Zech had given her the directions. As the carriage pulled up, Nesah scrunched her nose. Admittedly, it was a nice house, but the notion that Uriel had built it himself like some common squatter... 

At least that was what Zech had told her. Nesah had to find out for herself whether everything her older brother had told her was true. Surely not all of those scandalous things could be true at once? If it was, she hardly knew Uriel anymore. At least some of it must have sprouted from Zech's petulant, lonely little mind.

The driver helped Nesah off the carriage and she paid him. She took some time to look at the house and gather her thoughts, while the carriage rode away behind her. Then she took a deep breath, walked up to the door, and knocked. 

It had been a long time, and she wondered what her brother looked like now. She herself probably looked more ladylike now than in the past, dressed in a smart purple dress and hat, and a brown fur coat, her dark hair tied up neatly, and her chin up. At least she and Zech tried to play the part. She'd see what Uriel had to say for himself.

He was humming away as he came in through the back door, walked to the kitchen and washed up after doing some chores. Just as he finished wiping his face down with the water, he could hear the knock upon the door. He tossed his towel to the side and moved through the house to open the front door. There, to his surprise, was his older sister.

Uriel looked more fit than he had, that much was evident by the somewhat leaner version of himself being showcased by denim overalls and a rough shirt that was open at the collar. He was still that big, bumbling guy, just less. "Nessah," he said by way of greeting. "How nice to see you," he said out of obligation. He was already annoyed by one sibling being judgmental of him, he was wary that his sister would do the same.

"What brings you to my humble abode?" It wasn't that humble, really, as she would see when she would come in. He stepped back to allow her to do so. The inside of the home was clean and gleaming with an aura of newness.

For a moment, Nesah wondered if it was really Uriel. She did not know whether to smile happily or look concerned, and her face probably altered between the expressions. "Uriel!" She had wanted to sound more cheerful upon greeting him, but the sight of him shocked her so that she found it hard to remember her strategy. He had lost weight, and though in a sense he looked better, healthier, she still found herself worrying that her little (not so little) brother wasn't eating well. What if that pregnant harlot ate all of his food? Her poor little brother. And what on earth was he wearing?

She stepped in and gave him a small push, before reaching up and planting a kiss on his cheek. "You putz. Is that how you greet your sister after so long?" She said in a tease-scolding tone. "I was around; of course I have to come see you." She took off her gloves while looking around the place. No sign of a knocked up housemaid yet. Perhaps Zech had been lying. She looked back at Uriel. "This looks nice..."

He gave a smile to his sister regardless of his suspicions, and then he gave her a shrewd look. She and Zech were more alike than either of them would probably admit, and he was quite certain that Zech had bent Nessah's ears about how he was going to be married to the mother of his child, a child he was claiming as his regardless of his fiance's past. When she called him a putz and kissed his cheek, he relaxed only a little, then pulled her in for his famous bear hug that he rarely gave to his siblings because, well... you know.

She complimented his home and he actually smiled, "Thank you. It's far from complete, but it's home." Indeed, he was a busy busy man between building his own homestead and teaching/feeding less fortunate children.

He was glad that Kitty wasn't home at the moment; the feeling in his gut that he was about to get an earfull was not going away.

When Uriel hugged her, a genuine smile appeared on Nesah's face, and she hugged him back. That was the Uriel she knew. She realized in that moment that she had missed him. She probably agreed with Zech on more things, but Uriel was genuinely kind, and the greeting felt a hundredth times more authentic than all Zech's reluctant hospitality.

Okay, in his defence, she hadn't told him when she was leaving, and there was a point at which 'staying over' became 'moving in'.

Nesah looked around for signs of a woman living here. "Will you show me around?" she asked.

He nodded at her words, almost to the point of preening in his surprise that she wanted to see what he had built with his own two hands. He sure was proud of what he had accomplished when his siblings didn't have confidence in him to be something other than just a putz. "Here is the kitchen," he gestured, it was where the front door opened to because Uriel liked the smell of food cooking. It was a sizable kitchen with an oven made of stones. A pretty dining table sat in the middle of it all, and the smell of bread baking still lingered in the air. "I used to make bread here for the children at the school until I found a baker willing to help."

Then he led her to the bathroom where he had painstakingly tiled the floor in a mosaic, it was rather beautiful what came out of his mind. The bath tub was a gleaming clawfoot tub and the toilet, well, that was a toilet. The bathroom had plenty of space. He would lead her around the house to each finished room, including the nursery and a glimpse of the master bedroom, which was richly furnished. Uriel had done it without asking for a pense from his family, and had squeezed as much value out of his money that he could.

Nesah looked around as he showed her the house. She felt more and more uncomfortable. It certainly looked like a woman was living there. And he had mentioned the school. So that was true too, then? Then, when she saw the nursery, she suppressed a weary sigh. Zech had not lied. All of it was true.

"So it's true then? You are to be a father?" she asked, trying to keep the disdain from her voice. She liked to think that she was more diplomatic than Zech. But the notion that some pauper whore had seduced her brother and had caused him to build a house for her and drop out of university made her blood boil.

The disapproval hung in the air thickly. He could almost cut the air with a knife at the amount of tension that came with said disapproval. Uriel turned to his sister then, a serious look on his face. "Yes, it's true. I am converting to Catholicism and getting married to the woman I love, and I am to be a father, and I took time off from school to be a teacher. I know that just bothers you, doesn't it?"

He stood up straighter, his brows drawing together. He didn't give her a chance to speak just yet, for he continued, "Out with it. You came here to see for yourself." He couldn't help but to draw conclusions like this when he knew his siblings as well as he did.

Nesah was horrified at all Uriel's confessions. All of it was true then and he was not even ashamed? What had happened to her brother? What sort of wicked spell had that harlot placed on him?

She scoffed. "I came to see my brother. Though I did want to see whether the things Zech told me were true, and I won't deny that I'm shocked." Appalled was a better description, but Nesah knew she had to tread carefully. "Well?" She took off her coat, irritated that no one had taken it from her yet. "Where are your servants? Won't you offer me something to drink?"

Uriel rolled his eyes heavenward and scoffed back, defending himself as he never used to, “I’m a grown man and can make my own choices. Let me make my mistakes. How else am I to learn?” He gestured widely with his hands. “Besides, I thought you all hated me anyways.” He grumbled. It sure had felt like that sometimes.

The big man took his sister’s coat from her and gingerly hung it on the coat rack that gleamed with fresh lacquer. “Normally, in this household, we hang our own coats… though I don’t mind hanging Katherine’s coat, she is a mighty independent woman and insists I don’t do everything. It’s a farm, Nesah, there are no servants. This is what I want to do with my life. This is what makes me happy.” His gaze was soft and honest, and there was also a wounded bear look about him. "Would you like some water or tea, sister?"