It was later that same morning when Shelagh was stood in front of the mirror in the corner of the bedroom that she shared with Patrick as she buttoned up the front of her blouse, her mind far away as she reflected on the conversation that she and Magda had shared less than two hours earlier. She chastised herself silently for not noticing the signs. She was a trained midwife, for heaven's sake, how could she have been so blind? She knew that Magda had been more tired than usual recently but she'd assumed that it had been because Angela had been under the weather for the last few days and had been quite demanding. Magda had also been retiring to bed earlier due to headaches and she'd been turning pale at the slightest whiff of milk; another two symptoms of early pregnancy. She should've at least suspected that Magda could be pregnant, and the fact that she hadn't saddened her.
Would Magda have taken matters into her own hands if she hadn't come downstairs in the early hours and found her? She already knew the answer to that question.
Her husband's strong hands settling upon her hips through her skirt and his warm lips against her neck was what brought Shelagh back to the present a short while later, a radiant smile spreading across her rosy lips as she leaned back against his chest whilst fastening the top button on her blouse before allowing Patrick to wrap his arms around her middle. 'There's something bothering you,' He pointed out, kissing her neck. 'I know there is. You were miles away just now and I know that that means something's playing on your mind.'
'Maybe.' She sighed as she leaned back into his chest and she met his warm gaze through the mirror. 'But we haven't got time to talk about it now because I have to cook breakfast and I need to get Angela and Teddy dressed, so I was thinking that I might pop into the surgery at lunchtime so that we can talk then? I was hoping that you might give Angela the once over if I brought her with me, too, because I'm beginning to feel as though we might be dealing with something more than a little cold. She really isn't herself at the moment.' Patrick turned his wife to face him then before wrapping his arms securely around her middle and drawing her closer, nothing but love for her in his eyes as he gazed down at her.
'I want you to telephone me if you need me.' He told her as he stroked his thumbs against the swell of her hips. 'I don't want you doing too much and making yourself ill, my love. I don't mind having a listen to Angela's chest when you come to the surgery and I'll give Teddy the once over too, just to make sure he's healthy and that he's not coming down with whatever it is that Angela's got.' Shelagh blessed him with a radiant smile of gratitude as she brushed her thumbs against his chest. 'I love it when you smile, you know.' He sighed with a loving smile of his own as he unwound one arm from around his wife's waist in order to reach up and cup the curve of her cheek in his palm, his thumb stroking against the creamy skin that he discovered there as he gazed into her eyes. 'We've had our troubles over the years but you never stopped smiling and that's one of the things I love about you.'
'When I was a little girl my Mum would tell me that a smile can fix everything, no matter how big or small the problem is. She said that a smile gives people hope and that it makes people feel better instantly, and she was right. I didn't believe that it was possible when I was younger - I didn't see how such a simple act could make such a difference - but I still remember walking up the steps of Nonnatus on my first day in Poplar. I was so nervous and I felt so homesick because I had never left Scotland in my life before that day and I had no friends or family in London, but when Sister Julienne opened the door and smiled as she told me that she had been expecting me I felt better instantly. It was like that when you and I worked together for the first time, you know.' She blushed slightly, Patrick chuckling as he stroked her honey-blonde hair with the palm of his hand and kissed her forehead.
'How do you mean, my love?' He asked lovingly.
'The first time we worked together was when Mrs. Robinson haemorrhaged during labour. I was on my own because I was first on call and everyone else was either out at clinic or at their own deliveries, and when she started haemorrhaging Mr. Robinson telephoned for you but when you arrived you said that there wasn't anything that could be done to save either her or the baby.' Patrick nodded with a gentle sigh as he knew exactly where his wife was headed with her story. 'I still remember how he threw me against that wall.'
'All I remember is wanting to kill him for laying a hand on you.' He admitted. 'I know that Marianne was still alive at that point, but I still cared for you more than I could explain.'
'I know.' She rubbed his chest with a soft smile. 'I blamed myself for the death of Mrs. Robinson and her baby for weeks and when I fell into that depression and was taken off of the roster so that I could rest, I honestly believed I was never going to get past it. I always thought that I would be sent back to Chichester. But then you came and sat out in the garden with me. You made me laugh for the first time in months and you helped me get better until my depression went away and I felt as though I could go back to midwifery.'
'Mmm...and you're still the best midwife that Poplar has ever seen.' He charmed, dipping his head to press a slow kiss onto her rosy lips.
'I love you so much, Patrick.' She sighed as she ran her dainty hands along the outside of his arms through his jacket. 'I feel as though I don't tell you that as much these days.'
'Shelagh, you tell me that every day.' He reassured her. 'You don't have to say anything for me to know that you love me, just as I don't have to say anything for you to know that I love you. When we were forced to keep silent about how we felt towards one another I knew you loved me and I know that you knew how deeply I loved you, and neither one of us needed to say a word to tell one another that.' Shelagh nodded gently. 'I never want you to feel like I don't know that you love me, because I do. Just like you know I love you.'
'Kiss me, Patrick.' She whispered as she slipped her arms around his neck and rose up onto her tiptoes, her husband's strong hands resting securely upon her hips to steady her.
'Of course, Mrs. Turner.' He chuckled before nuzzling the tip of his nose against hers, Shelagh giggling beautifully before he covered her mouth with his in a long and deep kiss.
'Did you manage to speak to Doctor Turner about my condition?' Magda asked as she was curled up in the armchair in the sitting room later that morning, Shelagh settled upon the settee across from her as she held Angela in her lap and her precious little girl was snuggled against her with her thumb in her mouth as her gentle brown eyes were watery and she continued to release chesty coughs every few minutes.
'I didn't manage to find the time to speak to him about it this morning, but I'm taking Angela and Teddy with me to the surgery at lunchtime so Patrick can check them over and make sure that Teddy isn't coming down with whatever Angela's got.' Shelagh sighed lovingly as she held Angela slightly closer to her chest, her daughter whimpering gently as she snuggled further into her warmth and allowed her to comb her fingers soothingly through her fair blonde hair as she rocked back and forth with her. 'He's noticed that there is something I'm not telling him, which is how I managed to explain to him that what I'm going to be telling him at the surgery is important and that you and I need his support.'
'Mrs. Turner, I don't want to be an imposition on you.' Magda sighed. 'I came to work for you so that you wouldn't have to work so hard, but now I'm just putting more onto your plate.' Shelagh shook her head with a kind smile.
'Magda, I was the one who asked you to stay and to let us take care of both you and your baby.' She reminded her. 'I wouldn't have asked you to stay if I didn't want you here.'
'I know.' The young woman smiled. 'You're one of the best friends I've ever had, Mrs. Turner; no-one has ever been as kind to me as you, your family, and the girls at Nonnatus.'
'Everyone's like a family around here, Magda. Everyone knows one another and you can't walk down the street without someone saying hello to you. We all support each other.' Shelagh smiled, pressing her soft lips to the top of Angela's head as she noticed that her little girl had finally managed to fall asleep in her arms. 'I know that she hasn't been as clingy towards you since she fell ill, but Angela does love you so terribly much. When I was putting her to bed the other night she told me to promise that you'd never go away.'
'I love her too.' Magda admitted, smiling warmly at the lovely little girl that was releasing the softest of snores as she clung to her Mummy. 'She's like the little sister I never had.'
'You know, it's by seeing how you are with Angela that tells me you're going to be an incredible mother.' Shelagh smiled. 'You're so loving and compassionate towards her.'
'I have to admit that since you told me you're going to support me I feel a little more excited about my baby.' The au pair admitted. 'I suppose I was just worried that I wouldn't have been able to keep it safe or be a good mother to it if I didn't have anyone to support me and if I didn't have anywhere to go.' Shelagh nodded in understanding. 'I want this baby, Mrs. Turner. I want to be able to give it the childhood that I didn't have and I want to prove to people that I'm not like my mother.'
'Was your mother unkind towards you, Magda?' Shelagh asked softly.
'I'm the youngest of nine children, Mrs. Turner, and the smallest.' The young woman admitted. 'My mother was always so busy looking after my older siblings that she never had much time for me. She never paid much attention to me; she directed most of it to my older sister Hanna and she always told me to be more like her. She told me to be smarter; to be prettier, and to stop thinking that I was entitled to things. If I wanted dolls when I was a little girl I had to pay for them with my own pocket money. Mother always said that the only thing she really had to give me was a roof over my head, clothes and meals, and that anything else I wanted had to come out of my own money.' Shelagh felt her heart sink. 'When I arrived in Paris her words stayed with me and I realised that if I was going to survive there I would have to find work. I spent a few weeks working in a jewellers and that's how I met my ex-fiancé. When he asked me to live with him I told myself that, like my mother, he didn't have to give me anything and so I worked for everything I wanted. I even gave him the money for an engagement ring when he decided that he wanted to propose to me.'
'Oh, Magda, I'm so sorry.' Shelagh sighed.
'There's no need to be.' Magda reassured her. 'Those experiences just made me realise that I don't want my son or daughter to grow up like I did. I want my child to have all that it wants and I don't want it to grow up thinking that it has to work so that I will love it. I want to be the one to buy it toys and to work to provide for it. That's how it should be.'
'You're right.' The elder woman sighed with a kind smile as she drew Angela close. 'It's exactly how it should be.' Just as the two of them began to fall into a comfortable silence, they were immediately brought out of it by Teddy's cries from the floor above them. 'Oh, Magda, would you take Angela for me? It's time for Teddy's feed and he won't take it if I make him wait too long for it.' Magda nodded with a friendly smile before Shelagh reciprocated it as she stood from the settee, the au pair accepting a sleeping Angela into her lap before Shelagh pressed a kiss to the crown of her daughter's head. 'It's alright, Teddy, Mummy's coming!' She called up to him as she began to approach the spiral staircase.
As Magda held Angela close to her once Shelagh had disappeared upstairs she couldn't help but smile as the four-year-old readjusted herself in her lap, her small head coming to rest upon her shoulder before she nuzzled into her neck and gripped the freshly-ironed material of her dress in her small hand. The feeling of Angela's warm breath against her skin only made her fall more in love with the little girl whom she had grown to be rather fond of, and she realised that maybe being a mother wouldn't be so difficult after all. She found, as she held Angela close and began to rock her back and forth as Shelagh had done just minutes earlier, that she couldn't wait to do the same with her own baby.
Now she truly couldn't wait to be a Mummy.
'You were right to ask me to check her over, my love.' Patrick sighed as he removed the chest-piece of his stethoscope from Angela's small chest later that day, his little girl sat comfortably in his lap as he sat in his desk-chair and Shelagh was occupying the chair on the other side of his desk with Teddy babbling away in her own lap, their son's fragile fingers tugging on the small buttons that held her blouse closed. 'She's definitely got a chest infection.' Shelagh sighed deeply as she gazed lovingly over at her poorly little girl.
'My chest hurts, Daddy.' Angela whined as she tugged on his tie, her gentle brown eyes filled with discomfort and fatigue as it was impossible for her to sleep through the night.
'I know it does, Princess.' Patrick kissed her temple lingeringly before beginning to button up the front of her baby pink dress once more. 'But Daddy will give Mummy a bottle of medicine to take home so that she and I can give it to you in the mornings, after your lunch and before you go to bed, okay? And then, in a few days, you should start to perk up a little and then you can go back to nursery once this chest infection's cleared up.' Angela's eyes lit up at the thought of seeing her friends again, a beautiful smile upon her lips.
'So you're certain that there's nothing wrong with Teddy?' Shelagh spoke up a few moments later. 'He's alright?'
'He's completely fine, Shelagh.' Patrick smiled lovingly. 'There's nothing wrong with him and even if he does come down with what Angela's got, it won't be as bad. Especially not if you carry on breastfeeding.' Shelagh nodded with a gentle smile over at her husband before she stroked her little boy's hair affectionately, Teddy giving her a handsome smile.
'My gorgeous boy.' She cooed before leaving a slow kiss upon his tiny forehead. 'Patrick, do you remember how I said that I wanted to talk to you about what was bothering me?'
'Yes?' He replied with a warm smile as he held Angela close to him and allowed her to cuddle against him, feeling his heart swell with deep love for her as he adored the way that she always became so affectionate whenever she was under the weather; the way that she always had to be held tight against either his or Shelagh's chest.
'It's about Magda.' She sighed gently. 'Last night, when I told you that she was ill, I lied.'
Patrick's brow furrowed slightly. 'What do you mean?' He asked.
'She's not ill, she's - she's expecting a baby.' She admitted, her husband's eyes widening immediately.
'So you mean that whilst she's been living with us; whilst we've been -'
'No!' Shelagh was quick to correct him. 'No, she hasn't been sneaking out, she was pregnant when she arrived in Poplar.'
Patrick settled slightly then, drawing Angela slightly closer to him as she clung to the lapel of his jacket. 'Go on.' He prompted.
'Before she left Paris she was engaged to be married to a man named Feri but he was terribly abusive to her and so she took up work as an au pair in order to get away. She told me that the abuse started when he accused her of flirting with one of his closest friends when they had gone out for a meal one evening. She said that she'd tried to explain that it had been his friend making advances towards her, but he'd had none of it and had forbidden her to have any contact with men because he didn't trust her. Patrick, I think she took the job here as a way of going into hiding. I know that she enjoys working for us, but I think she's come to England so that he can't hurt her anymore.' Patrick nodded with a soft sigh. 'There's something more.' She told him softly. 'When we were talking this morning, before I came back to bed, I told her that she could stay with us for as long as she wanted to.'
'Shelagh,' Patrick gave her a small smile.
'I know I should have asked for your permission first but she was in such a state, I-'
'Shelagh.' He repeated himself with a gentle chuckle, smiling lovingly over at her when she met his gaze. 'It's alright, darling, I don't mind if she stays with us.'
'You don't?' Shelagh asked, her ice-blue eyes sparkling behind her glasses.
'Of course not.' He shook his head. 'She's incredible with the children, she's managed to get Timothy to do his chores and you've seemed so much happier since she arrived.'
'Was I not happy before?' Shelagh raised her brow at him.
'That's not what I meant.' He admitted. 'What I meant was that you've seemed so much more relaxed and you've been able to spend more time simply playing with Angela.'
'I have, haven't I?' She smiled over at her little girl who appeared to, much to her delight, be finally drifting off to sleep once again against her father's chest.
'Yes.' He nodded. 'We'll have to get Magda registered and ask one of the nurses at Nonnatus to give her checks and to deliver the baby when it comes, but that's easy enough.'
'I think we should ask Nurse Dyer.' She admitted. 'Magda's gotten extremely comfortable with her and they've formed quite the bond. I sent Magda to Nonnatus before I came.'
'I agree.' He reassured her. 'There was nothing for either you or Magda to worry about, my love, you could have woken me up earlier and we could have talked about this then.'
'She was worried.' Shelagh told him. 'She didn't want the baby before I spoke to her. She was planning on going to one of those...one of those backstreet butchers.'
'Have you told her how dangerous that is?' Patrick's eyes widened once more.
'Both I and Valerie have expressed that to her and she's sworn to both of us that she won't go near them. She wants her baby now that she knows we'll support her, Patrick, she told me. She wants to be a mother and I don't believe she's just saying that, because I saw it in her eyes. I see it in her eyes when she looks at the children.' Shelagh admitted.
'After dinner tonight you and I will sit down with Magda and talk about where we're going to go from here.' He told her. 'I want her to feel as comfortable as possible with this.'
'As I knew you would.' Shelagh shook her head lovingly at him before smiling down at Teddy as their son played with her necklace. 'I love you so much, Patrick Turner.'
'I love you too, Shelagh, and I am so proud of you.' He sighed, his gaze fixed solely upon her as she cooed down at their son.
She always made him so very proud of her.
'I'll telephone Nonnatus in the morning and get you registered.' Patrick reassured Magda as he and Shelagh stood beside her at the foot of the staircase that evening. 'And then, when it's time for your first clinical appointment, Shelagh will go with you and Nurse Dyer will run the tests that're required to make sure that you and your baby are doing well.'
'I don't know how to repay you both for all of this.' The young woman admitted as she smiled at the two of them. 'You've both done so much for me and the baby already.'
'No repayment is necessary.' Shelagh took her hand gently in her own before giving it a warm squeeze. 'You're one of our patients now as well as our friend, and we want to help you in any way possible.' Patrick nodded in agreement with his wife as he allowed his hand to rest upon the small of her back through her dress. 'Why don't you head up to bed, Magda? You look worn out and you might as well make the most of the rest that you get now, because getting comfortable isn't the easiest thing to do when you start showing.'
Magda nodded in response. 'Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Turner.' She smiled. 'And thank you both once again.' She then headed up the staircase, Patrick waiting until he heard her bedroom door close before he pulled his wife into his arms and caught her in a slowly passionate kiss. Shelagh, who's body was stiff in his arms for just a moment before she melted against him, hummed gently in contentment against his lips before slipping her arms loosely around his neck, her heart swelling with love for him as she drew him close.
'What was that for?' She breathed once the two of them had parted just moments later and Patrick had leaned his forehead against her own. 'Not that I'm complaining, mind.'
'Because you're my wife.' He reminded her. 'I love you more than I could ever hope to explain and I am never going to let you slip away from me, do you understand me?'
'I do.' She whispered, slipping her arms around his middle and laying her head down upon his chest. 'Oh, I love you.'
'Mmm...I love you too, Mrs. Turner.' He murmured as he pressed his smooth lips to her head in a warm and slow kiss, running his strong hand along her spine. 'Endlessly.'
Author's Note: Please review!
