The Reinhart Family
7030 7th Street, Unit D
Fortune City
Round 6: September 2041 (Fall)
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Xavier is 25, Melanie is 27, Olivia is 5, and Cedric is 1
(Pearl & Paris are 28, Claire is 27, Hannah is 5, Nora & Slade are 4, Lily is 2, Micah & Troy are 1, Camden & Campbell are 2, Malcolm is 43)
Narrated by Melanie Reinhart.
Xavier and I have finally settled into our little townhome. It is located on 7th Street in Fortune City, so it is right in the middle of all the big city hustle and bustle. Just where I like to be! We were a little concerned of moving here at first because of our kids. Is a big city really a good place to raise children? But so far it has been rather nice.
Xavier and I have two children: Olivia is 5 years old and Cedric is one month shy of being 2. Olivia really likes living in the city. She loves her school and she still gets to see all of her little friends quite frequently. We’re only 30 minutes away from the suburbs of Fortune Shores, so it’s really not that far.
Xavier is really hard on Olivia to get good grades. His dad used to push him just as hard and he hated it, which is something that I have to remind him of quite often. But he is determined for his children to be successful and that starts with school. Lucky for us, Olivia is very bright and so far has not had any problems in school.
I can’t believe my little Cedric is going to be 2 years old next month. Time sure does fly by. We’ve been so busy lately with work and other things, but we always make sure we spend time with the kids. Cedric is walking now and he’s almost potty trained, although we seem to be having some difficulties with that. The boy just will not sit on the potty!
The one thing I do really miss about living in the suburbs is being so close to all of my family. Even though they’re only a short distance away, it’s still far enough to make our visits few and far between. We try to get together at least once every other week or so. My sisters Pearl and Paris bring over all of their kids, and my brother’s wife Claire brings over their two boys. That way all the cousins can play together.
My oldest sister, Pearl, is pregnant with her 4th child and she’s due next month. I can honestly say that I thought I was done having children, even though Xavier and I are still so young. We have our boy and our girl and I wanted to spend the rest of my adult life working on my career. But now that I see my sister going through this pregnancy, it really makes me think that I might like to have another baby after all!
This visit we all met up at the park that is a few blocks away from our home in Fortune City. All of the kids had a fantastic time!
My daughter Olivia and Pearl’s daughter Hannah are the same age, so they are really close.
Paris’ daughter Nora and Dustin’s son Slade are the same age also, so they usually play together. They’re only 1 year younger than Olivia and Hannah, so there isn’t a big gap at all.
Then there are all the toddlers. Pearl has twin sons, Paris has a boy and a girl, I have Cedric, and Dustin has a son. So that’s 6 toddlers total! That’s why I love being a part of such a big family. I know that my kids will never feel alone!
After seeing my family and all of those kids, I really started to think about having another baby. I’m only 27, so I still have plenty of time to work on my career even if we do have another little one. Xavier isn’t completely ready to have another one just yet, but he says that he definitely would like a third child at some point.
And it’s probably just as well that we didn’t start trying for a baby right away, because it wasn’t too long after that discussion that I got the news I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been trying to catch a break in show business since I graduated from college 5 years ago. I’ve gotten little roles here and there and have been working the last 2 years as a Cartoon Voice on a popular kids show. I’ve been auditioning for bigger and better things, and I finally got my big break!
My agent called to tell me that I got a supporting role in a pretty big upcoming movie! This is a huge step up for my career and I have a feeling that my life is going to change forever! Xavier was super excited to hear about it too. This means more money and hopefully more regular work for me.
Speaking of careers, however, I finally found out what it is my husband has been doing for a living. I always thought he worked for the SCIA or something, since he’s always so secretive about his job. But I came home from the set early one day and found him in a deep discussion with Malcolm Landgraab, IV.
From what I heard, Xavier used to work for a pretty serious crime organization, but he thought he could do better than the boss and convinced some of his fellow underlings to break away and start a new organization with himself as the new leader. That would explain the sudden increase in money that he began to bring home.
But his old boss didn’t like this change of plans too much. So Xavier has been in some sort of “territorial war” with this old, experienced crime lord. I guess Malcolm Landgraab was one of the underlings to follow Xavier over to the new regime, and I heard him telling Xavier that things were getting pretty sticky out there. He feared not only the old crime organization, but also the local police. He sounded pretty certain that they were going to be caught one way or the other.
I couldn’t believe my ears. I waited for Malcolm to leave, and then I confronted my husband. He’s lied to me for the past 3 years and he’s put my children in danger.
I gave him a choice. Either he quit the life of crime altogether, or he could expect divorce papers within the week. I absolutely refuse to be married to someone who does such awful things, and I will not have my children at risk.
He told me that he only got mixed up in all of it because he wanted to be able to provide for his family, and that was a fast way of doing that. He also told me that his family is the most important thing in his life, and of course he would leave his job. He seemed to be sincerely sorry, but I’m just not sure I can trust him again. Not yet anyway. I just hope his old crime “friends” and enemies can let him walk away from it all. But I am terrified that they will come after my family.
But life must go on and bills must be paid, so we had to figure out what he was going to do for a living now that he was out of a job. He has always loved music and dancing, so he made a few calls and was able to purchase an existing night club named F.M. on the east end of 7th Street.
We had to take out some pretty big loans in order to afford it and renovate it, but we’re expecting a big return from it once we get it up and running. With my new movie career, we should see a lot more income as well.
Xavier is having to spend a lot of time down at the club to get it back on its feet. He works some pretty late nights now, but I know it will be worth it when we’re able to start paying back those loans.
I can’t imagine the crime business is an easy job to get out of, but so far things have been pretty quiet. I just hope that Xavier really is telling me the truth about leaving it.
Notes:
- I didn’t realize that this townhouse was so small when I moved these guys into it. It’s really only a 1 bedroom, but I’ve converted the master bathroom into a bedroom for the kids. So this family really doesn’t fit in it at all. Once Melanie and Xavier bring in a little more money, they’ll be moving again for sure!
- The Linwood family is the largest family in Fortune Shores, and Melanie is the 4th oldest child out of 12 (her father is Marshall Linwood whom you met in the last birthday update). So there are lots of little cousins for her kids to play with!
- After the visit to the park with her family, Melanie really did come back home with a want to have another baby. So they may start trying next round if they can stay married that long!
- Xavier drew the “start a business” ROS for this round, so him quitting his job in the Criminal track just kind of fit in. I can’t imagine that it is the kind of job that you just walk away from though, so we might have to have some repercussions for him!
- The other crime lord that Xavier used to work for is none other than Ivy Linwood, who just so happens to be Melanie’s aunt! So let’s hope she takes it easy on her nephew-in-law.
Wow, it really was a crime family after all with the aunt and the nephew-in-law. I also wonder if he’s being honest about leaving the business. I do like the look of the apartment though, even if it’s too small for them, you should put up a tour. You did a wonderful job building it.
I will probably put pictures of their townhome up at N99. Just the inside though, the outside is actually a renovated version of the Bella-something or other Townhomes. I can’t remember where I got them from!
Reading this reminded me of the competing crime lords on Boreal Springs. Good times!
Great update. I’m so loving the facial expressions!
Oh I loved Boreal Springs! I loved how all of those sims were so interconnected and how their careers really came into play. It’s a great inspiration for sure!
Oh, I love that picture of all the kids playing together! I don’t think I’ve ever had so many kids on a playground before (except in school updates).
Melanie finding out about Xavier’s career might well have saved his hide! If she didn’t threaten him with divorce, he could have ended up in prison. Although I wonder what his underlings think of his new career. Very interesting stuff!
The playground picture session was a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed getting the families together for reunions and the like. It’s so fun to see the extended family interacting with each other. As for Xavier leaving his career, I’m really not sure where I’m going to go with that yet. But I’m toying around with a couple of ideas!
What a large family! Hmmmmm, I don’t know, a nightclub is a great front for criminal activity…….my Derick Pace has used his club for that for quite a while now……hopefully Ivy will take it easy on him since he’s married to her niece…..The playground pics were adorable!
That’s exactly what I was thinking! The club is a perfect way to be shady without everybody knowing about it. I don’t think it’s easy to get out of the criminal world, and I think Xavier would probably figure that into his plans. You don’t get to be a Criminal Mastermind by being dumb!
Not the best way to find out that your husband has been lieng and been up to no good, not sure he can really just leave or give up life or crime like this. I wouldn’t be surpiced at all if he would continue his shady dealings behind her back.