This is from S2e7. I also wrote Chapter 7, The Visitor about this episode, which is not canon, but a favorite of mine.
Patrick was contemplating as he turned the bread. He thought there were better dinners to offer his son, but at least it wasn't more fish and chips.
He had felt himself feeling more hopeless as the weeks wore on. Summer had faded and he still had no word from Sister. Was he foolish to keep writing to her?
He still felt foolish remembering back to his conversation in the parish hall kitchen with Nurse Franklin. When she said that Sister's letters were regular, he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. In an effort to mask his pain, he acted silly.
Shaking his head as he set another bread in the hot lard, 'Tickety boo and marvelous'. He sounded ridiculous and then he was so flustered, he dropped his spoon. His attempt to nonchalantly ask of news of Sister Bernadette failed miserably and he managed to draw more attention to himself.
He set the golden bread on the table proud that even with his musing he hadn't burnt any. Sitting with his son for a meal, albeit late in the evening, he attempted to make light conversation.
He asked Tim about his day and Tim ventured into a story from play time. The boy did have a way of making Patrick laugh as he recounted his schoolmates antics.
The gloom that had possessed him earlier had lifted until Tim asked, "When will Sister Bernadette come home?"
"I don't know Tim. TB is a disease that requires a long time to recover."
Oh how he wished he knew the answer. He just wanted to hear her sweet lilt and look into her blue eyes.
"Do you think she got the moth?"
"Nurse Franklin assured me that she had and was quite pleased about it."
He didn't tell Tim that Nurse Franklin herself had found the gift odd. Patrick should have felt slighted for his son, but a part of him agreed. Sister was too good to slight anyone. Well anyone, but him as his letters went without response from her.
Patrick knew he wasn't just anyone. He was a man who had inappropriately done the unforgivable. He ignored her vows the day of the fete. She was forced to ignore his letter, because to acknowledge them would be to admit she cared for him too.
After tucking Tim up in bed, he sat with pen in hand and scrolled another letter. He shared news and everything he longed to tell her. He stopped short of the one thing he truly wanted to say, because that would be inappropriate and unforgivable.