Chapter VII

"I can't believe that I'm leaving tomorrow morning." Leslie said when she finished off knitting the little hat for Julia's baby.

Leslie, Faye and Julia were sitting together in the Sunflower House's living room, knitting furiously, and enjoying their last cup of cocoa all together before Leslie would leave the next day. It was a lovely afternoon, the last day of the second week of March and they were all expecting Blythe and Gilly to come back from work in any second.

"I know, it all went so incredibly fast." Julia said and smiled at her finished sock with pride "Leslie, I won't thank you enough for teaching me how to knit! Now I know that I can truly do anything!" she chuckled and the girls around her giggled.

"You certainly can." Leslie agreed with a grin "I'm quite happy that I'm coming back, although I really did need a nice vacation like this one."

Faye looked at her under her the sweater she was knitting with shining eyes "Are you happy because you will see Roland?" she asked her and both she and Julia exchanged knowing glances.

"I knew you would think about that first!" Leslie said and rolled her eyes "Well, but whether I like it or not, it's true." she sighed and then grinned at her sisters-in-law "I suppose that's what being in love feels like, isn't it?"

"It depends, Leslie." Julia said slowly "The longing to see the person doesn't necessarily show that you're in love."

"I must agree, I'm afraid." Faye added and Leslie looked at both of them with confusion.

"You don't approve of Roland, do you?" she outbursted "From the moment I came here and talked about him and about what he is like, you always say that it's not only "this or that" that shows you that you're in love." she crossed her arms.

"Leslie don't be cross." Julia said kindly and put her hand on Leslie's arm "We just want you to be happy and we worry about you and that maybe you rush too much into a relationship with… Roland." Julia said the last word as if it was the most shocking thing in the whole world.

"But I am in love with him, and I don't see why you should be worried." Leslie said convincingly "Roland is a perfect gentleman but he can be wicked at times, just what I think is the best for me, because I am wicked myself." her eyes twinkled with craziness which made both Julia and Faye look at each other with concern.

"But Les," Julia said again "Is that all he is? Half gentleman and half wicked?" she asked her with furrowed brows.

"Of course not, you goose!" she replied cheerfully and Julia looked at her angrily when she used the word "goose" just as if she was talking to a child!

Faye shook her head "Leslie, we just want you not to rush into anything which you might regret." she said warmly.

"I won't marry all of a sudden, don't worry about that." she chuckled "You two will be the first ones to know anyway."

Julia and Faye exchanged their glances again and rolled their eyes in unison, at the same time Blythe's and Gil's chatter filled up the room as they entered it, making the whole atmosphere less tense than it was just a few seconds ago.

"Hello ladies!" Gil said joyfully and kissed his wife's forehead "How was your day so far?" he asked and sat down by Faye's side.

Blythe kissed Julia's nose tenderly and sat down by her side, putting his arm around her shoulders "Knittingly good." Julia replied with a grin reserved only for her husband.

They all laughed light-heartedly "I knew you would learn knitting in a blink of an eye, Sheba." Blythe said to his wife and looked at her proudly.

She giggled "I don't think five days is a blink of an eye, Blythe Ford!" she said and then pointed at the not-small column of knitted baby-clothes lying on the table in front of them "Now I have all the clothes I need for the first two months after the baby's arrival. Then…" she sighed "I will just buy clothes."

Faye chuckled "I think I will too, when it will be my turn just three months after you." she said and touched her round stomach gently.

Leslie sighed, as if she just turned back from a dream-land "I'm sure of one thing." she said "There will never be not enough clothes for either of your babies." and with this everyone else had to agree.


Just few days after Leslie came back to Glen, Julia had three other visitors whom she expected most of all, and welcomed them with open arms full of brownies (which were not burnt) and hot tea.

Lake, Gladys and Roxanna came down to the Sunflower House to check up on "their patient" as well as share some gossip from work and their lives.

They were all sitting in the dining room, and when Blythe saw them all as he came back from work, he said that they looked positively gleaming. They really were gleaming, and each of them was gleaming on their own way.

Lake was as always dressed in the most fashionable clothes possible, wearing a simple navy-blue dress with pretty little buttons attached to the top of it with high heels resting on her feet. Her dark curls were curlier than ever and her dark-dark eyes were shining with the secret she was about to share with her only friends.

Gladys, was wearing her best "old but good" brown dress, which unfortunately wasn't especially pretty but her hair was pinned up beatifully with the most perfect old, shining, diamond brooch.

Roxanna, looked like an angel and even though she wore a simple knitted sweater and a long grey skirt her face was radiating with hope and strength which she was always bringing with her to the world around her.

Finally Julia herself, the proud and excited mother-to-be, glowing in her new yellow dress matching her short dark-red hair. Her eyes were twinkling with this very special gleam reserved just for those women who knew what happiness awaits them in a very short period of time.

"I'm so glad that all of you are fine and not overworked because of me." Julia said and took a bite of her brownie.

"Oh, please Bath," Lake waved her hand "You had to stop working. I wouldn't let you work even if you would scare me with a knife in your hand." she chuckled and so did the girls around her.

"I know, and I'm glad in a way." Julia relied "My legs are swelling up and I hate it so much. I thought that now, when I'm at home, I can go out and have a walk with Mrs Veratti whenever I like, but now it only proves me wrong." she sighed but then grinned "Do you have any exciting news to tell me, girls?" she asked them eagerly.

Roxanna and Gladys shrugged but Lake squeaked and everyone looked at her curiously "What is it?" the three of them asked her in the same moment and Lake put her right hand in front of their eyes. There was a shining diamond ring on her fourth finger.

They all gasped "You're engaged!" Julia breathed out and smiled at her friend happily.

"Yes," Lake replied proudly "My Lucas proposed just yesterday." she squeaked in joy again.

"At last, I should say." Gladys said calmly.

"Congratulations Lake." Julia said to her friend and kissed her cheeks "I wish you two the best of luck. At least half as much as I have with my Blythe." she grinned radiantly again, looking at her wedding picture hanging on the wall next to her.

"Yes, Lake, congratulations from all of us." Roxanna joined in and smiled at her friend kindly.

"Thank you, dear girls." Lake replied cheerfully "Our wedding will take place in May, somewhere in the middle and of course Roxanna and Gladys will have to be my bridesmaids." she looked at her two friends with sympathy "Unfortunately, you Julia are already married." she shook her head in disappointmet.

"Oh well," Julia replied "I will enjoy looking at you walking down the aisle from my seat just as much if I was walking behind you." she smiled tenderly at Lake.

"I wonder when my turn will come? Or maybe I will be an old-maid forever?" Gladys said absent-mindedly, only realising that she said something after few seconds when she looked at Lake with regret "I'm sorry, I didn't want to spoil your news." she said.

"Oh, you didn't, dear." Lake said to her with a grin "We all know you worry about your old-maid-thing, but really you shouldn't."

"But how can I not when I'm thirty one years old!" she said in despair and Julia put her hand on her arm.

"Gladys, you have to take things slowly. You still have time, besides it's better you wait till you're thirty than to marry a wrong man at twenty!" she said.

"I agree with you entirely." Roxanna added and put her small hand on Gladys' gigantic one "So don't worry. You have us all anyway." she smiled at her.

Gladys let out a smile "Thank God I have such wonderful friends!" she said and then turned to Lake excitedly "At least I will have the opportunity to be a bridesmaid! That must be half as exciting as being a bride and so I will be able to imagine how it is to be one myself!"

The girs looked at her friend and laughed as one voice, causing Blythe who was sitting in his office and preparing another lesson for his students, to stop writing and laugh too.


A week before Easter, Mr and Mrs Veratti, accompanied by their son Patrick, came to the Sunflower House with two bowls, one bowl was full of pasta and the other full of the Fords' favourite dessert, tiramisu.

"They all look so nice together," Julia thought that evening looking at the whole Veratti family "-so happy with just sitting next to each other." With this thought, her dreams of having a family so full and happy started to grow in her mind even more than ever before.

But they did look happy, each of them equally.

The Verattis and Julia with Blythe sat down together in the dining room, and talked about how much they life changed since the last time they saw each other, which was four days earlier. The Fords and the Verattis were very close friends and always open for helping each other, in everyday's life.

"Julia and I would like to suggest you something, which hopefully you will accept." Blythe said offically.

The Verattis looked at him with interest in their eyes "I'm sure we will." Jenny said with a smile.

"We would like you three to agree on coming with us to Glen for the four-days-long Easter next week." he said and grinned at his wife who looked at them expectantly.

Lorenzo whooped and his wife gave a small squeak whereas Patrick clasped his hands together and then grinned from ear to ear "It's so nice of you to invite us!" Jenny said joyfully "Of course we will accept the offer, even if we have to sleep on the floor." she chuckled.

"Oh, you won't sleep on the floor, I assure you." Julia laughed.

"Oh, thank Goodness!" Patrick siged with relief and they all chuckled, his mother giving him a playful pinch in the arm.

"You will stay at Ingleside with our Grandparents as they insisted on you doing so. They really loved you from the very first sight." Blythe added with a grin.

"We loved them the minute we saw them too." Lorenzo said cheerfully "They are so kind and very interesting!"

"That's settled then." Patrick concluded.

"I have a feeling that this Easter is going to very very special." Julia said and she couldn't be more right about that, although she didn't know it then.


Dear Bathsheba,

This letter is quite different from all the others because it is written from both me and Claire who is sitting right next to me in this very second.

Claire, her sweet son Miller and her husband Lewis came all together to Kensington to stay with us for a weekend and I couldn't be happier to see them all. Claire looks as beautiful as always (she is laughing now) and her husband shows off how proud he is wherever he's going. Miller is such a darling boy of just one year of age, who is giggling ever since he came here.

He looks exactly like Claire, I must say, but has his father's lips and forehead. Claire is such a lovely mother, and she said to us once that she won't have a single baby in her life! Wasn't she silly, tell me Bath?

I'm glad you liked the picture of my own Artemesia. She is very pretty, isn't she? Niall said that she looks just like me, but I'm not sure if that's such a good thing, I'm not even that pretty (Claire is laughing again! Can you believe it?). But all in all, my baby girl is beautiful and in my opinion she looks half like me with her round face and frecles, and half like Niall with her blue eyes and lovely blonde curls. She is an angel.

Claire and I can't wait for your baby to arrive. He or she will be just perfect and I know it! Claire thinks that you should have a boy but I prefer you to have a girl, and for her to be as crazy as you are, you old thing!

Well, anyway, tomorrow all of us are going together to Covent Garden and I know that you will be the one who will be missed the most. I still can't believe I haven't seen you for almost a year now! And Claire didn't see you in three years! (We both sigh now)

Artemesia is sleepy and I will have to put her to her cot therefore I'm putting my pen into Claire's hand and she will write you a few words.

Dearest Julia, I am so happy to meet up with Olive eventually! It's so weird to meet up with her when we both have little babies in our arms. But it's very wonderful, and I really can't wait to finally make up my mind and come and visit you in the Canada of yours someday.

Lewis and I are thinking about moving to London, Lewis got a job in the office near the Tower Bridge you see. Grandmama isn't pleased at all and thinks that it is really bad environement to bring up a child in, I worry myself but Lewis says that we will have to move after the summer because this job is well, really well-paid.

Anyway, I think I will have to go and put my little one to his cot too, as he is peacefully asleep in my arms now, and making me hard to write.

All of us wish you all the best for the Easter holidays,

Alwyas Yours,

Claire and Olive