Eisenstern 3.4
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Since the wedding, things have been pretty quiet. Neither Cassandra nor myself are terribly exciting people. I’d much rather stay home and talk to the cat, and Cassandra’s usually quite happy to spend her time researching the plants. (She’s quite fond of the garden, as it turns out.)
Mom’s asked a few times if I want to pursue restaurant ownership, or something like it, but I’ve never been terribly interested in such things. It’d take too much time away from the family, I think, and since Cassandra and I are also expecting our first child, I don’t want to miss anything.
She’d probably forgive me if I was gone more, might even encourage it, but I wouldn’t forgive me.
She’s almost reached her due date. I’m a mess of excitement and nervousness, but I know I’ll have moms and my sister here to support me, at the very least. I’m so glad Cassie is close to my family members. Apart from Alexander, her family don’t tend to come by very much. I’m not sure why, and I’ve never asked about it (maybe I should? Maybe there’s something I can do to change that). Unfortunately, their absence means, she’s got no support besides me.
At least with her being very tight with my parents and my sister, she can lean on them, too. I know enough to know emotional support is an important thing to have, and your partner isn’t always the best one to offer it. I’ll always be here to the best of my ability, at least, but maybe she’ll need to talk to someone that isn’t me, right?
Is that a weird thing to think? I talk to Hilda about things that I don’t talk to Cassie about sometimes. Maybe that’s weird.
“What’s this for?” she asked quietly. I’d leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“For… reasons,” I answered.
“Like?” Cassie asked, giggling.
Oh-hoh, fishing for compliments. Hmm, well let’s see, I always had a few- “Like… I love you, and you’re beautiful, and you make me happy, aaaand…”
“Go on,” she said.
I loosed a snort and smirked. I was afraid of trying dip kisses at the time, so instead, I just gently caught her lips with mine.
“Good enough?” I asked.
Cassie smiled. “I suppose so.”
Sometimes, I catch Diaval by himself somewhere, watching everyone else, and I wonder what he’s thinking.
It’s not like the cat will tell me. (He probably wouldn’t even tell grandpa, come to think of it.) Nor that he’d necessarily understand if I asked, though rumours say he might. He is a very intelligent cat, at least. He might kind of understand Simlish-probably not that much, but it’s interesting to think about.
I’m glad he’s still around. This cat’s been alive since before my mom was born, there’s a lot of people that’d miss him if he was gone.
Cassandra and Hilda remain really close. There’s been something going on with the pregnancy-nothing really bad, I think, just concerning-and Hilda’s been the one going with Cassie to her doctor’s appointments and such. It’s not that I don’t want to go, Cassie just feels more comfortable taking my sister.
I’m curious, and a little concerned. What snippets off conversation about it I’ve caught haven’t instilled any confidence in things being perfectly fine, but I also trust them both. If something was really going wrong, I’m sure they’d tell me. Until then, I’ll try not to worry about it.
Fortunately, worrying is mom’s thing, not mine. I’m too excited about having a cat.
Grandpa seems to have gotten back into the workforce. Now that he doesn’t have any kids anymore, I guess he got bored or something (sounds like him). Last I remember about it, mom said he was a computer engineer, and now he’s doing civic design. … why?
None of my business I suppose. He’s still got some years left in him, and it sounds just like an Eisenstern to want to keep busy. Whatever helps him, really. Long as he finds time to come by sometime. I guess I could also just, call him and ask him to come over…
We got a new neighbour across the street, where aunt Kaylie used to live. Hilda went over to go say hello to them, and ended up making a new friend. He’s kind of cute, you know, if you’re into that. (Am I into that? Wow, okay, that’s a whole other thought process I haven’t ever thought to have.)
(Who am I kidding, I’m an Eisenstern, it’s probably crossed my mind before.)
She used to have something of a little crush on this one guy she knew from school. I forget his name. Something with a M? Anyway, we all graduated from high school, and he never really came back, so I guess they didn’t work out. Not sure if she likes this new guy. His name’s Austin. But, maybe. We’ve even got room for him in the house! And I can still build upward!
This afternoon, Cassandra went into labour. And then Hilda sprang into action! It was almost weird to see. I had a brief flash of panicking, and then I was too busy watching Hilda scramble around doing… whatever it is she was doing, it happened so fast I barely registered it.
There was blood everywhere, I remember that. Hilda barked orders at me a few times, and I, in something of a daze, just did what she told me to do and didn’t stop to ask questions (it seemed like a bad time for those). We had our baby soon, a little boy, curled up on Cassandra’s chest, and probably more laundry to wash than we typically build up over weeks.
Cassie was tired and weak, but I laid down next to her and our son, and she told me what happened. A few existing conditions marked her as a high-risk pregnancy, and Hilda was learning what to do in the case something went wrong. Unfortunately, something did, and things like this don’t tend to only happen once. There’s a high chance it’ll happen again if Cassie has another baby.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about this. I’ve said before, it’s not like I want a thousand children. Just one or two is enough for me, and now it sounds like it’d be best if we only have one, our little Ivander, fortunately born healthy, and Cassandra’s doing okay now too, just recovering. I have my sister to thank for this, for learning to help where I didn’t, maybe couldn’t, even.
It’s not like I have some strange idea in my head that I could fix everything if only given opportunity to try. It just sort of feels like, I made this happen. Then I think, that’s a selfish mindset to have. No matter who she married and had children with, this could’ve happened either way. There isn’t anything special about it being me that made this happen. Sometimes, bad things just… happen.
It’s okay. Ivander, already, is very much loved, and maybe he won’t have siblings, but he’ll always have us. And maybe cousins.
Is it weird that my little sister is kind of my hero now? Maybe it isn’t. I haven’t even tried to thank her, not with words because nothing I can come up with seems good enough, feels right. I tucked my son into his bassinet, wordlessly went over to my sister, hugged her, and cried.
The fears and worries were a little late to the party, but they’d decided to show up in the end. That could’ve gone so, so badly. And we’d still need to be careful and make sure the bleeding doesn’t start back up and Cassie heals okay.
Hilda didn’t say anything either, just leaned into me. We didn’t need the words, anyway.
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