Mom was 8 months into the pregnancy and her morning sickness got worse. Like, she could hardly hold any food down. She lost a bit of weight, and it made me anxious. What if her weakened body couldn't handle the stress of childbirth?

Dad reassured me that she'd be fine, that she's a strong woman. It would've worked if I hadn't seen the same worries etched on his face 24/7.

The only things that managed to stay down were fruits and bread. And I found out the scent of peppermint mixed with citrus helped with her nausea. Even watching her happily munch on a bunch of grapes made my stomach coil with nerves.

"Al, everything will be okay." A warm hand stroked my hair. "I swear, you and your father are the biggest stress puppies I've ever seen."

"..." I fumbled with an orange to distract myself. "Sorry."

"Don't be. You have a big heart, Al. So, can you promise me something?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Regardless of whether I'm here or not," mom took my hands in hers. "Promise me you'll be a good big brother to your younger brother or sister."

I sniffed, offended, "why do I need to promise that? Isn't it obvious I'd take care of them?"

Mom chuckled, "I know you will, but I'd like to hear you say it."

"I will be a good big brother, I promise!" I held out a pinky finger. She hooked her pinky finger with mine to seal the promise.

"I'll hold you to that, okay?"

"Can you promise me something too?"

"Of course, sweetie."

"I-In case you don't make it... can we take family photos? So I can share them with the baby." Mom's eyes turned watery.

"Of course we can. We can take as many photos as you want."

"Yay! I have a photo book I want to fill up!" I giggled with joy, pushing down my sadness. I'd make sure to take plenty of pictures for memories. So I'd have no regrets, like I did with Oji-San.

"Can we take some now?" I bounced on the bed, ready to sprint to my room for the camera.

"We sure can." I darted out the room with a quick "I'll be back" to go get the camera. Dad was in a meeting right now, so we'd do pictures with him later.

I snatched the camera off the dresser. This camera wasn't very different from a modern Canon digital camera. The only difference is that in order to make a physical copy of the photos, you had to attach a magic device that transferred them onto a special type of paper.

"I got the camera!" I skidded into the room, nearly falling flat on my face when I tripped on the edge of the rug. Mom giggled and held out her arms as I clambered back onto the bed.

"How is my son so cute?"

"Because I'm your son," we both laughed this time, and I got one of the nearby maids to snap a couple photos of mom and me. We ended up taking photos in the garden, on the pavilion, and dad joined us halfway through too!

There were over 200 photos by the time I decided mom needed to go back to bed and rest.

"Are you sure, Al?"

"Yep! I'm gonna copy the best ones and put them in my photobook!"

"Photobook?" Dad asked. "What's that all about?" I hesitated to tell him the reason why, but mom answered for me.

"For the baby," she held dad's hand. "To show them all the happy memories we shared together." Judging by dad's expression, he got the message hidden between the lines.

"I see, already being an outstanding older brother, huh?" He roughly mussed up my hair. "That's a great idea."

"Ehehe," I beamed at the praise. "Bye, mom and dad! I'm gonna get all of these printed out so we can take more later!"

"Don't work too hard, Al."

"I won't!" There's no such thing as working too hard when it comes to preserving precious memories of happiness with people you love! Although I really miss Oji-San, I'm happy I get to experience this feeling of a happy family as Alcott. And to think I'll finally experience being an older brother too! I don't care if I get a brother or sister, I just hope both mom and my little sibling will be happy and healthy!

I pulled a book on the bookshelf to activate the hidden door in my room. Only me, dad, and mom knew about this hidden room in my bedroom. This is where I kept my most precious belongings, and I usually drew in here as well. I wasn't horrible at drawing, but I had a long way to go before I would be able to draw a decent portrait. Someday, I'd surprise mom and dad with a family portrait drawn by me!

I rummaged around in one of many cupboards, looking for the photo paper. Photo paper and the process of making physical copies of photos has singlehandedly been the most interesting thing I've seen since becoming Alcott.

To make a physical copy, you need the camera, a magic device that allows you to access the "camera roll", and the photo paper.

Basically, you insert the device, look for the photo you want to make a copy of, then aim the camera at the photo paper and press the button you'd press to take a photo. Instead of taking a photo, the photo you chose will appear on the photo paper. You cannot do this with any other kind of paper. I have no idea how it works or why it does what it does, but I won't complain.

I hummed made up tunes as I copied nearly every photo and neatly put them in my photobook, adding little labels and stuff on the pages near them to look back on. My favorite had to be the one where dad and mom are sitting in the sunflower field with me between them. We all looked so happy. I hoped to remain happy with my family far into the future.

Speaking of family, I wondered if Oji-San was reunited with his family in the afterlife. I hoped so. Oji-San always looked so lonely whenever he'd speak of them or looked at an old family photo. I never knew how much pain he felt until I lost him. I'd make sure to cherish every moment with mom and dad while I still could.

I walked to my "Oji-San box". This was an expensive wooden box where I kept my letters addressed to him and some things I knew he would've liked as gifts. I usually wrote a letter to him whenever I missed him or just wanted to tell someone how things have been going. It didn't matter if Oji-San wasn't there to read them. Just writing them was enough to make me feel as if Oji-San was watching over me, which comforted me. No matter how many people I come to love, Oji-San will always be the first person who showed me love and care.

"Oji-San, I hope you're happy with your family." I opened the box and placed the sunflower field family photo inside. "I'm happy with my family too, see? I never thought I'd be as happy as I am now. Hopefully, after I've lived to be old and wrinkly, we'll see each other again and talk like we used to. I'm sorry I couldn't protect your prized photobook for very long. Though, I'm sure that if you were here right now, you would've hit me upside the head and tell me I'm much more important than the photobook."

I paused. "I really miss you, Oji-San. Even with everyone here, I still feel sad when I think about how you'll never be here to meet my family and see how kind they are. I'm sure you would've loved them. Oh, and I'm going to be a big brother in about five months! Thanks to you, I've been able to help mom with her morning sickness by using herbs and aromatherapy. I still remember how you'd always give me backhanded compliments and praise whenever I did something right. We both knew you never were very verbally honest when it came to your feelings, but your actions always more than made up for it."

"You know, I've been so happy that I'm afraid it'll be taken away any day. Part of me feels like I don't deserve this... overwhelming joy from being loved and being able to show my love for them. After all, I wasn't exactly the most morally upright kid as Umeji. I'm scared that mom and dad will be taken away from me too soon, just like you. Mom and dad deserve the best- especially mom, after all she's been through. Sometimes, I worry that I remind her of those horrific times she was at the mercy of King Walton. I don't want to cause her pain. And I don't want to cause mom and dad any trouble with the nobles in terms of succession. That's partly why I'm so happy mom and dad are having a child, so I'm not the only one who can succeed the throne. When my brother or sister is born, I'll be able to abdicate my rights to the throne and hopefully the nobles who are against me succeeding will quiet down."

"...Do you think I'm doing the right thing? Am I being a good son? Sometimes I can't tell if I'm being a filial son, or if I'm just someone trying to fill in as a caretaker of sorts. I don't know much about being part of a family, but I hope to make the most of it while I still can." I closed the box. "Bye, Oji-San. I'll make sure to keep writing you letters when I have more free time." I tucked the box back into its place and decided to call it a night. I'd check in on mom one more time, then go to bed.

"I was wondering when you were going to come." Mom smiled when I poked my head in. "Almost thought you forgot to give me my goodnight hug."

"As if!" I ran over and hugged mom, making sure to keep my weight off her growing baby bump. "I just finished putting photos in my photobook."

"Will I be able to look at it sometime?"

"Later! I wanna fill it up before showing anyone."

"Fufu, alright. Your dad will be here in a minute, so make sure to give him a hug too, alright? He doesn't want to admit it, but he gets lonely whenever he doesn't get a hug from you."

"Then I'll give him a dozen hugs!"

"What's this about hugs?" Dad walked into the room.

"Dad! Come here!" I stood up on the bed and held out my arms. "Hugs!" Dad picked me up and squeezed me in a tight hug.

"Soon enough, you'll won't want to give your old man hugs anymore."

"Never! I'll always give you hugs!"

"I sure hope so." Dad kissed me on the forehead. "You should get ready for bed, okay?"

"Okay, goodnight!" I gave mom one last hug and went back to my room. A maid helped me change into pajamas and I brushed my teeth before climbing into bed. A soft, comfortable bed. At some point, I began to take such comfort for granted. I mentally gave thanks to whoever made this bed and drifted off to sleep.