15 November 1945

Patrick has been released today. I hope I am going to say that my wedding day or the day our first child will be born is going to be the happiest day of my life. But this day will always be coming very close to be another happy one.

Patrick will by now have arrived in Liverpool at his mother's. I think she deserves to spend some time alone with her son until he is going to join me the day after tomorrow. I have arranged for him to be staying in the vicarage next to Nonnatus House. The Sisters are already looking forward to meeting my fiancée and their future GP. Technically, he hasn't yet agreed to the post, as he has not been able to visit Poplar and the surgery and everything around it. But I am certain he will like it.

Most other doctors refrained from this task. Not Patrick. I know he is the right man for the task. He kept telling me how he wants to make a difference, and where better to do this than in an area where poverty is so rampant like here. He is an idealist, after all. Also I think he will be able to forget about the demons of war once he will be able to help people here to improve their lives and wellbeing.

I am so very glad he is fully healed. When I first visited him at Northfield I cried all the way back to London on the train. I thought I would never have him back. And I doubt he thought so himself. I will never fully understand just what it was that made him suffer so much. For now, all I am is glad for this darkest period in our lives being over, and for the war being over, too. I have him back, and now that he is healed, I want to cry again all day, but out of joy. I know, I should be grateful that he came home without any injuries, but seeing him there, just a shadow of his former self, broke my heart.

When we talked over the phone this morning we agreed on January 6thbeing our wedding day. As had already planned to spending Christmas together, and for Mrs. Turner to join us, she will certainly be happy to stay on a bit longer to attend the wedding. Mummy and I have invited Mrs Turner to stay with us and Patrick will join us for the holidays. I assume he will want to being working as quickly as possible.

I can't wait for Patrick to arrive, and for getting a new dress, picking up rings, everything. We won't have a large celebration. Patrick doesn't have much family left, and with little time remaining, we do not want to put too much effort into it. We are simply glad that we can say our vows.

Ted agreed to be Patrick's best man. He is back in London, and has joined a practice in Harley Street. I asked Catherine to be my maid of honour. She really is my oldest and best friend. I should warn her of Ted, though, he will certainly want to get to know her.

As for me, I haven't yet thought about what I am going to do with my life apart from getting married. With the war having ended and all the nurses coming back, they no longer need us assistant nurses, and I wasn't made for nursing in the first place. In fact I am more than happy I could finally leave it behind for good.

If I didn't have Patrick and they very real prospect of getting married very soon, I would resume teaching in an instant. I truly hope that one day I will be able to do what I always wanted to. For now, I will have to find us a flat, make us a happy home and, so I hope, have the child Patrick and I have been talking about a lot. We really can't wait for it to happen, and to be honest, I wouldn't mind for it to happen even before we got married. We have been waiting for too long, why waste another second?

"So you got married in 1946, but I was only born in 1947. Isn't it a shorter period of time until babies are born?" Timothy asked

Patrick cleared his throat. Now this wasn't a topic he felt keen on or prepared to discuss with an 11-year-old.

"Well, yes, son. Sometimes these things happen fast, sometimes they take a tad bit longer," he explained, hoping Timothy would be satisfied with it.

"And did you move here, into this flat, right away?"

"Patrick," Marianne exclaimed from the kitchen, as soon as she heard him enter their flat. "Patrick, guess what? We may have found our new home."

"How is that?" Patrick asked, when he entered the kitchen. He kissed his wife on the cheek and spun her around. "Tell me more, darling."

"Fred Buckle heard of it today and came by to tell me earlier," Marianne said, in an excited voice. "He already took me there to have a look, and it is perfect. It is near Kenilworth Row. A flat, and an adjacent building with rooms suitable for a small surgery. There are more rooms, you might even expand the surgery one day, you know, hire another doctor, perhaps, or have a few rooms for patients, like a small hospital or something."

Patrick raised his eyebrows. Hadn't he already thought his wife was the most perfect human being, he certainly would have thought so now. "This sounds perfect indeed," he exclaimed. "When can we have another look?"

"This is the best part," Marianne said. "It is empty. We can have it right now."

"Can we?" Patrick cried and lifted her up. "Mrs Turner, you are really quite tremendous."

"Well, there is one little thing, perhaps, but we can handle it?" Marianne added tentatively.

"What is it, love?" Patrick asked, his face slowly losing its smile.

"Well, the flat has seen better days. We would have to put in a bit of work," she began. "But Fred already offered to help us," Marianne added quickly. "Also, the adjacent building I spoke of was used for a storage. There is a lot of mold and dust and rubble, but I think once the rooms are cleaned and have a new coat of paint, they will make a perfect surgery for you."

Patrick's face fell. With the help of the Sisters they had found a very tiny flat not far away from Nonnatus House. They only had one bedroom and what was more like a large kitchen. With housing scarce, they had agreed to move in here first so as to be able to have their own household as Dr and Mrs Turner. Then they would be looking for their own flat.

Patrick had started working as the new GP for Poplar right after their wedding. With everything that had happened before, both were of the opinion that it wasn't the time for a honeymoon. Rather, both Marianne and Patrick were keen on starting their new life as it was.

For the first weeks, Patrick had worked along the former GP who operated out of a small, old-fashioned surgery. He dreamt of his own surgery, modern, airy, and situated near their flat so that he would be able to participate in family life despite his on-call schedules.

"Now, why don't we eat first and then see how we go about this?" he asked. With the housing shortage and a lot of buildings damaged and decayed because of the war, Patrick knew this was probably the best option they had right now.

And indeed, eight weeks later, he was able to carry Marianne over the threshold of their new flat. They had decided that they would renovate the flat first, as they needed the space. Just a few days after Marianne had told Patrick about the new place, she had told him more good news. She was pregnant, and due to give birth by January 1947. Therefore, more room was needed.

It was now July, the summer heat in full swing. Both Patrick and Marianne were very busy, but happier than either had been in a very long time. They had everything they had dreamt of. Patrick had recently begun to plan together with the sisters for the roll-out for the new National Health. He could talk for hours about this massive endeavour which would benefit so many people all over the country, but especially here, in the East End, where poverty was striking everywhere.

15 September 1947

I think I felt the Baby move for the first time. I must have noticed it for quite some time, but it only occurred to me today that the strange itching feeling I sometimes feel in my belly is the little being kicking. It feels like someone twitching or tickling me from inside, and I can't stop waiting for it ever since I noticed it consciously for the first time.

Patrick has been very excited when I told him. He said he won't be able to feel anything for another month or two, but he spent all evening putting his hand over the baby. We talked a lot about how this is really all we can ask for. I cannot believe how far we have come. A year ago, Patrick was still at Northfield, and we didn't even know when he would be released. And now we have our own flat, and we are making good progress on Patrick's new surgery. He plans to open it by next January. With the National Health coming along next year, he says he has to be prepared. He has high hopes that now, health care will become accessible to everyone, those in need will no longer be hesitant to seek medical help.