218

Isabella

Damon had carried me into the tub filled with cold water. As soon as my body came in contact with the water, I instantly sighed in relief. Marie came to me with a small figure half wrapped in a cloth and laid the pink infant on my naked chest.

I leaned my back against the foam headrest and let my child lean against my skin. He squirmed and cried, but Marie said it was all part of the process, even though my heart was aching as I desperately searched my mind for what to do to ease his sorrows somehow.

"If he doesn't cry, his lungs wouldn't be strong. You have to let him cry, princess," she had told me before I struggled with her, and Damon carried me into the bathroom.

 Even now, he was still crying, but I felt a bit assured as Damon held my hand and began to rub soothing circles over my knuckles.

 "You are so strong," he whispered. "I'm so proud of you." He whispered again, and this time his hand reached up to caress the head of the infant that laid on my chest.

 I smiled, but exhaustion was taking over me as I felt myself slowly being pulled towards the round of sleep.

My eyes snapped open when I heard the sound of the infant cry. Breathing heavily, I pushed myself up to my elbows but stopped when I saw Damon on the bed beside me. We were now in his room.

He was without a shirt, and he laid the child on his chest as he rubbed circles around the boy's back. I suddenly felt a wet patch of fabric around my breasts. I looked down to find my nipples leaking with milk.

 "Go back to sleep and I'll feed him," Damon said with a smile

. "Are you sure? Is everything okay? Is he going to be okay? Did a doctor check him?" I asked over and over again, but my husband simply smiled at me and gently pushed me back till my head hit the pillow.

For what must have been the seventh time, I woke up again feeling stronger and much better.

The pain in my pelvis had subsided, but I felt slightly that I was leaking blood. Beside me was a note with a small box.

 "Diapers," it wrote in Paula's handwriting. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the box. With slow movements, I made my way to the bathroom and put on the diapers she had packed for me after I took a shower.

 I walked out and picked a random silk robe and threw it on over the bathroom before heading outside.

"Damon?" I called softly, knowing my husband would hear me, and truth be told, a few moments later, I saw him step out of the lounge with the baby in his arms.

 "I was just about to come and get you," he said as he stretched out his hand towards me.

"Marie says you should try to feed him." I leaned against the wall as I took his hand.

"Okay," I whispered, willing to have any opposition whatsoever but ever so eager to hold my son.

"Any plan with Cassandra?" Damon asked as he watched me breastfeed two days later. I shrugged and pulled my son's head warmer closer to his head.

"Honestly, I don't know," I said as I looked up at my worried husband.

"She's pulling families to herself if she does this. If she continues... if we let her continue."

His eyes went from my face to my breast that was currently stuck in my son's mouth as he sucked, making cute little smacking sounds in the room.

 The nursery we had built was only one room away from the one I shared with Damon. Currently, I sat there, attached to the rocking chair, leaning back and forth as I patted my son's side as he fed from me.

 "Can I leave it to you?" I asked. "Cassandra and Valentino and all of this... I want to leave it to you. Right now, all I want to do is just stay put and heal. I can't come outside like this. I'm still a bit in pain and... he's too small for me to take anywhere."

The boy was small after all; according to Marie, he had come out a few weeks too early.

Damon smiled softly and walked over to me before kneeling between my open legs. He pulled the rocking chair towards himself and looked me dead in the eye.

 "I would prefer to kill that little bitch and her stupid boyfriend. I would prefer to end their pathetic existence, but I will do whatever you say," he said with a soft smile.

 "I wouldn't want Cassandra's baby to die... I don't even know what's going on with her right now. But after going through this, I have respect for any pregnant woman. Don't hurt her, at least not until she gives birth, and even then... I don't know how I feel."

Over the course of the next few days, I spent my time recovering and healing. Andrew had come to see me a number of times, and every single time, he was so excited to carry my son.

"What is his name?" Andrew asked the second time he came because the first time, he was so scared of touching him he only looked at him with awe in his eyes.

"Marcelo," I said.

"You named him after your father," Andrew said with a smile as he slowly danced across the nursery with Marcelo in his arms. The baby cried a bit as he fussed with his arms flailing around him.

"Why does he always do that?" Andrew asked.

"Do what?”

“ Cry like that. Is he hungry or something? I just fed him."

"He must be a bit cold," I explained. "The thing about infants is that you have to keep them in a state where they are constantly reminded of the womb they came from. The reason why they're always uncomfortable is because they don't understand the world outside," I said as I stood up and picked up the swaddle that I used.

 I laid it in his cot and gestured for Andrew to come towards me. I placed the infant in the middle of the triangle-shaped piece of cloth. I pulled one end over across his body and tucked it under his back, then did the same thing for the bottom by tucking it just above his moving legs.

The last piece of cloth I wrapped around his body, keeping him tightly wrapped. In less than two seconds, he stopped crying, opened his eyes, and stuck out his tongue before closing his eyes again.

"That is the cutest thing I have ever seen," Andrew said with a smile.

 "Enough about Marcelo. Tell me about what's going on. What has my husband done with Cassandra?"

"He's cut her off completely. He's revealing a lot of her secrets to her supporters. Slowly they are turning camp, but I don't think your husband is interested in accommodating traitors."

 "Then I think it's time for me to reveal myself," I started with a smile.