Unto the Generations Part 6
From: Jody
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 09:39:18
Julia had remembered when the boys were born. So simple then,
such a happy time for the family. Barnabas and Julia hadn't been married that
long, Nicole was fourteen and living with them, when one day Julia started to
show signs of vomiting and morning sickness, and began to feel tired, too tired
for her busy schedule as mistress of the Old House. Often Barnabas and Julia
had developed a quiet lifestyle where they spent most of their waking time with
each other. Julia continued to practice medicine at Wyndcliffe, but had dramatically
lessened her hours to be at home with the family. Barnabas , on the other hand,
continued to go with Julia to Wyndcliffe and continued on a limited basis to
tutor the patients in the humanities, as he had done long ago when Dr. Halstead
first came to Collinwood. And Barnabas tutored Nicole personally in many of
her academic studies particularly Literature, Classics, and the other humanities.
And Julia, tutored his in the sciences while Elliot Stokes tutored the whole
family sometimes in the studies of the occult. Barnabas had taken up gardening
at the Old House, or partook in his venture of restoration of the gardens and
the surroundings near the Old House. He and Julia spent hours walking around
the ground around the Collins Estate viewing the various different gardens,
each different and unique in its own respect and many of them quite colorful.
One of Barnabas' favorite pastimes would be to go and take his boat "Sarah's Pride", where he and Julia would sail for hours near the port of Collinsport . From this he derived great pleasure in viewing the sky, being a sailor on the high seas , and seeing the new beginnings of the morning when the dawn first comes. The yacht was big enough for he and Julia to sleep in the boat, and sometimes they did just that , where after a good night they could view the sunset and have a romantic evening , and the next morning they would awaken to the beginning of the dawn together as they shared there life so.
It was perhaps from one of these evenings that perhaps Julia just in fact had become pregnant. Nevertheless, Julia, sometimes tense, on the high seas was so relaxed she just melted into Barnabas' arms.
However, it had been noticed for a short while by Barnabas that even when Julia was getting up in the mornings at the Old House, she seemed to be quite sick a great deal of the time and she tired easily much too so on walks. And she would often be reading her medical journals in the house, when after a short while would excuse herself to go to bed. At first, Barnabas thought that Julia, was rejecting him, but after observing a pattern where she seemed to be ill much of the time, he concluded that she was ill and needed to go get medical attention. Julia was oblivious to the fact that anything was wrong and resisted the temptation to get any medical attention. However, after much prompting from Barnabas, Julia did seek advise of Dr. Halstead, Elizabeth's husband, who just smiled when he heard the symptoms of Julia. Barnabas was not amused until Jeffrey Halstead brought it to their attention that her symptoms were typical of a mother to be. After a simple urine test, the pregancy was confirmed. Julia's reaction was she passed out at news, and Barnabas was totally elated. Neither of them had expected to be parents, although they understood the laws of nature. What was more surprising for the Collins couple, was the fact they had twins rather than one child. That simple fact sent the Collins into a state of shock, never in a life time had either expected that and two boys on top of that. Julia, and Barnabas were the proudest parents when their sons were born, Justin, and Zachary, and Nicole was delighted now she had two younger brothers. A nice happy close family.
Julia thought back to those days when the boys were born, and now back to the present where the boys were going into adulthood, and Justin was apparently rebellious just as Nicole had been. Julia thought about how now she would really be firm with the boys so they would have the guidance and direction in life that would prepare them for manhood. She couldn't believe that time was now here. And now Justin was challenging them on dangerous grounds, the occult and supernatural. What disastrous consequences from such a challenge could happy to the Collins family as a whole.