An: lots of crying in this chapter, hopefully things will get a little bit better soon. Thanks for reading, please review xxxx

XxX

"Do you like music?" Timothy asked as he and Abi arrived back at Nonnatus.

Abi chuckled slightly to herself. "Do I like music? Timothy, my father was a songwriter."

He smiled at that. "Do you play an instrument?"

She nodded. "Piano, violin and I sing to...I helped him write his songs sometimes."

"Maybe you could play piano at mum's choir rehearsal instead of me..." He spoke hopefully wondering just how long his new friend would be staying in Poplar.

She rolled her eyes as they stepped into sitting room. It looked as though no one had even moved since they'd left. Shelagh still sat with Sister Julienne and Trixie either side of her. Sister Evangelina pacing and Patsy and Barbara sat in the corner, no one saying a word.

"Have you read it?" Abigail questioned and Shelagh nodded.

"Yes." She said, her voice gentle. "He erm...was very kind..."

"Old man's rambling..." She paused.

"Abigail..." Sister Julienne stepped in. "I believe the police will want to speak to you..."

"I understand." Abi nodded and saw how everyone was looking at her, wondering how someone so young could be so brave. "I know what you're all thinking? How can she stand there as though her father didn't die yesterday. Well the truth is I don't want to believe I am never going to see my father again and pretending that everything is okay is the only thing keeping me going..."

Suddenly it was like she was made of glass and she'd been hit by a wrecking ball as she covered her face to hide her tears.

Shelagh quickly got up from her seat and wrapped her arms around the girl instinctively. "It's alright, Abigail..."

"I've seen people fall apart...I don't want to let my Dad down..."

"You could never do that, sweetheart." She stroked Abi's back calming her. "I know you couldn't."

"What do I do now? I can't return to Scotland, not yet...but...with no family what will happen? Will I get taken into an orphanage?"

"No." Shelagh said assertively.

"We won't let that happen, Abi." Trixie agreed.

"But you don't even know me?"

"We welcome everyone my dear..." Sister Julienne placed a hand on Abi's shoulder. "We would not turn out backs on you. Not ever."

XxX

"Come in." Patrick said as he finished writing his sentence sitting in his office. He smiled slightly as his wife entered closing the door behind her but the smile dropped when he saw her expression. "Shelagh?"

Within moments he had her in his arms as she cried into his shoulder. "What is it?"

"Andrew's letter came."

"I'm sorry about your friend..." He spoke softly knowing how the last 24 hours had effected her.

"It's not just that..." She took the photograph from her coat pocket and handed it him. "It's the first time I've ever seen it..."

He studied the picture. "Your parents?"

"I was six years old when my mother died, my Dad was left broken...he tried to hide it from me but I saw it. Even as a child. So I never mentioned it. I never cried. Never spoke of my mother to him because I needed him. Because I needed my Dad and..." She blinked hard, she'd missed all this out the last time she'd tried to explain. "And I tried to forget. I pretend everything was okay and then after my father passed away it was like all my feelings came back and I hid from them..."

Patrick gently stroked her back trying to think of the right thing to say.

"I hid from the truth because it was too much to bare and I moved on. I could almost erase those years from my memory...but now...?"

"Shelagh..." He kissed her hair. He understood everything she was saying. He'd put all his army days behind him. Everything he'd seen and lost. Seeing her like this made his heart break. He'd never known her story, why she'd left Scotland, joined the order at such a young age. Why she was shy sometimes. "My love I'm sorry..."

"What for?" She looked up meeting his gaze, her usually brightly coloured eyes clouded with her visible tears.

"For never asking..."

"You didn't know..."

He traced a tear as it rolled down her cheek with his thumb. "I love you..." he told her. "You can tell me anything and I don't want you to ever feel alone again."

"I'm scared Abi is taking Andrew's death in the same way..."

"Then we'll help her." He lent his forehead against hers. "Everything will be alright."

XxX

"What do you want to be when you're older?" Patsy asked Abigail trying to start a conversation.

"I can't decide...it's either a nurse...or a midwife."

Patsy chuckled. "Well you're definitely in the right place to learn about that."

"My Dads wife, Colette. She was a nurse. But she died before I was born. Dad always told me of a young woman he knew who was a midwife. Shelagh. In way he spoke about her as though she was my older sister though I had never met her." Abi explained.

"But of hard work and you could be one of us." Patsy gave her a small smile. "You're a very quiet person aren't you."

"I always have been."