going to have a fine career in business, and she was destined for a great career in whatever she chose. The two of them were renting a home in Salieri while they saved up money to move to the city (which is where Thomas and Isabella were also headed). The day they moved in was the wedding day, and soon the relatives were all invited. Everyone was sighing and dabbing their eyes as Christopher said his vows. Then it was Brianna's turn, and everyone waited expectantly.
And they waited. And...waited. Why did Brianna have that "deer caught in the headlights" expression on her face? Why did her knees just buckle? Why was she running away? Running away? Hey, wait --
And just like that, Christopher had been left at the altar. Humiliated yes, but confused and hurt were the adjectives that most described him. He had no idea what went wrong. She had been looking forward to it when they were making the plans. She hadn't been sick. They both felt great before the ceremony started. But now she was gone. The wedding party was, of course, a disaster.
The Montys left, Brianna retreating to her parent's home. Christopher wanted to be left alone with his thoughts and ran his family off as politely as he could. His future was now uncertain, as uncertain as the gossip that was being spread in the town's rumor mills. Some people were mentioning Brianna's possible pre-engagement fling with Dean Vargas, Chris's half-uncle and renown womanizer. Some people said Jonathan Monty was behind the altar fiasco, spreading lies and discouraging Brianna, and was doing the same thing to hurt Isabella and Thomas's wedding.
Thomas was finishing up his final semester at SSU. Now that Jimmy and Christopher were gone, the frat house no longer seemed like home. Thomas had promoted two pledges (Pete Cooper and Peter Rice) to the rank of senior member. They were good guys, but Thomas's mind was focused on his future with Isabella. He hung out at her house most days, his visits increasing after Brianna's debacle. Isabella refused to say if her father had anything to do with Brianna's decision to leave Christopher, and likewise wouldn't say if he was trying to discourage her. What her father said or didn't say was irrelevant -- Isabella wanted to be married to Thomas. Their graduation "party" was small, the festive spirit all but suppressed by the failed marriage.
The two of them decided to go with a different wedding. No big to-do in a church or a lavish backyard wedding. There would be no big reception where Winslows and Montys (and possibly Christopher and Brianna) would have to be around each other. They had a quiet courthouse wedding, witnessed only by their parents, Thomas' sisters were disappointed that they hadn't gotten to see their only brother get married, but understood his decision. The wedding proceeded without a hitch, and Tom and Isabella left for their honeymoon.
They returned a few weeks later and started planning their future. Isabella, despite being a superb athlete and accomplished student politician, had no real career plans. All she had ever wanted in life was a huge circle of friends, and that goal had been accomplished during college. Brianna was interested in politics, but Isabella wasn't. She decided on a job in fashion photography. It was a high-paying job that she had gotten with some help her father. He wasn't mayor any longer, but he did have some old favors he could cash in to help her. Isabella could've gotten the job without him, of course, but she would've had to start from the bottom to make her name known. Patience wasn't a virtue the Montys possessed in any amount. Thomas, meanwhile, had gotten a high-paying job in a science lab. Ian was disgusted by the amount of money his son was making right out of college. Ian's fortune had been earned by clawing his way to the top -- Tom had just strolled up there. Still, he was happy that Tom was going to so successful, even if he was a tad jealous.
A few months after the wedding, Thomas flew something by his mother. "By the way, mom -- did I forget to tell you? We're pregnant." He underplayed it on purpose, but Maria was ecstatic. She was going to be the grandmother of at least three children, and she wasn't even old yet. Best of all, none of her kids were going to have to struggle like she and Ian had done when they were younger. She just hoped their success didn't spoil them or her grandchildren -- spoiling them was HER job.
As was the custom in Salieri, they threw a "We're Pregnant!" party, which their friends and family attended. Thomas and Christopher had been big pool players (some would say they were hustlers, but they'd never cheat anyone) back during college, and Thomas had been saving for a pool table for quite some time. It was affordable because neither he nor Isabella were fond of watching TV. She preferred being active to lounging around all day, and Thomas didn't want to go back to being the couch potato that he was in his early high school years. Time progressed and the small lives inside Elisa, Erin, and Isabella continued to mature. Erin and Isabella were a good ways off (Isabella was long ways off -- she was barely showing), but Elisa would be in spitting distance of her due date if she were a spitter. (She wasn't).
With the weddings and pregnancies, the spotlight had been removed from Wendy and Sarah, still toiling away at SSU. They didn't mind. Sarah's huge family annoyed her (Sarah may come off as a sweet bookworm, but she was in most ways her father's daughter, as were her half-siblings. The difference between them and her father, though, was that they tried to act civilized.), and she was content to work on improving herself. She didn't care much for a career -- she was going to devote her life to educating herself. Knowledge was her chief pleasure. Wendy, on the other hand, missed her family. She had always been apart of a huge family, to the point where she took them for granted. Wendy loved living with her two "nieces", and couldn't wait to move back to Salieri to start raising her own family with Peter, taking care of her father in his old age even as they raised little toddlers. When she came to college, all she wanted was to be popular. Now she yearned for her family. But her own family would have to wait. She was only a junior. However, this meant she'd have the opportunity to get to know Jessica and Dawn, her other two nieces, as well as their cousin, Brigit. She wasn't related to Brigit or Sarah, but considered them quasi-relatives, since they were relatives of her relatives. There was also Joan to think of.
Tobias' youngest child had grown up without anyone noticing. Joan was a very shy girl who preferred painting and reading to playing with friends from school. She had a few friends, fellow introverts like herself, but kept to herself. Her childhood had been quiet, and now she was coming up on her teenage birthday. She'd be a freshman in college by the time Dawn was in her junior year. Josh, meanwhile, was preparing for his move to college and the Annya Annya Cham frathouse. He looked up to his "nephew" Tom and Jimmy, having spent a lot of time around them due to Tom's frequent parties for his younger relatives. He liked Christopher and Michael, but Tom and Jimmy were the two he spent most of his time around. Christopher had always been sick in bed and Michael was…well, Michael was Michael -- serious, eccentric, and yet somehow likable. Erin's favorite word for her brother-in-law was "mellow". Joshua was bookish, but he liked doing things outside, too.
It was a quiet night at the Angelo house. Michael and Elisa had been woken up by his cell phone ringing ("Who carries a phone in their pajamas?!,"Elisa wanted to know) and hadn't been able to go back to sleep, so they were both up late at night. Michael was doing some work in the living room. Elisa had enjoyed a nice salmon dinner, then used the restroom. She was about to sit down in front of the computer to work on her novella when It happened. It was time for the baby.
"It's time for you...it's time for you...
It's time to spread your wings and do the things you've always wanted to do...
It's all out there -- you have come of age.
So many places to be, faces, to see, break outta that cage!
So what I'm sayin' is, don't sit there stallin'.
While you're mopin' the open road is calling.
I'm telling you that dreams come true
Your time is now, you've earned your bow,
So take it on cue!
Elisa had enjoyed an easy pregnancy -- no morning sickness, no dizzy spells, no inconvenient fainting -- but labor wasn't easy -- hence the name. But soon the baby was delivered. The baby was a raven-haired, brown-eyed...
Doesn't Elisa look happy? Oh, right. The sex of the baby and such. The baby was a raven-haired, brown-eyed....girl. This continued a trend in the line -- Isabel's first child was a girl, Maria. Maria's first child was a girl, Elisa. And now Elisa had given birth to her baby girl, Elizabeth. (They'll call her Liz or Lizzie, not sure which. Elizabeth isn't based on Elisa, by the way. Elisa or more or less the Spanish equiliviant of Lisa, and Elizabeth is the name of England's best monarch.) Elisa called her parents and siblings with the news, and soon they would start coming over to see their granddaughter or niece. Elisa also called her grandfather, even though she knew he couldn't come to see her.
(Michael introduces himself, probably something along the lines of "I'm easy to remember. Just look at my absurd headgear! My father wore this to my wedding, and now I'm wearing it at your birth!")
The weeks after the birth were busy for Elisa, but fun. She was on maternity leave from work (although her agent was furious at her for actually accepting the leave -- in his eyes, she was committing career suicide), and enjoyed her new role as a mother immensely. One morning she had just changed Elizabeth's diaper and put her down for a nap when she saw a familiar face on her front porch.
It was her grandfather, who was so feeble these days that he hadn't left his house in over three years. Elisa was very attached to her grandfather, but was ashamed to admit she hadn't seen him much since she had gotten married. He hadn't left his home in three years, but for some reason he had made his way here, through some Herculean effort. Michael was at work, so Elisa spent the day alone with her grandfather, catching up. He asked that she keep his visit quiet for the time being -- he had only managed to sneak out because no one was at home. At one point, Elisa had to take a shower (she attempted to play with the baby right after feeding her and Elizabeth returned the favor by throwing up on her), and Tobias was left to tend to the baby.
When Elisa returned, he mentioned that it felt like old times. Maria had not had the easiest time of it when she and Ian were a young couple. When Elisa was a baby and she was pregnant with Erin, Maria's condition was downright deplorable. She had not anticipated how hard it would be to take care of an infant and take care of herself at the same time. She struggled valiantly to do so, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Her doctor threatened to put her on bedrest if she didn't stop wearing herself out. It was then that Tobias stepped in. He had just retired his position at the hospital in order to spend time with his kids and future grandkids, and when Maria called him one day out of desperation, he was only too happy to help. While she soaked in a tub and then went to bed for some well-deserved rest, Tobias tended to Elisa. Soon it had become a pattern -- he'd come over several times a week to help her out in this manner. He continued helping her as she delivered Erin and then became pregnant with Thomas. Once Tom was born, Elisa had grown enough so that she didn't need constant attention, and could even help out a little.
It was for this reason that the three oldest Nichols children were so attached to their grandfather. He wasn't just a friendly relative -- he had been a constant factor when they were growing up. After a lengthy lunch that consumed most of the afternoon (because they spent so much of it talking, instead of eating), Elisa and Lizzie drove him home. Elisa had enjoyed the day immensely, and looked forward to future dates with her grandfather. To be sure, he couldn't sneak over -- it wasn't good for him. But she could visit him.
Around four am the next morning, the phone rang at Marco Winslow's house. His father-in-law, now living with them, answered. When he handed the phone to Marco, he informed him that it was April, Marco's stepmother. Marco knew there was only one reason why his stepmother would be calling him. "He's gone, isn't he?", Marco said into the receiver. April confirmed it. Tobias had passed away during the night. April left for her job at the hospital very early in the morning, and had discovered him when she woke up. Marco knew his father was going to pass on very soon, and had known for quite some time -- but he hadn't realized it would hit so hard.
As the dawn broke, the phone calls began. Marco informed his sisters. Peter and Wendy would be driving home from SSU as soon as possible. He called his two sons, neither of whom took it well. The hardest calls, though, were for Ian and Maria to make. It would be impossible to imagine how badly Elisa, Erin, and Thomas reacted once they were alone in their homes, but suffice it to say the loss hit them hard.
Tobias was buried in the Winslow-Nichols cemetery, between his first two wives, both of whom he had outlived. And then it was over -- the patriarch of the Winslow-Nichols clan was gone. He was survived by his wife, April; his children -- Maria, Marco, Wendy, Joshua, and Joan; his grandchildren -- Elisa, Christopher, Erin, Thomas, Caleb, and Dawn; and one great-grandchild, Elizabeth.
And with that, things changed, forever. Ian, Maria, Marco, and Amalia knew that their roles had changed. Now they were the elders -- the buck stopped with them. In the weeks and months to come, they would be the ones who had to guide the family, even as they themselves were dealing with the death of the man they all called "Dad".