After a delicious, but awkward meal, Tim found himself in the garden alone with Mr. Miller. He stood trying to look calm whilst the older man lit his Players and took a long drag. Mentally he started doing the maths to figure out how long it had been since his dad gave up the Henleys. Angela must have been about two and so it was thirteen years now.

His mind was jerked back to the overgrown garden when Mr. Miller said, "Why are you turning my girl's head? She may be fun for you, but she deserves better than a posh Oxford boy. I'm not stupid, I know what you're attracted to."

Tim clamped his jaw, so it wouldn't hang open. He found it quite degrading that a father would think so little of his daughter. Tim understood Julie better by the second. He loved her all the more to think she had a sense of humor after being raised by this - man.

"I assure you that I would never disrespect your daughter. She is the one who has turned my head from the first time she spoke to me."

Tim watched as he took one last drag and threw his butt on the ground. Then he lit up another. Tim decided, he may have underestimated Mr. Miller as the older man was stalling in an attempt to intimidate him.

"And you expect me to believe that is what you like about her…"

"What I love about Jules is her warm heart, her sense of humor and her strength. She has had men after her for the reasons that you are implying, but she doesn't allow it."

Tim answered with confidence. He knew if Julie ever had to choose between the two of them, he would be the victor. Not that he ever wanted her to be in that situation.

"I knew when she went off to London she'd sully herself," he spat.

"Sir, with all due respect, she has not done anything that you're implying. You and Mrs. Miller raised her right, just as my mum and dad raised me. I intend to marry her and I hope that you will give us your blessing."

"Why do you think you want to marry her?"

Tim wished her father had more respect for her, but answered simply, "Because I love her and she loves me."

"I'm sure she loves the idea of being married to a doctor."

"Actually I was raised by a GP and I know that being a GP's wife is not all it's cracked up to be… long hours, phone calls in the middle of the night. It has gotten better than when I was a boy, but it is not as posh of a life as you imagine. Still Julie knows about all that and I'll be a lucky man if she'll have me."

"Don't you have a lot of years yet?"

"Yes and we can't marry until I finish and join my father's surgery."

"Your father won't approve."

Tim let out a nervous laugh and said, "My parents love her. Julie visits my family more than I do."

"So you'll take her away from her mother, then?" he said sounding more like statement than a question.

Tim thought, I'll take her away from waiting on you. Looking around, he thought, how ironic that he commands the women to keep the inside of the house pristine, but the outside requiring manual labor is sorely neglected.

"Julie had already made a life for herself in London before I met her."

Tim wanted to tell the man that his wife needed a lot of things and Julie living nearby was just one of them. He had been there long enough to see that the woman needed a doctor and a husband that didn't treat her like a servant. None of those things would escape from Tim's mouth, whilst he was waiting on permission to marry Jules.

"I've never been able to stop that girl from doing whatever she pleased. You might as well try your luck controlling her then. If she wants you then that's that."

"Thank you, sir," Tim said.

As he returned to the house and Jules, he knew the one thing he would never want to do was control her. Her free spirit was one of the things he loved most.

##

Julie paced the kitchen and kept peeking out the window whilst Tim was with her father. They stood a far distance away from each other as if each man was protecting what was his. The problem was they both thought she was his and only one was right. Her father no longer had any control over her life. She was an adult and financially independent. True she was scraping by, but she didn't look to her father for assistance. He wouldn't give her any if she did.

When Tim finally entered the kitchen behind her father, she saw him wink and she knew that it had gone alright. Thankfully her father kept walking into the sitting room leaving her and Tim alone in the kitchen. She instinctively fell into his outstretched arms. This was the one place in the world that she truly belonged. Hearing his heart and feeling his warmth and the security of his strong arms was all she needed. He was afraid to kiss her in this house, but she could see he wanted to when she looked up at him and asked about their talk.

"Jules, he agreed, but I wish he saw you the way I do. He can't understand why I want you and he thinks that the reasons are ungentlemanly."

"I don't know why he thinks that I'm like that. Mum always taught me right from wrong. The only thing he has taught me is how to be subservient."

Tim laugh and said, "The girl, I love failed that lesson and I'm glad of it. I'd rather spar with my wife than have her…"

"What? Act like my mum?"

Tim nodded. Julie sensed the difference in the Turner marriage. Every time Mrs. Turner met Dr. Turner at the door and they greeted each other with a kiss, she thought of her father. He greeted her mother most days with a demand for dinner.

Her parents never showed much affection. She was more convinced than ever that she wanted a marriage like the Turners. After Tim left to go to Kate's for the night, she told her mum about how they planned to marry when Tim was done training.

"You'll have plenty of years of doing your wifely duty, don't allow it before you're even a wife," her mother said.

"Mum, wifely duty?" she asked.

"I thought you were worldly. You'll understand when you're a wife, but my best advice is to close your eyes and hope it's over quickly."

"You mean the first time because it might hurt?" Julie asked confused.

"I mean every time he starts pawing you. It usually never lasts longer than a few minutes."

Julie didn't know what to say. That certainly wasn't what movies and books led her to believe. For the first time, she began to wonder if her mother even loved her father. She imagined her union with Tim would be very different, but it was too long away to think about.

Thinking of love she said, "Mum, you know Carole's spending a lot of time with Walter."

"He's a good man. I expect they'll be married before you… once she's eighteen."

"Will Dad allow it?" Julie asked surprised.

"He approves of Walter. He's one of us..."

"...He's not a stranger from London like Tim," Julie completed her mother's thought.

"I like your young man. Your brothers didn't know what to think when he helped you clear the table."

"He is nothing like the boys. I would have ran in the other direction if he were," Julie assured her. Tim, she thought was one of a kind.