1.7 The Heir(S)?

Adaleigh's pregnancy went by quickly and with every passing day her belly grew very large and very round. Soon into her second trimester she was having a very hard time fitting into her favorite jeans.

"Good morning, Mayor McGinnis." Laurent greeted her. "Are you going out to work on the garden again?"

"Well, the plants unfortunately do not water themselves." she said jokingly. "And it will be great exercise for me and the baby."

Laurent looked down uncertainly at her belly. "Are you sure it's wise to be lifting that heavy watering can?"

 Adaleigh smiled. Her husband worried so. "The baby is well and kicking. Why don't you feel for yourself."

He smiled and gently laid his hands on her stomach. "You're momma works too hard, my little one." then he looked up at her sternly. "Just promise me that if you have another bug infestation that you will let me spray for the bugs okay?"

"Laurent, I use organic spray. It's nothing more than some herbs and water."

"Just let me do it, ok?"

Leaning forward, he kissed her gently on the cheek. "Alright," she murmured.

Soon, Laurent took over a lot of the gardening himself to help her out.

Although she did insist upon at least watering a small patch of the garden herself each day. It calmed her especially when the baby was being particularly energetic.

 Occasionally, though just because of her size she allowed him to talk her into taking a nice rest near the wildflowers where she could easily watch him work the garden and shout out instruction as needed.

Lord knew her back needed the break. It seemed like her pregnancy might never end when all of sudden one night she came in from a late night walk about to check on the garden one last time before bed and she felt the first contraction. Sitting heavily on the bed, she nudged a sleeping Laurent.

"It's time," she said and he instantly jumped out of bed.

"What?" he said half awake and just as soon as he saw the look on her face he bolted from bed and out the front door. "The baby!"

She followed docilely behind him her contractions beginning to slow her steps. And as he raced outside it dawned on him. "Wait.... Newcrest doesn't have a hospital. We're having the baby here!?!?!"

Adaleigh gritted her teeth breathing through the contraction pains. "Yes dear."

"But I'm not... How can we?"

Adaleigh breathed in deep. "Please call Sims Social Services. Just let them know that we need them to deliver the basinets."

 Laurent sat in the corner for a moment before he raced away. Then he turned around. "BASINETS??? As in plural?"

Yes dear reader, plural. Because it turned out that Adaleigh was carrying not a single heir but 3 small bundles of joy. Two boys and one little girl.  Meet Left to write: Laura, Cameron and Collin McGinnis, our generation 2 children.

[Author's note: This was without any intervention or tampering from myself. First ever children I have and I get not one but three. Oh the toddler years... I can see them a'coming.]

As soon  as the children were born and tucked safely into their basinets, mother and children all prompty fell deeply to sleep. All except little Laura. Laurent who had managed to put on a shirt for the Sim Social Service worker who had solemly brought the three basinets along, cautiously walked over to take his first look at the children.

The only one awake was little baby Laura. Her bright brown eyes looked up curiously at the tall man hovering nervously over her. "Hello there, baby girl. I'm your Daddy."

Ever so gently, he picked up little Laura and right then and there his heart was stolen. 

Looking at the tiny girl, he knew that he would be a good father and that no matter the lack of space his children would be well loved and well cared for.

Unfortunately Adaleigh found herself often exhausted in caring for triplets and caring for her "perfect garden."

She harvested a lot less and Laurent took over her foraging around the lots to make some extra money. He knew that as soon as the Perfect Garden was complete they needed a larger house and took on extra catering jobs to save money to build the perfect starter home.

 When the computer went on the fritz, he fixed it himself to save some extra Simoleons.

He even helped Adaleigh inn the garden more regularly so that she would have more time to rest and be with the babies.

Before long, the babies were out of their basinets and into toddler bed. The tiny bedroom now packed to the brim with beds and the office chair taking over the space for the small table.

Collin [green] and Cameron [blue]

Collin, the oldest child, given his name to honor his father's surname (Collins) grew into a Fussy momma's boy. He was rarely far from his mother and often awoke in the middle of the night from nightmares. Cameron, the quiet middle child, grew into a Silly, self-sufficient toddler who enjoyed playing on his own.

Laura, ever the Daddy's girl, was also known to be Silly. She was smart, imaginitive and took to the blocks better than any other toy.

With the children growing, the garden thriving, life in McGinnis household was fast paced and hectic. It was inevitable that the "talk" would come.

"So, Laura learned how to potty in the toilet today while you were napping."

Adaleigh smiled. "She'll do anything Daddy asks. If I were to ask her she probably would have stomped her foot and kept right on playing with her blocks."

"Yeah," he smiled. "And how's the garden coming?" 

"Well, I think I finally found the right recipe to splice a Cowberry plant." Adaleigh said excitedly. In fact, I planted the first one the other day. "And I have some Superb produce so pretty soon we will be able to finally think about buying a new piece of land for the house."

Laurent smiled. He knew what this land meant the Adaleigh. He knew that like him she wanted this park to be the perfect place. For her that meant having a Community Garden that had the best of all possible produce. And it also meant that they would spend a little more time here.

So he smiled as his wife raved about how close the garden was coming to finally being complete. And then he went to lay down to take a short nap before he headed off to night shift at work.

Laura always very aware of her father's feelings took her favorite dinosaur toy in and sat next to his side of the bed playing.

Within the next few days, Adaleigh's Cowberry Plant sprouted and she beamed at it proudly. "Soon," she said to the Cowberry Plant. "Soon, my task will be done here and we can concentrate on other things. I know Laurent understands but... this place is so small. We need a real house soon." she sighed as the Cow Plant only stared at her.

The task she had so vehemently argued from appeared to be more than she could manage these days. Of course, no one had planned for three children at once. She had thought one child, who could learn about the garden and love it as much as she did. She had hoped to inspire a new generation to take over the mantle of the Legacy.

"For now... I just need to finish." she said to herself, patting the Cow Plants nose.