Chapter 21: A Politician's Wife

Shepard is elected mayor of Twinbrook.

As he promised, Shepard takes Anne out on a date 'somewhere nice'; the only nightclub in Twinbrook. As usual, the paparazzi follow him.

Shepard invites her back to his place, but she refuses, saying it wouldn't be right to sleep with him in the house with his children. His children are too young to understand grown up relationships, but Anne isn't persuaded.
"They won't be too young for long, and they understand more than you think," she says, "I don't want to be in the habit of staying over." She also refuses to invite him to spend the night at her place, because she insists he should be in his own home when his kids wake. The fact that his parents are there to take of them doesn't change her mind. "Come visit me tomorrow morning," she says, "After you have breakfast with your family."

So Shepard rushes to her house the next morning. "Can I take you out somewhere?" he asks.


"No, let's just pick up where we left off last night."

Anne invites him up to her room, and into her bed.

Carter becomes a toddler. He has his grandfather's hair.

"A good smile can get you anywhere, with anyone." 

Shepard chooses the most romantic spot in Twinbrook to make his proposal, the Esplanade at sunset. Anne kisses him in greeting when they meet beneath the mermaid sculpture.


"You're nervous," she observes, "What's going on?"

Shepard laughs. He gives speeches all the time, and is constantly in the public eye, but the thought of asking her to marry him has given him stomach butterflies like he was a shy teenager.


"I want to propose to you, Anne, but I haven't figured out how I want to say it. But since it's out there, now - I love you. Will you marry me?"


She pulls out of his arms and stays silent, looking at him. There's no way a 'yes' is going to follow, but Shepard presses. "Well?"

"I'm sorry, Shepard," she says, "I love you, too, but I'm not a politician's wife."


"You aren't now," Shepard answers, "But you could be."


"No, I can't. I can't stand behind a podium and smile while you make some public apology for your affairs."


"I'm not going to have affairs, Anne. You are everything to me, I'd never cheat on you."


"Says the man raising two children by two different mothers, neither being his wife," Anne laughs, making light of the situation.


"That was before I met you," Shepard protests, "I've changed. I don't want anyone but you. Marry me, and I'll prove it, I swear."


"I actually believe that Shepard," Anne says, without smiling, "But that's not really the issue. I love being with you, but being your wife would be more like a job than a relationship. The paparazzi follow you all the time, I'd be under the same public scrutiny as you are. I'd always have to watch what I do, what I say. I can't take that kind of pressure. I just want to continue on as we are."

Shepard is immensely disappointed at her rejection, but as long as he hasn't lost her completely, he still has hope that she'll change her mind sooner or later, and so continues on as they were before.

Except it isn't quite the same as it was before, her rejection of his proposal hangs silently between them, even when they make love.

Anne still refuses to spend the night at his house, or to allow him to stay overnight at hers, for the sake of his children. And though Shepard hates the solitary drive home after their dates, he knows she right. Not just for his children, but for his career. He can't have the paparazzi snapping photos of him coming out of his girlfriend's house in the morning. Even though he's single, it's not the image he wants to see in the morning papers.

The McDermotts hold a small family party for Oregon's birthday. Oregon's mother, Lilly-Bo comes to see her daughter grow up.

Though Lilly-Bo loved Beau Merrick enough to stay with him even after he married Bianca, Bianca wasn't very happy about keeping her new husband's other lover around after the marriage, and eventually threw Lilly-Bo out. Lilly-Bo was on her own for awhile, and eventually married Lang Gwydd.
Wyoming and his wife Rosalie, also came to the party; they just had a daughter, Karen.

Oregon is happy to finally meet her mother, who she hasn't seen since she was born.

As a grandfather, Ewan hasn't pressed as hard for educational and toys and books as he did with his sons, but he's still keenly interested in his grandchildren's education, and helps Oregon with her homework.

Oregon is artistic and loves to paint.

Shepard is elected governor in an emergency special election after the previous governor disappeared for a weekend without informing his staff of his whereabouts. The press discovered him pursuing an affair with a woman in Champs les Sims, and the scandal quickly ended the governor's career, leaving the seat open for Twinbrook's popular, young, unmarried mayor to claim in a landslide election.

The new governor immediately starts raising funds for his presidential bid. The next election is coming up, and Shepard hopes to be the youngest leader of the free world in Sim history.

"I would totally vote for you," Loren Carlton promises, "If I could figure out the ballot. It's like so confusing! I don't know which box to check."


Loren Carlton might be dumb as a brick, but his family is extremely wealthy, and his 10,000 simoleon contribution to Shepard's war chest is much appreciated.

Anne attends Shepard's fundraisers as faithfully as any politician's wife would, and waits patiently while he schmoozes with his supporters and campaign contributors.

After he's hit up all his guests for money, Shepard has time for dancing. It's not a party without at least one dance.

After the party is over, Shepard goes back to Anne's place to 'visit' before he has to go back to his own lonely bed.


"I want a baby," Anne announces, taking him completely by surprise.


"I we got married, we could have as many babies as you want," Shepard answers.


Anne shakes her head, "Being the mayor's wife was more of a job than I wanted, there's no way I want the First Lady gig. I don't want to be your wife, Shepard, but I don't want to give you up, either. And I want a baby, your baby."


"Anne, you've always been so concerned about my children, making sure I'm home every night with them instead of being here with you. How are we going to manage having a child together if we aren't in the same family?"


"I don't know, Shepard," Anne says, tears forming in her eyes, "I just know I want to have a baby of my own. Please, I've never asked you for anything, just give me this. We'll figure out the details later."

Though it goes against his better judgment, Shepard cannot refuse her anything.


Challenge Notes:
Shepard gets promotions every other day. Which is great for achieving his Perfect Career requirement, but makes the story a little difficult. Because election cycles are a little longer than every two or three days, lol. So for story purposes, I don't mention every promotion in the blog.
He's currently at level 9 of the political career (Vice President) and will soon be leader of the free world. He's also level 9 charisma, and once he hits level 10, he will achieve the perfect career goal. He's one day away from his adult birthday.
Oregon got the Artistic trait for her birthday. Somehow she was put at Friend status with her mother at birth, maybe her mother has high charisma or something. But it made that relationship easy. Oregon also inherited Pizza Appreciator from her mother.
Anne actually does constantly bring up babies, she always talking about blocks, teddy bears and baby bottles. She's Hopeless Romantic and Over Emotional.