The Cooke Legacy:The Cooke Legacy:Chapter Twenty Three –Chapter Twenty Three –

Love Is All You NeedLove Is All You Need

A joint legacy between ilovereecee & meadowthayer

Thank you for coming back to read the twenty third chapter of The Cooke Legacy. We’re almost halfway done

with this fun filled alphabet legacy (this chapter shares with you the college years of generation J, and the spares have their generation K children). I hope that you enjoy

the chapter and come back next time to see the heir’s live at home!

And from here I will let Jackson Cooke, the generation J heir, take over the narration.

-Katie

It was finally time to head off to college. My younger brother, sister and I all got accepted to the famous Academie Le Tour – before we left we hugged and kissed our mother Vicki goodbye then left our family home and headed towards our futures together!

I, Jackson Cooke, am the heir and I feel it is a born right for me – after all I am the oldest. My younger brother Jonathan and my baby sister Joselyn and I are rooming together in our grandmother Hannah’s old college home. It’s pretty spacious and already decked out with nice furniture – sure beats living in the crowded, loud dorms!

After a light breakfast of pancakes made by Jonathan, Joselyn and I declared our majors. My lifetime want is to become chief of staff, so I declared and biology major. Joselyn wants to earn $100,000 in her life and so she declared math. Jonathan, who has his heart set on becoming a captain hero, chose psychology for his major.

I’m a fortune aspiration and Joselyn is a knowledge aspiration so we love living in our grandmother Hannah’s old college home. It’s nice and quiet and serves as a wonderful place to study and relax. Jonathan is a popularity aspiration and I thought he would want to be partying all the time, but I guess his secondary knowledge aspiration is kicking in. He has no problem staying home studying and gaming just like me and my sister.

That doesn’t mean that Jon’s popularity aspiration doesn’t shine through at times. While Joselyn and I prefer to study by doing assignments or writing term papers, Jonathan would rather chat up his professors to earn the good grade instead. Can’t say that I blame him – it’s much less tiring and he has a lot more free time than Joselyn or I ever do.

Although our college lives away from home haven’t been too eventful so far, time is still flying by. It seemed like such a short amount of time before we had completed our first semester of college! We all made spectacular grades on our finals and even made the Deans List! That extra money sure came in handy when it came to decorating the rest of our new home.

Our second semester was when we started to really meet our peers. Jonathan met a pretty girl named Lakshmi Barakat in his introduction to psychology class and invited her over to hang out one day. They had an instant connection and Jon really enjoyed getting to hang out with her outside of the classroom!

Joselyn was kind of reserved for a young woman in her freshman year of college. I am kind of thankful for that, because as her older brother I was worried she would let loose and go wild once she got out of the grip of mom and dad. I’m pleased to say that my baby sister enjoys reading, painting and now sewing as her free time hobbies.

Jonathan’s life time want to become a captain hero is going to require that he be in tip top shape! He bought a new workout machine with his scholarship refund and began working out a daily routine to get buff. He figures if he starts now and continues for the next few years, he might have an advantage over the others starting out in his same career.

In addition to his daily workout routine, Jon has added something else to his everyday schedule: hanging out with Lakshmi. They talk on the phone every night and it seems that she is always in the house these days. I think Jon could be getting serious about his new girlfriend.

Jon and Lakshmi are a very touchy-feely couple. They’re constantly flirting with each other, holding hands, hugging and kissing. I’m happy that my little brother has

found someone to make him happy. Lakshmi is a very nice girl as far as I can tell. They definitely make a cute couple!

Apparently Lakshmi thinks the very same thing that I do! That afternoon nearing the end of our freshman year in college she fell in love with my brother. When the date ended and they kissed goodnight, Jon fell in love too :)

We made all A’s once again on our finals for the second semester of college. Joselyn wanted to go out to celebrate, so she ventured out of our home and down to a coffee shop not to far from us. She had a blast sipping on her cup of joe and hanging out with the locals. She even told me she met a cute guy named Ramin on the way out to the cab. I wonder if this can be the beginning of romance for my baby sister!

In my anatomy and physiology class I was grouped together with a woman named Lisa for a project. We’d gotten to know each other pretty well during the weeks we were working together and soon we were hanging out after class too. She’s pretty fun and gorgeous too. I love her long blonde hair and brown eyes. I think I might just have crush on Lisa!

Joselyn continues to be the more studious one of us Cooke college kids. She’s always working on some paper or scribbling in her blue assignment pad. One day out of the blue the gym’s trainer showed up and started yelling at Joselyn. Apparently he thinks that she studies too much and would benefit from a long, hard workout! Lol!

Joselyn doesn’t always study though. She spends a lot of time on the phone talking to Ramin – the older man she met at the coffee shop a few weeks back. You would think they would run out of things to say to each other because they’re always chatting! But apparently not.

College has definitely brought my brother Jonathan and I closer together. We have a lot of time to bond together. I was pretty excited when he pulled me aside after washing dinner dishes one night to confide in me that he thought Lakshmi Barakat, his current love and girlfriend, was the one for him. And that he was planning to pop the question any day now!

That very evening Jon decided he didn’t want to wait another minute to ask for Lakshmi’s hand in marriage! He took her out to the local park and pulled her to the side of the lake where they chatted and watched the fish swimming around and around in the warm summer water.

An audience of other students gathered around as Jon dropped to one knee, pulled out the diamond ring and asked Lakshmi to be his wife. She of course said yes!

Back at home Joselyn continues to be heckled by the gym’s trainer day in and day out! I’m starting to wonder why he doesn’t come bother Jon or I – we study almost as much as she does and we have our free time hobby of painting and reading as well. Maybe the trainer is trying to flirt with my baby sister – I’ve heard that sometimes guys are mean to the girls they like. If that’s the case, this guy is taking it way overboard! Lol.

Joselyn has started to finally come out of her shell. It’s been almost two years since we’ve moved into our new college home. It’s about time my sister started hanging out with people outside of the classroom. Hailey, the campus cheerleader captain, befriended Joselyn and even taught her the most popular cheer at Academie Le Tour!

The semester is coming to and end, which means I won’t have the anatomy class with Lisa anymore. I’ve grown to care for her a lot over the past few months, I think I may even love her. I think about her all the time and whenever I’m away from her, I feel like it’s a waste of my time. I invited her over one night to meet my siblings. I was so happy to see that she got along well with Jon and Joselyn.

After dinner I took her upstairs where I said “I love you” for the first time. My heart was pounding the whole time – I’m sure she could hear it! I must be the luckiest guy in the world, because she said it right back without hesitation! :)

I knew right then and there that I wanted to make Lisa my wife. I dropped to one knee and asked her to be mine forever. She said yes and even exclaimed that she’d been waiting on this for the past few months. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have the most beautiful fiancée in the entire school – no, world!

Love must surely be in the air this summer because Joselyn finally invited her beau over for us to meet. Joselyn has always been a little on the shy side – so I know she must really be into this guy to invite him over for lunch and to watch the baseball game with her.

I was home during their afternoon date and I tried to give them as much privacy as possible, but walking through the living room I did notice how cute Ramin and Joselyn are together. I’m glad he treats my baby sister so well.

At the end of their date, Joselyn must have been feeling very courageous because she bestowed a kiss upon Ramin as they were saying goodbye. This is very unlike my little sister. I’m starting to see that she’s growing up and blossoming into a sweet, loving young woman.

Now that Lisa and I are engaged I can’t wait to graduate college at the end of the semester. My finacee is a family aspiration and so naturally she is over the moon about planning a wedding. We’re on the phone every night talking about everything from color scheme to the guest list. Lisa wants a large wedding – I could care less who is there to see us say the vows. I just can’t wait to marry her!

My siblings and I have only a week left until the end of the semester. It’s time to tie up all the loose ends for homework and assignments. We all managed to get the entirety of our studying done and we all felt very prepared for our senior finals.

Jonathan, Joselyn and I all graduated with honors from Academie Le Tour that week! I can’t believe my college years have gone by so fast. I’m lucky enough to have graduated with such stellar grades AND found the woman of my dreams who agreed to be my wife.

Wedding plans are still going on. It seems like Lisa has taken the reigns on the planning. She usually runs her ideas by me and of course I’m fine with whatever she has to say – this is her big day, I’m just there to put the ring on and kiss the beautiful bride :)

Now that we’re graduated Joselyn had one more thing planned for herself before moving back home to Desiderata Valley – falling in love! She and Ramin had been dating officially for the past few years, but my poor sister has been to shy to tell of her deep feelings for him. Finally one night she got up the courage to confess her love – Ramin of course shared the same feelings!

Once they both realized they were on the same page, Joselyn wasn’t going to waste any time dilly dallying around! She bent to one knee on the gravel pathway and asked Ramin to be her husband! Once again, Ramin had mutual feelings and of course he answered yes!

We hadn’t really had an all too exciting college life – so for graduation we invited our parents and fiancé's over for a party. The night before we could hardly sleep. So we stayed up doing what we had spent most of our college days doing – painting, reading and sewing.

The party was a complete success the next day! My parents celebrated the graduation of their three children and of course we all did as well. It was definitely a time of celebration with family – and those that would soon be married in to become part of the Cooke family!

In my cap and gown I planted a big ol’ smooch on my gorgeous fiancée Lisa. Everyone said to cherish my college days because they would be the best of my life, but holding Lisa in my arms in that moment I begged to differ! The best days were certainly ahead of me with Lisa by my side.

After graduating Jonathan bought a two story home for himself and Lakshmi. Lakshmi, a family aspiration, wanted to get married and have kids straight away. So that’s exactly what they planned on doing after unpacking into their new home.

My brother and new sister-in-law had a small, private ceremony in the lawn of their new home together. They exchanged vows, rings and Jon made his fiancée his wife ‘til death do they part.

Jonathan didn’t waste any time searching for his desired career. Ever since he was a teenager he has wanted to work in law enforcement. He was lucky enough to find a job that week after graduation and began working immediately as a cadet.

Lakshmi got pregnant very quickly, but it proved to be more difficult post-conception. Jon and Lakshmi both came down with the flu and that with pregnancy was too much for my sister-in-law to handle. She was constantly throwing up, rushing to the bathroom and could hardly sleep through the night.

With Lakshmi having such a hard time with her pregnancy, Jon thought it would be best if she wasn’t left alone during the day while he was at work. My father, Ishmael, of course agreed to look after his new daughter-in-law during these times. It definitely let them bond more and Lakshmi was grateful for the extra help around the house while she was so sick.

It’s a good thing Dad was there to keep Lakshmi company – one night while Jon was at work, she went into labor with their baby! I have a beautiful nephew that they decided to name Kale! We can already tell that he is going to look like his mother. He has so many of her features.

Because Lakshmi’s pregnancy had been so scary with Kale, she and Jon decided not to have any more children. They dedicated all of their time and attention to the rapidly growing toddler they were already blessed with. Kale was such a smart child; learning to walk and talk was a breeze for him. I hope my children will be equally as gifted!

Kale completed the Cooke family for Jonathan and Lakshmi. They were happy to have made it through a difficult pregnancy, with the flu on top of it all, and come out with a happy baby boy to care for the rest of their lives together.

Joselyn and Ramin had dated for a long time in college before either one said the three big words “I love you”. So they were still floating on clouds after getting engaged the last week of college and eager to get married. For this reason,they skipped the wedding arch and poofy white dress and said their vows in their new living room.

It didn’t take long before Joselyn was pregnant with her first child! It was weird for me to see my baby sister all grown up, married and about to become a new mommy! She was thrilled though and Ramin was over the moon to have a little one.

Ramin and Joselyn got two for the price of one! She gave birth to two fraternal twin boys – Kameron (on the right) and Karson (on the left). This means I now have three nephews to spoil! I can’t believe there hasn’t been a little girl born to either of my siblings. I wonder if Lisa and I will only have boys also?!

Joselyn and Ramin decided not to take the risk on having another multiple birth, and stopped at two handsome rug rats!

The End

That will end the chapter now that the spares have had their happy endings!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and look back next time to witness Jackson and Lisa’s life together as husband and

wife.Thank you once again for reading – and if you’re not already

a member, check out http://www.invisionfree.com/sim_mania/index.php for this

and more great legacies :)

-Katie