The Bone Soup recipe was simple enough; it only required water, bones, some seasoning and a sprinkle of herbs – a couple of leaves were also cut from the saplings for that. Vegetables was an option if they wanted to upgrade it to soup. However, since they only had mushrooms to add, it could barely be considered soup. It was more of a broth
With Felix's vast experience behind the stove, and with Lucas dutifully helping with the fire, it was not long before the savory and refreshing smell of the broth wafted out of the kitchen. The two had to constantly swallow their saliva and turn a deaf ear to their grumbling stomachs while they waited for the broth to be done.
Why was it that a few pieces of bone that had tiny pieces of meat clinging to them, mushrooms, herbs and a bit of salt smelled so tantalizing?
If they had known, they would not have thrown all those bones before! Ah, but there was no medicine for regret. And it was not too late for them to know the marvel of bones.
"What're ya cooking? It smells so good." At some point, Joseph had returned from the field, carrying a few vegetables he deemed ready enough to harvest rolled in his shirt.
"Bone soup." Felix replied, intently looking at the milky, bubbling liquid in the pot. Joseph mouthed what he just heard with a frown.
It was obvious it was a new recipe from Isabelle – who was still diligently embroidering – so he was curious about the flavor. Picking up a wooden spoon, Joseph ladled a bit of broth, blew on it, and sipped it. It was a brand-new world for his taste buds. It was as simple as the meals they always had, but for some reason there was something totally different.
It was surprising as there were not many things in that soup.
"Here, put this parsnip in." Joseph said, passing one of the few parsnips he harvested. He had no idea if it would make the soup taste better or not, but there would be something else to chew on apart from the mushrooms dancing in the pot.
But how could Felix not know what the parsnip would do with their meal? It would add more flavor! So, he readily peeled the white vegetable, cut it in cubes, washed them and in the pieces went.
Then, all they had to do was wait.
Isabelle struggled to find the correct word to express what she was feeling at that moment.
Astounded? Taken aback? … Amazed?... Yes! That is what I am looking for!
It was a marvelous sight, truthfully, to see three men ungraciously devour a pot of bone soup so quickly. It was as if they had been starved for a few days. Isabelle was lucky to save a portion for herself and for Ethan. If not, they would have had the usual pancakes for lunch, in her case, and dinner, for both.
The enthusiasm was understandable to a point. Despite being his first time, Felix had done an excellent job cooking the soup. It was a complete success! Though, the surprising and somewhat sad point was that it must have been the brothers' first time tasting something like that soup.
If that was the case, then Isabelle closed one eye to the pot being fought over by them to refill their bowls and continued eating her serving.
Once they ate, they went back to their own tasks.
Isabelle went back to embroidering – her body was a bit sore from the day before but she had to keep going if she wanted to end on time. Felix went into the house to take a nap after feeding Mrs. Rabbit; he was the only one among the brothers who regularly napped. Lucas and Joseph said they would go gather some wood.
They took a lot of tools with them just to collect wood. It was confusing, but Isabelle had more important things to do than ask what they were truly going to do.
When Ethan came back home, Felix was already cracking his head, thinking what he could cook for dinner. He bemoaned and regretted having eaten all the soup at lunch. Isabelle just heard him miserably mumble beside her as he watched with childish curiosity what she was doing. Lucas and Joseph had not returned yet.
"Only you're here?" Ethan asked after he put away his bag where he carried his lunch, and a spare shirt, just in case.
Felix nodded as he readily reached for the thread Isabelle told him to hand her. "Said they would go for wood." He replied, alluding to his missing brothers.
"Oh." Ethan returned, looking towards the back of the house and dazed off.
Isabelle noticed his awkward mood and fidgeting fingers from the periphery, so she raised her head and saw he had his head down, as if pondering something. It was obvious he wanted to say or ask something very important, but he was hesitating about opening up with his problems with Felix also present. Isabelle was one thing, but his brother…
"I… Are you busy, Isabelle?" Ethan blurted out. It was best to speak up at that moment that his other two brothers were absent, he thought.
"My hands and eyes are busy, Ethan, but I will always listen to you." She replied, giving him a quick smile before looking back down to her embroidering. That terribly reassured him as he sighed relieved.
He first sat in front of her, then spoke. "There's a chance at the workshop. To carve wood..." He began.
"You want to apply." Isabelle stated after he paused, as if unaware how to continue.
"Yes… the man who used to do it is gonna move to Silk Town 'cause he's marrying. His fiancée's family is from that town, that's why. The place's more prosperous than here, and the family didn't want for the daughter to stay in Basin Town…"
"Ethan." Isabelle called out.
"…Silk Town has a waterway, so their local products can be sent to other towns…"
"Ethan!" She raised her voice to get his attention. He looked at her bewildered, never thinking she would yell at him. "You are dithering." She said.
"I, what?" He furrowed his brows.
Ah, yeah, I always forget they do not know many technical words.
The brothers' speech was sometimes hard to understand due to how fast they talked. Add to that, the many contractions and slurring, it was a wonder how she was able to follow their conversations. But she was slowly getting used to it. She sometimes even heard them trying to replicate her way of speech, which was fun. Maybe she could also try to speak like them in the future.
But, back to the topic. "Get to the point. You want the job, and then?" Isabelle prompted.
Ethan took a deep breath to calm down and started again. "Carving wood's not only about making shapes on the wood. There're times people want to carve words on the wood…" He paused again, looking away. At that point, she had put aside her embroidering. Felix was also attentively listening to his brother. "The pay is good. 10 coins a month plus the commission."
It was a very good opportunity! It paid well and there was also the commission benefit. Ethan surely wanted to finally have a stable job at the carpentry shop; however…
"You cannot write." It may have sounded cruel from her part to point that out so bluntly, but that was the reality. The reason the pay was good was most likely because the person needed to know how to read and write. Which was not something an illiterate villager could do.
Isabelle suddenly felt the disparity between Town people and Village people was deeper than she first thought.
"I know." Instead of sounding defeated at his lacking abilities, there was determination shining in Ethan's eyes as he looked at her. Isabelle was enchanted by that look. "Teach me how to read and write, Isabelle."
Sure darling, I will teach you A.NY.TH- wait, what?
"Excuse me?" She must have heard wrong.
"Isabelle." He called out, tightly grabbing her hand. "I know ya can read and write, so teach me. The sooner the better. I really need this job. I wanna prove to myself, to my brothers and to ya that I can still provide for this family. It's good if ya wanna help us earn money, but we want to take care of ya, too. And… and if we have children in the future, then I also wanna take care of them!"
Was that a serious proposal?
Both Isabelle and Felix were stunned by Ethan's words.
Felix thought Lucas was awesome enough with his good looks and steady personality, yet there his oldest brother was, boldly proposing to Isabelle! He... Did he have to do something? Did he have to add something to Ethan's proposal or just keep silent? Where were his other brothers when he needed them the most? What would Joseph say? What would Lucas do?
In the end, he could only sit there stumped by the situation.
Isabelle, on the other hand, was more sensible with her thoughts. To begin with, she had no memories of what her life used to be, therefore, she had no idea if she had any goals. Despite her amnesiac state, she was aware of some emotional and mental aspects of herself. And something as a future, a family, someone to share her life with was vague or simply inexistent.
She most likely never thought about that before, or simply did not care about the matter.
Isabelle had agreed to living with the four brothers as her partners, her lovers if you would, but maybe she had underestimated what they actually wanted from her compared to what she wanted. They wanted a Wife, a life-long spouse. A family. They wanted children. She only cared about having a stable and loving relationship with them, never thinking further than that.
So, the main question was if Isabelle was ready to face all their expectations, if she was willing to fulfill their wishes, if she would not back down in the future when things did not go her way. Regardless of all those unknowns, Isabelle guessed the first step was to answer Ethan's question.
Squeezing his hand, she smiled at him. "I will do my best."
Next thing she knew, she was being held by long and strong arms as a pair of lips melted against hers, creating some saucy sounds that made her core clench. It also went on for quite a bit; him not letting her go, and her clinging to him for dear life.
It was a good thing neither went further than kissing as Felix was watching their shameless performance. Soon enough, they separated, ending up breathless and flustered. There was even a thread of saliva uniting their mouths that he mischievously licked.
"Thank you." He whispered over her lips before pecking them. "Come, Felix, I'll help you with dinner today." He dragged the frozen teen towards the kitchen.
After seeing the two entering the kitchen, Isabelle went back to her embroidering. At that rate, if she kept being distracted by the gorgeous brothers, she was not going to finish on time. Without messing the stitches, she sped up.
Lucas and Joseph returned right before sunset. They were carrying big stacks of wood as well as a few bushes and even a small tree.
When asked what those were, Joseph said they were for the flower bed. He ignored the name of the plant, but had seen – from where he had gotten it – that it looked nice with its small flowers hidden under the large leaves. Excited, Isabelle looked forward to when he planted more of them.
The small tree turned out to be Eucalyptus. They called it fresh tree due to its smell and that was what they burned to use as paste to clean their teeth. They quickly planted it by the well since they had hurt the roots while digging it. The flowering bushes were left in baskets together with the one Lucas had brought earlier. Their efforts to bring things she liked reminded her of Ethan's words.
They were really trying hard so she could stay with them. Her heart tightened uncomfortably, but at the same time it made her happy.
She did not know, until then, that she was actually afraid of taking her own decisions. Maybe it was a subconscious reaction, to not allow herself to do everything she wanted out of fear of what others would say; like that woman in her dream.
However, although Isabelle was afraid, she was really optimistic. She wanted to be afraid together with them, and wanted to move towards an uncertain but blissful future.