It was a beautiful day. A light wind helped to keep Milton's smoke at bay allowing the summer sun to shine through. Margaret was sitting at her desk writing a letter. She sighed as she turned to look out of her bedroom window. She wished she could have gone out for a walk with John and little Hannah but she was relegated to the house for the rest of her confinement. Due any day now, she probably would not have been able to walk very far anyway.
Having finished writing her letter to Edith she stood up and walked to the open window. The breeze felt cool upon her face. With one hand resting on the top of her belly she surveyed the mill yard outside her window. Just then she saw them. Her husband and their three year old daughter walking hand in hand through the mill gates. Or more precisely, John was walking and little Hannah was skipping happily, a broad smile on her face and a bunch of wildflowers grasped tightly in her hand.
It was Hannah who spied Margaret first as John was too engrossed in watching his daughter.
'Look, there's Mama. Hello Mama!' she yelled and waved her flowers in greeting.
John immediately turned his head to follow her gaze and saw the pregnant profile of his wife in their bedroom window. He flashed her that smile. The one meant only for her.
Hannah let go of her father's hand and ran to the house. Too little to open the door herself she had to wait for her father who didn't take his eyes off the upper window until he reached the stone stairs.
As he pushed the door open, Hannah took off again running for the stairs and yelling, 'Mama, Mama, I picked some flowers for you!' over and over again until she reached her parent's room.
Margaret met her at the door receiving a big hug around her knees as her girth made it impossible to pick her daughter up. She lovingly tousled Hannah's hair with one hand as she held onto the door frame with the other to maintain her balance.
At this point John arrived and extricated his wife from their daughter's grasp. He lifted the little girl in his arms and leaned in to give Margaret a kiss. Hannah giggled.
'How are you feeling?' John asked, rubbing his wife's back that he knew would be sore.
'As well as can be expected,' was her reply, 'How was your walk?' Though the question was directed at John, Hannah answered it.
'We walked to the park and I ran in the grass and I picked you these flowers,' Hannah stated proudly. She held out the bouquet for her mother.
'Thank you my darling, they're beautiful, just like you,' Margaret accepted them gladly and gave her daughter a kiss on her forehead.
Hannah squirmed out of her father's arms and declared, 'We need to put them in water.'
Charmed by their daughter's antics, John and Margaret watched as Hannah skipped over to Margaret's bedside table and picked up Bessy's cup.
'This will do delightfully,' she declared as she skipped back to her parents.
Grabbing her father's hand and pulling him toward the washstand she said, 'Daddy you must pour the water since Mommy should not lift anything.' John smiled and Margaret let out a giggle. He let Hannah lead him to the washstand and poured some water into the cup.
'Is that enough, my little one?' he asked.
'Yes, that will do. Thank you, Daddy,' she replied. 'Please give me the flowers Mama.'
Margaret handed Hannah the flowers. She put them in Bessy's cup and set them on her mother's bedside table. She then began to arrange the the blossoms as she had often seen her mother do when her father brought flowers. Those were always yellow roses.
'There Mama, won't that do nicely?' Hannah asked.
Glancing at her husband with a broad smile, Margaret replied, 'Yes Darling, they're perfect.'