Fareeha was a good baby. She didn’t cry much except she her diaper needed changed. She slept through the night, and napped during the day…which was a godsend for me and Mitchell: I gardened all day, and he was at work all night. It felt like we rarely got to see each other – he was recently promoted, and the garden grew with more dragon fruit.
The first day he had off that week, we spent together. Darn right we woohooed! More than once too…which was enough to get pregnant again. So during breakfast, I told him the good news.
“We’re going to have another baby!”
“Really?!” He was excited, so excited that got out of his seat and danced.
“Yes really. I’m so happy Mitch…a sibling for little Fareeha.”
“She won’t be little for much longer, today’s her big crib jump.” I couldn’t believe I had forgotten about that.
While I cleaned up downstairs, Mitchell went upstairs to talk to Fareeha before she aged up.
“You’re going to be a big sister, little one. You’ll have a playmate for a while before you’re a teen. And someone to keep you company.
We won’t be around for you all that much. Mommy works hard on the garden to provide for your future. And daddy works to feel like he’s providing for his family. But we love you very much.”
It was nearly evening when it was time for her birthday: I had just taken a shower and decided to feed her, cuddle her, and rock her since this would be the last time I would hold her: My darling princess. I told her how much I love her before setting her down in the crib.
She aged up shortly after that, into a near clone of her father…with softened features. And she was a very self-assured little girl with a rambunctious attitude.
Being married was amazing. We both respected each others “careers” and helped and supported each other. I would watch him practice his comedy and give him my honest opinions: that he was a great comedian, and his jokes were always funny. And he would help me take care of my garden…since he knew most of our money came from those plants. He didn’t want me to spray the bugs, and he didn’t like the idea of me weeding the plants after my second trimester. He always told me that he was afraid all the bending would hurt the baby.
It was the day of Mitchell’s birthday…He was becoming an adult. He didn’t want a party – which honestly surprised me because of how close he was to his “bros” – he just wanted to be with his wife and unborn baby. So I made the cake, which was a messy process. I added the candles after it was cooled and frosted, and called for Mitch. It was a bittersweet moment: He was already an adult, and I wasn’t even halfway through being a young adult…which meant (if my calculations were right) he’d be gone by the time I was an elder. He wasn’t one to take a youth potion, and I wouldn’t ask him. I would just have to live in each moment, so I would start by celebrating his birthday with cake.
Mitchell got promoted, and our harvest was amazing: With the promotion bonus money, and the money from selling the produce we were able to afford things! We now have wallpaper, wall tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. We were able to buy an actual bed frame and mattress, new bedding, end tables and lights, curtains and a rug. We even bought a baby bassinet. Our house was starting to feel like a home.
We also decided to not have a huge ceremony. We went down to the beach near sun down and had a small ceremony with just the two of us and the fish in the water. He threw confetti as we sealed our marriage with a kiss – such a goofball. I was still Ana Amari legally, but in my heart I was now Ana Kalani.
Everything felt so right: I was married to my best friend. I was carrying his child. We had a nice house that we were building from the ground up. If Geoffrey would stop calling everyday I would say life was perfect–BUT that didn’t matter. All that mattered right now was my new marriage, my new husband, and our eventual new baby.
The honeymoon was short and sweet. We just went home and woohooed in the new closet. He massaged my back and shoulders afterward, and then we had spaghetti. It wasn’t much, but it was perfect for us. The next morning we would return to our daily grind for more money.
We now had 8 dragonfruit plants – All excellent quality. 2 of those plants would later be spliced with snapdragons for the cowplant berries. Until that time came we would just continue to water, evolve, fertilize, weed, and spray for bugs.
I love the way the morning sun lights up my new kitchen. The kitchen itself may not look like much, but the sun makes it look like something from a magazine.
After a long day of working the land and collecting, it was a nice feeling to come home to a proper kitchen – with a fridge, a stove, counters, and cabinets. I even had a kitchen sink. I could make real food – food that would fill my stomach and I would have left overs.
The day after my kitchen was installed, Geoffrey invited me out to the spa. He told me that I’ve been working too hard and needed to relax. So we went into the sauna and relaxed. Things got a little steamy and we ended up woohooing in the sauna – not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times. I didn’t have birth control, so there’s no way I wasn’t pregnant. 
After the long woohoo session, I went to kiss him, but as soon as I went in, he pushed me away. And I could see why. My heart was breaking as his expression said it all – he was lying about everything, just to sleep with a younger woman.
I showered and scrubbed my skin. I felt used. I felt dirty. I never wanted this…I knew it was too good to be true. I deleted his number from my phone, I deleted his messages and everything about him from my life. There was only one thing left to do – take a pregnancy test. I heaved a sigh of relief, it was negative. Now I had nothing left of him except memories…which in time will be replaced and fade away.
When he called me, the first thing I could think was: How did he get my number? But this guy is rich, so he probably had his resources. We talked for a couple days between my collecting and taking care of my plants, and I got to know him and his family life. But tonight was different, he asked me out on a date. I was nervous, but accepted anyway. I got dressed up and left for the bistro.
We talked for a few minutes before we ordered.
The meal was great quality – for those prices it better have been – and the wine was a vintage with a large price tag. He ended up buying the bottle to keep the wine flowing. We talked about everything: from my island and what I do on it, to his boring desk job, and what my current dreams and aspirations were. I didn’t tell him that I wanted children or wanted to get married, because right now I just really liked his companionship and attention – I knew children and marriage would scare him off.
Maybe it was the wine. Or maybe it was attention. Or my loneliness for human contact. Whatever it was, it gave me the courage to kiss him outside of the bistro – in public view. It gave me the courage to invite him to my home, with implications of more than kissing. It gave me the courage sleep with him, the not-so-married man.
I never knew my parents. I never knew their names, their personalities, what they even looked like. I never knew if they actually planned to have me, or if I was an oopsie baby. I knew they were secret agents, and they died in the line of duty…so I like to think they worked hard and were very passionate people. I mean I had to inherit it from somewhere…right?
Dig, dig, dig. That’s all I did in the mornings. I would dig until there were no more valuable rocks. Then I would move on to harvesting. I would harvest strawberries, bluebells, snapdragons, mushrooms, and glowfruit. There were blackberry bushes around the island, but they weren’t harvestable yet. Along my harvesting route, I would check logs for frogs. I still hadn’t found a frog worth much, but it doesn’t stop me from breeding them with my high valued one.
All the digging made me filthy, though, I guess sleeping and peeing in bushes (not sleeping in peed in bushes) doesn’t help the hygiene issue. I could go to the mainland and shower at a gym or something…but it’s a little embarrassing. I will never admit this, ever, to anyone: I am a proud woman. I don’t like accepting help, I don’t like asking for it.
The first thing I saw was a natural pool. For a brief moment, I wondered if this was paradise…and if so, was it all mine? I quickly stripped to my undies and jumped into the pool. It did nothing for my hygiene, if anything I felt grimier. But oooh, the water felt amazing on my aching bones and muscles. I never realized how much work I was putting myself through. I swam around and soaked in this little slice of paradise.
I spent the afternoon diving, swimming, and basking in the sun. I made a mental note to come here again soon, after my house was built and things settled into a relaxing routine.
I came home, well after the sun had set. My plants needed watered, and I was in dire need of a shower and a meal. Which coincidentally, I had a new shower and an ice chest with some walls. The Watcher must love me, either that or things sold and contractors came in with my odd request. Either way, I could take a shower and sleep with a full belly…but first I needed to water my moneymakers.
The shower felt heavenly, a second slice of paradise for the day. I washed the dirt, the mud, the slime and algae. I washed my stress and aches, and my problems. I felt happy. No. Elated for the first time since I moved to the island. All because I had a proper shower, and would be eating a bowl of fruit loops against the first walls to my house — my real slice of paradise.
Now all I needed was a real bed.
Truth be told, when I won this island in the lottery…I wasn’t expecting to be spending my days on the mainland. I spent my first week at this über library, they had top of the line things…things I didn’t have at home.
I tried yoga, it helped clear my mind and to focus on what really mattered: Building up my property, providing for future generations, finding a spouse to help actually provide future generations. Future aside, right now I needed to make some money, and conventional jobs weren’t going to do it. I would have to rely in what the island provides…with my Watcher given knowledge of plants I should be drowning in simoleons soon enough.
Home, Sweet Home. It’s not much, empty land with a trophy from the lottery people…which is why I’ve been avoiding this place. Until now I didn’t feel like I won anything, just an empty island…but this island isn’t empty: There’s plants, rocks, logs. And soon enough, I’ll have walls and futniture.
Dusk was fast approaching, so I decided to do some fishing with the little amount of energy I have left. It had been a while since I last fished, so I wasn’t expecting to catch anything huge.
On my way back home, I checked some logs and lucked out on a high value frog. If I could only find another to breed them, I would be golden. I decided to check some more logs, I was very determined.
The last of my energy was spent going up the hill and to my sleeping bush. I had a smile on my face, a pep in my very sluggish walk, and hope and determination on my mind. Winning this lottery was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
The Amari Family 