Kain was ten, now, taller and stronger. Benedetto, too, had grown, and at twelve he was almost taller than his father. Lady Vittoria was going to have another child, her third, which worried Lord Dante.
One night, Kain lay awake and heard his parents arguing.
"You're getting too old, Vittoria...and it was so hard for you to have Kain..."
"I'll be fine, Dante, honestly!"
"I'm just so afraid for you, love...I'm afraid that if you have this baby, you'll die."
"I know...and I'm worried too...but Dante, there's nothing we can do now..."
There was a sound as though Lord Dante had slammed his fist against the wall.
"Dammit, Vittoria...I just don't want to lose you!"
"You won't.." Lady Vittoria said, quietly, and Kain fell asleep and heard no more. He did not tell his parents what he'd heard, although he was changed by it.
And one morning, early in the spring, a young midwife, who had once been the apprentice of the midwife who delivered Kain, ran all the men out of the house. She was a small, fierce woman with light brown hair, shorn close to her head, blazing gray eyes, strong arms, and a voice that seemed to carry for miles.
"Out!! OUT!" she bellowed at Kain, the last one out. He dodged a bottle of something-or-other she threw at him, which shattered against the wall, and ran into the barn with all the other men.
"That woman..." he muttered to Benedetto, "Is mad."
"I suppose she thinks it's bad luck to have men in the house at all. But the way I heard it, it's bad luck to have men in the same room..."
"Midwives, they're all a superstitious lot." muttered Kain's father, who was unused to sitting in the staw scattered on the barn floor.
"How long d'you think we'll be in here?" Kain asked. Benedetto started to laugh, but stopped at the sight of his father's face. Lord Dante was all seriousness.
Ñ "I don't know, Kain. I just don't know."
Hours went by, and Kain fell asleep. So did Benedetto.
The sun was just beginning to set when Lord Dante shook his sons awake. "Boys...wake up. Your mother wants to see you!"
Kain sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and immediately was dragged to his feet.
"C'mon, Kain!" said Benedetto, always the quicker one to wake. They all walked as quickly to Lady Vittoria as they could without running.
"I think she'll be alright..." the midwife said quietly, brushing Lady Vittoria's fair hair away from her face and dabbing her forehead. The baby had already been cleaned, swaddled, and put in it's mother's arms. Lord Dante paid the midwife and looked tenderly down at his wife.
"It's a girl!" Vittoria said, breathlessly.
"She's gonna be pretty..." Benedetto said, looking down at the baby. Kain, quite frankly, thought the baby was quite ugly. He dared not say it to his mother, though.
"Her name is Caprice." Vittoria said softly, stroking the baby's light blond hair.
And that would be the final addition to Kain's family for a long while.
