Chapter 114 Holding His Daughter During Bath Time
With that thought in mind, Gabriel couldn't help but speak sarcastically, "You don't need to hide from me. I won't steal a glance!"
Arabella heard his words but didn't retort, though her ears had turned completely red.
It wasn't that she was being overly modest, but today's knitted sweater wasn't convenient for nursing. To feed properly, she'd have to lift the entire front, exposing too much. And in broad daylight, in a car no less—even though the back seat area was enclosed, they were still outdoors.
Once Isabella latched on, her crying gradually subsided, leaving only the sounds of "gulp, gulp" swallowing and breathing. You could tell she was starving from how urgently she was eating.
Arabella worried she might choke and had to slow her down gently.
The knitted fabric was too slippery to stay in place. When she rolled it up, it kept falling back down to cover Isabella's face. When Isabella got uncomfortable, she'd lift her little hands to push it away, forcing Arabella to lift her sweater again, trying to roll it higher and hold it with her chin.
Gabriel sat beside her, having placed Henry in the car's portable bassinet. The little guy had been sleeping initially, but perhaps sensing through some twin telepathy that Isabella was getting fed, he gradually began to look over.
Gabriel knew Henry wouldn't be pacified much longer either, so he turned to look at Arabella, wanting to ask how much longer Isabella would need. Instead, he saw her simultaneously nursing while rolling up her sweater and craning her neck, apparently trying to use her chin to hold the fabric in place. The whole scene looked both awkward and somewhat comical.
He silently rolled his eyes and rummaged through the nearby storage compartment, eventually finding a paper clip that had somehow ended up in the car.
Just as Arabella managed to secure her sweater with her chin, a hand suddenly appeared in her peripheral vision, startling her into jerking her head up, causing her sweater to fall back down.
"You—" she was about to ask what he was doing when she saw him gather the hem of fabric that had fallen over Isabella's face, roll it up, then open the paper clip and secure the sweater in place.
Arabella froze completely, at a total loss for words.
When his hand was adjusting her sweater, he inadvertently brushed against her breast, making her heart skip a beat as she stared at him with wide, unblinking eyes.
After Gabriel finished helping her, he withdrew his hand and glanced up at her, asking matter-of-factly, "What's wrong? I can control my desires. Trust me."
"..." Arabella swallowed hard and looked away with a flushed face.
For that brief moment, she had indeed misunderstood, thinking this jerk was about to grope her.
Seeing her silence, Gabriel didn't bother saying more, only reminding her, "Henry's awake. He'll probably start fussing soon, so hurry up."
"Okay, I'll feed him once Isabella's done." Arabella replied in a low voice, looking down at Isabella in her arms.
Even with the smoothest ride possible, the car would still occasionally jostle, and she worried that if Isabella ate too much, she might vomit again. So she tried to coax Isabella to stop eating.
But Isabella had been hungry for too long and wasn't having any of it. When her mother forcibly pulled her away, she immediately began wailing again.
Just what they were afraid of happened—Isabella crying wasn't the main problem, but the crying triggered her digestive system, and suddenly breast milk came shooting out of Isabella's mouth like a fountain!
"Gabriel! Quick, quick!" Arabella was terrified and frantically tapped the man beside her.
Gabriel turned to look and his face went pale as he quickly grabbed some tissues to hand over.
But it was too late...
Milky white breast milk poured from Isabella's mouth in streams, and it looked like she had vomited up every drop of what she'd just consumed.
Not only were Isabella's clothes soiled, but Arabella was covered in milk as well.
By the time Gabriel had nearly emptied the entire tissue box, Isabella finally stopped vomiting.
The twins were five months old now, and both parents had witnessed plenty of normal physiological spit-up, but this was the first time they'd seen such violent projectile vomiting. For a moment, both were stunned speechless.
Fortunately, Gabriel recovered his senses faster. Seeing her disheveled state, he quickly took Isabella from her. "Let me hold her first while you clean yourself up."
In this moment, there was no tension between them—their only focus was on how best to comfort Isabella.
Arabella looked at herself covered in milk stains. No amount of wiping would clean it properly; she could only use tissues as a barrier until she could get home to shower and change clothes.
"How is Isabella? Did she choke?" she asked while padding herself with tissues, looking over at Isabella.
Gabriel held Isabella upright and turned to check on her, his brow deeply furrowed. "She seems okay, but she threw up everything she just ate."
"We'll deal with it when we get home."
She managed to tidy herself up somewhat, but seeing Isabella crying nonstop and reaching toward her—clearly wanting her mother—she had no choice but to take her back.
Isabella's clothes were also soaking wet, but changing her in the car wasn't practical. Using the same method, Arabella tucked soft tissues between Isabella's neck and chest to create a barrier from the wet clothes.
Henry started crying too, but with Arabella covered in milk stains and the situation so chaotic, there was no way to feed him now.
"Just try to soothe him for now. They can both eat when we get home—we don't want more vomiting," she said, looking at Henry and instructing Gabriel.
This was Gabriel's first time personally caring for sick babies, and the experience was profound. Only now did he realize how difficult it was for women to raise children.
Even with plenty of help, many things simply couldn't be delegated—like breastfeeding, or how children clung to their mothers when sick.
Most families struggled with just one baby, let alone twins who got sick together, cried together, and wanted to eat at the same time.
The car was filled with the overlapping cries of two children, and Gabriel was getting a massive headache trying to soothe them.
Finally, mercifully, they made it home.
Mary and the other nanny hadn't returned yet, so Arabella had to ask the other household staff to help. First priority, bathing and changing Isabella.
Gabriel held Henry, preparing to make him a bottle, but having never done this before, he was completely clueless.
Fortunately, the staff had picked up some knowledge over the past few months by watching the nannies. With their guidance, he finally managed to get Henry settled with a bottle.
After Arabella got Isabella cleaned up, her movements were somewhat sluggish when she straightened up.
Gabriel walked in just in time to witness this, and a flash of concern crossed his eyes.
"Let me take her. You go wash up and change your clothes," he said, seeing that Isabella was now clean and properly dressed. He stepped forward with a gentle tone.
Arabella turned to look at him, but only glanced briefly before looking away, muttering under her breath, "Well, let's see if you can keep her calm."
He rarely spent hands-on time with the children and lacked experience. Plus, sick children were particularly fussy. Arabella doubted he'd be able to handle it.
Sure enough, she had barely gotten into the bathroom and undressed when Isabella's crying resumed from the other room, growing louder and more heart-wrenching by the second.
Arabella had just gotten her hair wet when the crying sounded wrong. She called out loudly from the bathroom, "If you can't handle it, go find Mary! She should be back by now, right?"
Gabriel was using every trick he knew to soothe the Isabella in his arms, his expression somewhat anxious. Even the most challenging business deals had never left him feeling this helpless.
Hearing the voice from the bathroom, he carried Isabella to the door and called back, "They're not home yet."
Not back yet?
Arabella was at a loss. She called out another suggestion, "Try using toys to distract her—redirect her attention."
Gabriel was already holding toys, but unfortunately Isabella was crying with her eyes tightly shut, completely shut off from the world, "She won't even look at them!"
Arabella regretted her decision. She should have just wiped the milk from the ends of her hair instead of washing it—that would have been much faster.
"What if I bring her in here? She might calm down if she can see you," Gabriel suggested desperately, having run out of other options.