Chapter 1.6 Silas - They grow up so fast
It was Snowflake day on Cyrene Island and the Rivers were hosting a gift giving party. Evelyn was trying really hard to focus on opening her gift instead of eyeing Anthony Wisp. She wasn't doing a very good job of it. His mother, Eva Wisp, was chatting away about art or some such with grandpa and Anthony was nodding along. Evelyn stole a few quick glances when he wasn't looking.
She had seen Anthony around at school but didn't really know him, apparently neither of his parents like dad very much. No one ever explained why; today they were here because Lily had insisted they were invited, she didn't want them to be alone after Tristan, Anthony's paternal grandfather, passed away a few months ago.
When Evelyn finally brought her attention back to her gift, she realized she had gotten coal....she glared at her brother, he was definitely, 100% responsible for this. At least she got a neat looking table from someone else.
"Wyatt! You jerk!"
"What did I do now??"
"You know what you did!"
"I don't know what you're talking about dear sister." Evelyn scowled at him before angrily taking a seat.
Now she regretted making him this cute little llama statue, that think took her two days! It even dipped it's head into a bowl of water! Two days!
Evelyn sulked the rest of for the rest of the gift giving. Coal!
After everyone was finally done opening gifts, Anthony walked over to Evelyn and formally introduced himself.
"I know I've seen you around but I'm Anthony. Thanks for having us over." Anthony awkwardly stuck out his hand.
Reaching her own hand out, "Hey, Anthony. I hope you liked your gift. I even made it myself!" Suddenly shy, Evelyn blushed and looked at her feet.
"You did? How?"
"My dad and I built a little workshop for me to build stuff. It's just a table really, but I like to design stuff. If you know where to look, there's all kinds of metal around the island. It's nothing, really, just a little toy I thought you might like." Evenly was still blushing.
"That's really cool! You'll have to show me sometime!"
After everyone had eaten until they were ready to pop, someone turned the turntable on, filling the room with music. Anthony, being much bolder than Evelyn, asked her to dance. She nervously said yes.
Across the room, Silas scowled.
"What's the sour look for, Si?" Lily stared at her son in amusement.
"Boy," Silas grunted back, "She's dancing with a boy."
"So?"
"Boy."
"She's a teenager, Silas. You met Marilyn around her age. Actually, I think you were a little younger."
"But he's a boy."
"Well, yes. He is."
"I don't like him." More scowling.
"You don't even know him, Silas."
"I don't need to know him to know what he's thinking, mom." Silas crossed him arms, never dropping his gaze from his daughter.
"You didn't care this much when Wyatt started dating."
"Wyatt never had any luck."
Lily laughed and before rejoining the others, she called over her shoulder, "They all grow up eventually, Silas. You of all people should know that."
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When Tristan had passed away, he had been helping Silas out at the bar. It was sudden, Tristan seemed as happy-go-lucky as usual. Silas was more upset than he thought he'd be at Tristan's passing. Their conversations never ran deep, but Tristan had been a constant in Silas's life for nearly two decades now. He'd watched his kids grow up, helped out nearly every single day for nothing but free access to the bar (and all the nectar he could drink). It didn't take long for Silas to lash out.
He couldn't even remember who he'd punched but he did remember that they had one mean right hook.
Silas moped for weeks.
"It's too quiet around here without Tristan," he'd complained to Willow one night, "I miss him."
"I miss him too, Silas. It doesn't feel all that long ago that he was giving me and Derrick terrible marriage advice," she sniffled a little, "his heart was always in the right place though."
A few drinks later and the two were laughing about the "good ol' times" with Tristan.
Back at home, Evelyn worked her frustration over Tristan's passing out on some scrap metal. Tristan was the first death on the island that actually affected her, and only the third death in the past 20 years. She was upset to say the least.
"Death is stupid. Why would anyone die? Stupid. So stupid. He was all alone! He only had us! Even his own kids barely talked to him! Stupid!" She also cried a lot.
It turned out, though, that Tristan had left them everything he'd had to his name. A few days after Tristan died, Keely followed. She also left the Rivers half of her things (the other half going to Jonathan). Silas wasn't sure what to do anymore now that he wasn't barely getting by. He bought himself an at home bar, updated Evelyn's workbench, and started the process to dig a basement out under the house.
One afternoon, the first of many, many fires happened.
Evelyn was quietly banging on a piece of metal while Silas worked on a new nectar recipe when she burst into flames.
"Dad! DAD! HELP ME! AHH! FIRE!" For a brief moment, Silas just stood there, shocked.
"DAD! I'm on FIRE!"
Finally snapping out of it, Silas grabbed a pitcher of water from the bar and threw it on Evelyn, extinguishing the flames.
"Evelyn, what HAPPENED??" Silas shouted.
"I DON'T KNOW! IT JUST DID!" Evelyn shouted back.
"People don't just randomly catch on fire, Evelyn! You very nearly gave me a heart attack! What where you thinking?"
"What was I thinking? That I was about to DIE?!"
Silas closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves.
"Go...go wash up, Evelyn. Please, whatever you did, never, ever do it again."
"Okay okay, sheese."
"So I heard you almost died today."
"Wyatt!" Silas shot him a look.
"Well she did!"
"It was nothing. I just hit some metal too hard and it caught my sweater on fire. I won't make that mistake again."
"You're damn right you wont! And don't work on anything unless someone is here, just in case you catch something else on fire, for the love of God."
"Ugh FINE!"
Evelyn kept true to her word, she only worked on anything metallic when someone was home. A very good thing, she'd later find out.
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A few nights later, Anthony stopped by. He knocked on their door, full of frayed nervous and excitement. Silas opened the door. Anthony's stomach dropped.
"H-hi Mr. Rivers. Is uh....is Evelyn home?"
"I don't know, it depends on why you're here." Silas stared at the boy, willing him to burst into flame.
"I just wanted to ask her something." Anthony tried to maintain eye contact, to see confident, but if he was honest, Mr. Rivers terrified him.
"Evelyn! Come here!"
"What, dad!"
"Get your ass over here!"
"Okay, jeeze!"
Anthony awkwardly stood outside on the porch while Evelyn bounded up the stairs. When she saw Anthony, she stopped, suddenly shy.
"This boy is here to ask you something. So ask." Silas crossed his arms and tapped his foot against the floorboards.
"Oh um...uh..." Anthony looked back and forth between Silas and Evelyn. He couldn't decide if it would be better to run away or to hide behind a bush.
"Well?" Silas waited.
"Evelyn, wouldyouliketogoonadate? with me? to the park?" There, he said it! In front of her dad, too!
It took a good 5 heartbeats before Evelyn finally realized what Anthony was asking. Luckily, it took her dad a little longer, because she was able to answer before he did.
"Yes! Absolutely! When?"
"Um, tomorrow afternoon? If that's okay..." Anthony glanced up at Mr. Rivers. Mr. Rivers still had a blank look on his face as he processed everything.
"Cool! I'll see you then!"
She even cried when she got to the park.
When Anthony saw her, he immediately wrapped his arms around her and just held her until she stopped crying.
"I'm sorry," Evelyn said as she wiped tears, and snot, from her face.
"For what? You don't have anything to be sorry for."
"Well it's our first date and I've already ruined it, and I also ruined your sweater and I promise I'll make you a new one, but my grandpa died last night so I'm sorry," she said between sobs.
Anthony took her hand and led her over to the Gnubb set.
"Hey, let's play a few rounds, get your mind off things, huh? Maybe I'll even let you win."
Evelyn managed a strangled laugh and nodded her head.
It turned out that letting her win was harder than Anthony had anticipated. She was truly, truly awful at it. She even tossed the stick in the complete wrong direction a few times. It was harder to purposefully lose than it was to try to win against his dad.
"I suck" Evelyn announced after a particularly bad round.
"Hey, no you..........yeah, you really do."
Evelyn started to pout before bursting into a fit of giggles, "I've never played before, if that wasn't obvious."
"Whaaat, noooo, you? Never played? How preposterous!" Evelyn smacked his arm but she was smiling back at him.
"How about you try to beat me at building something, then we'll see who's laughing."
"We aren't all geniuses here, Ev, well, we aren't all genius inventors, I should say. Clearly you're no genius at throwing sticks."
"Ouch. That stings."
Anthony pulled her in for a hug, surprising them both. Evelyn could feel the hard lines of his body pressed against her and she felt her heart starting to beat wildly. Suddenly she couldn't remember how to breathe. The looked at each other for a moment. Evelyn couldn't remember who kissed who first, just that one second they weren't kissing and the next, they were.
The kiss both lasted forever and not long enough. Anthony wanted to kiss her again, but Evelyn had a pained look in her eyes.
"Was that okay? Sorry if I did--"
"No, that was wonderful. I...I definitely want to do that some more. Definitely." Evelyn was beaming again.
"Perfect! I brought something for you. My mom said I should bring a gift, since it's our first date and...uh, well....here"
The little squeal of excitement was worth the weeks he'd spent growing these just for her (with his mom's help, of course).
"Oh, Anthony, they're beautiful!" Evelyn couldn't help it when her voice raised several octaves, "what are these?"
"I made them, for you. I crossbred a couple different things. I thought you'd like them."
"I love them! Thank you so much!" more squealing.
"EVELYN!" Silas's voice came booming across the lake.
"Uh oh. I should get going. I had a really great time, Anthony. Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek, which was followed by another kiss on the lips.
"When can I see you again?" Anthony was already eager to see her again and she hadn't even left yet.
"Whenever you want! I'll see you at school tomorrow!"
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After Nathan's passing, Silas offered to let Lily move in with them and she graciously accepted. She couldn't bare to be in the same home that she and Nathan had shared for the last 40 odd years. Everywhere she looked, there was another reminder that he was gone. His many unfinished books, an unfinished painting, his dying favorite grape vines, his dirty socks. Lily packed up some clothes and took over Evelyn's old bed.
It took a long time for things to get back into a normal routine. The entire household would break into sobs multiple times a day. First one, then another, until everyone was crying. Silas took some time off work, leaving the bar in the care of Mark Wisp (Brandon's oldest son, Anthony's older brother) until he could find someone to replace Tristan. It came as a great shock when Lily told him she had a lot of money stashed away. She had planned on giving it to Wyatt and Evelyn when they each got married, but she figured they could dip into some of the funds now to finish the basement. The house was getting pretty cramped, especially because Lily also brought her two cats, Pepper, and Maggie. Silas hates cats.
He could make an exception this one time.
"Hey kiddo, whatcha workin on?" Lily made a great effort to understand what Evelyn was saying when she explained some of the things she created, but try as she might, she just didn't get it. That didn't stop her from asking about it all. Lily knew Evelyn was incredibly passionate about her inventions.
"I'm making this thing that will freshen up the air so we don't smell the moldy dishes."
"Freshen the air? Like...flowers?"
"Uh, something like that. It'll smell like flowers, anyway. Or even fruit! I extracted quite a few different scents! Here! Smell one!"
Lily wasn't sure what to think about all this when she leaned in to sniff the strange liquid Evelyn was holding, but it really did smell like roses!
"That's amazing!"
"Thanks!
"You can have the first model. It's not perfect but it mostly gets the job done. Put it anywhere that you want to smell nice. Anytime you go near it, it'll release whatever scent you load it up with. I'll even show you how to put the extractions into it."
Lily still didn't really understand what Evelyn was saying, but at least the house smelled nice.
There were quite a few more mishaps over the next few years. As Evelyn's inventions got bigger and bigger, so too did the frequency of fires. Silas was getting pretty good at putting them out. He was barely fazed anymore when his daughter suddenly erupted into flames. The nectar helped.
"You okay, Ev?"
"Yup! Just a few crossed wires."
"I'll say."
"Thanks for putting me out, dad!"
"No problem?"
Silas also got pretty skilled at making drinks now. It wasn't long before he felt like he couldn't get any better at making nectar, and with that, he felt pretty fulfilled in life. His kids were nearly grown, his business was doing well, they had plenty of money, his son had even found himself a girlfriend, though Silas had only met her once. Cute girl, Deidre, he thought her name was. Anthony was starting to grow on him, even if he was Brandon's kid. The kids loved having their grandma around to cook and clean for them every day, and they especially loved the newest addition to the family: Mr. Cat.
Even Silas silently agreed that he was a pretty cute cat.
Lily also became pretty accustomed to her granddaughter catching on fire.
After grieving the loss of her husband, Lily picked her guitar back up one day and ever since, she had barely put it down. She learned every song she had ever heard and even remembered a few from her childhood. Lily felt her life had been pretty fulfilling, too. She would someday follow her husband, and she would be at peace with it.
Immediately after graduating, Wyatt proposed to Deidre. Her family was from a smaller section on the other side of the main island, and they had bumped into each other one fateful day. He'd decided to find a new fishing spot, and there she was: golden hair, bright, green eyes. He couldn't keep his eyes, or hands, off her.
Due to...unexpected circumstances, neither of them wanted to wait to get married, so they quietly exchanged a few vows right there in the kitchen. Deidre didn't want their baby to be born out of wedlock, after all. Wyatt had recently started his own herb business, and villagers were starting to trust him with healing their small cuts and scrapes. He wanted to learn as much as he could, and hoped to eventually fill in the gap Olivia had left when she passed all those years ago. Some people had even jokingly referred to him as "Doctor." Wyatt was okay with that.
Soon, it was just Silas, Lily, and Evelyn left, along with their three cats. Deidre gave birth to a healthy baby boy, named Dominique and they moved into Dana Swiftstream's old house, which wasn't very far, but just enough to give Wyatt some breathing room.
It wasn't too long before Evelyn graduated. And with that, gave her much more freedom to experiment with her inventions.
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Author's notes: Next chapter, Evelyn is finally a young adult, yay! I couldn't believe that Nathan died so so much sooner than Lily. He achieved his LTW before Silas had even moved out ($4,000 in royalties every Sim week), pretty sure Silas was either a teen or just into YAhood. Lily just achieved her LTW (master of painting and guitar skill), right after Silas did (max mixology skill + own a bar). Evelyn rolled the inventor career, which I've never done before, so that's been interesting. I keep forgetting to get her to even sell her inventions, especially the time machine because that goes into the family inventory. I think at one point she had like 6 of them. She got a pretty large boost in her career when I sold those!
And once again, Silas aged up into pigtails:
Even he doesn't seem too excited about it.
Side note: I hate pets. I forget to train them. They destroy everything.
Probably not going to get anymore after they die. Lily ended up with Maggie forever ago, when I switched to another household to force Willow and Derrick to get married and start having babies because they refused to do so on their own, even though I left them at engaged. I was in their house for literally 30 IRL seconds and when I went back to the River house, there was Maggie (F). When I moved her in with Silas, she had yet another cat, Pepper(M). And of course, Maggie was pregnant. Ugh.
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