Life in Christophe Harbour

Toni,

I agree with what everyone else has said. You have fantastic flair for decorating and I love all the finishing touches you put into your homes and your landscaping. Maybe you could give lessons?


You also create very, very lovely and handsome Simmies too. I always look forward to seeing the next chapter in your stories. You are so sweet and it always a joy when you have time to "check" in!!

You guys are the sweet ones! I've been knocking about this community and have made some good friends and participated on other boards (even had a brief stint on inSIMenator in its early days)...but I've never met so many lovely people all in one place. And the love and attention you show towards each other is just wonderful. As a journalist who spends a great deal of my day immersed in the not-so-happy aspects of modern day life....Sugah's is fast becoming a little haven where I come to soothe my spirit.

Thank you to you all! And thank you for all your generous words. On a picture taking spree in Christophe Harbour. The Kyle follies to continue soon.....

So back to Christophe Harbour....before we pick up Kyle's story. I have another family I wanted you to meet. Seeing as Cassie's parents Salome and Clayton were such big hits. I thought I'd introduce you to Ophelia's family....remember she's Cassie's cousin. That's because Cassie's hot dad, Clayton and Ophelia's mother's Vivien are twins.

Vivien is an entertainment lawyer

Here she is with her brother Clayton having a chat.

In fact, Vivien met her hunky European husband Ivan Stovic (now Simmiewood's top movie director) when he and her brother Clayton starred together in a forgettable TV cop show back in the 80's.

It was love at first sight, and they were married six weeks after their first date. Twenty years later they're still crazy about each other

We've already met their overly-friendly daughter Ophelia. This is their youngest, Maddie (short for Madeline)...

And my totally favourite Simmie.....who's destined to hook up in the future with my Self Sim....Andre

*Hubba hubba*

Oh, they also live in my favourite house.

...And have my fave backyard

Awww Vivien and Ivan are just so striking togehter and it is really sweet that they are still ga ga over each other after twenty years.

I love their house and it is decorated so beautifully too!!

As far as Andre..... well, oooohhh la la!! He is one handsome and sexy beast.

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...but I've never met so many lovely people all in one place. And the love and attention you show towards each other is just wonderful. As a journalist who spends a great deal of my day immersed in the not-so-happy aspects of modern day life....Sugah's is fast becoming a little haven where I come to soothe my spirit.

I don't need to tell you how very much it means to me that you feel that way, dear Toni.
I am so happy and honored that you have come to find Sugah's Place a little haven to soothe your spirit.
It is my sincerest wish that others feel the same.
Thank you for sharing what you have and for being here with us.

What beautiful siblings Vivien and Clayton are!
And helllllo Ivan!
I love that Vivien and Ivan have been together so long and still adore one another.
Awwww!
Andre is a scrumptious specimen of a man. No doubt about it.

Vivien and Ivan's place is GORGEOUS.
I can see why you love it so much.
What a beautiful lot, inside and out, Toni!
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you have a gift for decorating.
Your attention to little details and the download treasures you find ... SIMply mahvelous, dahling!

Thank you for sharing, as always.
I love looking at your stunning Sims and lots.

@ Jen and Sugah

To return to Kyle's follies...Kyle turns 18 and starts the countdown to college.

He gets some afternoon lessons from his young teacher Ms Shiabata.

And wonder of wonders, he actually does manage to get the Sim City Scholar grant!

But Kyle has created a most complex situation for himself. Ms Shiabta is completely smitten...and he, I suspect is just being a typical hormone-driven teenager. Because he's still going steady with Carolyn...

...And spending far too much time next door at Nina's.

One Saturday afternoon, Ms Shiabta beginning to obsess about the young casanova, follows him to Nina's house.

Not happy about she sees when she peeks in the window...

...She pulls out her cell phone and dials a number...

shame on that cougar Ms Shiabata.....well they say hell hath no fury like a scorned woman.
hmmm is she calling mom and dad or the school?

Kyle is just the little Romeo but I have a feeling he is about to be outed to the other two women and boy oh boy!!


keep it coming Toni, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Ms Shiabta Is up yo no good... Beautiful homes you have build Toni, and the surroundings are great, you got a exiting and beautiful hood! Your pictures is like always sharp, interesting and color full, thank you for sharing your hood

No don´t stop there!! I want to know......

More Please!...

The tension mounts...(how're you holding out there Ullwera )

Ms Shiabta has an animated conversation with someone on the phone. "I'm not making this up!" She says irritatedly.

"Well, I'll suggest you find a way to get here as soon as possible!" She snaps the phone shut and stalks off to her car which she'd parked around the corner.

But who did she call?

About an hour later, as the sun slips below the horizon Kyle and Nina emerge from the dimly lit house onto the front steps, where they boldly say their goodbyes. They did not see the person storming towards the house.

Nina's boyfriend Chandler dashes up the steps where he confronts the shocked pair. "This is unbelievable! He shouts at a stunned Nina!

"He's barely legal!" He yells jabbing his finger towards her. "I accepted you even when you were pregnant with another man's child and you do this to me!"

"And you!" He snarls poking Kyle's chest. "Why don't you play with girls your own age?!"

Nina jumps in between the two and practically pushes Kyle down the steps. But Chandler follows him to the sidewalk hurling threats at him, while Nina hurries behind her boyfriend begging him to keep the noise down.

"The neighbours can hear!" She pleads.

"Oh now you're worried about what the neighbours think!" He yells waving his arms about wildly.

Well the brouhaha did cause one of the neighbours to call the police. Within minutes Officer Joe Centowski zooms up on his motorbike, parks right on the sidewalk and hops off.

"Alright what's going on here? We got a call about a disturbance."

Kyle is reeling in horror, praying that his parents who're just two houses away don't catch wind of the 'action' at the end of the block. He just wants to get out of there.

Chandler and Nina are talking at Officer Centowski at the same time...just out a a bad marriage, the Officer seems to sympathize with Chandler (rightly too) and from what I can tell from this photo, seems to be saying...."Look, no woman is worth this hassle."

Kyle throws an apologetic look at Nina. She smiles crookedly her green eyes filled with tears. She shakes her head as though to say, "It's done," and she looks away.

"Do you need me here Officer?" Kyle asks softly.

"Go home son...and you think long and hard about how you choose to live your life."

With one last glance back at the red-headed siren who's now having a heated but whispered argument with Chandler, Kyle walks away slowly.

'Will this get back to Carolyn?' He worries. 'Should I just end it with her? She doesn't deserve this. I'm leaving for college in a few months and she's still got another year of high school.'

"Oh maaaan, what am I doing with my life?"

Woah!
We all knew it was inevitable that Kyle's escapades would catch up with him.
He picked the wrong woman to mess with in Ms. Shiabata.
It was just a matter of time before the crappola hit the fan in his life.

Nina, the harlot, deserved to get caught, too, of course.

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"Go home son...and you think long and hard about how you choose to live your life."

Words of wisdom from Officer Joe Centowski.

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"Oh maaaan, what am I doing with my life?"

You have a lot of serious thinking to do, young pup.

~*~

This is so much fun, Toni!
I'm thoroughly enjoying Life in Christophe Harbour.

Thank you for sharing, as always.

This is getting juicy! I wonder what Kyle will do next, if he'll change or go back to his old ways. Great job, Toni. I enjoy the story and your wonderful pictures.

Great story you have here Toni The pictures are beautiful, nice work!

Love, love, love it!

Because you all are such good boys and girls, I'm back with the next edition of the Kyle follies (that and also the fact that I'd uploaded a whole ton of photos to photobucket last time I posted an update, so I'm ready to roll).

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Kyle is confused about what he should do. He and Nina decide via text message later that night (Friday) to cool it for a while. She's actually trying to work things out with Chandler! Wow! I was surprised by that too! Anyway what she did learn from her boyfriend during their 'discussions' was that a certain school teacher (who he knew from the Garden Club) was the one who ratted them out.

Kyle is so angry he doesn't even want to talk to Tiffany (Ms Shiabata). She's been calling him but he's decided to let her cool her heels a bit. He doesn't take her calls or respond to her texts.

After the incident he texts Carolyn a very brief and slightly detached goodnight message because he's not sure what he's going to do about their relationship either.

Saturday morning though he wakes up feeling a bit brighter.

School will be over in about two weeks. He's already won a couple of scholarships and has been accepted at Fiesta Tech. He figures the best way to deal with the 'Shiabata factor,' might be to just avoid being alone with her...heck he can skip her classes and it wouldn't make a difference at this point.

The Carolyn matter though he's still waffling about. He does love her...

...but he is going off to university and leaving her behind. Does he want to have a girlfriend back home? Will it matter if he has a girlfriend back home? After all, what happens at Fiesta Tech, stays at Fiesta Tech. On the other hand, he's planning to share a house with the guys from the band....including Marc - Carolyn's brother - so he may have a little problem messing around with other girls. Hmmmm......

But he and Marc have been friends since grade school, so after music class on Saturday afternoon, while they stay back to tidy up he asks for Marc's advice. Of course he leaves out the bits about Nina and Tiffany, and just asks him if he should try to maintain a long distance relationship with Carolyn, or if they should break-up.

Marc, surprisingly suggests the break-up option. He and Ophelia (his 'too' hottie girlfriend) have decided to end their relationship once they head off to uni. It's a mutual decision...they've been together since they were sixteen so they think it's time to move on and still be friends. His own personal experience aside, Marc's no fool, and he knows Kyle has a wandering eye. While he has no proof that he's stepping out on his sister, he's glad for the opportunity to suggest they take a break from each other.

Kyle is not completely convinced, but he's leaning towards the total freedom thing. That afternoon, he and Carolyn head over to Ophelia's to hang out. Maaaan...Ophelia is a fine lookin' girl.

But then again, so is Carolyn (like her new straightened hair?)...

And so is Ophelia's brother Andre! *happy sigh*

Ok, ok....I threw that one in for my own viewing pleasure. Back to the story...

Poolside Saturday Kyle notices how much attention his girlfriend gets from other boys.

Marco D'Angelo (one of band mate Joey's younger brothers) is clearly smitten. Kyle feels his stomach flip over and wonders how come he never noticed before.

Marco and his twin brother Vinnie are the hotties among their group of friends. Gorgeous, charismatic and brilliant. From a large family from the 'other side' of the tracks, Marco and Vinnie won scholarships to attend the exclusive St. Theresa's private school three years ago, and quickly became the most popular boys in the school.

To make matters worse Carolyn and Marco have just announced to their friends that they've been accepted by a local theatre company to perform in a travelling production of West Side Story over the summer.

That's it! He is NOT ending his relationship with Carolyn, Kyle decides...There is NO WAY he's going to break up with her. No way he's going to let her run off all single and beautiful, while she's travelling around the country with the likes of the dark-haired, grey-eyed Marco with the sharp wit and quick smile.

He just needs to deal with Tiffany on Monday and all will be well. That shouldn't be too hard right?

Whoa...who is that listening in on their heated argument?!

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Ok, ok....I threw that one in for my own viewing pleasure. Back to the story...

Marco and Vinnie are very snacky, too, if I may say.

Kyle is one selfish teen, isn't he?
The minute he finds out Carolyn is desired by others and may have an opportunity to travel & meet even more eligible fellas...
Kyle decides he's not going to break it off with her afterall.
He's certainly enjoyed making his rounds all over kingdom come, but heaven forbid Carolyn should get some attention.
Punk!

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Whoa...who is that listening in on their heated argument?!

Yes. Who indeed?

Can't wait to learn what happens next, Toni.
Your screenshots are beautiful, as always.

Thanks Sugah! And indeed...the D'Angelo twins are pretty 'snacky!' I love that word! I'm so going to use it on the air on Monday! lol!

Now to continue the Saga of Christophe Harbour...

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Marco is heading back to class after staying back in the chemistry lab to clean up an experiment gone wrong...and decides to use a shortcut through the usually deserted Casey Hall (an older, little-used building on St. Theresa's compound). He rounds the corner and comes across Kyle and Miss Shiabata in a heated conversation.

Their voices are low and he can't quite hear what they're saying to each other...

But whatever it is, it's obvious to Marco that their relationship is a whole lot closer that it should be for a teacher and a student.

Marco turns away and heads back outside. He's pretty sure there's something going on between Miss Shiabata and the boyfriend of the girl he's been in love with since the moment he laid eyes on her two and a half years ago.

Both in the drama club they became fast friends. In fact, she was the first girl he ever kissed and he was the first boy she ever kissed...

...but they were just pals being adventurous. At least that's what Carolyn always thought. She had no idea that Marco had been carrying a torch for her for the past two years.

They've acted in plays together...

And shared many inside jokes, and quite a bit of gossip...

Two years later they still sit together in class, and Marco savours every single minute of their time together.


The only person he's ever confided in about his feelings for his best friend, is his other best friend, his twin brother, Vinnie, who has always encouraged him to tell Carolyn how he felt...


...but just as he worked up the nerve to tell her, she told him all about her crush on her brother's best friend, Kyle. Before he knew what was happening, she was going steady with him, and that was that!

...Or was it? Should he tell Carolyn about his suspicions about Kyle? This could be his opportunity to get closer to her. But telling her would hurt her. But not telling her would also hurt her.

Already late for class, Kyle sneaks into the prop room backstage of the empty theatre, drops to the floor and considers the implications of telling her...or not telling her.

"But do I want to get her that way, by default?" He asks himself.

He hides out in the prop room until the school bell rings and then mingles with the other students milling around in front of the school. He spots Carolyn and heads over..."I'll just say hi," he says to himself, still conflicted over what his next move should be.

His pace slows as Kyle emerges from the crowd and slides up alongside the dark-haired beauty and right there, in front of everyone, gently caresses her cheek. Marco has a clear view of her flushed face, and sees the adoring look in her eyes as she gazes into Kyle's.

"I can't do this," Marco whispers to himself...

He turns and walks away...

Poor Marko, how can it feel like when the girl he loves, get curtsied from a guy that already having a affair with his teacher? Kyle should get his act together, boy one cant go after evry girl in the neighborhood!...

Good story again Toni and pictures are great... maybe that kyle guy could fall down an elevator shack 35 times or something

Ha, ha... just kidding

@ Jackie! Naughty boy! Kyle is a lovable rogue. He really adores Carolyn, he just hasn't learned to control his hormones!

Now, how about a peek in on some of the other families in Christophe Harbour:

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My revamped Duval (Dreamer) family. Artist dad Denis (pronounced Denny) and son Damien.

Here they are joined for supper by Damien's girlfriend, the 'charming' Lilith Pleasant.

The Olsons (Oldies) had a little overhaul too. Herb writes the sports column at the Harbour Times.

...And Coral is a High School principal.

They live in a quaint old house that had been in Coral's family for years.

After the kids...yes, I used simPe to give them a son - a professor naturally - so Mary-Sue could have a brother.

I also made over Mary-Sue so that she looked like she was actually the mother of twins Angela and Lilith. I know according to the Maxis memories she was adopted by Herb and Coral, but that did not explain why her supposed birth children, Angela and Lilith look so very anglo-saxon.

Anyway, it was easier to change her and change her parents' memories to 'had Mary-Sue' instead of 'adopted May-Sue.'

This is my Mary-Sue:

Across town, the Lotharios are getting used to parenthood.

Don (who's having an affair with a socialite named Gretchen Spitz) is a great father and dotes on baby Nella.

Which is a good thing because Cassandra suspects she's pregnant again.

With a little help from SimPe and TJ's SimBlender, Don had four other children before he married Cassandra...including a daughter with Brandi Brookes (Broke), but more on that in another episode.

On to the Burkes (formerly the Burbs). Jennifer Burke also - in my opinion - required a bit of sim surgery. As the sister of Daniel Pleasant, I figured she ought to be a redhead too.

Keeping in the spirit of the my current favourite decorating theme...I decided to make them a bohemian-y family. I fast tracked a couple of pregnancies - using the SimBlender - and gave them two additional kids Jesse and Luke, the baby of the family.

Pretty fourteen year old Lucy is already catching the eyes of the boys in school.

John is a stay-at-home writer dreaming of writing his first best-selling novel

Those are some of the families you might be somewhat familiar with.

Now here're some random shots from Marc and Carolyn's laaaaarge family. Their hunky dad Michael is a doctor and their mom, Chaya spends her days keeping her husband and eight children (one set of twins) organized. Both parents are family sims, so....

Just took this great shot of Carolyn's 15-year old sister walking past the D'Angelo's home. The Garcias are born in-game and I'm amazed at how pretty they are!


ASIDE: The Garcias are absolutely my favourite family. They were recreated from TS1, that family inspired by a family of Barbie dolls I started playing with when I was about 8 years old. They spawned a home made paper doll collection and a series of books when I was a young teenager, which I forced my friends to let me read to them! Ha haaaaa! The paper dolls led into a brief foray into a paper doll fashion design career from about ages 14-16. I still have some pieces!

In the past six years I've recreated by TS2 hood about four times and always start with the Garcias. Unfortunately because I use a no-family-size limit mod their lot is really hard to play when all the kids a re still at home, so I mostly select them when they're visiting other lots...and wait until the family gets weeded out by sending kids to college to play their household for any length of time. lol! Expect to hear more from them in the coming adventures of Christophe Harbour.

Carol was a sweet girl, all the family's in your hood looks good, and even interesting, love the offer you make to get evry thing in detail, just for look real you make a lot of work with SimP I don't know how that work, but I can understand it's useful... ( I try to rip some from my game, but with out success ) you take good pictures too my girl, thanks for the Show!

Thanks again for all your kind comments. It's been so wonderful getting to share my stories with you guys. I've been taking photos of my simmies for years so that I can look back over their histories, and now I have someone to share these crazy tales with (granted nowadays I'm taking even more photos with you in mind...and turns out, that's even more fun! ). So back to Christophe Harbor.

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Kyle, after telling Miss Shibata off for ratting him and Nina out to Chandler, and reminding her that she has far more to lose than he does if their 'friendship' was discovered, manages to get her to apologize to him. She agrees to keep her distance until graduation in a couple of weeks. He however, plans to avoid her for the whole summer until he heads off to Fiesta Tech.

With renewed appreciation for his girlfriend Carolyn, they head to the prom.

Marco is clearly still smitten with Carolyn.

Poor guy, though he's made his decision not to pursue her, he can't stop thinking about her.

They're playing the lead roles in the summer production of West Side Side Story and rehearsals have begun. It takes every ounce of his acting ability to get through the romantic scenes. But his feet are kept firmly on the ground because Kyle is always waiting for Carolyn after rehearsals, and sometimes even sits in the back of the theatre.

"Man, it's going to be a rough summer," he says to himself.

But he pulls it together and off the theatre group heads for a three week tour of the country.

There spend most of their days travelling and nights performing and have very little time to relax. When they do get the occasional break, they hang out with other members of the cast..and Carolyn, loving the renewed interest from her boyfriend back home, is almost always dragging them to an internet cafe somewhere so she can chat with him online.

Marco finds it much easier being around Carolyn when he doesn't have to see her with Kyle.

And they're kept so busy, and he's enjoying performing so much, that Marco actually manages to push his heartache out of his mind for a while. But he does make the decision that when they start their senior year at school in September, he will not choose the desk next to Carolyn's.

And then it's back to Christophe Harbour for the last few weeks of summer.

Back home Marco is a bit glum at first...

Living in a different part of town, he avoids places where he figures he'll run into Carolyn and Kyle, and his friendship with her settles into the an occasional text or Facebook poke...but he's a likable guy, with an easy smile and let's be honest, crazy good-looking ('gawgus' as they say around these parts )! All the girls think he's hawt!

One girl in particular catches his attention, a townie named Solveig (Maxis gave her that name. I like it!). She goes to a different school, and so he's meeting her for the first time.

She's a bit serious but seems to appreciate his sense of humour nonetheless, and one date...

...leads to two...

...and three...

Across town, Kyle...is excited to have his girlfriend back home.

While she was away, he and Lauren spent those three weeks visiting with his grandparents Reuben and Faith Gladstone (formerly Hubert and Faith Goodie) in Pleasantview. Bo-ring...but as he's heading off to Fiesta Tech in September, they wanted to spend some time with him. Besides, he was glad to be out of town for a few weeks to put even more space between him and Miss Shiabata.

Now he's back in Christophe Harbour with Carolyn at his side.

He jams with the Rogues

And hangs with his girlfriend, wanting to spend all his free time with her before he heads off to University.

He only has eyes for her.

Oooooh Kyle! *rolls eye*

Well, it is pretty hard not to notice that Teresa D'Angelo (Marco, Vinnie and Joey's 16 year old sister) has turned into a stunner...

Why do I get the feeling that Kyle is going to have a pretty tough time being a good boy when he goes off to university? Is it just me? Does anyone else feel that way too?

Oh boy, when Kyle goes to college things are going to get very interesting

Your pictures are fantastic Toni and I am loving where the story is going :)

It was good he met Solveig, (it's a Swedish name, it means the one that shines like the sun/ or sunny ways!) (well the Norway's can be called Solveig to), it looks like they are nice together, good for him that he stop trying to get Carolyn, the new girl is much better for him, and one cant press anyone to love one anyway, she is good with the other guy! maybe it will be some major meeting between Carolyn, Kyle and his teacher?

The pictures was real great Toni my girl! and the story delicious and fun ! It's realy fun to read your comments and see your pictures!

Thanks for this time

Aaaaah, bless you Jen and Jackie!

Now to head back to the the Harbour
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Believe me, there's drama going on in other parts of Christophe Harbour! In fact...Kyle's sordid tales pale by comparison.

Well for starters earlier in the year, Angela Pleasant and Dustin Brookes (Broke) HAD to get married! Oh dear!

Daniel Pleasant was livid when they broke the news to their parents during Spring Break, but insisted that Dustin do the honourable thing and marry his daughter. With just a few months left before they finished high school, they got married and moved in with her parents.

Here're the Pleasants: Daniel and Mary Sue in front. That's Damien Duval (Dirk Dreamer) there sitting right behind them next to Angela's twin sister Lilith...yes, he shaved his head. The Olsons (the grandparents) were invited, but didn't show up.

Here's my version of Brandi Brookes' (Broke) family.

The dark haired son is Drew (the one she's pregnant with in the base game), and the blonde is Beau. I accelerated their ages (using Two Jeffs' SimBlender) to make the boys all closer in age. Alison is the daughter she had with Don Lothario, who stopped seeing her when he found out she was going to have a baby.

I used simPe to rearrange the sequence of events, so this all happened before he got engaged to Cassandra, but big age difference aside, he was still a cad for bailing on her. Of course, he was also seeing Nina at the time...but that's another story!

So back to Angela and Dustin: She had to give up an athletics scholarship and in fact, drop out of high school. Dustin's grades were kind of shabby anyway, but he had still hoped to work his way though Fiesta Tech. But their dreams were dashed by their indiscretions.

Dustin continued to go to school, and now that he's graduated has applied to the police academy. Angela finished high school by taking correspondence courses, and is thinking of joining the army later in the fall.

But oooooooooh......that's not the only scandal in Christophe Harbour this summer!

While we were busy peeking into Kyle's life, we took our eye off the other romance simmie among his group of friends. Remember our boy Max.....the smoky-eyed lead singer of the Rogues?

Though Cassie has been his girlfriend for the past year and a half, we've spotted him here and there with other girls.

And believe me...he has gotten himself into some serious hot water!

His very conservative parents: Dad, Thomas - a political campaign manager who has aspirations of becoming the Mayor one day - and his stay-at-home mom Mona, get the shock of their lives one Saturday morning late in the summer.

They are headed out the door for an early morning hike before the rest of the household wakes up, when a pretty young woman - who they'd seen hanging around with Max a few times - steps onto their veranda with a baby in her arms.

"This is your grandson," she blurts out.

"I never told Max," she continues, not pausing long enough for the astonished pair to say anything.

"I wasn't planning to tell him, but I can't take care of her myself. Her name is Samantha," the young woman continues.

"I've been staying with my grandmother, but I want to move to Simmiewood where I can wait tables while I take acting classes. I can't look after a baby and my grandmother is too old."

Mona, still too shocked to say anything, reaches for the baby.

"Thank you," the girl whispers.

"What's your name again?" Thomas asks, finding his voice.

"Ciara. Ciara Peters," she says softfly, and turns and walks away.

Thomas yanks open the front door and storms into the still silent house. He strides over to the foot of the stairs....

"Maximillan!"