Chapter XXIV

16th June 1943

Dear Diary,

A few days ago British 1st Division took the Italian island of Pantelleria and captured over 11 000 Italian troops. Accidentally, on the same day, my dearest brother Selwyn got shot in the back and is now at the hospital in Paris.

This is the reason I didn't write in here for more than a week's time because as soon as we received was a telegram stating that Second Lieutenant Selwyn Ford has been shot and is in a critical state in a hospital in Paris, Mum almost fainted and that alone almost caused me to faint as well. Mummy is supposed to deliver her baby, and my future sibling, in the next three weeks so we all felt really worried about her reaction especially. But after she fanned herself a little, drank a glass of water and sobbed in Dad's arms she calmed herself down and then ordered me to bring her her knitting from upstairs as she decided to knit a scarf for her "baby Selwyn".

I couldn't sleep that night at all and I cancelled all of my music lessons for the next day. However, that didn't mean I didn't play myself, I made myself play the piano (which I find the most challenging for myself because I spend the least of my time playing it) all day long to focus my mind on something else. Daria was truly doing her best, bless her kind heart, to explain to all of us that a shot in the back and loss of blood isn't something that is 100% fatal and that she knows and is sure that Sewlyn will be fine. But who could believe her in a time like this?

Vance went into hysterics. She not only paced up and down my room when I told her about the telegram but also cried, and was angry and I think every single emotion was shaking up inside of her. Firstly, she started to think of joining up as a nurse but then realised that she can't do it for the same reason I can't, we just weren't born with medically equipped skills. I wouldn't be able to bear the wounds, blood and torture of which I've heard from Auntie Faith's stories from the first war. Vance finally decided to write a book as her own way to focus her mind on something else and now she is writing and writing and everyone is simply astonished by her. Vance never wrote anything in her life and now, during the past two days, she's written twenty whole pages!

Yesterday we finally received a telegram sent by Selwyn himself saying that he has lost a lot of blood indeed but that he's much better now and will certainly be fine very soon. Oh! Oh! What a relief this is to all of us! I felt as if a huge stone was lifted from my heart and only then I realised how truly certain I was during those past few days that Selwyn would… die. I am very grateful for my own thinking that I did my best to occupy my mind with playing Beethoven's sonatas for piano all those long two days!

I'm thankful that Selwyn is now in a hospital and can now rest a little at least. It's not that I'm thankful for him being shot at the back! Never! Ever! No! But I know that recently his letters were getting shorter and shorter with him always saying at the end that he's so very sleepy he can't hold a pen in his hand anymore and therefore, I am glad that now at least he can get some rest, I don't know who deserves it more than his poetic and sensitive soul.

My darling Selwyn, his letters are very hopeful, I must say. He said himself that he stopped writing poems a while ago but that he does find laughter in his life at times, especially because of Walt and John being there with him in the trenches. I am so grateful for them all being always together, no matter what, those Three Musketeers. Now I'm only waiting for the war to end so that my dear poetic brother will come home and I'll be able to finally care for him, especially his dear soul. Although, considering, I should probably leave this job for Vance, she would be most thankful if I did leave it to her.

Ah, Vance and Selwyn… They are made for each other, I can feel it hard in my heart. I know that Vance does too but does Selwyn? I don't know that. He did mention her in his letters lots times, how wonderful of a friend she is to him and how much he loves writing to her and reading her letters but… Will he ever be able to love her in the way she loves him? I certainly hope so and I wish them both what I couldn't have with Seb.

I hardly ever think of Seb any more. I'm not angry at him, no, this feeling passed a few weeks ago now. I'm still disappointed, I think I will be always but… It's like Phillip said, we were simply not meant to be and apparently Seb and Flora were.

Dearest friend of mine, Phillip, right in this moment is on a ship across the ocean and I am crossing my fingers for him so tightly that they could turn entirely white. He'll be fine, I'm sure, he promised me after all but I do worry. I have to. That's what we women do for our men, we do two things: we pray for them and we worry about them. I don't think we can do either or neither so we do both and that is simply what we are left with.

Auntie Una's wedding is in two months time and I can't wait for it! This whole summer is very exciting indeed because of not only the wedding but also the birth of my third sibling! I can't believe that I won't be the youngest of the Ford children any more... But it doesn't mean I'm sorry because of that, no, never that. I am very excited, scared for Mum a big deal without a doubt, but very happy and excited just like all of us are. Both Mum and Dad are counting days and we have everything ready. We have the old cot all put up, all the old clothes of mine and my brothers are waiting in the wardrobe as well as the new ones we got from our friends and family, all the bottles are cleaned… We are so ready! I cannot wait to hold my little brother or a sister in my arms and kiss their sweet, tiny hands… Oh, goodness, I cry already by just thinking about it!

Daria is extremely excited as well! She never had a sibling of her own and now that she has me as her new sister and another new sibling on the way she's over-excited almost. She also always says how excited she is to meet the sibling she still doesn't know in person herself, Selwyn, of course. I think that Selwyn will love Daria, she is like a real sunflower, she shines with love and kindness everywhere she goes. She's like this motherly figure with a sisterhood glow about her friendly eyes.

Gilly is constantly asking about his wife in his letters and when he got a recent photograph of all of us together in front of the House of Dreams, with Mummy so big and Daria with her arms around me and mine around her, he wrote: "This is the most beautiful photograph I have ever seen. You have no idea how much faith and hope it gave me.". His letter made me cry too, as usual.

I have to run downstairs now, I have the apple pie in the oven and, of course, I don't want it to get burnt!

Yours,

Hester

It was the last week of June and Hester and her Group were all sat together in the rosy garden of the House of Dreams on Hester's request. She asked them to meet up all together for now it was "any day now" for the delivery of Hester's small baby brother or sister and Hester would not leave her house for any longer than an hour for fear she could miss it.

It was truly the most beautiful and enchanting weather on that day which made the world around the Hester's Group and herself seem almost impossible to imagine. It was simply timeless. The sun was shining on them all, the sky above was cloudless and the summer breeze was softly brushing all of their hair. Lily came back from Redmond a few days earlier, not only with a finished Law degree but also with news that she, before starting working as a lawyer, joined the VADs and shall be going off for her nurse training in two weeks time, to Toronto.

Everyone was far from shocked. Lily was beginning to write letters to her family where there was always something along the lines of how much she admired the nurses and Cornelia working overseas especially, and about how much she thought of her own mother's stories from her time of being a nurse at the time of the first war. No matter how much of it was expected, everyone was afraid for her, as a family should be after all. And everyone knew they would miss her too.

That was why when now the merry and bright red-headed lawyer was sitting on the blanket next to Hester and Marion, Hester would look at her from time to time and hold back her tears of the separation she knew by then would be longer than soon or not long at all. Even though she was proud of her friend, the thought of their separation was what was crossing her mind while thinking of Lily leaving for the nurse training in two just weeks time.

"Ada is worried, of course, but what can she do?" Lily was saying with a bit of wistfulness and a sigh in her voice "David enlisted to the Navy and he will be going for his training next month whether she or we like it or not."

All the girls sighed in unison "I can't imagine David, this shy little friend of Selwyn's, going off to the middle of the ocean and fighting there." Hester said, her voice melancholic even more than usually "But it's like you said Lily, we can't do anything about it."

Lily grinned sadly at her cousin and squeezed her hand "No, we can't." she agreed "We can only pray for his safety, that's all."

All the girls around her nodded in agreement and a few grins appeared on some of their faces "Ada will come here for only a week and it's never enough for how long she comes over here!" Marion sighed.

"Well, she is studying very hard at Redmond." Lily supported her friend and an old room-mate "And Maths is not an easy subject at all." she raised her eyebrows in that funny way of hers and the girls around her chuckled a bit, the atmosphere regaining its light-heartedness.

"Does she have any beaux?" Jo raised her own eyebrow with a coquettish smile on her lips as she bounced little Fleur on her hip "A pretty girl like Ada, I'm sure has more than I even had at her age."

The girls around her smiled at Jo with joy in their eyes. She has changed so very much ever since the little baby she held in her arms was brought into this world that they all loved her even more than on the day when she was first introduced into the Group in the first place. Daria, sitting on Jo's right and Hester's left, was smiling too at the newest friend she made and who just spoken, Jo. As unlike personalities they both shared as well as looks, they both probably because of being in the same age, loved each other like true sisters do and found very special kindred spirits within one another, just like Daria did with Hester.

"Oh, yes, she'll tell you all about her Ben when she comes, I'm sure." Lily laughed sweetly and everyone's attention and curiosity grew by heaps then and everyone gathered closer around Lily to hear what she was to say about Ada's mysterious sweetheart "Ben is also in her Mathematics class at Redmond but he's two years older than she is. He is one of the most handsome men I've seen in my life." she theatrically put her hand on her chest and sighed, the girls around her giggled, even with little Fleur "He's tall, he has those dark brown locks and caramel, tanned skin. He is a quarter Spanish, that's why." she raised an eyebrow with an impish smile of hers "And he is head over heels for Ada just like she is for him although her little romance isn't really announced yet. So keep your mouths shut for now, although…" Lily chuckled "She knows me and she won't be surprised that I told you."

Everyone around her laughed in agreement "Ben can't even enlist to because he's colour blind." Lily added "That is why Ada is a real lucky gem, I must say."

The girls around her smiled "She always was and now is too." Hester agreed with a grin on her face "I only wish for her to be happy with Ben and for him to always treat her just right, and even more than that." a shadow came behind her eyes and both Daria from her left and Lily from her right squeezed both of Hester's hands and Hester smiled at the gesture of both, putting an image of a handsome tall boy in his uniform away from her mind, and somewhere far from her reach.

"Ah!" Jo said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention on herself, even Fleur's small head gave a try to look at her mother's smiling face and Jo gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek "I wanted to ask you all something. Aunt Rilla will have her baby soon," she looked meaningfully at Hester who smiled from ear to ear "-so how about giving your opinions on whether it's a boy or a girl just like you did when I was pregnant?" she asked, kissing Fleur on her forehead lightly, and the girls nodded in agreement.

"I think it's a girl." Daria said, while looking with fascination at Fleur's chubby hands "This world needs more girls and strong ones at that." she smiled at her friends and they smiled back at her.

"I agree with you most entirely." Lily said energetically "And I think it's a girl too. I was right about the little lady over here." she nodded towards Fleur who giggled as she discovered a hem of Daria's skirt "So I think that I am right about this guess too. I think." she added and the girls laughed together.

"I think that it's a boy." said Vance and Marion in unison and both shared a smile of their own.

"Why so?" Lily asked the two most bashful girl of their Group.

"Just a feeling I have." Vance said with a grin "It might be wrong but I think it's a boy, and this way Hester would be the only daughter to aunt Rilla and uncle Ken still." Hester smiled gently at Vance who grinned back at her knowingly.

"Yes, I agree with you, Vance." Marion said, patting the blonde-girl's hand with her own "And it would be nice for Fleur to have a boy-companion to play with." she smiled at Jo who chuckled merrily.

"I must say that it would be very interesting to see Fleur having a boy-cousin her age." Jo said eventually "But I wouldn't want her to be too much involved with him just yet." she looked at her daughter with motherly love so clear in her eyes that everyone else's eyes overfilled with joy at the very sight of them.

"Do you think that aunt Rilla's having a boy or a girl, Jo?" Lily asked her cousin with a grin.

"I think she's having a boy as well." Jo said without hesitation "Hester?" she looked at the black-haired girl who looked away from Fleur and back at Jo and she smiled at her kindly.

"I'm uncertain." she replied "Sometimes I feel like it's a boy, like mum thinks, but then other times I think it's a girl, like dad guesses." the girls laughed together once more "I just hope that both the baby and mum will be alright." she tightened her lips a little and took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit as Lily caught her hands in her own.

"They'll be fine, dearest." she assured her.

"Of course, they will." Daria added with Jo and she kissed Hester's cheek softly.

Vance and Marion nodded in agreement as well and smiled meaningfully at Hester who smiled back at her friends with joy still in her hazel eyes. "I know." Hester said "And I know that especially because you're here with me to remind me that it is the truth."