Ramaswami/McDermott Random Legacy ch. 15: Menage a Trois

Max died not long after his marriage, leaving poor Marsha Landgraab a widow again. Saranya had her father buried beside her mother in their family plot.

Saranya retires as soon as she reaches elder status. She's put out enough fires for one lifetime.

Regan has many friends in high school, but has never gone on a date. Her crush on Donovan Landgraab is so strong, she has no interest in anyone else. Unfortunately, Donovan has been going steady with Louise McIrish since freshman year and can't be more than best friends with Regan.

After graduation, Regan decides to put off getting a job and taking time to travel. France is renowned for its arts, culture and fine cuisine, so it's off to Champs les Sims.

She first visits the nectary, to taste the fine nectars made from locally grown grapes, and to try her hand at nectar making herself. While she's there she meets a handsome Frenchman named Gustave Delven. For the first time, Regan finds herself attracted to someone other than Donovan Landgraab, and it is with great reluctance that she bids him adieu and returns to the hostel for the evening.

Regan runs into Gustave the next day in the market square. At the nectary, he was mildly flirtatious, today his attentions are more direct.

This time she's not saying adieu so easily, and invites him on her sightseeing tour of the museum.

And then he invites her back to his house to spend the night.

Regan wakes early in the morning, alone in Gustave's bed. She hears a woman's angry voice, and Gustave's, but her French is not good enough to understand what they are saying. After she hears the front door slam and the ensuing silence, Regan creeps out of the room.

"What was that about?" Regan asks Gustave as he takes her in his arms.

"My roommate, Jolene," Gustave sighs, "She didn't like that I have a girl with me."

"That sounds like more than a roommate to me," Regan answers.

"Well, we sleep together sometimes, but it's nothing serious."

It sounds to Regan like Jolene takes it very seriously, and is glad she won't be in town long enough to be in the middle of it. The thought of leaving Gustave behind and returning to Sunset Valley makes her wistful, and she kisses him long and hard before heading out for another day of sightseeing.

Regan doesn't see Gustave for the next few days while she travels about town visiting and photographing all the sights. As the time for her to return home nears, she runs into Gustave again walking by the river, looking very dejected. She doesn't for an instant believe he's heartbroken over her, so she asks him why he's so sad.

"I have a big problem," he sighs, "My girlfriend is pregnant."

"Jolene?"

"No," he shakes his head sadly, "Her name is Capucine. She lives not too far from here. And now she's coming to live here. With me."

"With you and Jolene?" Regan tries not to laugh.

"Oui," he answers,"It will be the worst menage a trois ever."

Though she had a wonderful time and had her first romance, Regan was happy to return home. As soon as she arrived to her parents' house, she was on her cell phone, asking her friends what had gone on in town while she was gone. The big news was that Donovan Landgraab and Louise McIrish had broken up. This was a huge bit of gossip, because everyone assumed they were destined to marry as soon as they graduated. Hearing this, Regan rushed over to the Landgraab mansion to talk to her old friend Donovan, and snap him up off the market before anyone else got to him.

He was out in front of his house as she pulled up, prepared to go out somewhere, but he stopped to give Regan a long hug, more affectionate than she expected.

"How was France?" he asks, but didn't wait for her to answer, "It's so great to see you. I really missed you."

Regan is pleasantly surprised, she was sure she was going to have to work her way to this point slowly.

"I'm kind of late, so we'll have to catch up later," he says, caressing her face, "But I"m really glad you came by, I'm really happy to see you. I want to see you again, soon."

Regan promises to see him soon, and lets him go off wherever he was headed, and goes back to her own house, where she can barely sleep, being kept awake by the promise of her greatest dream coming true at last, and fantasies of what it will be like to make love to Donovan Landgraab.

Though she would have loved to run straight up to the Landgraab estate the next morning, Regan knew Donovan would be at work and she wouldn't be able to see him until later in the day, so after stopping by the bistro to apply for a job, she dropped by the pool, where she found her cousin Regina Goth having yet another fight with her on again, off again boyfriend, Wade Alto.

After greeting Regan, Wade took off to let the cousins chat. Regan talked about her trip to France and her brief but passionate affair with Gustave.

"Maybe I should go to France and find a lover," Regina quipped, "I could use a vacation from Wade."

"How are things with you and Wade?" Regan asks, pretending she didn't just witness their little fight.

"We fight all the time. Sometimes I want to give up on it, but I just know we'll end up married and fighting with each other forever, like my parents." After she spoke, she got quiet. Her father, Vernon Goth, had recently passed away. "My mother barely waited until his funeral was over before she turned cougar," she added, disgust evident in her voice, "You won't believe who she's seeing. Donovan Landgraab!"

Regan's jaw dropped, "But he's..."

"Half her age? Just out of high school? It's disgusting. I came home last night and they were going at it on the couch. I nearly hurled."

Did she imagine the affection when he greeted her yesterday? Were his caresses just a fantasy? Regan feels like her head is about to explode. "I can't believe it," she gasped, "It's so..."

"Totally unfair? The hottest guy in town goes back on the market and my mother pounces him. I'd throw Wade out a window for Donovan Landgraab. So would half the girls in this town. But, no, he goes for my mother."

Regan doesn't have the heart to visit Donovan that evening, she doesn't know what she'd say to him, or how to handle the disappointment of being so close to having him, or at least imagining it was close, only to have it ripped away. As she returns home, her stomach churns and heaves violently. Like Regina said, the image of Donovan with her aunt Kamala was just that disgusting.

(Challenge Notes: Generation 3 passed all requirements, Generation 4 is now begun. That's single parent, 2 children, multi-cultural, Culinary career, perfect children.

I have to thank Twallan's story progression mod for two major plot points this update. One day after I did my scenes with Gustave, I got pop up notices saying that Gustave Delven had been 'canoodling' with some girl named Capucine, and then, pop, she's pregnant and moving in with him. I laughed and laughed, and made it part of the story.

Then, at home, story progression broke up Donovan Landgraab and Louise McIrish, only to pair him up with recently widowed Kamala Goth. I'd be hugely bummed about this if Regan weren't forbidden to marry or breed with anyone but foreigners. As it is, it plays nicely into my story for this generation.)