Oasis Frontier: Old West Sims 4

Welcome to the Old West in Oasis Springs! Follow the McFarland family as they and their fellow pioneers build a new society on the frontier. This is partially inspired by Kosmic Hippie's Wild West Decades Challenge, partially my own method.

Start from the beginning here.

Eliza always said yes to Thomas, even when she didn't want to. She laughed at his bad jokes about chickens, and listened to him complain. She thought about finding her own perfume to cover the smell of Lily's that seemed to never go away.

Eliza's careful nursing of Brandon paid off and he lived past the age of two. He was still fussy, and with his poor motor skills he always made a mess of himself, but Eliza was too relieved to mind. She loved running her fingers through his mop of red curls.

Mila and her sons moved into Bjorn's farmhouse right away. He felt a little guilty being intimate with Mila in the bed he had shared with Clara. Did Mila compare him to her late husband? He decided to send for some new fabric back East so Mila could redecorate the home to her tastes.

After the proper amount of time had passed, Bjorn Bjergsen and Mila Munch were wed.

It was a small affair with only a few friends and family. Bjorn invited the McFarlands, as he credited some of his business success to Eliza's industrious nature.

Thomas enjoyed his nights with Eliza, but there were certain things he wanted to do that no respectable wife would. So he went under the floorboards and took Eliza's savings to give Lily extra pay for her troubles. Really, wasn't he was protecting Eliza more than he was hurting her? At least that's what he told himself.

Now that Thomas was stumbling home at sunrise and sleeping until noon, all the farm chores and the parenting fell to Eliza. She tried to convince herself that this was a wife's lot in life. All men needed to sow their wild oats, and as the woman she was supposed to stay faithful. But she felt ashamed, like for all her efforts she still wasn't good enough, and she felt dirty by association from Lily. Eliza bathed herself and the children obsessively to avoid some strange disease.

Time was passing by luxuriously for Eliza. There were days when she could actually get a moment of peace to herself!

Eliza was surprised when another year rolled in and she still hadn't gotten pregnant. Having their own bedroom had definitely improved their marriage; she and Thomas hadn't been intimate this often since their first year together. Had he developed an issue from all those nights at the saloon? She knew he still went, and she hoped that it was just to play cards.

Bjorn Bjergsen was not made to be a widower. He had more respect for Clara now than he ever did when she was alive. How had she known what to do with these children? He could run the General Store, manage employees, navigate supply chains... but when it came to potty training little Elsa he was lost.

So his businessman brain started running the cost-benefit analysis. Mila Munch, a widow with three children, was his closest neighbor. She was struggling without a husband; her house was still unfinished after four years. They were from the same country-- Windenberg-- so why shouldn't they get married?

Independence Day! Eliza had the perfect holiday. Thomas barbecued freshly caught fish from the river, and he found an old feed tub to fill with water for Andrew to splash in.

Lily often wondered how she had ended up in this line of work. She hated it so thoroughly, but the money was better than what Angela made at the school. Plus, there was no going back for her.

The men disgusted her with their open pawing and sweaty stench. Still, she flirted with them at the card table and kept them entertained upstairs. What else what she was supposed to do?

Tragedy struck the Bjergsen family early in the year. Clara died in a freak farming accident, leaving behind Bjorn to care for their two daughters alone. Bjorn owned the General Store and had relied on Clara to keep things running smoothly at home.

They held a funeral for her at the Lutheran church she had loved so much. The little church was packed, and Bjorn stoically choked out some remarks. His older daughter, Sofia, cried the entire service.

Eliza began to worry that she was a bad mother. Andrew was getting just smart enough to notice when Brandon got attention and he didn't. Eliza tried to explain to him that as the big brother he needed to be good and share his momma, but that just made him cry more.

Andrew turned two years old and immediately started toddling around independently. Thomas finally knew how to engage with Andrew now that he could sort of speak, and he was pleased that Andrew already loved the farm animals.

Now that Andrew was trailing Thomas for most of the day, Eliza felt like she could take a breath. She cherished getting her hands dirty in the garden again, and Brandon was developing slowly and needed her.

Lorena Swann had not wanted to come quite so far west, but her father had left her with no choice. Lorena's mother had died in childbirth a year after she had Lorena, along with the stillborn. Lorena's father had been too heartbroken to ever remarry, so for her whole life all they had was each other. She understood that they had to move west for their safety, but it was her father who had wanted a large plot of land. And then he had gone and died along the way, leaving Lorena all alone.

The other families on the homestead were kind to her, but they were no replacement for her father; she so desperately wanted to get married and it was mortifying trying to make her own match. Lorena tried to make herself attractive to the men by improving her womanly skills, but no one seemed to want her.