Broken Soldier ~ Assassin's Creed 4

Chapter Thirty Three

We took our seats at the dinner table. Yvette had set down her baby - Auguste or Auggi, as Yvette liked to call him - in a small Moses basket beside her chair. Piere sat beside her with Victor, Alaina, Luis and Lillian next, then Clemence and Marienne were on the side beside me and Martin. Martin placed a hand on top of mine on the tabletop as we waited for the food. I watched as Lillian played with her fabric napkin, and folded it into a strange shape before climbing to kneel on her chair and placed the 'hat' on top of Clemence's head.

"You look better now, uncle." She remarked as she went back to sitting down again.

"Thank you, Lillian. I definitely needed it." She nodded in agreement. A bell rang from behind a door, and a short line of women filed out with plates and bowls of food in their hands. Potatoes, green beans, artichoke, peas, a selection of meats. A multitude of colours was laid before us. Lillian sat still in her chair while Alaina got her food for her. She then set down the plate of potatoes and beans for Lillian to eat, before she had bread or meat.

"So, Elisa," Marienne started. "I don't believe I have heard about your future plans with my baby brother-in-law." She gave a sly grin to Martin.

"We hope to get married some time next year in Bristol. There is a beautiful church where my mother has booked the ceremony. She asked that they be prepared for any quick bookings." She nodded while popping a small slice of meat into her mouth. "Also, hopefully, we will have children of our own in the future. At the moment, though, we are giving my sister and the rest of my family time to deal with my one year old niece. It would not be fair to have another child in the family so quickly. I do think one of my other sisters is planning to have a child soon, but her child will be looked after by the nursemaids. Mine and Martin's, however, will not."

"I agree. The child will be your child, and it is not to be given to someone else so readily. That child may grow up to think that its nursemaids are its parents." I raised my eyebrows at her with an exaggerated nod.

"That is what I told my mother, but she is adamant that I have a nursemaid. I will not. I refuse."

"I raised Lillian on my own." Alaina piped up. Lillian didn't notice that she had been brought into the conversation as the small four year old was too busy stuffing her face with potatoes. "Luis was a great help as well, but he is always away at work with the bank and I can never seem to have him to myself for more than ten minutes. Lillian barely sees her father, but she enjoys being close to her uncles. You may need to think about that, as well. Keeping children around relatives helps them to develop close relationships a lot earlier on."

"We will most likely still live with my parents for a short while after me having a child. We will probably then get a family home for ourselves, but I do not plan on having more than two children. Far too much stress."

"Especially if the children are quite close in age." Yvette spoke while still trying to calm a squirming Auguste. "Victor is six soon, but he was devastated when his little brother was born. He was not getting the attention he was used to from his parents, so his other relatives became his other set of parents. It will be easy for Clemence and Marienne, seeing as they are only having their first child. It can be difficult. Children start to regress into old habits - wetting themselves, refusing to feed themselves, being incredibly dependant. Children who are aged slightly farther apart is your best bet." I made mental notes of all of this information. "Do excuse me. I learnt a lot about how children's minds work while at school."

"This is all very helpful." I squeezed Martin's hand. "Thank you." Clemence then cleared his throat before opening his mouth to say something.

"I was wondering what you were both going to do for housing after you leave Elisa's parents' house. Of course, you can't stay there forever."