this rustic life

March 2082 - Jeremiah Day is 25, Stephanie is 22. (via phone, Bella Bradshaw is 25). Welcome to Lakeside Heights, baby Skye. Last update, March 2080.

Stephanie is talking to her brother, long distance, while Jeremiah sets lunch out on the table. Lara had the baby - it was a girl, and they named her Skye. Stephanie can't even believe how much she's missed. She has four little nieces and nephews now, who aren't so little anymore. Liza is in junior high now, Shaun just started preschool, and Raine is starting preschool next year! Stephanie says, "The last time I saw Raine, she was still in diapers!" Oh, Patrick mentions, Raine still is in diapers, they've got to get that potty training done before the fall. Still potty training at three and a half! Sheesh! And they say girls potty train faster?

Stephanie says, "I can't wait to meet Skye!"

"Are you coming home then?" Patrick asks.

"Well, we kind of have to, I think. I'm kind of pregnant."

"Well, either you are or you're not," he says. "There's really no kind of about it."

"I am then," she says. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Maybe Stephanie and Jeremiah don't think anything through, most of the time. Like they didn't think through moving to the wilderness of northern Canada, on a whim, and eloping in a ski lodge. And what would they do if they got pregnant? He deserted the army! If they wanted to come home, how would he work? Where would they live? How could he even get a drivers' license?

Jeremiah says, "What about construction work? Like under the table. I could do something like that."

Stephanie doesn't know, and just takes a huge bite of salad. She's so hungry!

Jeremiah has lost none of that cheesy romance he loves to share with her, and he often sweeps her into a slowdance in the middle of the empty lodge.

He never wants her to forget how happy she makes him. He wants her to know that she and this baby are all he ever wanted in the world.

But Jeremiah goes from charm to aggression in zero seconds flat when one of the locals tries to get chatty with his wife. "Dude, you're kind of invading my wife's privacy."

Dude says, "This is a public place."

He's right, it kind of is. But that won't stop him from glaring at the guy until he leaves the room.

These people are a little scary sometimes, with their deep voices and volatile chest-pounding. Stephanie has always been a meek and mild-tempered girl. She still doesn't feel quite at home here. Maybe it's because they were just home for real recently, for Justin and Keri's wedding, and it didn't last long enough. Seeing her friends again brought back such warm and nostalgic feelings, and she brought back an ache in her heart for them. She misses them so much. She misses her family. She misses her mom. The idea of having a baby here in the woods, alone, terrifies her and she just wants to go home.

As much as she loves it here, she's a clumsy wilderness buff. She loves it, but she's very very bad at it.

You'd think she'd have caught on to some things by now.

But they did learn how to keep warm on these cold cold days. Even as the springtime brings a thaw to Lakeside Heights, it's still cold and snowy in Three Lakes, and they find creative ways to keep warm. Jeremiah doesn't want to leave here. He's enjoyed having Stephanie all to himself for these cozy months. "You're not alone," he tells her. "You have me."

But they can't raise a baby in a cabin and Stephanie needs to see her doctor for prenatal care.

They do some ice-fishing in the village center. Everyone else is nicely bundled up this time of year, but Stephanie's got her early pregnancy hormones to keep her warm.

Jeremiah catches the same fish, only bigger.

Stephanie's sister Riley loves animals, she'd love to pet a penguin!

She can't eat fast enough! Jeremiah thought he married a lovely young lady, but somewhere along the line, she morphed into a voracious animal!

He says, "Slow down! Knowing your luck, you'll probably choke!"

Jeremiah is actually well suited to this rustic life, and he's gotten quite the green thumb from growing their own food - maybe he might find work as a farm hand when they get home, you know, without the paperwork and everything. But green as Jeremiah's thumb might be, it doesn't change the fact that there is snow on the ground 8 months of the year here.

It's a cozy life they have. Stephanie naps a lot, and Jeremiah is studying anger management. Not that he wants to admit that he's an angry guy, but he's just being preemptive. You know, he did kick Cameron Gibson's ass that one time. Jealousy and rage issues are probably not good traits to pass on to their soon-to-be little one. Jeremiah doesn't want to be that kind of guy. He wants to be a better man than that.

He doesn't know if this is the kind of thing he should bring up to Stephanie or not, but after she's in bed one night, he calls Bella. He feels bad that they haven't talked since he moved away, especially after hearing at Keri's wedding that she had a baby! What a terrible friend he's been. But to be honest, she'd entirely slipped his mind after he met Stephanie. Stephanie was everything that he needed to shed his torrid feelings for Bella and move on, but he feels really awful for deserting her. And since he's sure it's only friendly feelings he has for her now, he calls.

But maybe he shouldn't have, because she isn't very happy to hear from him. "That little brat knew your phone number the whole time," Bella says. "And she wouldn't give it to me!"

He says, "I didn't ask her to do that."

"But you didn't make sure I got it either," Bella says. "You just left me! You're my best friend since we were like fifteen, and you just run off and get married? It was like you dropped a bomb on my life!"

"What? he says, he laughs out loud! This is ridiculous! "I did not drop a bomb on your life! Bella, you're a disaster! You drop bombs on your own life!"

"What do you know about my life?"

"I know all there is to know about your life. You have no great tragedies! And besides, you have Mariah, and you have Cameron now."

Silence.

"Bella, what happened to Cameron?"

"Nothing happened, it's just different with the baby."

"Well, I'm sorry, but you'll have to work that out on your own. I can't help you anymore."

She says, "Don't you see how everybody leaves me?"

He says, "Maybe there's a reason for that." It amazes him how everything becomes about Bella Bradshaw, how the world moves to revolve around her. He feels inclined to take back the things he's said - he wants to take back the whole phone call - but it's already said, and maybe these are the kinds of things Bella needs to hear.

Since they're not coming to any mutual understandings on the matter, he says goodnight before either of them makes things worse. He goes to bed to stew about it.

And in the morning, when he just has to talk to someone, that someone has to be Stephanie. It isn't so much that he wants to come clean about calling Bella, but he just doesn't want to feel that awful pull she has, down into her black hole of dysfunction. It was a mistake, calling her again. And he knows that all he needs is Stephanie, with her light and love and kindness. He doesn't like the person he becomes without her.

Stephanie does not like the idea of him talking to Bella again, his ex-best-friend, whom he was tragically and painfully and unrequitedly in love with for five years! Stephanie wonders why does she have to come up again now?

Lucky for Jeremiah, Stephanie gives really great hugs, and has an endless supply of love to give.

As much as they would like to stay here, away from Bella Bradshaw, indefinitely, there is one final thing that seals the decision for them...

Maybe there's a reason you're not supposed to get out of bed in the middle of the night, when you're starving hungry with a pregnancy craving, and really only half-awake, and attempt to make crepes suzette! Oh, how she wants her mommy! She wants to go home.

Jeremiah rushes from the bedroom to put out the fire. The emergency services run so slow around here. "Could you take any longer, my wife is on fire!"

The nearest fire station is up the mountain and twenty minutes away. Good thing the fire person is a lady and beating up ladies is frowned upon, or good thing he's the only one helping to put Stephanie's fire out, because otherwise he could lose his temper here!

Apparently, the Lakeside Heights Public Schools system has failed poor Stephanie, as she never learned to stop-drop-and-roll?

And good thing they make these pajama pants fire-resistant these days! Stephanie makes it through with only a slight pink flush to her skin. Jeremiah gets her a cold plate of leftovers out of the fridge. He sits down and just stares as she eats. How could they raise a family here? There aren't nearby hospitals or a functional fire department. There aren't even schools.

"What?" Stephanie says. "I'm fine, really, I was just a little hungry."

"Okay," he says. "I guess maybe we should go home."

***

notes: lol, Stephanie is like a constant disaster waiting to happen! And catching fire, while pregnant, and already starving!!! That was actually a pretty close call :\

Okay, to tell the truth, Stephanie actually got pregnant as soon as they moved here, lol! But I wanted to be able to play them living there for at least a little bit before I brought her back home, so I just left her pregnancy in limbo for a while. I thought for sure they'd get to live there a while before they wanted children, being pleasure/popularity, they only have a 25% chance, but they rolled it right away, and conceived on their first try, lol! This is an intended baby! Crazy kids!

She and Mariah are the last two pregnancies left from this baby boom, and both due in August.

My goodness, can we please have a baby break for a little bit??? :)

And since it happened kind of off-camera, a birth announcement :)

It's a girl, much to her mother's surprise! Skye Nova was born at 9:00 at night, and she has blonde hair and blue eyes like the rest of her family. Daddy finally pulled himself together before the birth, and was overjoyed to meet his new daughter - mommy though, she was just scared! It's scary business though, having a baby, so let's not judge, people! And maybe this ought to be her last?