1.14 Mending Bridges

A few days before Bellandra's birthday, Devin spontaneously appeared at the house with a proposal for the whole family.

"Our show has been sold to different countries, so production wants us actors to promote it in different places."

Devin began to speak as the others sat around him.

"I have had to promote it in France, so I'll be there for a few days. I was thinking of inviting all of you to come with me, perhaps spending time together will help us get to know each other better."

Maybe it wasn't fair to ask the question in front of the children without consulting with Zoe first, but once the idea had entered his head he hadn't been able to get rid of it.

Zoe closed her eyes to think about without the pleading faces of her children influencing her decision. The proposal was much more than a simple vacation, traveling all together like that was almost a statement.

"The media will ask who we are, why we are traveling with you. And I don't think this time you can evade the answers."

"I know, I've thought about it carefully, the truth is that I don't want to keep hiding my family. But it's not just my decision, it's up to all of us."

Zoe looked at him tenderly, then she looked at the faces of her..., no, their children. They're anxious but not upset.

"This is something that will affect you as much or more than me or Devin." She addressed her children.

Ramira and Franco accepted almost immediately, as she expected. Bellandra seemed insecure while Bruno kept quiet.

"I'm a little nervous, but I think I'm ready to let it be known that we are a family."

Devin gave her a huge smile, which made her blush.

"And you, buddy?" Bruno was slightly startled and Devin felt sympathy for the smaller boy, who nodded shyly. The man promised himself to use the trip to get to know the child better.

France turned out to be a better idea than Zoe would have expected. Except for a couple of appearances on some local shows, Devin spent most of his time with them.

He made sure they got to know the different attractions that the tourist destination had to offer. 

"This was a really good idea." She said smiling while her children investigated the surroundings of the central plaza.

"I'm glad you approve it."

"My relationship with our children is not the only one that I want to improve." He said softly looking at her with tender eyes.

He slowly spread his arms and Zoe accepted the invitation. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she knew  they could overcome anything together.

One of the places they visited was the nectary, where Bellandra agreed to learn how to make nectar when a resident offered to teach her.

Devin noted that his daughter didn't leave the appliances throughout the visit, trying different blends.

"She's a natural." He listened someone in the background while watching her hard at work.

And if the surprise he would give her on her birthday seemed a little impulsive, well, he owes her many years of gifts.

The twins had fun trying their sister's products, under the watchful eye of their father.

To later sneak out to search for the secrets that the nectary hid in the basement.

At night, everyone would arrive at the hotel tired, ready to go straight to bed.

Devin didn't forget the promise he made to himself to get to know Bruno better. So he always made time to share the boy's hobbies.

On the last day of the trip, Devin and Zoe decided to go out on their own. The museum wasn't something the children wanted to see anyway.

"These days have been magical, it's almost a shame to have to return to normality." She said while walking by the statues.

"I don't think there is much normalcy left to return to."

"I know, and that's something that I accepted when I said yes to this trip. I fully understand what it takes to go public in this way, Devin, and I still believe that it's for the best for our kids, for us."

"You have always been someone very important in my life, long before I knew that you were the mother of my children."

"When we return to Bridgeport, I would like us to be more than the parents of our children."

"I would like that, too." She said softly.

Then, suddenly, he took her in his arms and reclined her.

She gave a surprised laugh. "What's your doing?!"

"I'm an actor and you deserve a kiss worthy of a movie."

"You're crazy."

"For you? Obviously."

Despite the craziness of the moment, Zoe believed it was the perfect ending to this journey.

***

Coming home was a bit tricky, Bridgeport airport was full of reporters. Devin smiled and told them that there would be a press conference soon where he would explain everything. After driving around the city in the car until the paparazzi were lost, they arrived at the house.

"You don't have to go back to your apartment tonight if you don't want to." Zoe offered him, imagining the number of reporters waiting for him at the entrance of his building.

That was the first night Devin felt like he really belonged with them.

__________________________________________________________________________________

This is the last chapter of generation one. In case there are doubts, Bellandra is the heir and will continue the Russells' journey. It's not how I had planned things to happen, but I had no choice, or well I have but it's not one I wanted to take. Originally, the heir was Franco and in the game he was one day in his young adult age and in charge of this legacy, already in the gardening profession and with a girlfriend. For her part, Zoe had completed all of the Mixology challenges (completing the perfectionist roll), something that I had never accomplished before. Then my desktop broke.

I have my desktop back now but the Russells' saves have become inaccessible. My last back up was a save when Franco and Ramira were in their early teens. First I tried to see if with the screenshots I had I could continue the story and then put an adult version of Franco in another town and continue from there, but I didn't find a satisfactory way to close the first generation because I was missing some moments that I didn't have documented in pics.

So the most obvious alternative would have been to relive Franco's entire adolescence. That's the choice I didn't want to take, knowing myself I would have been bored having to repeat the same things. So the other option was Bellandra, since she's one day away of becoming young adult.

But this in turn gave me little time to solve the whole Devin's plot. Then... an idea! France! It was, at least to me, the perfect solution because it gives me time to finish gen one plots and introduce Bellandra's career. 

Next chapter is Bell birthday and her first chapter as a heir.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Here's are some pics of the alternate universe of this story lol:

Zoe completed all the mixology challenges. I was so proud of this because it was the first time for me. I was always giving up on this because it was very time consuming.

So I'm counting this for the perfectionist roll even though Zoe hasn't made it yet in the game I'm currently at.

Young adult Ramira, she's practically a Zoe's clone.

  

Young adult Franco, my previous choice of heir because he was a good blend of both his parents. In all my games I like to choose as heir the one with the most mix of genes.

 

Teen Bruno, I don't have a better screenshot of him, he's was a teen for a couple of days and I hadn't make to much effort with him. I feel a little bad.
   

Zoe and Devin being cute in their old age.