Christmas Eve was filled with work for Julie. She felt herself resenting her lazy brothers with every task. When they came home from the pub, they were pissed.
Albert wasn't, but he had Linda Vaughan on his arm. They'd been together since they were fifteen and were quite serious. Seeing them made Julie miss Tim.
Now that both Linda and Bert were eighteen, she expected they'd be engaged. Their father didn't like Linda much. He thought she'd made Bert soft. He and her youngest brother, Charlie were the best of the lot. She could imagine them getting on with Tim.
When Walter stopped in for some mince pies and brandy butter. Henry announced, "Julie's beau is here."
She tried to argue, but her mother squeezed her arm. She'd known Walter since they were babies. Right before she moved to London, they went to one dance together as friends. She hadn't known that it meant more to Walter and their mothers.
Julie whispered to Carole, "Come for a walk. I want to call Tim." Turning to her mother, she said, "Carole and I are going for a walk."
Muriel called out, "Walter go with Julie."
Once outside, Julie said, "I want to call Tim."
"Why doesn't he call you?" Walter asked.
"Because I'm afraid my father will answer the phone."
Walter nodded in understanding.
"Daddy doesn't approve of anyone, but you Walter. I'll never get married," Carole said.
Julie suppressed a smile, her sister was trying. Julie suggested, "You should walk up the High Street together and take in the lights."
This time Tim answered. "How was your day?"
"Busy. My sister has a crush on the man my mother wants me to marry."
"I thought your sister was young like Angela."
"She's almost seventeen, that's six years."
"Six years!"
Julie laughed, "Tim, what about your dad and mum?"
"But she's still a child…"
"Not really. You told me Angela's mum was sixteen."
"But that was the nineteen-fifties."
"Just for what a few more months. Tim? Why are we arguing about this?"
"We're not. We're discussing, but I should be telling you that I love you."
Her stomach felt funny and she tingled just hearing those words. "I love you too. We were silly to waste our call. I miss you."
"Happy Christmas Jules."
"Happy Christmas. Bye."
She didn't move out of the box for a few moments. When she stepped out, she heard her sister's laugh.
##
"Tim dear, how's Julie?" Shelagh asked.
"She's been busy helping her mum. I think her family is very different from ours."
"We know she grew up without, but we're certainly familiar with that plight," Shelagh reminded him.
"No, I mean attitude. The girls are outnumbered, but the boys won't help in the kitchen."
"Tim, we're a bit unusual. Mum has always worked and we were on our own. We learned to do what must be done," Patrick said.
Shelagh replied, "Any wife, even one who only works in the home would appreciate a husband who does the washing up and bathes the children."
"Shelagh, our children bathe themselves."
"Of course, Patrick, but I always liked it when you did the baths."
Tim walked away, because his father winked and he didn't want to think about what he was implying.
They woke early on Christmas morning, because Teddy still believed that Father Christmas had come. Tim laid in bed hoping his father would pretend to sleep for a long while. Unfortunately Teddy quickly came in to disturb Tim's rest.
"Come on, Tim. Get up, get up!"
"Alright. I'll get up."
Gifts and breakfast happened all before a time that Tim would still like to be sleeping. He wondered if Julie was up early to put in the turkey. He didn't know the Miller family traditions and hadn't thought to ask.
Later he decided to call her. He would have to meet her father eventually, so…
He asked politely to speak to her.
"Who is this?"
"Timothy Turner, her… um… friend."
"Friend aye…"
"Tim!"
"Happy Christmas Jules. I had to call."
"Happy Christmas. How's it at your house?"
"Teddy had us up with the birds, the ones who aren't frozen." She didn't laugh. He asked, "What's wrong?"
He could barely hear her, as she said, "My whole family is staring at me and listening."
"Oh, sorry. Maybe the phone box is a better idea."
"I told you," she said finally laughing.
"I concede."
"What'd you get?"
"Just a jumper and odds and ends. You?"
"The later. Carole got me a book, that I've wanted to read."
"A literary classic?"
"Not even close. I've got to go."
"Call me later?"
"I'll try. Bye."
He hadn't thought that she wouldn't have privacy.
##
"Julie who's your boyfriend?" George asked.
"He said his name is Timothy…" her father replied.
"Turner, Dad. He's called Tim. I met him last February."
"You've been seeing this boy since February and you never told us," Muriel said in a hurt voice.
"What happened to meeting a girl's family? This world is falling apart. Women don't know their place anymore."
Julie breathed deep and said, "Dad, we started off slowly. We don't even see each other every week, because he's at Oxford and will be for a few more years."
"Oxford! Well la de da!" her father said.
"How old is this bloke if he is still studying?" Bert asked.
"He'll be twenty-six. He's training to be a GP."
"A doctor," Carole sighed.
"Are you going to sit around getting old while you wait for him to become a doctor?" Muriel asked.
"Why would a doctor want to marry you? He's going to dilly dally with you and leave you disgraced…"
"Dad! I would never be disgraced and why wouldn't he marry me? Not that we've discussed it…"
"Because his family wouldn't approve…" Junior answered.
"That's not true, his mum and dad like me. Why can't anyone be happy for me?" she asked trying to hold back the tears.
"I am," Carole said. "I think it's romantic."
"A doctor, you say. Well you know, I'm fit as a fiddle, I haven't needed a doctor since Charlie was born," Muriel said quite proudly.
Julie looked at her mother and in that moment realised that her mum was in denial about not needing a doctor. The woman woke every morning complaining about her knees. She was out of breath and had to be at least fifteen stone. If Tim met her mother would he throw Julie aside for fear that her girth would expand like her mother's? He liked how his hand fit around her waist and only a giant's hand could fit around her mother's waist.
Later Julie was washing up in the kitchen whilst Carole dried and her mother looked on.
"Mum are you happy that I found someone that I care about?"
"I don't want you to pin all your hopes on this fella. Three years, you say. That is a long time. A lot can change in three years and you'll be too old to find another man. A girl needs a man, you don't want to work your whole life."
"You have a man and you work, always have," Julie reminded her.
"It's not that one man, but the babies. The Lord saw fit to give me too many boys and only you girls to help me out."
"Mum, you do know that men can do the washing up… some even cook."
"Not in this house, they don't," her mother said.
"Well Tim does and I like him all the more for it."
In the end, Julie returned to London early. It was not any one thing, but she couldn't stand to be treated like a servant by ungrateful brothers when she could be with Tim.
After he met her at the station, he asked, "Was it that bad?"
"Let's see my mother wanted me to marry the boy next door, my father thinks you'll disgrace me and my mother is convinced I'm wasting my good years waiting for you and will end up an old maid and my brother..."
She stopped realizing that she said too much already.
"What did your brother say?" he asked gently.
"Nothing…"
She couldn't tell Tim that her brother said that she wasn't good enough for a doctor to marry. Finally he convinced her to spit it out.
"Jules look at me. I hadn't looked towards the future with us, because it is still so far away, but when I finally did, I only saw one future that made any sense to me. Believe me, you are absolutely good enough to marry a doctor."
"Tim?"
What was he saying to me? What does he mean?
"Obviously it is too soon and you may find some bloke you like better, but I want to be with you always."
"If you ever meet my family, you'll change your mind," she said trying to make light of the moment.
"I wouldn't be marrying your family. Would I?"
(note: If you like my work, I publish original work on Wattpad under the name Pseudoannie. I have a non CtM, grittier Unexpected and more.)