This is my July 2019 entry for the Monthly Short Story Challenge hosted by LisaBee. This month’s theme is “It’s Magic!” We are allowed a word count of 800 with 5-10 screenshots.
My Word Count – 795
My number of screenshots – 6
You are more than welcome to join in the fun. New participants are always welcomed. You can also participate by supporting me and my fellow SimLit writers by visiting the forum thread (link included above) and reading all the stories in both the Veteran and Novice categories. At the end of the month, instructions will be provided so you can vote for your top three favorite stories in both categories. To participate, you MUST read ALL the stories in BOTH categories and then cast your vote in BOTH categories (a total of six votes).
As always, thank you for your support.
Author’s Note: This is a supplemental story to Forever in Time. I’m including it in my series of short stories called A Life to Live, which is a series of side stories for Forever in Time that don’t make it into the story proper. This takes place prior to Lenora’s Bachelorette Challenge, which can be found here on this blog. I would also suggest reading my Supernatural Lore section, especially my Werewolf Lore. That post will tell you a bit how Werewolves operate in my world.
As you can probably guess, this story is told in the POV of Tyrone, who later goes on to win Lenora’s Challenge and her heart.
I hope you enjoy.
Magic isn’t necessarily the first word that comes to mind in terms of werewolves. I normally considered myself a regular Joe except for this furry little sidekick who comes out to play during the full moon. Life consisted of eating, sleeping, slaving over my studies, and hanging with friends and family when there was time. Boring, I know, but when you’re doing a double major in music and psychology, time for extras is a precious commodity.
I’m no Remus Lupin since I’m a werewolf without the ability to cast magic. I never gave it or Imprinting, which carries its own kind of magic, much thought as my uneventful life rolled along. The Earth turned on its axis, and I existed. When the day came that changed my life forever, I learned that magic has a way of surfacing when you least expected it.
I was home for a long weekend when she became my center of gravity. Her name was Lenora, and she was a good friend of my parents. Mom invited her for a visit and dinner on a Friday night that will forever be etched upon my soul.
“Tyrone, dear! There you are,” Mom said cheerily, arranging a bottle of wine in an ice bucket. “I want you to meet Lenora Atherton. Lenora, this is our son, Tyrone.”
I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw her by the window. When I beheld her face, my breath caught in my throat. My heartbeat accelerated, and a warm glow I’d never experienced before started from my solar plexus and spread throughout my body. My eyes and soul were riveted; I was inexplicably drawn to her in a way I’d never been drawn to anyone. I felt an irresistible urge to be near her. My very being cried out to protect her, to keep her safe and happy.
“Lenora,” I whispered, feeling a compelling need to touch her hand. “Such a beautiful name.” I enfolded her delicate fingers, bowed over her hand, and kissed it.
“It’s nice to finally meet ye.” Her voice was intoxicating, and I greedily drank her in. Her smile took my breath away, but beneath it was a deep-seated sorrow that shattered my heart. Studying her, I could see she was blinking back tears. As one trickled down her cheek, I wasted no time in pulling her in for a hug. When she didn’t pull away, I rubbed her back and lay my cheek atop her golden head.
“Here, now. You’re too pretty to cry. How bad can it be?” I whispered softly.
“Och, please forgive me. The anniversary of my husband and son’s death always makes me feel maudlin. On this day, I just…have a hard time controlling it. What must ye think of me? I meet ye, then fall into your arms in a blathering mess.”
“I think you are beautiful.” I held her with one arm while reaching for my hankie with the other. “Let’s dry those pretty eyes now, shall we?”
Lenora didn’t resist when I dried her tears. It was as if she instinctively knew I was there for her and always would be for the rest of my life. “Ye are a kind man, Tyrone Landgraab. My life is a thousand times richer for having met ye this night.”
Forgetting about everyone else in the room, I was brought up short when my teenage sister, Valerie, hollered from the doorway, “Let her go, fool, or she’ll think you did something lame like Imprint on her or something.”
Discovering I still had one arm around Lenora’s waist, I gave Valerie a withering look and reluctantly let Lenora go. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s been reading too many of your books,” I whispered in Lenora’s ear.
Lenora grinned and winked at Valerie, who blushed three shades of scarlet. Then, she turned those mesmerizing eyes on me. “Thank ye, Tyrone. Ye were exactly what I needed tonight. I will never forget your tender kindness.”
Oh, Lenora, I will always be what you need, even if what you need brings me great pain, I thought to myself. Lenora still had a lot of grief to work through, and I could feel in her soul that she needed me to give her the space to do that. Because of this, it would be a long time before I could tell her of my Imprinting. Although my instincts cried out to be near her, to protect her, what she needed was time and space to completely heal.
I will tell you one day, Lenora. When you are ready, I will come to you with my heart wide open. If the deities are kind, the day will come when I can make all your desires and wishes come true.
Aw…that’s so beautiful. Hopefully they reunite again someday and Lenora can find out how he truly feels about her. Also, a Landgraab werewolf – pretty cool! 🙂
Awww, thank you so much. I’m so glad you enjoyed. Tyrone learned through all this that good things come to those who wait. He and Lenora are married, raising a family, and crazy in love now. ❤️
Oh, and yes! A Landgraab werewolf is definitely very cool. 😄😄😄
This was so beautifully written and I love how self-sacraficing Tyrone is. You’re werewolf lore is so intriguing as well. I will have to add some of your werewolf literature to my ever expanding to read. Great job as usual.
Thank you so much! I’ve been wanting to write this up for a while and am glad I got he chance. 😊 I put a lot of effort and thought into my werewolf lore. I really like werewolves, so I love having them in my stories. I hope you enjoy it when you are able to take a look. You can see a lot more of Lenora and Tyrone in my story, Forever in Time. I’m following you and will check out your new story.
Oh so sweet .. such a tender scene!!
Thank you so much! Yes, it was a tender scene. Tyrone is a real sweetheart and is totally head over heels for Lenora.
Tyrone & Lenora sounds like a lovely couple. Sweet scene between them, at their meeting.
Thank you. Yes, Lenora and Tyrone are a lovely couple, and I adore writing them. Their meeting was tender, and his kindness meant the world to her. Thanks so much for reading. 😊
Great back in the time I really enjoy to get to know how both met .
Thank you so much. I wanted to write this for quite a while, so I’m glad the opportunity came about. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
A lot ! I posted mine I hope everybody got the time to read it because I am on the dead line.
I saw you posted yours, and I’ll read that a little later on today. Don’t worry. You’re not late. The deadline is later on tonight, so you got it in with a whole day to spare. 🙂
Ok thank you as I don’t understand the time gap because eww here we’re in the middle of the Earth so when I saw we’re already the end day I rushed to write something (but the idea of this story I got it for months and months ahaha) No problems I am myself reading the entry of others which are not in my reader.
I know you are quite a few hours ahead of us here in the States, so I can see where it gets confusing. I’m so glad you got one in, and I’m looking forward to reading it. I’ve got yours and another person’s to read, then I’ll be caught up. 🙂
Yes we got the summer time UTC+2 so yes we are far ahead sometimes. No need to be in a hurry voting time is today and you’ve got plenty of hours before being decided.
I love my power couple so much. This was so good.
Awww. I know you love them and so do I. 🙂 I’m so glad you loved this little piece. I’d been wanting to write this up for a while now, so I’m glad I got the chance to do it. 🙂
I don’t know how I missed this update but I’m glad I randomly came here to check. I like how you have them first meeting here. Its more personal and it gives them a start to a beautiful romance.
Oh gosh! I’m so glad you found this post. I guess sometimes they slip through the cracks. I’m glad you liked this. I’d been wanting to write this up for a while now, so it’s nice to have that opportunity handed to me. I agree that knowing the circumstances makes it more personal. We know they met and he Imprinted, but we don’t really know much about how it came out until now. 🙂
Awww, thanks so much. 🙂 I’d been wanting to write it for a while now, so I’m glad I had the chance to. it definitely makes it more personal to see the details of their meeting. We knew general circumstances but to see it play out adds so much more.
That was a very touching, lovely story.
Awww, thank you. 🙂 That’s what I was going for.
What a beautiful story. Now I need to read the rest of their story.
Awww, thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed the story and would love it if you read the rest of their story, too. I dearly love this couple as you can probably tell.
Such a sweet scene. When he knew and deep down, so did she. <3
Awww thank you. 😊 Yes, i think you’re right. Although Tyrone didn’t tell her until the end of her Bachelorette Challenge, I believe that deep down she knew. ❤️
What a romantic story. 🙂 I really hope we get werewolves in Sims 4 soon!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the story. I totally agree. If they do it right, werewolves in Sims 4 could be really awesome.
This has fun nods to Harry Potter and Twilight. I know this is part of a larger story, but it’s really good on it’s own. Very romantic. I like Tyrone and Lenora together.
Thank you so much! Yes, I’m a big Harry Potter junkie and also enjoyed the Twilight series. There are a lot of commonalities with Twilight’s werewolves and how mine work. I loved the concept of Imprinting, so I kinda expounded on it. My wolves are a quite different than Twilight’s wolves, but there are some similarities. Check out my Werewolf Lore on my blog if you want to read more.
I was so overjoyed when you said this was a good story on its own and that you like Lenora and Tyrone together. 😀 😀 I adore this couple and have put so much time and effort into them. I’m always over the moon when readers like, even love, them. 🙂
[…] featuring our beloved FIT characters pre-FIT. An example of this is a short story called The Imprinting. What will also be included in that category are funny vignettes or other instances that will have […]