Chapter 80

"And then you say I am the stubborn one!" I fumed, seeing the reticent faces of Lucas, Joseph and Felix after I told them the plan to buy the land the next day.

"But that was..." 

"A gift, I know!" I cut off whatever Joseph was about to say. Their only excuse to not buy the land as soon as possible was that one. "You can later give me the 30 coins." I tried to persuade once again. "If the price increases, how long will it take you to be able to buy it?"

They flinched. I immediately felt bad for throwing their economic situation in their faces. I should be the last person to recriminate how poor they were.

"I am sorry." I apologized. It was not good to fight with them for just a piece of land. "Sometimes, plans do not go the way we hope." I softly tried. "I am happy to know you wanted to give me such a marvelous gift, yet I think there are better things you could give me."

"Like what?" Felix asked.

I looked at each of their waiting expressions and smirked. "A family. Maybe a few kids." 

Their reaction was immediate. Their pupils dilated, their nostrils flared, and their throats bobbed from swallowing saliva. They knew what it meant to procreate, the process for that. 

No, I was not distracting them. I really thought making a family with them was way better than whatever land they wanted to gift me.

"What about Ethan?" Lucas suddenly asked. 

"What about him?" I asked back.

"We generally let 'im have the final say in such important matters." Joseph explained. 

Oh. Well, it made sense as he was the eldest brother. But… "There are times decisions are made by the majority. Even if Ethan says no, as long as we four decide to do it, there is nothing he can do. Especially because it is my money."

The three shared looks, still unconvinced. I huffed. "Fine then. If you do not want to buy it, then I will. It will be my land. And I will start living there!" I stood from the table where we had just had our lunch.

As I walked out of the entrance's door, I was a bit disappointed to notice none of them followed me. I had wanted to hook at least one of them to go to the Chief's house to close the deal. Since they were still indecisive, then I was really going to buy the land for myself.

That is how I ended up in front of the Chief's house, hours after he told me about the news. He did look surprised to see me there. He even stared in the direction of the brothers' house for a few seconds before returning his gaze to me.

"You're alone." He observed. 

"Yes." I confirmed.

"Something's wrong?" He gently asked as he let me in.

"Just a bunch of indecisive men." I scoffed. "I want to buy the land beside their house." I stated. 

The Chief sighed. "I would love to do it, but I need an identification that proves you're a village dweller so you can successfully buy or sell land in this village. It's to prevent people from towns or other villages to enrich themselves with land buying and reselling at a higher price."

What a way to throw cold water on my own plans!

I sat on the bench outside the Chief's house for a moment. Either way, I needed to cool off and think of what to do. Though, the most obvious path is to wait for Ethan and let him put the nail in the coffin. It was the logical way, yet I was not reconciled! 

"Can you at least show me the land?" I hopefully asked.

He nodded. "Sure." 

As we walked out of the house, we found a dithering Joseph outside. He even startled when the fence door was opened. The Chief and I stared at him while Joseph tried his best to hold our gazes. 

"Uh… well, I think you forgot this." Joseph stuttered as he extended a piece of paper towards me.

I did not try to take it. I could guess what that was; however, I had no right to use it when not all the brothers agreed with it. The short moment I had to cool off made me realize I might have been too pushy.

I could not go and change the way they did things just because I said so. I would really love for the younger brothers to be more proactive and not depend too much on their eldest brother. And, that was something they had to talk between themselves.

Like that, the stand-off between Joseph and I prolonged until the Chief actually took the piece of paper and put it in his pocket.

"So, we were going to see the land." He said. "Come along, Joseph. I remember you were very interested in it before." We followed the older man in silence. 

It was not long before we reached the acre of land we wanted to buy. From afar, I could see Felix looking out to the road from behind the fence. He perked up after seeing us, yet I ignored him as the Chief started talking as we walked into the place full of vegetation.

"As I said, the land is one acre. It's full of shrubbery and trees. Some are good to make fences, others are good for furniture, and there are lots of dry branches that might be used for firewood. A good cleaning needs to be done before it could be optimally used." He commented.

I had no idea what trees he referred as good for furniture or to make fences. I left that to Joseph who was also attentively listening to the Chief. What I did know was that the acre of land was quite big. It almost reached the last crop patches. 

As the Chief walked us around, I could picture what we could do in it. 

We could grow many more vegetables. Have a grazing area for the chickens and rabbits. We could even build a shed to keep a cow and start getting milk, and make our own cheese! Maybe even have our own pigs so Lucas would not go hunting anymore…

"Isabelle." Joseph's voice took me out of my reverie. "Buy the land." He said.

I looked at him, at his serene eyes. I sighed and shook my head. "You buy it. I was too presumptuous in telling you to do things my way when I am still an outsider. Here is the money." I took his hand, prevented him from pulling away with my puny strength and put the pouch on his palm.

Joseph frowned. "If it's going to be like this, why not wait for Ethan?"

Because I am also teaching you to be independent! My thought did not make it out of my mouth. I just grabbed his face and planted a kiss on his lips. "I believe you will do a good job!" I smiled at him. He also knew how to read and write, so I believed he would not mess up the process.

I nodded at the Chief in farewell and headed back to the house. I ignored Felix's puppy eyes and Lucas soulful stare and got into the house to start sewing my dress, or sketching. Whatever I felt like doing. 

I finished measuring and cutting the fabric for the dress' skirt when Joseph returned. I heard him talk with his waiting brothers outside for a moment before he opened and closed the door. I had no time to turn to ask him how it went before I was back hugged.

"Don't make me do this type of process again." He tiredly mumbled.

I pressed my lips to avoid exploding in laughter. I could imagine how miserable Joseph must have looked reading the land deed and the trading deed. He must have also bothered the Chief nonstop, asking what the words he did not know meant.

For all intents and purposes, this sole process was a class for him. 

But he did it!

He had two sheets of paper in his hand: the trading and land deeds. "Did you successfully buy the land?"

"I still gotta go to town to the Register and Tax Offices to validate the purchase and owning of the land." He replied. Hearing him use some sophisticated words meant the Chief taught him well and in the moment Joseph did all the process.

"You can do it!" I patted his arm.

"I want you to come with me." He pleaded.

"You can take Lucas or Felix or both. You all know how to read and write now, I am sure you will do well." I counter-proposed. 

"Why don't you want to go? You still mad at us?" He asked.

I shook my head. "I have work to do, Joseph. I want for my wedding dress to be perfect." 

"You'll look perfect even without a wedding dress." He said. Oh my! Joseph could also say very sweet things!

"I know." I nudged his arms to loosen them. As he did so, I took my chance to turn and hug him back, resting my chin on his chest and looking up at him. "But, we all have to look perfect that day." I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.

He kissed me back. Our kiss was slow and full of feelings. Sighs escaped our mouths as we separated. "You should also reassure the other two. They think you're angry." He suggested.

"Hm. I will do so." I promised. I was going to cook a good meal for them and share some kisses. 

Even if their attitude sometimes maddened me, there were always solutions for our arguments. I did not want for our relationship to suffer from unresolved matters.