Chapter 22: Orion's Belt

Corinne spends her days working in the studio alongside Darius and Darryl. No one asks why she isn't out house hunting or suggests she should be more active about finding her own place and getting out of their house, so she assumes her presence is acceptable here.

Everyone in the house has been a great help with Caroline, and she seems to have really settled in here with this substitute family. corinne is glad to put off moving her again for as long as possible.

"You'll be an excellent father, Darryl," she says, "I really appreciate everything you've been doing for us." No thanks is enough, she thinks, but makes sure to thank him every day, anyway.

There's no longer any question of Corinne sleeping alone upstairs. Corinne has become as happily settled in here as Caroline has in her new nursery, but there's an underlying insecurity. This situation was always meant to be temporary, and as much as this feels like, it isn't, not really.

Julia becomes a woman. She's going to follow in her mother's footsteps and join the medical profession.

Julian is going into law enforcement. The twins each move out on their own; Julia buys a huge Victorian  mansion for herself, and Julian moves in with his girlfriend Kimberlee Blalock.

The paparazzi fight over who gets to spend the night stalking the family's front porch.

"We still haven't been on a real date," Darryl comments, "Let me take you out tonight."

Corinne buys a new dress for the occasion; she'd had a shotgun marriage straight out of high school, and can barely remember the last time she had a real date. "Wow," is all Darryl can say when he sees her.

Darryl takes her to Cathedral, the most romantic place in Riverblossom Hills. Sure, it's huge and gaudy, but the view at sunset cannot be beat.

After some dancing and a few drinks, they walk out onto the nearby beach for some romantic stargazing. Corinne whispers a suggestive comment about the sword hanging from Orion's belt.

Darryl laughs at her whispered joke.

"I really did not expect things to be going so well for me so soon after my divorce," she says, "Sometimes I'm afraid this is just an incredible dream, and I'm going to wake up and have to deal with Raymond again."

"We should talk about our living arrangement," Darryl says quietly. He's been trying to work up to this all evening.

And here's where the dream ends, Corinne thinks. "I'm sorry, I haven't been out looking for a house as much as I should be," she stammers, "Caroline is doing so well, and I've been so happy with you, I guess I got too comfortable. But I promise, I'll have use out of there by the weekend if we've overstayed-"

"Corinne, stop," Darryl cuts her off, "I'm not asking you to leave. I want my home to be your home, forever. I want...I want to marry you," he finally gets it out, "If you can stand the thought of marrying again."

It's not a dream, Corinne tells herself, she's being offered real love, and a real home and family for her daughter and for herself. "I'd be a fool to say no," she answers, and kisses him.

The wedding follows fast on the engagement. While Corinne was married once before, she never had a real wedding.

Though he's never been particularly close to his half-sister Sherrie, Darius makes a point of inviting her and her children, now teens, Darrel and Jessica. He knows it's what his father would have wanted, and Darius has quite left off grieving for Gibson.

Autumn give Julian a tight hug. Her younger son is already married to his high school sweetheart.

Julia looks around the house in amazement, though nothing has changed since she moved out. Corinne greets Joline Dodger, Darryl's one time sort of girlfriend.

Though the Enmities have never been close to their Roth relations, the Roths always expect to be invited to family celebrations, and always send over a representative for their family. For this occasion they send teen Teresa Roth, Isabella's second daughter and the heir apparent. "The Roth clan sends best wishes to our cousins, and reaffirm the blood ties between us and the Enmity clan," she proclaims. No doubt the Vamp clan is thrilled to have finally established blood ties to the Roth clan through this girl, the daughter of Edward Jnr Vamp from his brief affair with Isabella Roth.

Corinne's ex-husband Raymond was not invited, but showed anyway to show his contempt for Darryl. Because he's Autumn's half-brother, his presence here is tolerated, if not welcome.

As they wait for their guests to gather for the ceremony, Corinne nervously plays hand puppets.

Raymond cries like a baby as the couple exchange rings. It's too late for regret now.

The ceremony ends, as always, with a kiss.

After the ceremony, Autumn chats with Julian's wife, Kimberlee. When is she going to get some grandchildren?

Corinne eventually confronts Raymond. "Are you trying to ruin my wedding?" she wants to know, "You sure tried hard enough to ruin my life. But you failed at that, like you did with everything else."

Corinne would love to know which of her guests broke the shower.

Finally, everyone has left and the family has the house to themselves again. "I'm really proud of you," Darius gushes, "I hope to see you as happy as your mother and I have been."

The couple enjoy a honeymoon in the hot tub.

A burglar tries to cash in on the bounty of wedding gifts. Someday, they'll learn not to mess with Autumn Enmity.

This time, Officer Max Humble arrives in time to make an arrest.

Meadow shows up for the wedding at dawn the next day, to find the party is long over and everyone is asleep.

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Challenge Notes:
When Corinne's ex showed up at the wedding, I half expected he was going to accuse her of cheating or some new crap from the reputation system. But no, he just P&Led at Darryl, cried like a baby and then ate like a slob.

Julian and Julia both rolled their career LTWs as teens.
Darryl's LTW is Renaissance Sim (max 3 skills). He's actively working on Painting and Cooking and the third skill will likely be Charisma or Sculpting. I'm not actively skilling Charisma, but it comes through socializing. He's focused more on painting for his career (he's level 9 in painting, and around level 6 or 7 in the career) but he's done some sculpting and is at level 5. However Darius usually has the station occupied. He reached the top of that career ages ago and he's currently at work creating sculptures for the home lot.
For Corinne, I had to save up her points to buy the change LTW reward. Hers was originally for the Science career, I've changed it to Tinkerer (max handiness and logic)
Since my goal is fulfilled, Darryl and Corinne both must fulfill LTWs.