Simasty Episode 1: “New beginnings”

So begins the tale of the Simmington clan. They are rich, they are powerful. It is a tale of glitz, glamour, woohoo, catfights, greed and more woohoo. Behind the walls of this mansion there is a family whose lives are both opulent and turbulent. A family whose life of privilege is mirrored by their scheming and double dealings. The family is led by one man who has built his empire from scratch. A man who is determined to continue building that empire no matter the cost. He has not built a dynasty, instead he has built a…… 

Burke Simmington, the richest man in Windenburg, stood outside the gates of his beloved mansion ‘Siloli’ and gazed proudly at the house his fortune had built. Beside him was his soon to be second wife Brystle Hemmings, his former secretary at ‘WindenburgSimmington’. Burke turned to his fiancé and smiled. At last he had found happiness with a woman who loved him for the man he was, and not for the money in his vault. 

And so after they had their smooch, Brystle and Burke went through the gates and walked towards the house and their future together. Brystle had of course been to the mansion many times before but today she realised that she would be crossing the threshold for the last time as Brystle Hemmings and from tomorrow it would be as Mrs Burke Simmington the second.

As they stood on the porch, Burke presented his wife -to- be with a single red rose, a symbol of his undying love for her. Brystle felt a swoon coming on but luckily Burke was there to catch her before going in for yet another smooch. There hadn’t been this much face eating since ‘Silence of the Sims.’

 

Half an hour later, once they had finished sucking face, they finally went through the front door. Once inside, in the grand hallway of Siloli, they were greeted by Burke’s twenty-something daughter, Fathom, who was at the top of the stairs. Now Fathom had always been very protective of her father ever since her mother had left him. Fathom was the apple of her father’s eye and had become a very spoilt young woman through her life of privilege. She never thought any woman was good enough for her father and had seen to it over the years that ,through her meddling ways ,all of Burke’s girlfriends were driven away. She had not been so successful with Brystle, and with the wedding only a day away she was inwardly seething that her father would marry this woman, his former secretary.

 

Brystle has never been able to bond with Fathom. She has made every effort to get to know her future step daughter but has been met with hostility and put downs every step of the way. But as Brystle has the good trait she always sees the best in people. She feels that Fathom is holding a lot of anger and resentment because of her mother abandoning both her and her brother Heathen when they were children. Her anger towards Brystle is stemming from that she believes. With perseverance Brystle hopes that Fathom will soon come around. 

However Fathom doesn’t appear to be warming to Brystle anytime soon.

With that, Burke and Brystle went off for breakfast leaving Fathom alone. They had no sooner gone before Fathom quickly changed her demeanour. After expelling a few choice expletives, and the aroma of Brystle’s dime store perfume diminishing,  Fathom was feeling a lot less pent up.

---

Siloli Mansion as you can imagine requires a lot of staff for the day to day running of the household and upkeep of the grounds. A lot of the staff have been with the Simmington’s for many years. Like Gilda Bummerson the head chef, and Nannette Bobbins, head housekeeper. Both were recruited many years ago by the first Mrs Simmington and still follow the majority of the schedules and menus that she created. Very little has changed for them and so when Brystle made a suggestion for a menu change one time, it did not sit well with Mrs Bummerson. In fact she still harps on about it every chance she gets to anyone who will listen. Today it’s Nannette who is the unfortunate victim who made the mistake of coming into the kitchen after clearing the breakfast plates.

Nannette, having worked for many years with Mrs Bummerson, was used to this type of whinging from her but none the less was sick to the back teeth hearing her go on and on and on……Mrs Bummerson was of course oblivious and continued with her rant.Nannette decided that today was the day to say NO to Mrs BummersonUnbeknownst to Nannette and Mrs Bummerson was that Joseph Flanders, Major-domo of Siloli, had been in the nearby pantry and overheard the entire conversation. Joseph has dedicated his life to working for Burke and has a strong sense of loyalty and duty to him. Therefore he will not stand for any idle gossip amongst the staff about the Simmington family and he approaches the ladies and quickly berates them.

Having made his point and reducing Mrs Bummerson to tears, Joseph left the 2 ladies in the kitchen and went about his duties. However, whilst he had done his duty by being a loyal servant and defender of Mr Simmington, Joseph had secretly his own opinion on the soon to be new lady of the house. With Joseph out of earshot, Mrs Bummerson regained her composure and wiped away her tears before glaring daggers at her colleague Nannette. Nannette simply shrugged her shoulders and left the kitchen too knowing that Mrs Bummerson was just an old whingebag whose bark was worse than her bite and that she held no grudges.

---

Later that morning, Siloli Mansion was bereft of any of the Simmington family. Fathom had gone for her secret appointment in San Myshuno, Burke had a company meeting in his office to attend and Brystle was visiting an old friend. 

Outside the weather had changed and it looked as if a storm was beginning to brew. It was with this foreboding skyline that Heathen Simmington, devoted brother of Fathom and estranged son of Burke, arrived at Siloli. He had been living for the past few years in San Myshuno city as he pursued his career as an artist and photographer. His love of the arts and the environment had been too much for Burke. He had wanted his son to follow him into the family business but when Heathen showed no tendencies in this area Burke all but disowned his son. 

Heathen had a good relationship with his sister and it was she who insisted that Heathen come to the wedding. So after much deliberation he had agreed and now as he stood outside the gates of the family home he was beginning to have second thoughts about it all.

So many memories came flooding back to Heathen and not all of them good. For a moment he almost went running back to the city but the thought of seeing his sister again and to maybe have the chance to reconcile with his father was enough for him to decide against doing so. With a deep breath he pressed the security buzzer and once the guard knew who he was the gates opened and he took his first steps back into the house…

---

Whilst Heathen had arrived in from the city, Fathom had gone there for her rendezvous. She had deliberately chosen this place to meet her mystery man as it was a public place and there would be a good chance they would be papped by the paparazzi. She wanted this because she wanted the world to know that she was meeting with Cyril Dolby, head of DolbyDoh Enterprises and her father’s arch enemy. The pair once had a brief secret romance which Fathom had never forgotten. She was determined now to declare her feelings for Cyril and wanted the world to know. And so what if it caused her father a bit of anxiety on his wedding day….?

 

So after knocking her back Cyril turns to Fathom and presents her with a counter offer.

Seth was Fathom’s boyfriend when they were teenagers. Fathom had broken up with years ago and had long since moved on. It appeared Seth still was in love with her. But why was Cyril forcing Fathom into marrying his nephew?

As he left her Fathom felt suddenly very alone. She wasn’t used to not getting her way especially where men were concerned. And now the very man she loved had knocked her back. There had to be a reason why he wanted her to marry Seth and it sure wasn’t out of concern for his nephew. But if it meant that she would get to see more of Cyril then maybe it was something she could make work….

---

 

Brystle had returned from meeting up with her friend and had gone into Burke’s study to have a post lunch cocktail. She didn’t normally drink during the day but with the wedding only a day away she was feeling the nerves kick in. Burke had employed several wedding planners to take care of every single detail of the big day meaning that Brystle had little to nothing to do in preparation other than show up. However she was insistent that the wedding was not to be a big lavish affair with all of Windenburg high society invited. Instead she wanted something simple, more intimate. Burke knew that was more befitting of Brystle and had instructed the wedding planners to follow her wish on this.

Joseph, the major-domo of Siloli, entered the study carrying Brystle’s cocktail upon a silver platter. He placed it down without saying a word. Brystle smiled at the man who was Burke’s loyal man servant but sensed that he didn’t care for her very much. She sipped the cocktail but found it wasn’t to her liking. Joseph should have known this – was he deliberately making it this way to antagonise her? A more refined palate?! He WAS goading her afterall. Brystle decided to tackle this head on. The waspish Joseph sashayed out of the study leaving a visibly shocked Brystle alone with her thoughts and her Iced Tea.  His comments implied he knew something….

Does Joseph know about Brystle’s affair? Who is Mayhew? Will Heathen make amends with his father? What will Fathom do regarding Seth and Cyril? Will Mrs Bummerson change her menu? Find out in the next episode of Simasty!