A Surprise Destination

Chapter 1

Molly Dawes stood watching the teenage couple next to her out of the corner of her eye. She couldn't believe that they would stand with their tongues practically down each other's throats in such a public place even though she presumed they may be very much in love. She also guessed maybe it was to do with the very humid July morning and the sun that was already fairly high in the sky. Molly also reminded herself she was still young herself (she was only 26) but couldn't remember being so completely in love with someone or even fancied someone enough to warrant such a public gesture. She looked to her left and pretended to read the local travel information on the noticeboard so the couple wouldn't notice she had been half looking at them. She loved the feeling of having the sun on her face before she would join the hordes of commuters on one of the main lines into London. She was standing on a station platform waiting for her usual 7.30am train to London Kings Cross from the town of Harpenden.

She had lived in Harpenden for about 3 years after having moved from Hackney. She had lived with her parents and 2 younger siblings in a small rented upper flat. Her parents Dave and Belinda had always been very laidback about parenting and never set a great example to the children and Molly could only remember her Dad ever having one job and that was working as a road sweeper for the local council but got fed up with the early morning starts as he said 'Ere, ah may as well walk the same streets to the pub and get paid more by the government' and claimed he had 'vibration white finger' from all the cobbles he had to push his cart over, much to Molly's annoyance. Belinda never worked and had to bring up the children but she was never given any confidence by Dave who thought women should only belong at home and not think about bettering themselves.

Molly left school with a couple of GCSE's and always dreaded that she would end up like her parents. When she was 19 she met and started dating a local boy called Baysey who was a friend of a friend. It wasn't a proper relationship by any means. Molly was more a less a servant for him which mostly always involved going to the shops to buy his cigarettes and lager. They hardly ever went anywhere together apart from the local pub for maybe a pint and then back to Molly's again. Dave really liked Baysey which didn't surprise Molly as they were two of a kind but the final straw for her came when she caught him cheating on her with a so called friend. This kick started a change in Molly's life.

She realised she wanted to be somebody with a respectable job and a contented home life where she could be the person she wanted to be and most of all have her own space. Molly started looking for a proper job and knew that she loved children so she applied for jobs working as a nanny. Surprisingly after only applying for a couple of jobs online, she heard back from a family. They were called Joanna and David Martin and had 2 children, Matthew, 7 and Emily 3. They lived in Chelsea which as far as Molly was concerned was a place which sounded like it was full of snobs but she went anyway to the interview and found she got on extremely well with the couple and their children. Their house was a huge town house with the interior design straight from an Ideal Home catalogue with a kitchen that was bigger than Molly's parents flat. Joanna and David were extremely down to earth and friendly people who never looked down on Molly and never commented badly on where she came from. They both worked and wanted someone to help take Matthew to school, look after Emily at home and take her to any playgroups. Molly started work at 8:00am and went home after she had her evening meal with the family catching up on the day's events. She had always thought she loved this job so much as she could see the love within this family and their children and she had always longed for that when she was growing up and now it made her feel so secure. David's job was converting old properties and had mentioned to Molly that he had renovated a small 2 bedroom cottage in Harpenden which was ideal for her as she longed to be independent and have her own place in relative peace and tranquillity with a complete change of scene and had begun a love of painting in watercolours and pencils and needed a spare room to house her easels, canvasses and other painting equipment. With her pretty decent wage, she could afford the rent so moved in straight away. Dave and Belinda weren't best pleased but she didn't care. This was her life and she wasn't going to waste it.

Molly was shaken from her reverie by, she assumed, the station master coming tapping her on the shoulder.

'Sorry mate, was miles away' with a pleasant smile spreading across her face.

'That's okay, Miss. I was just wondering, is your name Molly Dawes? I just happened to notice your name tag said the same name as what's on this picture. We don't often get people walking around with name tags on.' He laughed and pointed to a large white sticker on Molly's plaid shirt. Molly was teaching Emily the alphabet and different styles of writing and thought it would be fun to walk in the house and have Molly's name on a sticker coloured in Emily's favourite colour red.

'A gentleman yesterday handed this in to me yesterday. He said that someone must have dropped it but he said the picture looked too pretty to be put in the bin and he's right, it is'.

Molly looked down at the drawing Emily and Matthew had started to draw the other day. It was a picture of the Martin family and Molly in the garden with her full name written by Emily at the top of the picture and with the sports car his Dad drove which both Matthew and his Dad were obsessed with. Molly had taken the picture home to colour in with watercolours and sticking various felt fabrics onto the tree branches. She was running late the next day and had cursed herself as she realised she's dropped it when she was running late.

'Ah thanks so much'. Taking the picture from the station master's hands, realising it was still in near perfect condition. 'I'm pleased someone found it. I was gutted when I thought I'd lost it. That's what you get for rushing around. Thanks again', she smiled gratefully.

'Well, it's pure luck I managed to spot your name. You can tell you work with children. My granddaughter loves being creative too. Anyway, Cheerio I must go, the next train to Kings Cross is coming in.' the station master smiled and walked away. Molly very carefully held the picture and would put it in her bag on the train.

The train wasn't too busy surprisingly and when the doors opened she found there was a spare window seat which was rare so she darted to it and sat down, happy to rest her legs. She only just glanced out of the window and was aware of a presence sitting down at the seat next to her.

A/N: Hi, this is my first ever Fanfiction so really hope you like it. After months of reading other people's stories, I realised I'm going to be brave and write my own. Oh and hello to the Mumsnetters as I'm always reading your threads and you're all hilarious! xx