Falderol Falls: Hope
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Life at the MacPhearson household became centered on the mundane details of daily life after Mara's spawning. Daisy stopped crying all the time and began to function more normally. The children continued with their studies, and continued to make friends both inside and outside the family. Even little Biscuit was included in the play.
Mara's frank speaking and sweet personality won everyone over quickly. Gerard took the time to teach her a little song his mother had taught him when he was young.
Even Daisy was known to sit down for a game of peek a boo with her from time to time.
Gerard finally made it to the Hall of Fame, and was surprised at the local response. It seemed that everyone wanted to be friends with him, which fit in with his desires perfectly. Women, especially, seemed to go out of their way to cross his path. He couldn't even pick the mail up without being accosted. Eventually, he began to flirt a little. He didn't see the harm in making them happy.
And, if he were being truthful, knowing that Daisy was standing there watching him do it made it all the more enticing. He loved Daisy and hated feeling like everything he'd given her over the long years hadn't been enough for her. It felt good to cause her a little pain.
As a result of this, lots of small arguments erupted. One day Daisy finally threatened to kick him out.
"Go ahead," he laughed. "This house was purchased with my money. Your mom had taken all yours, remember? Anyway, who would believe you, a pathetic little oddball, could ever have contributed to my wealth and fame? That's right, no one. Because you didn't."
The children were often found playing quietly in their rooms during this turbulent time. Amazingly, neither of them showed any obvious signs of stress. In fact, all three seemed to excel in their various pursuits.
One night, when Gerard had gone to bed uncharacteristically early, Daisy invited everyone she knew over to the house.
She even invited Brianna Cabrillo, Maverick's best friend. Perhaps she especially invited Brianna, since the party was in honor of Maverick's birthday.
Maverick took a long look at his candles and thought up the perfect birthday wish. Then he took a deep breath and blew the candles out.
The party was such a rousing success that there was even a fight outside!
Daisy loved the fact that she had friends who would stick up for her enough to fight for her. And she put Erin's excellent fighting skills--and in heels, no less--in the back of her mind. Just in case she needed some backup.
Predictably, tempers flared when Gerard walked downstairs in his pajamas at one in the morning to find the party just winding down. He couldn't believe Daisy would allow him to miss his only son's birthday party and even went so far as to accuse her of drugging him so that he would sleep through it.
Later that week, he went down to The Clubhouse to meet with Jason Greenman.
He asked Jason to be an expert witness on the defects of plantsims. He was planning to divorce Daisy and wanted to make sure that he had the upper hand. Gerard explained that he'd be willing to pay Jason quite a bit of money for his help. Jason was not sure he was willing to be part of something so ugly and underhanded.
Without even saying good-bye, he went inside to find something to help him forget his frustration.
He succeeded.
The experience opened a door in his mind. All of the sudden, he could think of nothing but women. Healthy, consenting women. He realized that for so many years he had been denying himself when he didn't really need to, and with that realization came another.
"Daisy, when Mara grows up, I'm going to move out. You can keep everything. I'm going to find a new life with someone who truly appreciates me."
"You come back here, Ger! You can't just say something like that and walk away!" But Gerard's mind was made up and he walked away almost cheerfully to do a few things around the house. He wanted to make sure things were in good working order for the kids when he wasn't around anymore. First on his list was putting up a barre for his princess.
Time passed and nothing more was said about Gerard's plans. He was glad that the fighting seemed to be over. He was getting too old to yell all the time. It was exhausting. Besides, he'd had something else on his mind for awhile. Or rather, someone else.
He wasn't sure why Alli was always in his thoughts, but it was almost like he'd felt about Daisy in the beginning. Only it was more intense. The longing to be near her obliterated everything else. And, he told himself, he was only a man. He couldn't hold out against temptation forever. So the next time Daisy was off to check on one of her many business commitments, he invited her over.
After Daisy had discovered them, things were tense at home. Gerard often heard her crying in the night as he lay in bed. He wondered if he'd meant for her to catch him all along. And sometimes, just as he fell asleep, he wished she would come upstairs and hold him all night the way she did before. But he never remembered that in the morning.
That could have been in part because his age was creeping up on him. Daisy called and invited the neighborhood for a party in his honor. Whether she was trying to keep up appearances or just wishfully thinking, Gerard wasn't sure. And didn't care much, either.
Mara, who was a little shy, stayed in the back room with her toys. Biscuit, who was also starting to show his age, kept her company. One of the guests, opening her door by accident, began to mock her behind her back. Gerard put a stop to that quickly.
Once he was thrown bodily off the property, it was time to blow out the candles.
He was sad to grow up. He felt like he wanted to do so many things he never got to do. He really hoped that his elder years would be much happier. After all, what else would be the point of leaving everything he'd earned over the years?
With Mara's birthday approaching quickly, Gerard began to make final preparations to leave. He gave Maverick the talk.
He was a little disbelieving at the facts of the birds and bees.
With less than a week to go, Gerard decided to make sure everything was in top working order. He proceeded to tinker with everything, generally causing more damage than anything. He broke the sink. And realized the dishwasher was smoking softly. And he couldn't get the trash compactor to close all the way. He was grateful that Makayla was upstairs practicing her ballet and Maverick was outside learning to swing a golf club and couldn't see what a fool their father was.
Sighing at the creaking in his joints, he got down on the floor to fix the dishwasher first, as the smoke was the most worrying problem.
His last thoughts before he slipped into oblivion were that Daisy would have made sure the water was mopped up before he tinkered with things, and his cruelty to her had been a mistake.
Daisy had a hard time coping. For a moment, she would feel free for the first time in a long time. And just as quickly she would be overcome with depression.
She tried to keep her thoughts on an even keel by throwing herself into caring for her children.
She worried a lot about how Makayla was handling the loss of her father. Though she didn't say anything, she knew that Makayla had snuck out several times.
She had also been seeing a lot of one of the Hummer boys. Nick, she thought. Sometimes it was really hard to tell them all apart, though.
She perhaps wasn't as worried as normal because it was a Hummer boy and she knew how hard Erin had worked to raise them with moral values and respect for women.
And through all of it, she had to keep her businesses running. She booked bands for The Music, Man and took money for PartyPartyParty, and saw to a hundred other details to keep things running smoothly.
One evening at the Rec Center, she saw Erin and wanted desperately for Erin's advice on sorting through all the emotions she had inside her, but stopped when she saw the bright smile on Erin's face. Daisy was not up to a conversation with anyone as obviously happy as Erin seemed to be. Especially one who was still that happy after an hour on a treadmill going full tilt.
On the evening of Mara's birthday, Daisy invited the headmaster of the local private school over for an evaluation. Makayla had been attending private school for awhile and Daisy wanted Maverick to have the same opportunities.
The headmaster broke the kitchen sink while washing his hands before dinner. And between his embarrassment over that, the fact that the MacPhearsons were one of the oldest (and wealthiest) families in the falls, and the added excitement of a plantsim birthday, Maverick was a shoo-in. Daisy was pleased to see a lot of her mother in Mara. She loved how bluntly Mara told her that she needn't be worried that she'd be like Rose temperamentally even though Mara decided immediately she wanted to work with plants. She spent the first week of her adult life trying to teach herself to arrange flowers. She had more than a little success.
With everything else that happened, it was no wonder that no one seemed to notice Daisy herself becoming an elder. As she adjusted her look to reflect her inner self, she decided that elderhood could be one of the greatest times of her life. It wasn't like she needed anyone to come rescue her this time. She knew she could take care of herself (and always had), and she began to look forward with hope.
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