Cinderfella 2: A New Life - 20. Chapter 20

As Sarah was dying, I went to Helen, the midwife.

“As a midwife, you have to know if there’s a woman nursing now,” I said to her.

“There are a few.” Helen nodded. “There is two nearby.”

“Contact them and see if any of them are willing to wet-nurse,” I said. “They, of course, will be paid.”

Helen smiled. “So, you are taking the boys?”

I frowned. “Why not? The only thing we can’t do is nurse,” I smiled then. “Dennis needs to eat.”

She nodded. “I’ll see if Doris can come, she’s had her third baby. She’s got plenty believe me.” But Helen stopped as she was leaving and looked back. “It’s a wonderful thing you and Seth are doing. You’ll both be excellent fathers.”

I smiled. “I hope so.”

Seth sat with Sarah who was cuddling Toby and still trying to get Dennis to breastfeed. Then she sighed. “I just can’t do it.”

Seth nodded, not looking at her breasts. “I know we’ll find someone.”

Sarah nodded. Then pulled Toby away who whined. “Please, take him. I don’t want him to see me die.”

Seth took the boy and left the room.

It was only a half an hour before Helen returned with a woman that to me, looked as if she had plenty of milk. She’d had three children, so she was a little heavy and still had the weight of the last one. Her breasts were enormous! Dark hair about thirty-three with her hair pulled back.

“This is Doris.” Helen introduced to me. “She’s more than happy to wet-nurse the baby. Her child is now six months old, so she’s still breastfeeding the baby.”

Doris nodded, shaking my hand. “I’ve got plenty and Sandy, that’s daughter number three takes a lot, but I’ve got more.” She grinned. “So where is the baby?”

Helen took Doris to where the baby was and began to feed him.

I sighed. For now, one problem was being solved. I went back to where Seth was with Toby. Seth was talking with Toby, but of course, Toby didn’t really understand what was going on, but he knew it was bad and he wasn’t happy. Not crying or behaving badly, but not happy.

Seth smiled up at me. “How’s it going?”

I nodded. “I hired a wet-nurse for Dennis, he’s being fed now.” I walked over and touched Toby on the head, he looked up and smiled briefly. I brushed his hair gently as I sat by Seth. “Sarah’s going to die.”

Seth sighed nodding. “Demetrius knew this.”

I shrugged. “He did. Dara, too. They could either let her die on the side of the road, let Dennis and Toby die, but they gave her an alternative.”

Seth frowned. “I know, it’s a shame no one can do something about it.”

I smiled. “But we are.”

Seth brightened. “We are, aren’t we?” Then he looked at me. “We know when Dennis’ birthday is. Today! When’s Toby’s?”

“I’ll find out,” I said.

Seth looked at Toby. “I’m glad we’re taking a child.” He grinned. “But we get two?” He shook his head. “And no one else is coming? For any of them?”

I shook my head. “Not according to Demetrius. Do you want them to?”

“It’s just a shame,” Seth said. “He’s a great kid!”

I put my hand in his arm as I rested my head against him. “Our kid.” Then laughed. “Our kids.” I smiled saying that. “And diapers!”

Seth moaned. “Diapers.” He repeated and grinned. “You mean nappies.”

“Only in Blethos.” I smiled as I ran a hand over Toby’s head. “Is he…he’s not even two!”

Seth grinned. “Well….we did have one incident. Just pee.”

I looked at Seth surprised. “But you changed him.”

Seth frowned. “Of course I changed him. He’s barely more than a baby.” He defended. “His is a baby. And I figured it out. I’m smart enough.”

“Yes, you are.” I chuckled. “But you never did before, did you?”

Seth grinned. “It’s a square piece of cloth. With pins in, not his skin, it was pretty simple to figure out.”

“Good, now we start potty training.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “Yea.” He said sourly at the thought.

But I watched as Toby curled up in Seth’s lap and was blinking heavily. I made sure to caress the small head as Toby drifted off to sleep. “You’re a good daddy, baby,” I said to Seth.

I did get Toby’s birthday from Sarah. He was nineteen months old. But soon she was gone. Doris stayed a little while, feeding Dennis again.

“I guess I need to hire a wet-nurse for the manor,” I said. “And a nanny.”

Doris smiled. “If you don’t mind me bringing Sandy, I’ll do both. My daughter still needs me, but I can help out. Hannah has a baby, she’d be willing to help I bet.” She shook her head. “My other two can stay with their grandmother while I work. Frank, my husband wouldn’t mind. As long as I’m home for dinner. Well…” she chuckled. “…he’ll mind at first, but once he sees the reason and understands, he’ll be fine. Dana, my oldest can help at home. She’s twelve now. No problems.”

I smiled. “Sure.” I nodded. “We’ll work out the pay.” I looked as the sun had gone down hours ago. “It’s late. Seth and I need to get them home.”

Doris nodded. “I’ll help you. If you can get their things. The Undertaker is in there with Sarah. Poor thing.” She said sadly. “I’ll be happy to help you two. I have some nappies you can use for now. I’ll get Sandy.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

The sun was about to rise as we got the boys to the manor. Doris took the baby and little Sandy to a room that she would use for the day to be able to feed them as needed. We took Toby with us to our room. I couldn’t let him wake up alone in a strange house in a strange room. Demetrius rang a bell softly if you can figure out how he did that, but he did. But didn’t wait for our okay and was just there.

“Well?” He smiled looking at Toby, who was still fast asleep in Seth’s arms. “Did we come through?”

I grinned at Demetrius. “You all did.” I frowned. “It was a shame about Sarah.”

Demetrius sighed. “It was indeed.” Then he called softly. “Dara, I told you it was okay.”

I watched as Dara walked in. “Well, I wanted to be sure.”

Seth smirked. “We’re not having sex with a baby in the room!”

“You might.” Dara shrugged. “People do. There’s nothing wrong with it.” She smiled. “He’ll only see it as wrong if you think it is.”

“If he sees it. That’s not what we’ll let him do.” I said firmly. “Right or wrong.”

She smiled at Toby. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

Seth was nodding before I was. He’d already fallen in love with Toby. Falling in love as a parent would for a child, not the other kind. He walked over to our bed and laid Toby in the middle and covered him up.

“Tell me,” I said grinning at Dara. “You were the old lady that told her to come here?”

Dara smiled and did a curtsy. “I’m her,” And before our eyes, she changed into this near elderly woman, then back to herself. “I was helping Sarah after her husband Tom died. The poor boy.” She said sadly. “He loved Sarah and Toby. Toby was named after Tom’s mother’s father. Dennis is named after his mother’s grandfather.” Then she smiled. “But when we heard you were looking for a child, well…he would have been fine as a single father, but her condition was known. They tried to be careful, but birth control is limited and love…” she shrugged. “She knew would die if she had another child, but she did. Almost didn’t tell her husband until she was in the second trimester.” Then Dara smiled. “And I could think of no one able to handle a child that’s deaf.”

“And Dennis?” Seth asked.

Dara waved concern off. “He’s perfect. Sees and hears…everything.” She shrugged again. “Toby got Scarlett Fever. He was born hearing but lost his hearing due to it. He was just six months old!” She said moaning sadly.

I nodded. “But he hadn’t developed language skills yet. And still hasn’t much.”

“But he’s sharp!” Demetrius said.

I chuckled. “He is! Don’t worry, we’re taking them both.” I assured.

Dara smiled. “Toby already trusts you both. Love will come.” Then she bounced. “You two are already good fathers, so I knew it was a good match. I guided Sarah here, telling her that the future guardians were here.”

Seth smiled. “That’s pretty gutsy, we could have said no.”

She shook her head. “Not after looking in their faces. I just knew it.” She claimed triumphantly. “Now there are some things I need to share with you. Toby will sign. I’ve taught him some.”

I looked surprised. “You taught him.”

Dara nodded. “Like this is a sign for juice.” She drank from an invisible cup. Really it looked like she was drinking from her thumb. “Really it’s a sign for drink, but he knows it as juice.” Then she grinned. “You’re not short on juice here, are you?”

I laughed. “In a vineyard? We have juice everywhere.” I shook my head. “As long as it’s grape.”

Seth sat on the bed and began rubbing Toby’s back. “We’ll need a cow.”

“And diapers,” I added, then grinned at Seth. “Or as they call them here in Blethos, nappies.”

Dara looked at Demetrius. “Are we not godparents? Shouldn’t we give them a gift?”

Demetrius smirked but didn’t say no. “Gift away.” And waved his arm to Dara.

“Normally, new parents have a baby shower, but you need things now.” She waved her wand at the bed, which I hadn’t seen when she got here. Suddenly there were dozens of white cloths and a bowl of white powder. And some things I had seen them before, but they were rare, bottles of glass with red rubber things shaped so a baby could suck on it. There was also a bowl of cream I didn’t know. Then I smiled at some papers that had very good illustrations of the human hand forming shapes and what they meant. Even the alphabet, each with the hand sign for each letter. “And you will find a very gentle cow in the stable, she gives very nutritious milk.” Then she looked with a smile. “He’s just beginning to learn the alphabet, so he will learn as you do. And how to spell.” Then she pointed to the bowl of powder. “This is cornstarch, to prevent the rash children often get.” She moved to the cream and put the lid on it. “This is for when they do get a rash, it will soothe.”

Demetrius shook his head but was smiling at his wife. “She always overcompensates.” He smiled.

“They need these things now, you know that " Dara patted Seth's arm. "You’ll be fine.” Then she looked up suddenly. “Someone’s coming!” Then both Demetrius and Dara vanished.

Grace walked in and gave a little start. “I’m sorry, I expected you to be in the vineyard.” She said to Seth. “I assumed you’d be in the office.” But then she saw the items on the bed, her eyes widened.

“We sort of had a busy night.” Seth grinned still rubbing Toby’s back. “We had a baby last night.” He chuckled as Grace’s eyes widened even more. “Two in fact.”

I motioned toward the other room. “There’s a one-day-old infant in the other room with a wet-nurse, Doris is her name. Do you know her?”

Grace walked slowly forward quietly. “Of course I do.” The town isn’t big, remember? She smiled at the sleeping form of Toby but was speaking softly. “But how did you…”

I touched Grace on the arm. “It’s okay. This is Toby, you won’t wake him being noisy. He’s deaf.”

Telling her that just made her face melt into a kind, compassionate look. “Aw…he’s deaf?”

Seth nodded. “And of course there will be a lot of new jobs, which we don’t expect you to take on alone. There are two women we’re looking to hire as nannies and wet-nurses. Hannah is the other woman if she’s willing.” Seth looked at me. “We’ll need someone just for laundry.”

I nodded. “And clothes for the boys.” Then grinned. “And toys.”

“Yea, toys!” Seth chuckled.

Grace looked at Toby and her compassionate look was one that was melting into love. “He’s so beautiful.”

“He is!” Seth grinned. “And they’re our sons now. Their mother was thrilled.”

I gave Grace some quick information about Sarah’s death after the baby was born. “Now, Dennis is fine, but we’ll all have to learn to communicate with Toby.” I showed her the papers. “Here is what we need to learn, Seth and I will, too.”

Whatever Grace may have thought about Seth’s and my relationship, which she never seemed to care about, she was beyond happy we had two new lives with us now. She hugged both of us. “Don’t worry, I know how to cook for children. When Dennis gets a little older, I know how to prepare meals he can eat.” Then she hugged us again. “This is wonderful!” Then she caught herself. “It’s horrible what happened to the mother, but….” Then she was happy again. “…this is wonderful! You’ll both be great parents.” She gathered the cloths. “I’ll put these in the other room. I guess that’s the nursery, right?”

I shrugged. “They’ll need one near us.”

“This is great!” Grace stated and walked out. “I can’t wait to see the baby!”

We both laughed as she left. “We need to rest.” Seth reminded me.

“We’re parents.” I grinned. “Rest is going to be the last thing we get.”