Chapter 3.11

"You two fought?" Felix asked as he watched Ethan practice in paper. Paper! And a pencil!

When his brother and Isabelle returned from town, the sun was quickly moving down west. Neither spoke and directly went to their tasks: Ethan took out the paper and pencil and started practicing his writing. Felix had been dazed for a moment, staring at the new supplements, and asked Ethan to let him try.

Sadly, Felix was rejected as they were necessary for Ethan's new job. However, Ethan did promise him that he would buy some paper and a pencil so he could practice in the future. Felix could only sit and watch.

Isabelle, on the other hand, took out the sewing box, the fabric she had bought, some of Ethan's clothes and started cutting inside the house. When Felix asked her what she was doing, she only said she was making clothes. Nothing more, as she put herself to work to take advantage of the last light of the sun before she lit candles.

It was strange, so he asked his brother.

"We didn't. I got a job as a waiter in a restaurant. I'm starting tomorrow and need new clothes. She was focused thinking on what to sew that we also didn't speak much on the way back." Ethan replied with a dejected sigh.

He had wanted to show some love to her on the way. He knew a few places where nobody would bother them, but she stopped all of his advances, saying they had to quickly get home so she could start sewing. He could only comply to her wishes.

"So, you need new clothes, new shoes, and even got paper and pencil for this new job?" Ethan hummed in affirmation. Felix was a little envious. Ethan got good things all from a new job. "Maybe I should work, too." He wistfully commented.

Ethan chuckled. "If you start working, you won't be able to see Isabelle the whole day like you do now." In his opinion, his brothers were the lucky ones who could spend time with her. He only had a few hours a day.

"Then, I won't work." Felix easily changed his opinion, making Ethan smile.

"Where're Joseph and Lucas?" Ethan whispered, clearly asking about the proposal. Some time had passed since they returned, and he had not seen them around.

"At the patch, harvesting." Felix relayed, his fingers also pointed at a few vats, silently saying the flowers were there.

Lucas and Joseph had returned rather quickly from collecting the flowers in the mountains and then headed to the patch to water it. At noon, while eating lunch, the three talked about the vegetables that were ready to be harvested. Lucas was the obvious helper for the task of picking up the gains of their Spring harvest.

Felix had wanted to help, too, but someone had to stay back to take care of the house with the chickens and rabbits, and to wait for Ethan and Isabelle's return.

"You can go, too, if you want to." Ethan knew Felix wanted to be seen as useful after Isabelle arrived. He wanted to make a distinction between being a man who provided and a boy who stayed back to take care of the house.

It was understandable.

Though, if Ethan had a choice, he would have really preferred staying at home to help around. It was no longer possible as he had realized he could not stay put for too long. He could no longer be a house husband.

Felix did not need to be told twice before he was already running out of the house. Ethan chuckled and went back to his practice. He had looked for the flattest place on the table, but the paper was too thin, making his words very shaky.

Tearing through the paper sheet with the pencil's tip once again, he sighed and decided to look for a flat piece of wood. He even thought of making a table for practicing his writing. The more he thought of the idea, the more he liked it. Not only for himself and his brothers, but for his future kids, too.

"Can you come in, Ethan?" Isabelle's voice halted his steps as he was making his way out, that forced him to change directions. As soon as he opened the door, she was on him. "Try this." He looked down at the piece of fabric and took it, immediately noticing it was a shirt. Light blue. "No need to take off the one you have on." She said as he made to take off his current shirt.

The first thing he noticed as soon as he put on the shirt was that it was not short-sleeved. The sleeves ended below his elbows and were wide. Next, he realized the neckline was a bit high, surrounding his own neck. It was definitely different.

"Let me help you." She said when he saw him struggle with the little strings at the side. It was an open shirt with long lapels that he had to wrap around his torso and tie so they would not open. "Move a bit and let me know if it fits well."

Ethan rose his arms so she could see it was not too short, then moved them around to see the flexibility of the shoulders and sleeves. He also moved his torso from side to side and from left to right to see if it was not too tight.

"It's perfect." He smiled at her. Best of all, the fabric did not feel too coarse on his skin. "I can use it without a shirt below." He mumbled.

"Because of the color, if you sweat, it will show. So, it is best if you use a shirt below." She shot down his words. "Take it off so I can wash it. You will use this one tomorrow. I just need to finish the pants and-" Her words were cut off by the lips that took possession of hers.

"I still haven't shown my gratitude." He breathed on her lips, red from the kiss they just shared.

"Let me finish this and we can-" She was once again silenced by his lips.

She pressed against him once he deepened the kiss, making their tongues caress each other. His hands slid down to cup her ass and let them rest there. Not groping or fondling.

If he went beyond, she would definitely not finish whatever she wanted to do with the rest of the fabric. He just leaned down to kiss her lips, her face, suck her neck a bit, and then go back to her lips until they were swollen from his ministrations.

"I'll go start dinner." He hoarsely panted, pecking her lips a few more times, unwilling to part from her.

She let go of the shirt she had just made, cup his cheeks and pulled him down for one last lingering kiss before parting. "Alright. You can go."

Ethan smiled, took off the shirt and walked out the house.

In the middle of his cooking, he heard his brothers return from the patch. Soon, they entered the kitchen and put their loads on the floor. From the baskets, Ethan could see plenty of beets, onions, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and even a few lemons.

"Is this half of the harvest?" He inquired.

Joseph smiled proudly. "Not even half. Many more are still left. We had luck this year."

"We sure did." Ethan seconded, glancing at the house where a candle had been lit. The sun was low, turning the land a bit dark. Her being inside the house, forced her to search for another source of light. Ethan thought she needed a special room for sewing, with plenty of light at all times.

"The food's ready." Felix commented, once he checked what his brother was cooking.

"I'll set the table." Lucas said, heading out.

"How'd it go?" Joseph asked Ethan about the job hunting.

"It went well." Ethan replied as he helped Felix plate up the food. Taking the plates to the table, made him think of his new job. He had always done his very best at any job he had. It was just his misfortune that nobody hired him permanently.

This time, for sure, he had to be hired!

"Ethan." Isabelle called out. That earned not only the first brother's attention. The four of them entered the house. "Try this." She gave him a pair of black pants.

He checked the pants and noticed they were a bit slimmer than the ones he usually wore. So, he took off his pants and tried the new ones. Sure enough, they were a bit tighter around the legs but still gave him the flexibility to move around.

"They fit perfectly." Isabelle nodded. "Try the whole thing now!" She said, reaching for the shirt. Having been taught how to wear it, he easily put it on. "Then this!" She took out a strange piece of cloth which she hung over one of his shoulders.

"What's that?" Felix asked confused at the new garment.

"Hm. I do not know. I just thought it would be useful. It has a pocket for him to put his stuff and it will prevent for his shirt to get dirty." Isabelle explained as best as she could. "Then, what do you think? How does he look?"

The three guys looked at their first brother wearing black slim pants, a light blue shirt with a high collar and long sleeves and this new garment that covered half of his chest, his abdomen and crotch area. He looked very different. Definitely not like a village man.

"You'd need to comb your hair well." Felix noted. His eldest brother's hair was tied in a careless ponytail, wasting the good looks from the clothes.

"Of course." Ethan smiled. He had no idea how he looked, but he trusted Isabelle would make him look better than before.

"I want clothes made by Isabelle, too." Felix whined, making her laugh.

"Soon. Just let me finish your brother's clothes, then all of you will have new clothes." She promised.

Felix cheered.

Dinner was loud and lively, with Felix wildly commenting all the clothes he'd like to have. With Joseph and Lucas congratulating their eldest brother for his new job, and Isabelle trying hard not to fall asleep. She had had a very eventful day and was very tired. She barely made it through her bath, but had to be carried out by Lucas and put on the bed to sleep.

The next day, she woke up after the brothers had their breakfast. Ethan's new clothes thankfully dried throughout the night and he left wearing the shirt and pants, the other piece of cloth hanging from his forearm and his new shoes inside his bag. After eating, Isabelle put herself to work and started working on sewing two more shirts for Ethan in blue and auburn, and one more pair of pants.

Having more options for him to wear would make them last longer as none would have to be worn every single day. When Ethan's clothes were done two days later, she started making clothes for Lucas and Felix. Though, she started with Lucas' clothes since he was the biggest. And, since it was not urgent like Ethan's clothes, she took her time.

Quite a lot of time…

"Who was the one who said he needed clothes made by Isabelle?" Someone hissed annoyed.

Isabelle pursed her lips; the words not so subtly hidden from her ears as she sewed at the table while the others lounged around after having eaten lunch.

Isabelle knew Joseph was upset because she had practically ignored them since she started sewing the brothers' clothes. She wanted to try different styles, that was why she took up more time than she had intended.

The pants she sewed for Lucas were not as slim as Ethan's, so she used more fabric and had to constantly ask him to try them out to make sure they fit well. Not so slim yet not too wide; perfect for his hunting. With that in mind, she even used the black fabric with which she intended to make Felix's pants. That forced her to make Felix's pants slimmer than she had first thought up.

With such slim pants, the teen looked taller than he already was.

Once the pants were done, she took out the fabric for the shirts.

To Lucas, she made one dark red and one blue shirt. They were not the same style as Ethan's; on the contrary, they were simpler: with short sleeves and a V-shaped neckline. And rather fitting. To Felix, she sewed two light green shirts. And, to his request, one had the same style as Ethan's and the other was the same as Lucas'.

She felt guilty as Joseph was not getting new clothes. Not because she was still angry at him, but because she had no more fabric. Only little pieces that could be sewn together to make a patched shirt or some shorts; however, she did not want him to look as if he was wearing rags.

She did make him a pair of shorts to sleep from the leftover brown fabric from Lucas' pants. Though, compared to what she made for the others, she acknowledged his pair of shorts were rather lacking.

A tiny part of Isabelle still wanted to teach him a lesson for hiding that matter with that woman. But a bigger one, called pride, did not allow her to let the brothers be seen wearing faded clothes if she could change that. Still, his words clearly showed he was jealous that everybody but him had new clothes they could use during the day.

And to make things worse, at that moment, she was sewing something for her with the Sateen fabric she bought. Hopefully, that would make up for not paying them much attention. After all, her week-long sewing spree - no matter how many breaks she took - still left her tired enough to not get intimate with them during bath times as they used to. She always ended up falling asleep during the bath and carried to bed.

"You also want 'em, but ain't gonna get them!" Felix moodily replied.

He had been constantly hearing Joseph's complaints about the situation that he was fed up with his brother. Worst of all, Joseph wanted to take one of his shirts! He would have not denied him a shirt before, but those were shirts made especially for him. So, Felix grew a bit of a backbone and chastised his third brother.

To stop any surging conflict between his younger brothers, Lucas was planning to give one of his shirts to Joseph but Felix said not to. That Joseph would have his own clothes soon, and to stop whining. A fight did not ensue, yet there was tension between Felix and Joseph afterwards. Tension that was finally exploding that day.

"Who says I won't?!" Joseph cried out, indignant and annoyed that his younger brother was no longer respecting him.

"I say so!" Felix harshly retorted, glaring at his brother.

"You!" Joseph bellowed, startling everybody.

"Ah!" Isabelle yelled, holding her hand. Joseph's scream made her pinch her finger, the needle going very deep. The brothers immediately were upon her. Seeing the blood, Joseph quickly went inside the house to fetch the medicine box. Lucas took out the needle and pressed her finger to stem the blood flow.

Felix put the things she was working on aside, clearing the space for the returning Joseph, and then went to the kitchen to get water to clean the wound. Isabelle hissed and whimpered, feeling her whole finger throb as spikes of pain travelled up her arm. As soon as Felix put clean water on the table, Joseph started tending to her finger.

Lucas stood and grabbed a packet of medicine, dragging Felix towards the kitchen to cook medicine for the pain. From there, they could hear Joseph's frantic words.

"I'm really sorry, Isabelle. You got hurt 'cause of me. I'm really sorry. Does it hurt?... Shit, it's gotten so big…" Joseph frowned and pursed his lips, seeing the red fingertip swelling up.

The pain made her very irritable. "Whose fault was it?!" She hissed. "Always fighting, always yelling. You're not a damn child anymore!" And anger always led her to slur her words like the brothers.

"I know. I'm sorry." Joseph lowered his head ashamed. He had been on a tight rope because of the thing with Milly, so he could not flare up with his usual temper with her.

Isabelle was very angry. Both Joseph and Felix were already big for them to be going around arguing and fighting over something so simple as clothes… She sighed and took deep breaths to assuage her anger. Clothes might be trivial to her, but to them…

Still, they could not go about it as if they were five-year-old petty children who wanted to show off their toys.

"Sorry, Isabelle." Felix's contrite voice took her out of her thoughts. The three brothers were looking at her as if she was about to bolt out of the house and never return.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. The sounds of the countryside enveloped her; a dry branch falling from some tree nearby, the soft trickle of water from the river, the birds that flew above. Time ticked by and she took it to completely calm down and think of her words.

"I think…" The three tensed. "You should talk. Rather than being afraid of my reaction to what you do, you should openly talk about your situation. There were many things you were deprived as children…" She frowned, still unsure how to convey what she wanted to say.

Luckily, there was someone mature enough among the brothers who caught her meaning. "You're right. We're going to fix that." Lucas nodded at Isabelle while patting his brothers' shoulders. His brothers, who were still confused.

Lucas knew it was going to be a long conversation.