Eisenstern 2.4
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Dad doesn’t come by as much.
It’s kind of like he seems to think I’m starting to get the hang of this (I’m not) and I’m calming down (I’m really not), so he doesn’t need to come by as much anymore (he does!). It’s probably the kid in me that just still isn’t ready to grow up that’s clinging to him.
“You’re going to be a granddad,” I said as he hugged me.
“I already am,” he said, laughing. “Bryn had her baby, a son. She named him Ari.”
“Oh.” For a moment, I was a little hurt she hadn’t told me that. But then, I’d been so busy freaking out about being heir and everything, I did have to take a step back and wonder if I would’ve listened anyway, if she’d told me. Probably not.
Sooner than I would’ve liked, Freya aged up and graduated from high school. And she almost immediately took off for Oasis Springs, leaving the house empty without her.
But it was fine. I kept telling myself that soon there’d be a baby in the house, so it wasn’t like it’d just be me and Avery forever. And besides, Diaval was always here, too.
Who, by the way, I finally managed to bind as my familiar.
My parents got married in a fancy ceremony on the back porch. I remember it being a pain in the rear to coordinate, it required catering, and a guest list, and pre-planning, and all kinds of other things I hadn’t gotten good at yet.
Avery and I eventually agreed, the best thing for us would be just getting married. We effectively eloped in the dining room. At least Diaval was there?
I’m getting better at playing guitar. Diaval’s often wherever I am when I’m practicing, helping me come up with lyrics and melodies. He’s a great little kitty accompaniment. (Or at least, he’d sure have you believe he was. I want that kind of confidence.)
Diaval’s a more comforting companion than I expected him to be. I’ve started writing my own songs now too, and soon I’ll start licensing them for usage and bringing some extra income into the household funds.
Not that we’re doing financially bad. For all that dad worried overly much about the state of our estate’s finances, he gave us a pretty good foundation, and we’re quite wealthy now. Starting that garden back there was a better idea than he’d likely have been expecting, and aside from being a decent source of food, the sales from the surplus produce is almost enough to keep the house afloat and pay the bills without Avery or myself working.
I decided, a long time ago, I wasn’t going to go down the same pathway dad did, and I’ve eschewed the idea of a traditional job since day one. I don’t want to be missing for most of my kids’ childhoods.
Avery doesn’t seem to have been affected too adversely by being pregnant. It hasn’t slowed her down very much at all, and so far everything’s gone smoothly. We’ve both been glad for that, but she is quite ready to have the baby, and we’re both ready to meet the little bundle.
I wonder what they’ll look like? Hopefully her. She’s gorgeous.
Then, one day I heard Avery’s cries, and came upstairs to find we’d had a beautiful baby boy. We named him Gabriel Ezra, after dad. Dad’s middle name is Gabriel, and he always told us the story of how his first name was almost Ezra. Both Gabriel and Ezra are Hebrew, so it sort of breaks the Scandinavian trends dad was going for, but I think that’s okay.
Besides, Gabriel’s a name in use in Scandinavia, so it’s not entirely off!
Turned out, being a parent was a little more trouble than I’d been expecting. It was like babies speak this weird coded language that neither myself nor Avery really understood, and getting Gabriel calmed down seemed almost impossible.
It’s like dad sensed our distress, because he showed up one morning out of nowhere.
“How goes being a parent?” he asked.
“It’s… going,” I said.
His eyes sparkled in that way that said he knows something you don’t know.
I sighed. “Okay, it’s going badly,” I said. “How do you know what they want? It’s not like they speak Simlish and can just tell you. We’ve tried everything, and nothing works.”
“I’ll have a look,” dad said, and then he went upstairs.
And for the first time in three hours, there was suddenly silence upstairs. Gabriel had stopped screaming.
What exactly did he do?
“What’d he do?” Avery whispered, as we stood in the hallway.
“I don’t actually know,” I answered, just as quietly.
“Well, what if we have to do it again?” Avery asked. “Trying random things until something works doesn’t seem to be our calling.”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “But, I mean he figured it out at some point, so we can too.” That was what he always told me, right? Maybe I’m not good at raising babies, but I can learn.
Dad chuckled, stepping out of the nursery. “He was hungry,” he said, “and needed a diaper change.”
“Oh,” I said.
“You’ll get the hang of it,” he said, almost as if he could read my mind and sometimes I swear he can. “I find it best to go in a certain order when you’re trying things. First, check the diaper. If it needs to be changed, you’ll know. Then, just pick him up and bounce him lightly. If that doesn’t calm him down, he’s hungry. Nothing to it.”
That would’ve been nice to know, like, three days ago.
Maybe unsurprisingly, given this is Diaval, the cat’s taken to sitting in the nursery with Gabriel. He seems to be trying to watch over him for us. Dad says Diaval always did that with us when we were babies, but I don’t remember it, of course. That was a long time ago. I’ve slept since then!
Now the only thing I need is for the cat to quit getting in the way when I’m trying to figure out why Gabriel’s screaming his head off. You can’t fix it, Diaval!
Freya came by a few days later. It was nice to see her, and I asked if she wanted to come in. It was snowing and cold as heck.
She giggled at me. “Sis, you’re out here in your pyjamas,” she said.
“Yeah, I know,” I said. “That’s why I’m saying, come in.”
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