We decided that Wilma would watch him in the orphanage during the day, while the rest of my attendants would collectively watch over him in my chamber during the night. Rosina was already used to staying up late, so she would stay up later for him while Fran would go to bed early to wake up early as well. Once Delia awoke, she would then watch over him until Wilma came.
“Geez! Why do I have to look after him?!” Delia demanded. Listening to my orders as her mistress was one thing, but to her, looking after an abandoned baby every day was something else entirely. I did understand how she felt, but the baby would die if we didn’t look after him.
I carefully looked at Delia. Was there something I could say here that would get through to her? I needed something that would make Delia actively want to look after the baby.
I thought for a moment, then it hit me—Delia had looked envious when she said that she didn’t know what a family was like. She no doubt had a strong attachment to the idea of having a family.
“I believe it is your duty to look after him, Delia. You are his big sister, after all.”
“What? Big sister?” Delia replied, looking between me and the baby with a dumbfounded expression.
“You are too young to be his mother, Delia, so what else would you be but his big sister? Please take care of him as you would a family member. He is your family now.”
“My... family...?” she repeated, as if still processing what the words meant as she looked at the baby.
“I became a big sister myself just the other day, and now you are a big sister too, Delia. Shall we compete to see who can be the better big sister?”
“I’m obviously going to win!” Delia declared, puffing out her chest and giving it a confident thump. She would probably dedicate her all to looking after him now, like a good big sister should. At heart, Delia was a straightforward person and a hard worker who didn’t hesitate to dedicate herself to things.
My other attendants watched Delia’s sudden enthusiasm with clear amusement. But if a young girl like Delia would be putting her all into raising the baby, the burden on Fran and Rosina would definitely be lessened.
“First, let’s decide on a name. It can’t be one that someone in the orphanage already has, but other than that it’s up to us. Does anyone have any requests?”
“I want him to have a name like mine. Like family would,” Delia said while peering eagerly at the baby in Wilma’s arms.
Hopefully that makes her more attached to him, I thought while thinking of a name that sounded kind of like “Delia.”
“A name like ‘Delia’... What about ‘Deita’ or ‘Dirk’?”
“Deita... Dirk... I think I like ‘Dirk’!” Delia said, her face radiating blatant approval. “Dirk, it’s me, your big sister,” she continued, reaching out a hand toward Dirk. He gave a lopsided smile as she stroked his head.
“Did you see that, Sister Myne?! He smiled!”
“...Wow, Delia. Kamil only ever cries with me,” I said, a little disappointed that Delia was already proving to be a more powerful older sister than I was.
I resolved to look after Kamil as much as I could once I was back home to raise my own big sister power, but Mom and Tuuli were doing so much by themselves that there was barely anything left for me. It didn’t help that I didn’t get some key aspect of changing diapers. Whenever I tried, Kamil would start peeing for some reason, making a mess everywhere.
“Oh, an abandoned child was given to the orphanage? It must be rough without a woman to look after him,” Mom said while giving Kamil milk.
“So, Mom, do you think there’s anything I can do?”
“Well, napping during the day will make night feeds that much easier. Why don’t you try to make sure everyone looking after the baby gets as much sleeping time as possible?”
Her advice came from a place of much experience, so I gave a big nod.
“Okay, I’ll learn to change Kamil’s and Dirk’s diapers so you and everyone else can take more naps.”
“Please do. I don’t have very high hopes though,” Mom said with a smile.
When I went to the temple the next day, Fran and Rosina both looked exhausted.
It really was difficult for them to switch up their normal sleep patterns to feed Dirk goat milk throughout the night. They would need to nap during the day, no doubt about it.
“Fran, Rosina, please nap for about a bell after eating breakfast. Use this time to rest since you’ll have to wake up during the night.”
“As you wish. Thank you,” replied both Fran and Rosina, looking relieved.
It was hard work for mothers to look after their own children, so looking after someone else’s baby that had showed up in the orphanage out of nowhere one day must have been especially tough.
“More importantly, Sister Myne, there is something wrong with Dirk,” Delia said anxiously while looking at the baby. He was fast asleep, though I couldn’t see anything wrong with him.
“It happened in the morning. Dirk started to cry, but as the milk wasn’t ready yet, we let him keep crying. But then he got a fever, and his cheeks started to bubble. He calmed down as soon as we gave him milk, but we have no idea what happened,” said Fran, who had apparently seen it too.
But Dirk’s cheeks looked normal to me. I tilted my head in confusion.
“I think we will need to hold off on the milk and let him cry a little more. I will need to see this for myself before I can say anything. It is a shame that there is nobody here who could tell us whether this is normal for babies.”
We all watched as Dirk began to cry from hunger. Before long, the crying
