a bit of backstory for Bell and Cam

The backstory for Ophelia's birth is a little all over the place between a few different blogs. She was born in the messy haze of my transition between playing TS2 and TS3, so I wanted to gather some of it together so people didn't have to do too much digging for this branch of the story.

Ophelia was conceived in TS2, on her parents' honeymoon, actually. Bell was worried then about losing her job. Her producers were annoyed at the first two surprise pregnancies, and when the third came along, she knew she was going to be in trouble. And she did lose that part in the end, especially as her pregnancy became complicated and she would not have been able to work at all for a very long time.

Around 4-5 months pregnant, she almost lost Ophelia and she was put on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy. This also happened at the same time that they lost their house and had to move into a new place. And Ophelia ended up coming about 2 months early anyway.

(I just found Ophelia's birth pictures, posted here.)

Cameron was never the breadwinner of this duo, and with Bella out of work and lots of medical bills, I had to wonder how they supported themselves over the next few years. Probably nobody saw this little picspam note on my Tumblr, but it was implied here that Cameron probably asked Max for some help. (<<< Oh, and how I want Ophelia's doggy, Shell, back!!!) Bella had too much pride to ask her family for help, even though they all had plenty of money, but Cameron had no pride and his best friend just happened to be a bit of a mobster… So with Bella home with a sick baby, and Cameron out doing whatever shady things with Max, I think that would have been about the time these two started to really come unraveled. Add to that the fact that Bell and Cam always fueled their relationship with lots of wild sex, and Bella wouldn't have been able to have any at all for at least 6 months and probably much much longer after Ophelia was born, too. Add the resentment over having lost her whole career (and figure, Bella is vain) over all of these babies. Add the resentment over watching Cameron become breadwinner instead and supporting their family with his photography and other businesses. Their relationship would have become a very dry and bitter thing.

Then the story goes that Max ended up going to jail in the end. (Was mentioned here.) But Max was loyal, and I think he would have made sure that Cameron was taken care of and sent away before he could be caught and associated with the business. So that was how Bell and Cam ended up in Fort Palmetto.

So I told you, a lot of drama went down, lol!

It's been four years since Ophelia was born, and probably about three years since they moved to Fort Palmetto. They're doing well financially with the photography studio, the travel agency, and the consignment shop. Financially is just about the only way they're doing well. The girls are all happy and healthy, so there's that, too.

Bell mentioned that she's lost contact with Valerie. (Oh man, and now I totally want to remake Valerie and the kids! Maybe when the new EP comes out I can put them in Windenburg. She took Max's drug smuggling money and ran off to Germany! OMG, I'm so gonna do it, lol!) But I imagine that Cameron probably makes a point of going back home to visit Max in the slammer once a year or so.