"Sarah Jane, love, will you come and give me a hand in the kitchen?" My aunt asked, pulling herself up off the sofa in her little Croydon living room. My home for much of my childhood, now used to separate me from my fiancé James, my aunt was insistent she didn't want any 'hanky panky' going on before the wedding. It was strange to see the quaint house through the eyes of an outsider, James certainly saw it from the point of view of an outsider, he had met my aunt on a few occasions previously but never seen her home. It wasn't often that Lavinia and I had matching timetables. She worked and I worked and James too.
Lavinia had seen James so rarely that he was nervous around her, standing up and opening doors- being a proper gentleman and it was so endearing.
I followed my aunt through to the kitchen, knowing by her expression there was more on her mind than just a plate of biscuits and a pot of tea. She filled the heavy kettle and lit the gas cooker- she refused to come into the modern age of electric kettles just yet- setting the weighty thing on the ring she finally turned to look at me.
A smile formed on her face, a smile she tried to hide but there was no hiding the feelings in her eyes. She looked proud and I didn't understand why, I hadn't done anything recently- or even in the past year to make her proud of me.
"I can tell Sarah Jane, I might be a bit old fashioned and I'd like to know how on earth you managed it, but I'm happy for you,"
"Aunt Lavini-,"
She interrupted me, leaning against the counted top and crossing her ankles.
"You look so like your Mum did. I knew before my brother got the courage to tell me then too. The glow is supposed to come later but it must be hereditary. Your hair, skin, even your eyes look brighter."
"But, what are you talking about?"
My Aunts smile dropped, her eyes losing there grin a little as she began to take in what I was trying to tell her.
"Sarah Jane Smith, you're going to have a baby."