Chapter 8
"So what does this mean for me going to school?" asked Ivy as the broadcast came to its end. There was silence between Beryl and her girls for a while.
"Well, you listened to it – it means you are not going to be going for – for a while," said Beryl as she looked at the TV, as if waiting for it to change what had just happened. As if Johnson was going to return and say this was a big joke. She knew it wasn't. She also knew she should not be snapping at the girls.
Ivy was not going to go to school... that shattered something in her mother. She had watched of late as she had really buckled down to her studies. She had her GCSEs coming up and she had worked harder that year than she had at any other. Beryl felt sure she could say that for her child. She wanted to watch as she had got the rewards for that hard work, as she should do.
Now she was not going to get to see that. Or at least, not as she should.
She put an arm round her as she looked at Daisy, who was also digesting the consequences of what had been said.
"And I am not – not going to be able to go to the college or go and see William, am I?" asked Daisy.
William. The real reason she had not wanted to move to the abbey at all.
To Daisy, Beryl could sense it was as if the end of the world had been declared and she knew why. Both of her girls were so young and their education and their friends were the biggest part of their lives. But when it came to Daisy it was not just her friends.
Of late, she had found she was in the first flush of love with one of the lads from there village.
Beryl would cheerfully admit that had been a day she had been nervous about, but when she had met William it had not been the case.
He was a sweet lad – the sweetest and he really was quite taken with her Daisy. She had thought when one of her girls had found a lad, she was going to be on her defence to make sure they were going to treat her right, but William was so sweet that she had to say she had not had that worry. And they were sensible. They had only just become two and Beryl knew she did not have to be concerned they were going to become three anytime soon.
She had just known he was going to do the right thing and look after her, so William and herself had built a strong bond quickly as well.
Now they could not so much as have him up for a cuppa.
"No – not for now you cannot, love," said Beryl and she felt so sorry for the pair of them. She beckoned her elder daughter to her and put an arm round her as well.
It was going to be hard on every one at no mistake.
But it was going to be tough on the young and she so felt for her kids especially. She did not want to be in this situation and she did not want them to be in it either. Yet this was something they were going to have to face together.
For the first time in many years, Beryl sat with a daughter in each arm, holding them as they begun to accept life was about to be very different. For all of them.
X x x
"It is all going to be ok," Matthew said to his mother in law as they sat with Edith and Mary. He did not know if it was the truth and in actual fact, his main concern right then was to ring and check in his own mother but he was sure there was going to be time for that.
The immediate concern was Cora. She looked as if she was grateful for the words he had said.
It was then Sybil returned to the room and it seemed to Cora as if the shocks were not going to stop coming that tonight, for it was not as if she had come in on her own. Tom was with her.
And they were in lockdown.
There was a pause as they all begun to work out what the two of them had done.
Cora opened and shut her mouth a few times as she joined the dots.
"So you are locking down with us." Why fight it?
"I am," Tom confirmed. The way she had said it made him feel ashamed.
"Mama, I –"
"You are an adult and a nurse and my darling daughter and did you not talk to me."
Sybil had to say when her mother put it like that to her, it did sound as if it was fairly lame. She blushed a little. It had been a long time since her mother had taken this tone with her, especially in front of her siblings.
"I just wanted to see he was safe." Sybil said softly.
"Be that as it may, my point is I am no ogre and you could have spoken to me about this." Did she think her so heartless or unreasonable? "Oh do what you want, everyone else does." Said Cora as she got up. She looked as if she was feeling a bit defeated. "I have had enough of today and I am going to bed. Goodnight."
It did not occurred to her until she was up the stairs that she had said that to Sybil because she was a little jealous. There had been no need to take the tone she had or been so short with her. She wasn't sure how pathetic that made her, but she thought it had to be fairly.
Her daughter and the man she loved against the will of her parents had fought to be together over lockdown. The thought of being away from Tom for that long had been enough to sneak into the house. And as for Tom, he had had to know he was not going to get a very warm welcome here when he had been discovered – that there was going to be trouble when he was. But more than anything else, clearly he had thought it was more important for him to throw that to the wind and be with the women he loved. Thank god her daughter had found someone who above all else had a loyal heart.
Cora would love to deny it right then, but it did seem as if her own man did not love her that much. Or at least, that was how she felt.
When she got back to her bedroom, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.
How odd after the day she had had, that it was now her husband who was desperate to get in touch with her.
She thought for a moment she was not going to answer just to treat him the way she had been – but that was no good. No two wrongs ever made a right.
She knew that deep down, it was not going to change the fact he was not here and it was not going to mean they could see one another any sooner.
"Robert, it has been a hard night and I am going to go to bed," Cora said on answering the phone. Her tone was quite far removed from the one she normally used to greet him. She did not want to hear how sad he was they were apart and how sorry he was.
She thought about what she had realised about the way she had spoke to Sybil – but right then she apparently could not stop herself.
It was true that Robert had rung to say sorry to his wife once more, but he did not appreciate the way he had been spoken to just then.
His back was as up as hers was.
"Well, it was not easy for any of us to listen to what is said." He did not need to be there to know the affect the announcement had had on her. He knew her.
But he had no idea what was going on, she thought to herself and for the very first time she was glad Tom and Sybil had done what they had done for, her father was going to hate this. And she had the joy of telling him the young man was in his house – and as far as Cora was concerned that was where he was going to stay.
Even if she did not approve of the way the young couple had gone about things, it was clear to her mother that this way the way it was going to be.
"No," she murmured before dropping the bombshell. "Sybil snuck Tom in before the announcement was made - then when it came to end, she brought him into the room. He is going to lockdown with us," she said and she could hear the annoyance it stirred in him from the way he breathed.
"Well, I do not think we should let him stay seeing as he did just ask himself in." Robert fumed on the end of the phone. That was less reason to let him stay, as far as he was concerned.
"But that was not what happened at all was it - Sybil wanted to be with the man who she loved and make him safe, so she found a way to make it happen." Cora vocalised, not mentioning the fact she herself was still annoyed at the situation.
Robert did not know what was worst. What she was or what she wasn't saying.
"anyway, none of that matters now," Cora sighed. "Tom can't go anywhere. Lockdown's begun."
"Cora-"
"To send him out into the cold would be a betrayal of Sybil."
"A betrayal of Sybil? She has betray-"
"She is a member of the NHS and will soon be on the frontline. To support her, we all must stay at home."
"Cora-"
"I am tired, Robert. I'm tired. Is it anything urgent?"
There was silence.
"No – nothing. Goodnight, Cora. Sleep well."
"Goodnight."
X x x
Tom could not decide if he was worried about the way things had gone down on or not. The fact of it was, he had been when Sybil had presented him to her mother and he had wondered what he had got in to. After all, now he was here, they were all going to have to lockdown together and as did everyone else in the country, they had to make the best fist of it they possibly could.
And there was no denying that out of her mother and her father, the one who had been just a little more of his side than the other had been Cora.
Tom did not want to lose that support for the trouble he was well aware it could cause him and Sybil.
But it was too hard to be sad just then – or to regret his choice to lock down here.
Right then, they were in her bedroom, getting ready for bed.
He was already on the bed, sitting up against the headboard and she had put on her plaid pjs bottoms as well as a vest. Her hair was up in a bun and he had watched as she had taken her make up off. She looked relaxed and natural and he loved her more than ever.
"I think the two of us shocked your mother," he said to her at last.
They had not spoken about it yet.
"Yes – yes I suppose we did, and I have to admit I feel worse about it than I thought I would." She sighed. Her mother had been right of course. She had acted as if she was a teenager – not a newly qualified midwife.
Really at this point, her mother should be a friend to her but she had forced her back in to the role of parent that night. That wasn't fair.
"I know we are not meant to go anywhere but I will if you wish." He did not want to be in her bed against her will and the last thing he wanted to do was make it awkward between her and her mother. If she had had second thoughts, he wouldn't blame her.
"I do not wish that," she said as her head went up and she looked at him in the mirror on her vanity before she turned and went towards the bed he was laid on. "When I said I felt bad, I meant that I should have spoken to my mother more about what I was doing, not that I did not want you to be here with me. I want that more than anything else," she said as she leant over and kissed him.
They had spoken about moving in together more than once over the last six months. She had meant a flat somewhere of their own, but this was infinitely better than living apart.
She sat on the bed and looked at him. Frequently it was when Sybil had had a hard time at the hospital that she had come back with a hankering for him. That night he felt the same need from her.
His hand brushed up and down her arm. Maybe there were a few more words necessary.
"You know I am going to get a job – I have no intention of not paying my way," said Tom. He did not want her to think that of him.
"You know you do not have to tell me that – I know it," said Sybil, as she cupped his face. She did not need to be told what a hard worker he was. He was a grafter who had fallen on bad luck. Her salary was theirs at the moment as far as she was concerned, knowing he'd feel the same if things were the other way around.
And even if he did not then she was not going to hold it against him.
As far as she was concerned, they were partners and if she had her way then they were going to be for life. He was going to be her man and her best friend and her partner in crime so if she had to carry him finically, then she would for as long as was required.
"I can't say your sisters looked thrilled at the idea of me being here for lockdown."
"Oh, I do not want you to think on that too much – I think they are more angry papa was not here. You're just a distraction for that anger."
"A distraction hey?" he asked with a wee smile that made her heart flutter.
"Tom," she said as she leant forward and their forehead kissed. "Darling I know it is not ideal but - but we are together. Living together."
He beamed at that thought and then forgot about words. He used his hands to talk as his fingers lifted the bottom of her vest and Sybil's own sort the top of his boxers, which he was soon relieved of.
X x x
"Sybil can be a bit of a nightmare, but I do not believe she did that to mama today," said Mary as she got into the room she shared with Matthew when they were at the abbey. He had gone ahead of her to bed, to give her some time to quietly fume.
The bedroom they currently shared had not been the one she had had as a girl but it was the one they had shared on their wedding night which she had to say made it more her and Matthew's room. Attached was a small sitting room. While it was not said it was their own when they were, there was no need for anyone else to use it and Mary would like to think no one else would.
At least it meant they were going to have a degree of privacy while the at the abbey and she was grateful for that. That was where she had sat for a while before turning in for bed.
"I am sure she only did it because she wanted to be with Tom." If he had a feeling the two of them were going to be separated for a while and he wanted to prevent that happening, he was sure he – in truth, they - would do much the same.
"Oh do you have to be on her side? You do annoy me when you stick up for people I am annoyed at," she said in a rather accusing manner and was further irritated when it made him chuckle.
The thing was though, he did not need to be told that was half the reason the two of them had got married. For all her protests, the last thing in the world his Lady Mary Crawley would want is a yes man.
"I know I do, my darling," he said with a smile.
"I note that is not an apology," she hummed as she took her jewellery off for the night, setting down the earrings she had been wearing.
He was not going to tease her too much. He knew she had been less than impressed with her family that day. Sybil yes, but more particularly her father.
Still, resistance was futile. "Nor shall you get one off me." She hated that his tone forced her lips into a smile.
She hummed once more for she knew there was no good in arguing with him when he was in that mood, even though she did like a good argument and had been known for it.
The two of them got ready for bed in relative silence.
Soon, they lay in the dark, her head on his chest.
"This is going to be a very different year, isn't it?" she said as she listened to his heartbeat.
"Yes darling, it is."
Matthew held her a little tighter, shut his eyes and wondered what would come next. He fell into strange dreams of hospital wards and missing ventilator's and more alarming statistics than he cared for.
The last face he saw before he opened his eyes was that of his mother. One minute she was a nurse, but then she was a patient.
He didn't remember enough of it to make head nor tail of it when he awoke.
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Apologies for the delay on this chapter!