Chapter 34

Isabelle had a nightmare.

She was laying on a bed; it was a big bed, soft and comfortable with a canopy above her. But she couldn't enjoy it as she was in pain, and she somehow knew she was bleeding.

A young woman hurriedly entered the room with a basin in her hands and towels over her shoulder. Steam rose from the basin letting Isabelle know that it held hot water.

The young woman put the basin on the night table, wet a towel in the water, wrung it to get rid of the excess and walked towards the bed.

However, a voice stopped her actions. "Leave it. You do not have to make her comfortable." It was the same voice that always scolded her for her behavior, not proper of a lady.

The young woman hesitated. "She's bleeding too much."

"That is the price she has to pay for whoring herself around." Isabelle couldn't see the owner of the voice, but she could hear the disgust. "Maybe like that she can stay put for a few days. Really, as loose as her Father. Such a disgrace." The voice spat, and then footsteps walked away from the room.

Isabelle sobbed not only from the pain, but from the hurtful words hurled at her.

"Belle…" Someone called out to her from far away. "Belle, are you ok?" The image started to vanish as she started to wake up, but her lids were heavy and refused to budge. "Isabelle!" She forcefully opened her eyes, barely able to see Ethan's worried face before her.

The sudden flash of light was too piercing, making her head hurt and her stomach revolt. Knowing her body's impulse, she jumped out of bed and ran out in panic, ignoring Ethan's call.

"Ethan! Th-that…" When Ethan was already at the door, ready to follow her, Felix's frightened yell halted his steps.

The youngest brother pointed at Isabelle's bed where a bright red patch of blood stained the sheets; he was very pale and ill at ease. Ethan sighed, realizing why Isabelle seemed to be in pain in her dream.

She was actually in real pain from her bleeding days.

"It's fine, Felix. That's just proof Isabelle can have children."

They had taught Felix everything he had to know about his changes as he became a man, but they had forgotten, Ethan had forgotten, to mention about women's changes that deemed them fully grown.

"Help me change the sheets. And also… you'll have to wash them." He said with a troubled expression.

It couldn't be helped, they didn't have more sheets, and Felix was in charge of washing in the house. The teen grimly nodded still looking at the glaring red patch. He was no stranger to blood as they gut animals, but it was his first time seeing that much blood coming from a person.

He was worried it wouldn't come out after washing; but more than anything, he was worried about Isabelle who left all that blood.

As the two brothers peeled off the stained sheets from the wooden board, Joseph walked in with tightly furrowed brows. "Isabelle's not openin' the door. I think she fainted after pukin' her guts out."

Moments ago, the brothers had just finished their breakfast.

Ethan and Felix had gone to wake up the still sleeping Isabelle, thinking it was strange she hadn't woken up yet. Lucas had been carrying the bowls to be washed and Joseph was about to start watering the herbs when they saw Isabelle rushing to the loo while covering her mouth.

The loo was not that far, so they could easily hear when Isabelle violently retched as soon as she closed the door.

No matter how much the two called, she only continued throwing up, sobbing, throwing up a bit more until it was silent inside. It wasn't that Joseph didn't know what to do, but Ethan had repeated over and over to them that they had to respect Isabelle.

So, he was basically asking for permission to break into the loo to check on her without having their brother raging at them.

Ethan nodded. "Force the door." After Joseph left, he looked back at Felix who was done taking off the sheets and was sporting a tight expression on his face.

"She threw up 'cause she swallowed it?" He miserably asked, even looking on the verge of crying. Ethan startled and quickly patted his youngest brother's head to calm him down.

"That ain't true. I've heard some women suffer all sort of illnesses while in their bleeding days. It's nothing to do with you, don't worry." The eldest brother hurriedly explained what little he knew about women's special days.

He looked down at the sheets being held by Felix and quickly changed the topic.

"Try to save the ones with less blood, I'll buy new sheets at town." Although the sheets Isabelle used were the newest ones, that didn't mean they weren't actually old.

There were many things they have to replace in the house, and maybe this incident was a well-timed reminder for them. They only used to care for their survival, so food was their number one priority. However, having a Wife changed those priorities.

They had to make sure she was comfortable, either with the things she used at home or with them.

"D'you need my savings?" Felix worriedly asked, successfully focusing on another important matter.

Sheets were very expensive at town, no matter how good or bad, and replacing a few of them would force the two brothers to join all their savings.

Being the one who went out to work everyday, Ethan earned more money and was the only one who was able to give Felix some allowance, so the latter thought it right to contribute that money to buy the sheets.

Joseph saved the money he earned from selling the vegetables they weren't able to eat without getting spoiled; they once tried that and Felix suffered a lot from a stomachache, so they never tried it again.

Lucas had the money from when he sold the game he hunted. Mostly, only the same villagers bought it and at a very cheap price; yet to them, any money was welcomed.

Those savings were for personal use, and rarely they would share it to buy things for home, like sheets.

Ethan paused and smiled at Felix. "You've grown up." When Felix was just a kid, he used to say that he would use that money to buy candies. Then, as he grew up, he said he would use it to buy delicious food. But now he wanted to use it for his Wife.

Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made and the money one saved for oneself would be used on others or for others.

Lucas with Isabelle in his arms intruded in the two brothers' moment. "Joseph's cleaning. She didn't arrive on time." The second brother commented on the situation in the loo after they forced the door open.

It was just a fortune she hadn't fainted right on her vomit.

"Quickly go wash those." Ethan said to Felix who nodded and hurried to the river.

It was still early in the morning, the water must be a bit chilly but he didn't mind. If he didn't wash them now, then the stains would not come out.

"We're putting her on our bed." He told Lucas before going out to get the woven straw mat Lucas uses to sleep when he goes hunting overnight.

The mat was easy to wash, so it was fine if she slept on it than to lay her directly on the bed that could only be cleaned with a hard brush.

However, they still had to buy the pads for Isabelle; otherwise she would keep staining not only the sheets, but the bed and her own clothes, too, for however long her bleeding days lasted.

It seemed Ethan would have to use all his savings to buy all those things.

"Gimme." Joseph suddenly said, having heard from Felix what was going on, and reached to grab the mat from Ethan's dodging hands. "It's gettin' late, you've to work." Ethan just stared at his brother with narrowed eyes.

"What? You don't trust me? Nobody in this family of men has taken care of a woman in her bleeding days. D'you think you can do a better job? You ain't home the whole day. D'you want to quit to become her caretaker?" The words were provoking, but it was the truth.

Although Ethan and Joseph knew what a woman had in between her legs, that didn't mean they had actually taken care of a woman in those days. So, apart from Ethan, only Joseph could provide better help to Isabelle than their other two brothers.

Sighing, Ethan relented, "Warm a bit of water to clean 'er. Also, put a warm clothe below her stomach."

"Anything else?" Joseph asked. He had heard of that warm clothe, but he hadn't known what they used it for. It seemed there were still more things Ethan knew that he didn't.

"That's all I know. As you said, we've never taken care of a woman in her bleedin' days. And Mother never mentioned that to me." There was a bit of helplessness in Ethan's voice.

They had gotten used to not having a Mother, but he kind of missed her in this situation.

"Go boil the water." He ordered to end that line of conversation, and returned to the house with the mat. "We're going to town, Lucas. I need to work, so you'll buy the things for Isabelle. I'll tell you where she works, maybe those ladies can help you."

Lucas nodded as he placed Isabelle on the mat after it was laid on their bed. They used one of the brother's sheets to cover her and watched with a frown how she tightly grabbed her cover and curled on herself; her face creased from the pain.

"Let's go." Lucas said. They couldn't keep her waiting.

Once out of the house, he quickly grabbed a basket and followed his elder brother to town.