Handfast

Chapter Four: Getting Past the Pretext

Based upon Call The Midwife, written by Jennifer Worth and developed by Heidi Thomas

- - The Turner Residence, The Next Morning- -

She and Aileen had made an enormous breakfast for everyone, which had been eaten at the table, at the hatch to the kitchen, and standing in various places where there was enough space to do so.

They had gone through a dozen and half eggs, most of a loaf of bread, several cups of porridge and an entire side of bacon. Timothy, who normally ate enough for a small army, seemed to be encouraged by his older male cousins.

At the moment, Aileen was being entertained by Timothy, and the men were admiring Angela. That left Shelagh and Auntie Jeannie in the kitchen, cleaning up after the whirlwind.

After a long silence, Shelagh finally mustered up the courage to bring the issue to a head. "Auntie, I appreciate your coming to visit, and meeting the children. But, I must know, why are you here? Surely not to evaluate my husband."

Auntie Jeannie finished drying the frying pan and turned to Shelagh. "You look very much like your mother. Did you know that?"

Shelagh shook her head. She had assumed she bore some kind of resemblance to her mother. She had photographs, and had - once - compared them to her own reflection. But, not, she hadn't realized how strong the resemblance was.

"You're about the age she was when she passed."

"I know." Shelagh nodded. "I thought about that often when I was being treated for tuberculosis. That I, too, may not live to see five and thirty."

"My mother died without having reconciled with your mother. I saw the pain it caused her on her death bed: to be surrounded by the entirety of her family, save one. When Aileen married a few months ago, I began to think.

"I will be a grandmother soon. And soon after that I will be an old woman. And soon after that, I will die. . . . Having never reconciled with my sister. Or her children. Seamus," she breathed his name. "He was such a bonnie lad.

"And you, Shelagh," Auntie Jeannie reached for her hands. "Had I stopped this foolishness years ago. Only the Lord knows what may have happened." She squeezed Shelagh's hands and smiled with glistening eyes. "It's time to put this foolishness behind us. Ye are my sister's daughter, and I will be grateful for all the family I have."

Shelagh sniffed and pulled her aunt into a hug. They stood for a moment, rocking each other, until Auntie Jeannie leaned back, inhaled sharply and smiled. "Enough of this blubbering. Let us finish these dishes and your son can entertain me with a grand story from his lad's club."

Shelagh laughed and turned back to the dishes. She kept glancing at her aunt out of the corner of her eye. For the first time in a very long time, Shelagh felt her mother's presence. In the room with them; with the two women closest to her.

- - END - -