Chapter 45

The house where Nellie's mother is living, is a Maxis makeover that Twoflower has made. It can be found here: http://twoflowerslots.blogspot.com/2010/09/102-firefly-pass.html 
At first I intended to keep it the way it was, but when Marion's personality got more clear to me, I wanted her home to reflect on that and did some refurnishing.

Stefan keeps running away from his troubled relation with Nellie, and often doesn’t come home until sometime during the night. After a while Nellie has had enough of that, and locks the door to their bedroom. The next morning she finds Stefan sleeping on the couch.



That doesn’t make things better between them. Now Stefan is angry too, and they can’t meet without exchanging harsh words.



And there are daily rows now, getting worse for each day that is passing.



Until Nellie can’t take it anymore. She realizes that she needs to do something, and she knows what she could do – but she wants to talk it through with Patricia before she makes the decision. Patricia has heard from Cleo and therefore does not get surprised about how things are between Nellie and Stefan – but she is very sad for their sake. She doesn’t tell Nellie about her knowing though. It is evident that Nellie finds it painful enough to confess to Patricia about how her marriage has gone downhill. Getting to know that Stefan’s recent clubbing hasn’t passed unnoticed and that people have started to talk, would only make things much worse.



Nellie has decided to go to her mother’s for a while – that is, if her mother doesn’t refuse to take her in, but Nellie wants Patricia’s advice before she makes the call.
“It is probably the best thing to do, “Patricia says. “From what I am hearing, you can’t get Stefan to sit down and talk this through properly. If you leave, he will be forced to see that this is serious. “
So Nellie calls her mother, who doesn’t seem very surprised that things have gone this bad. She doesn’t make a big deal of it though, and doesn’t hesitate about telling Nellie that it is alright for her to take the children and move in for a while. On the contrary her voice shows more warmth and care, than Nellie has experienced from her mother in many years.



Nellie spends the rest of the day packing and that same evening she takes a taxi to Riverblossom Hills, taking the children with her.



Stefan doesn’t fold until she is gone, but then he collapses into tears. She is gone, his family is gone. Why did this happen and what must he do? He feels completely confused and lost – but at the same time there is still a part of him that is very angry with Nellie and does not want to give in. What is she asking of him? What does she want? After a while he pulls himself together and tries to repress what he is feeling. He can’t show her how weak he really feels, then surely she would stop loving him. He must seem strong and convinced and wait for her to regret this and come back to him. Because she will come back in the end ... won’t she?



Now Nellie is back again in the house where she grew up.



The children get to sleep in what normally is Marion’s sewing room ...



... and Nellie is once again sleeping in her old room – which is still looking the way it did when she was a teenager. All the things she left behind are still there.



Marion is very happy to have them there. She keeps telling Nellie how wonderful it is to spend so much time with her grandchildren. Nellie has always experienced her mother as distant and almost cold, but now Marion's feelings seem to be thawing and the relation between them is getting better by the day. With her marriage going downhill, it is a great comfort to be so welcome here at her mother’s.



And it is also a great relief to get some help taking care of the children, and it feels good that they get to know their grandmother – and she them.



Nellie doesn’t want to be dependent on her mother, and Marion says that she gladly would take care of the children during the day and encourages Nellie that she should start working again.
“I know how you feel about your work. I don’t want you to give up on your dreams like I did.”
So Nellie starts looking for a new job.



Lillian has practically moved in with Leod now. At least she is spending most of her time at the farm. Marianne still comes by quite often, but she is clearly disappointed that Jacob is almost always absent.



Marianne starts to suspect that Jacob is avoiding her and Leod finds it very hard to see hope fading from her face. She is such a sweet girl and he had high hopes that Jacob would open his heart to her and find love again. She would make him a good wife. It isn’t easy to find good answers when Marianne is asking about Jacob’s wellbeing and whereabouts. She anxiously wants to know – should she give up on him?



There is still a lot to do on a farm when it is winter, but not nearly as much as during summer. Jacob has his chores done by noon, and then he disappears. He used to go to the pub with Leod and Lillian ...



... and they still go there for a while almost every day – but Jacobs doesn’t come with them anymore.



In fact he doesn’t spend many evenings with them either. That is due to the fact, that Morty frequently has to go out of town on business.



Because all the time that Jacob spends away from the farm – of course he is spending with Michelle. He is completely obsessed with her and can think of little else.



At first they had to keep their meetings to Leod’s truck, which was not only rather inconvenient but also risky.



But then Betty passed away and Catherine and Andrew moved to Bluewater, so now they have the whole house to themselves. Their secret is safe there ...



... as long as they are careful not to be seen together.
“Hurry up a bit now honey, and get dressed. It will soon be dark and we can’t leave the house at the same time,” Michelle says to Jacob as she is putting her makeup on, but she lets that take her a while and makes sure that Jacob is the first one to leave ...



... because she doesn’t want him to see her leaving either. She has her own secrets to keep.



That’s right – Michelle is a witch, and her darkroom is in fact a facade. It is a disguise for the room where she keeps all her magical belongings. She has had no teacher, learning all she knows from books, and although she has become quite skilful –there are still gaps in her knowledge. One thing she doesn’t know about, is how to make love potion, and her stockpile is running low. She has tried to find the fortune teller from Bluewater that originally sold her the potion – but she is nowhere to be found. She seems to have vanished into thin air.