Legecci 2.1

Also included in Anna Maria’s will was a portrait she’d painted of her heir, Belinda Grace, which she stated she wanted to hang next to hers in the house for all times.

This was the start of a new era in the Legecci household.

Belinda would be the new head of the household and it was her decisions that would shape the outcome of the family from here on out.

She was, however, unwilling to simply throw her sister out in the street right after the reading of the will. “You can stay for as long as you need to,” she told Bianca Rose.

Bianca thanks her, albeit grudgingly, and the two sisters went on with their lives… with one change which was soon to be made.

Pao was moving in. He had finally proposed to Belinda and she didn’t want to waste any more time. “Besides,” she told him one night. “Mother would have wanted this. She wanted us to be happy.”

Pao spends his last days as a mail carrier traning his own replacement, Sheldon Hanby. At the end of the week, he hands over this mailbag to Sheldon and says ‘Good luck, buddy. Just be thankful there aren’t any dogs in this neighborhood.”

after Pao moves in (and man! he’s a popularity sim, but he’s LOADED for skills points! If he was only a knowledge sim, people!) he folds his mail carrier uniform and puts it away in a box in the basement. He also gets Belinda to cut his hair and what do you know? The man cleans up pretty nicely.

Soon it is time for Caprice to have her birthday party. It is Belinda, and not Bianca, who bakes the cake, invites guests, and spends hours cutting up those neat little flecks of confetti. Bianca could not bothered to do any of it.

“It’s just a baby,” she says in front of Belinda and Pao.

“She,” Belinda counters emphatically. “She is not just a baby. She’s your daughter, Bianca. Don’t you want her to be happy?”

“Whatever,” is Bianca’s repsonse. “I have to work that night anyway.”

And so it is that Bianca comes home form work to find that her daughter has because a beautiful little girl without her.

Not that she seems to care at all one way or the other. On the days when she’s not working, Bianca often neglects her child in favor of calling up her many ‘gentleman friends’ or sleeping off whatever happened the night before.

This behavior becomes a point of contention between the two sisters. Belinda, who is already frazzled with her wedding preparations, often cries on Pao’s shoulders at night. “I just don’t understand her,” she tells him. “We had the same parents, but we are as different as night and day.”

“So tell her to leave,” Pao suggests. “Your mother gave her that money.”

“I don’t know… it was only $20,000, Pao. Would it be enough?”

Pao thought about. “It’s the maximum that the Bank of Legacy Bay will give on a home loan, so it must be.”

Belinda sighed. “I just don’t know. I know it’s what Mom wanted, but I can’t bear the thought of sending her and Caprice away. What will happen to Caprice if she doesn’t have us?”

This sentiment tabled the discussion for along time. Belinda and Pao got married (no pictures because sometimes I get to ‘into’ accomplishing things to remember to take pictures) and Pao got a job in the food industry. All those years of carrying mail, he’d had plenty of time to read other people’s cooking magazines and has decided he’d like to become a chef.

Caprice grows into a child only knowing the love of her aunt and uncle. She has never even met her father…

Though she’s sure this guy isn’t him.

She tries to keep happy thoughts in her head, however, as the family she loves is about to get bigger.

Yes, Belinda is pregnant! She secretly wants a boy, but will be happy with whatever child she is blessed with.

One day, Caprice walks in on her mother and mother’s latest conquest — Leo, the gardener. They don’t notice her, however, and Bianca flirts shamelessly with the man before pulling into an embrace.

Caprice is suddenly filled with a strong, overwhelming sorrow. Her mother never notices, never cares.

Belinda comforts her niece and then takes her inside the house.

Once Caprice is playing dolls in her room, Belinda finds Pa and explodes with anger. “This is it, Pao! I’m throwing her out!”

That never happened, however, as two other things did. The first was Bianca’s carpool arriving to take her to work.

The second was Bianca going into labor in the middle of her tirade against her sister.

Soon, they are welcoming Cameo Marie into the world. Awww! Cameo already thinks she has the best dad in the world.

But babies are hard work and somehow Belinda forgets to be mad at her sister in between all the daipers, late night feedings, teaching Cameo to walk,talk and use the Big Girl Potty… and helping Caprice with homework.

Yes, Belinda is super-mom, it would seem. Cameo isn’t all thatold and already she is hinting to Pao that they need another baby. Maybe a boy this time.