Chapter 3.11: Mom?

"I wish we could run away together and leave all this behind. We could go live on a deserted island alone together. Or maybe go traveling with my mom."

Deric smiles and pulls Michele into a hug.

"With Vera? She doesn't travel. Plus, how would we get the money. I'm barely a sophomore, no one is going to give me a job. At least you're close to graduating."
Michele rolls her eyes before she answers. "Not my stepmother. My real mom has been all over the world. She's seen pyramids and castles and all the stuff. She loots tombs for money and gems. At least that's what she told me the last time she wrote to me."
"Oh yeah? I could do the looting thing. That would be fun, just snatching things in the cover of night," Deric chuckles. "Where's your mom now?"

Michele frowns and shrugs.

"Dunno. Haven't heard from her since I was little. Whatever," she sighs. "It's stupid anyway. Let's just go to the park and hang out."

Deric pats her shoulder and nods, "Sure, that sounds fun."

"I'd like to have another baby," Vera announces out of the blue.
Jude wrings his hands, "Do we have the simoleons for that? I mean with all the money. . ."
Vera cuts him off, "We'll save up. We can do it, Jude. I think it would draw us all a little closer."
Jude grabs Vera's hands and squeezes tight. "Okay. Let's do it."

Vera spends some time pampering Bodica. Sometimes the kitty gets forgotten and she feels bad about that.

Michele and Deric spend the evening busting their butts in the roller rink. Deric slips and falls hard. Michele laughs as she passes by. Deric grabs her hand she tumbles unceremoniously on top of him.

She grins, "Why did you do that?"
"Because I wanted to kiss you," he responds.
Michele grins and kisses Deric hard. "I wish you could stay over."
Deric grins and nods, "I'd like nothing more than to fall asleep next to you and wake up next to you." He tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and trails his hand down her back before continuing, "But your parents would kill me and then my parents would revive me just so they could kill me again."
"Maybe they don't have to know," Michele says.

Deric arches his eyebrows in question.

It's getting close to curfew but Michele and Deric start building an igloo in the park. Everyone else has gone home and the streets are empty. They're pretty sure they won't get caught out past curfew although Michele starts to worry about a stranger walking past.

"It's so cold out though," Deric reassures her. "Everyone is already nice and toasty inside their houses."
"You're probably right," she agrees.
Deric stops stacking ice blocks for a second, "We don't have to do this."
"I want to," Michele says nonchalantly. "I just don't want to get caught."

Michele forgets to worry when Deric drags a warm hand down her side and rests it at her waist. Oh jeez, she thinks as she feels her world turning sideways around her.

Afterward she pulls her phone out.

"I want a picture to remember this by."
"I don't think I'm going to need a picture to remember," Deric says through a smile.
Michele blushes and lightly pushes his shoulder, "You know what I mean!"
"You'll have to send it to me too."

Lindsay bakes tray after tray of baked good for her upcoming bake sale. None of the cupcakes seem to be good enough.

Varinia plays drums well in to the night. She's thankful the sound doesn't wake the rest of the house.

It's not the drumming that brings everyone running.

No one was expecting it to creep up on them like this. Varinia has lead a long, happy life but it still feels too soon to everyone else.

"Take me too," Claude cries as he watches his wife dematerialize before his eyes.

Bodica yowls for the sim she barely knew.

Michele is startled to find all the lights on at home. She sneaks in the backdoor anyway and slowly makes her way up the stairs to find everyone gathered in the music room.

"What's going on?" she asks before she realizes what she is seeing.

Varinia takes one last look at her portrait, remembers every year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second.

And then she's gone.

Mourning and intense sorrow follow.

"Why don't you take me too?" Claude asks. "I want to be with her."

Grim lays a cold, bony hand on Claude and shakes his head.

Dahlia hugs Claude.

"I'm sorry, grandpa. I'm so sorry."
"It's not fair!" he sobs.

"Where were you?" Jude asks after some of the commotion has died down.
"I was in the back, um, gardening."
"It's the middle of winter and the middle of the night, Michele. You were not gardening. Try again."

Jude crosses his arms and waits.

Michele sighs sadly and whispers, "I was at the park with Deric."
"Out past curfew? What were you thinking? You should have been here! Your grandmother and then no one could find you," Jude yells. "You should have been here with your family instead of running around town in the middle of the night doing who knows what, although I'm sure I can guess!"

He stalks off without another word. Michele wipes at her tears futilely.

Vera drags Michele away from the commotion and draws her into a hug.

"Shhhh, it's okay. He's upset. It's been an intense evening."
"I'm sorry, V. . .V," Michele hesitates, "mom. I shouldn't have worried you guys."

Vera buries a sob in Michele's hair and pats her back gently.

Amira arrives back from home after everything has settled down. She sheds silent tears for her mother. She should have been here. She wasn't. She feels lower than dirt.

The following morning Amira finds Michael in the kitchen. He wraps his arms around her before she can say anything.

"I'm so sorry, darling," he whispers.

Amira sobs openly.

"I should have been here."
He tries to comfort her, "There's no way you could have known."
"Still. She was my mother. I should have been here."

He tightens his hug and doesn't say another word.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I can't believe it finally happened. Varinia is gone and Claude is inconsolable. It is super sad.