It wasn't much longer after that when Izaak and I left. We rode in our normal buggy down to the 'Book&Tailor Shoppe' so I could get my things. It was very impromptu of us to decide to live together, but I couldn't trust Cassian anymore. I entered the building without knocking and marched to my room to pack my things. Cas appeared moments after I had already began, demanding, "What are you doing?" I hardly looked up and continued to work. "Moving in with Izaak so we can take care of Natalina. Is there a problem with that?" He desperately shut the door behind him. "I cannot bare the thought of that! You have it good here, couldn't you take care of her here?" "Izaak is her new father and I am her new mother: she needs us both, Cas. Besides, its not like you were jumping to my defense today or yesterday, or when I was carried out to the jail." He covered the top of my bag with his torso and rejected my words. "There wasn't much I could do- you are a strong woman who can handle herself. I knew you would be fine." "Is that what you were whispering to your new buddy Mr. Munkres? Do you even remember how he treated me a few months back? Do you even care anymore?" I pushed him away from the bag and put my dresses inside it. Looking around one last time to make sure I had everything, the place felt as dismal and empty as it started when I first walked in. Cassian stood mere inches from me with his arms open wide. "Can't you see how much you matter to me? I will get down on my knees and beg if I must; I will be your fool if I must; you can hate me and stay, just don't leave me for him." I didn't even have to think as I rejected him. "I wanted you so badly to be my friend, but you pushed me away when you needed me. I needed you to stand up for me for the past two days and you had tea with the man who has made my life miserable time and time again!" "There is no hope in this talk is there? There is no escaping or making it out without injury?" I buttoned my bag as I retorted, "Well according to the sentence you were allowing me to be held on, apparently I'm a killer." "I will die f you leave me here, Gwyn. I will die!" With the bag in my hand, I made my way towards the door, but he stepped in front before I could open it. "Well, you are a big strong man who can handle himself, you will be fine. I've got to go, Cas. This isn't fun and games, this is me moving on with my life, with or without your consent." Almost as if instinctively he drew into my face and drank from my lips. I was able to take control and turn him away from the door before pushing him. "Goodbye Cas. I hope your friend finds a witness to the case. I really tried, Cas. I'm sorry." I shut the door behind me and walked down the halls one last time before leaving the shop entirely. Izaak put my stuff in the box on the port side of the buggy before we rode off. "Was Cassian upset?" I rested my head on him as he drove. "He was very upset, but for all the wrong reasons. I guess that's what happens when you forget what good you have."
Seeing my home for the first time in days was overwhelming. Sure, it was newly and officially my home, but it was all I could handle once we arrived. Izaak opened the front door and I was instantly pounced on by a wagging, hairy, ball of fur. "Woah there, Beast!!! How've you been, you crazy mut!" Izaak sent the dog outside and set out a blanket for Natalina to roll on. We unpacked my stuff from the buggy and set them on the parlor floor. Obviously neither of us planned for the sudden move, but since it had to be done, there really wasn't anything to do about it but adapt. That was for another day, I needed a day to cope with my losses. I took a long awaited seat in one of the giant chairs next to the fireplace and became encompassed by it's comforting hold on my body. Natalina began to whimper, and I jumped from the chair to her side before Izaak could even hear. She stank horrifically- a diaper change was more than a must! Her sobbing only grew worse as I began to take off her drenched diaper, but I couldn't understand her desperate cries. "Natty baby, what is the matter? You are completely changed and we fed you not too long ago!" I held her in my arms and began to rock back and forth to no avail. As a final resort, I began to rub and pat her back as I hummed to her whatever tune I made up in my head. Izaak came to check on us when I felt a sludge of ooze trail down my back and she stopped fussing. He began to laugh as I stood there soaking in her vomit, but I was more than happy to have found that she wasn't fussing to fuss and that she was needing some help. "I'll take her, go get changed, Rachela." I kissed Natty's face before handing her off Izaak. Luckily she hadn't puked in my hair, though I couldn't say the same for my dress. My bag from the coast was already in Izaak's bedroom, so I needn't to stress about what to wear. The first item that came from the luggage was green and creme checkerboard dress that Leokadia had made for me. Despite there being only a few hours until dark, I thought that it would be welcoming to try it on.
After I had finished dressing, I had decided to start making dinner and made my way to the kitchen once I had put my nasty dress in the washing pile. I hadn't cooked in awhile, no help to the trip and jail, but I was certain that I could make do with my rusty skills and the winter weather. It soon dawned on me after I had the water boiling and the veggies cut, the ones Izaak kept in the cellar, that I hadn't heard from those two since I changed. Being stubborn in thinking I wouldn't need a coat, I walked outside to the barn in hopes they were there. I could hear him talking to her through the door as I opened it, and sure enough, Izaak had her sitting on a bundle of hay while he appeared to be sewing something. "What are you two doing in here? Izaak, its probably too cold to keep her outside." "She's in a comfy barn with me- you are the one I'm worried about- at least she's wrapped in a blanket. Anyways, NattiBear and I have been working on something that will help you when I have to get back to work in the next couple of days. When I used to live and learn from the natives, they carried their offspring on their back in a sack looking thing. I know you can't watch her all the time- nor would you want to-, so when I went with Ojeic to his work, I stopped at a leather shop and bought enough leather to make instead of a sack, a saddle diaper." I rested my hands on my hips as I saw the mess he had made by cutting the leather. "So what is this 'saddle diaper'?" Instead of explaining what he made, Izaak picked up a mess of leather straps and began to configure how to put it on me. He laid a strap over each shoulder and another around my waist before tying each of them together. After they were secured, Izaak tossed Natalina in the air and caught her hardly before I caught my breath! I didn't even get a chance to scold him because I heard the most beautiful jingle I'd ever hear: Natalina giggling. Izaak lightly poked her nose and she giggled once more as he slipped her into the pocket on the 'saddle diaper' and tied the last set of leather with a bow. I didn't even have to hold her body because the leather was sturdy enough to keep her safely dangling from my stomach. "This is amazing! What do you think, Natty? Did Daddy do a good job?" Him asking was pointless, however, she did seem to enjoy that she had easier access to my fingers. "I think she likes it, not that her opinion entirely matters. Thank you, Izaak."
We all went back into the house, which we were lucky that the house hadn't burnt down from the fire and stove being lit and unattended. The water was plenty boiled enough to stir carrots, potatoes, herbs, salt and pepper, beans, and ham in the pot. Carrying Natty was effortless, but quite difficult all at the same time. She was beginning to get grabby and extra messy with her constant drooling. In order to keep her busy, I gave her a clean spoon for each hand. At first she wasn't all that sure about carrying two spoons, but when she hit them against each other, the noise brought out the best of her curiosity; thus she was appeased. The dinner stew didn't take long to cook down, but it took long enough for me to make a quick pie and set the table. Izaak seemed to follow his nose as he almost ran into me and sniffed into the open air and into Natalina's hair before she sweetly shrieked and hit him in the face with one of her spoons. He began to chuckle as he mused, "She's been given weapons, I see! Let's unstrap you and put you in a chair." Quickly, the laces were undone and the saddle diaper thingy, along with Natty, was off me. I dished out the stew into bowls for Izaak and I while he got her set up at the table before we ate.
After dishes were done and Natty was given her bottle, Izaak held her in one chair at the fireplace, while I grabbed my sewing kit and some fabrics before taking the other chair. Having learned a thing or two from my time with Cassian, I began to cut fabric for a small quilt to sew for our baby. Beast was sleeping at my feet in the path of the warmth from the fire. "Is this what you expected when you adopted her, that she'd grow as attached to you as you were to her?" Natty was pulling at Izaak's hair and tangling the strands with her fingers. "No, but it is pleasant. I never thought I could love one person more than almost any other that I've met. It would have been so much harder if I didn't have you here to make her life possible." I began to lay out the patches on the floor until I was satisfied with the number of patches I had cut to begin sewing. "There was no way I was going to abandon you and her the way my father abandoned my brother and....my mother." The words that slipped from my lips could never have been more true, but the way they stung my eyes and ripped through my heart was ruthless. Beast seemed to sense my sadness and climbed onto my lap to lick my cheeks. I hardly began to learn to love my mother before she was taken from me- the thought that I would be accused for such a crime was much less painful than her death in itself. "No matter what happens, we have each other, Rachela. And there's no one better to teach this little one about what it means to be a family beside the ones who do not want to repeat the broken ones." Beast wagged his tail as I scratched behind his ear and atop his head. I stacked the patches for the quilt while Izaak changed Natty's cloths and diaper as the clock struck nine. I sat on the bed and began to take out all the pins in my hair and brush it out though my curls only knotted further. Izaak chuckled and traded the brush for Natalina. At first response, I was about to be frustrated with the rudeness of the gesture until I felt his gentle, steady hands unraveling the mess. "Is this something else you learned from the natives?" Izaak soon began to actually brush in long even strokes until he spoke. "Actually, I learned it from my sister. Before I got out of prison, Leokadia was actually married to another Pole in our part of town. Jadwiga Lubomir and my Soistra would have four children named: Bendek, Elek, Gerik, and Weronikia. The three boys, Ben, Elek, and Gerik were much older than their sister, and I never got to meet either of them. When the Civil War began, Jad and the three boys went to war and left Leokadia and Weronikia with our mother. Jad was the first of them to die; then Elek, then Gerik. Bendek has never been found, and my sister stopped looking months after. When I got out of prison, I finally got to meet my ten year old niece, but she was dying. The sickness was so bad that she was paralyzed and had a hard time breathing. When I would stop by and visit my sister, she would have me brush Weronikia's hair because she didn't have the heart to cut it. I stopped visiting my family once she died; there were too many losses, and I was just another burden." Natalina had nearly drifted to sleep when Izaak had finished telling his tale, but she couldn't help the sneeze that came and became fussy. I then wrapped her into a tiny bundle and set her in between Izaak and I on the bed. Izaak stroked her face until she grabbed hold of his fingers; I couldn't help but smile at how much she already began to grow and learn. She didn't take long to fall asleep, and as she did, Izaak watched her closely almost as if he were studying her. He has gorgeous ocean blue eyes, and though I've seen them many times, the flickering lights of candles made them twinkle brighter. "I forgot to ask, but are you comfortable?" He whispered as he gazed into my own eyes. "Surprisingly, yes. I thought I would miss the mattress I had at the shop, but this one is far softer." Izaak grinned and whispered harshly, "No, no, not that kind of comfortable. Are you comfortable despite being in a bed with me and a baby?" "It beats being alone, honestly. After being in jail, I'd rather have you here protecting me than anyone else." I pulled the covers up to Natty's chin and kissed her forehead before Izaak blew out the candles and called it a night.