One day Adelina returned from school with a friend, a friend who seemed familiar to Simon.
The boy was a dead-ringer for his sister’s lost love, Ricky.
Everything about him seemed exactly the same.
Simon did what any big brother would do, he invited his sister around for tea, hoping she would see the resemblance herself. If the boy was some relation of the soldier she’d fallen in love with, he might be able to shed some light on what had happened all those years ago.
Anita, who was slightly older but just as beautiful as when she’d left the estate (living in nature had done her good) was making small talk with Marissa when Ricky entered the room.
Anita almost dropped her fork, was she seeing a ghost?
Then she recovered herself and stood up to greet him, laughing. “You remind me of someone,” she said.
“It must be my uncle, Ricky. He was a soldier, stationed here once,” he responded.
Anita was delighted to hear that and begged the young man to explain what had become of his uncle. The boy professed not to know, but said that he had been named after his uncle and that his name was also Ricky.
They made polite conversation for the rest of the evening, but as they spoke Anita began to suspect there was more to his story than he’d made out. His voice was identical to that of the man she’d almost married. He shared the same passions. Sometimes his look would linger on her.
After they’d parted, Anita couldn’t stop thinking about him. She asked Marissa to bring him to see her in private, so they could speak alone, which she did.
Anita took him to the edge of a nearby farm, where they could talk without any risk of interruption.
“I know it’s you,” she said as they arrived at the farm.
He started as if she’d given him a physical jolt.
They climbed from the cart.
“You’re not his nephew,” Antia said. “You’re him. I know it to be true, but I can’t explain it.”
He said nothing at first, and then eventually, “I can’t explain it either.”
“I’ve tried to find an answer for years”.
He took her silently to the nearby vegetable patch where he felt that he could speak his mind with no risk of being overheard. He explained that he’d been placed under a curse many years before.
“The curse prevents me aging,” he said.
Her response what not what he’d expected. She did not feign disbelief. Instead she pointed a finger at him accusingly.
“That’s why you disappeared the night before my coming-out party? I thought you were dead! Why didn’t you tell me?”
He could not bear the look of anguish on her face and sank to his haunches, burying his head in his hands. After a time he looked up at her.
“I’ve traveled the world, I’ve seen all there is to see. But I can never settle down, I can never raise a family.”
“I am doomed to be an adolescent for all eternity.”
She lowered herself to his level, sitting in the dirt. “You could have told me.”
“All this time, I’ve thought you were dead.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” Ricky said. “That’s why I came to the house. I wanted to find out how your life had been. I expected you to still be living on the estate.”
Anita began to tell him about her life.
She told him about her unlikely pairing with Todd.
And she described her children.
“It seems things worked out for the best,” Ricky said.
Even though a part of her still loved Ricky, Anita realised that it had. She wouldn’t trade what she had with Todd and the girls for anything.
She stood up and gave Ricky a hug, saying she was glad he was alive and that she hoped he found a cure for his curse.
Ricky said he would like it very much if they could remain friends and Anita agreed.
As he walked away, she couldn’t help but wonder about what might have been.
Click here to read from the beginning.
Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Ricky the un-age-able teen.
My Legacy Sims Challenge 