Newhaven: Week Nine - The Sibly Family
Previously for the Sibly family: Gina Sibly struggled with her conscious after falling in love with the much younger Ebony Darcy, concerned not only about cheating on her husband Lucas but the possible ramifications for their son Clark. Her brother-in-law Maurice too struggled with his new found love with Mei Chang, as he was actually responsible for her late boyfriend’s demise. Clark grew into a friendly child and Lucas aged into an elder.
Clark had had a happy childhood. It was only after he became a teenager that he noticed things in his family weren’t as perfect as they had once seemed.
At first being a teenager was awesome. He got to finish school earlier and had more time to spend with friends, which he felt was the most important thing in life.
He even had his first kiss with Yin Chang.
As well as spending time with friends, one day he wanted a family of his own. Perhaps it because of this that he started noticing the discontent in his parent’s marriage.
It didn’t take him long to realise that it was his mum’s friendship with Ebony Darcy that seemed to be causing problems.
But it was only when he overheard his parent’s arguing that he discovered that the younger woman was much more than a friend to his mum, and that she had actually been having an affair with her.
Clark felt horribly betrayed.
He wasn’t the only one.
While he could tell his parents tried to hide their fighting from him, it was hard not to feel the tension in the house. Even his dad, when teaching him how to use the police scanner, couldn’t help the venom in his voice when he described it as being useful for catching criminals and cheating spouses.
It was even worse when his Uncle moved out as he couldn’t even escape downstairs at night to talk about it.
But then, one night, everything changed.
Unbeknownst to Clark, that evening his father returned from work with an ultimatum.
He explained to his wife that her young lover was waiting for her and that if she wanted to be with her, he would not stand in her way, and that she could choose to join her that very moment.
But if she did, he would never welcome her back into their house. He would have sole custody of their son, and she would not receive a single simoleon.
He reminded her of the thirty year age difference between her and Ebony and asked if it was really fair for her to ask a young woman in the prime of her life to be left to care for an aging lover.
He then left her to make her decision.
The next morning it was like nothing had ever happened. There was no bickering, no insults and no snide comments. Instead there were displays of affection and plans to renovate the house.
Soon it was time to celebrate Gina’s birthday. Gina said she was more than happy not to have a party and was happy to celebrate at home with her husband and son and a cake with too many candles.
Clark found himself struggling to believe that such an enormous event could just be put aside and seemingly forgotten about.
It made him wonder what else could so easily be swept under the rug.