Chapter Text
Maude and Louis Destler had only been excited at the news of a second child. The servants of the household had hardly been unable to hold in their joy. Whispers of the unborn child placed honor on him even as a fetus. The housed staff gossiped of how beautiful and intelligent the child would have to be. They gambled on the color of his eyes, who he would obtain the hair color of and what sports he would play when he grew older. They prepared for the child as if it were to be their own, offering up clothes from their adult chilren’s childhoods as gifts to the Destler’s and suggesting what soft toys to put in his bed room.
They bragged about the new member of the family to their own families and encouraged the Destler’s firstborn, little Marie Destler, to be an older sister, going as far as bringing their children to her to feed, change and play with.
When the public was notified, they celebrated, opening their doors of the Destler Manor to as many men as they could to gather in gift giving and dancing. Other members of high class families gave presents and support, honoring the child with dinners at their manors and invitations to join them for operas and such.
When Maude Destler finally began to show, the entire household shone with pride and affection. Marie spent as many hours as she could on her knees, nuzzling her mother’s stomach. When maids weren’t chasing Marie away, they were feeling for the child and giggling themselves. The cooks only prepared personal recipes that would not upset her delicate stomach, and as a reward Maude hardly got sick when with child.
For months both her and their child were pampered and suffocated with undying support and love. When it got close for the child to be born, the air around the house shifted. Anxious and ready, the servants prepared the supplies for weeks. Gifts lined the halls, ready to welcome the child just the humans of the manor were.
On the day of, everyone behaved as normally as they could. They bounced in anticipation at she cries of Maude Destler as she brought the celebrated life into the world. They swept and washed and dusted until the house sparkled. They cooked and babysat and fed horses and did all they could so that everything would be perfect for the child when they were finally home. And when Maude’s screaming stopped and all went silent maids gathered around, pressing ears against the door as they waited to hear the telling of the baby’s sex.
“It’s a boy!”
The crowd enturrupted in cheers, spreading love to one another with hugs and handshakes. They laughed as they ran down to share the news with everyone, grinning from ear to ear until one stopped to call, “Let’s hear the baby first.”
Ears against the door once more, they held their breaths, waiting for the soft yet peircing cries of a lost child, seeing the world around it for the first time. They waited, as they pressed in hard, flattening their earlobes against the door, desperate to be the first of the crowd to hear the sounds of The Destler’s Second Child, of their son.
But…
“He’s not crying.”
One maid finally had the courage to announce it, and all their tense shoulders slowly fell with something like sorrow. They stepped away from the door, gathering once more to grip each other in crushing hugs once more holding each other as some wept and some just stayed quiet as they stared off, wondering why. Why?
They quickly rushed off when they heard footsteps approaching the door. They went back to their jobs but… it wasn’t the same. Without knowing a little bundle of joy and happiness and laughter wasn’t going to be here, everything was more dull. Everything was more sorrowful. And it would stay that way in the Destler houshold for many more years to come. For they may not have lost the life of The Destler’s Second, but the Destler household did not gain the life it had planned.