For anyone and everyone who has followed, favourited, reviewed, liked, reblogged or read this. There are, of course, the special ones but they know who they are.

'Having heard many tales from your wonderful son I can only assume you did not cook this?' Shelagh chuckled as she lay her cutlery on the edge of her plate.

She had spent the day with Patrick and Timothy- the former having taken the day off from work. They had had a day of little activity, simply enjoying each other's company- playing board games and listening to music and learning about each other. She had been delighted when the door has swung open and Timothy had catapulted himself into her, wrapping her in what was quite possibly the longest, sweetest and fiercest hug of her life. Once she had finally been allowed to enter the house the boy had explained how much he had missed her, how glad he was that she was well again, how happy he was that she was his dad's girlfriend and could they go to the zoo sometime? She had laughed and returned the sentiments with a promise to journey out with him as soon as his Dad and the nuns agreed she was fit enough- unless he really wanted to battle Sister Evangelina over it. Timothy had not.

All day the atmosphere had been light and joyful and Shelagh had never felt so at ease or at home so quickly. Now, several hours after Tim had been sent to Jack's house for the evening so his Dad and Shelagh could have a proper first date, the pair sat contentedly opposite each other at the small table.

'Sadly no. This was the fine work of Mrs Byron the housekeeper. All I did was make sure it didn't burn when I was heating it up.'

'I thought it was quiet in there.' Shelagh chuckled, she had retired to the living room and read the most recent copies of The Lancet- the sanatorium had banned the journal in order to not scare the patients. She had always enjoyed reading it, it was her primary reading material after reading the Bible and so the chance to catch up had been welcomed.

'Send her my compliments then. This really was a fantastic day Patrick and a delightful first date. I do so hope you can match it with our second.' She teased. 'I have very high expectations.'

'I think that may be somewhat hard my darling.' He smiled nervously, straightening rigidly in his seat. Shelagh frowned. What had caused him to suddenly tense up like that? Had she said something wrong?

'Patrick?' Her answer began to become clear as he reached across the table and took her hands in his.

'Shelagh, I know we have only been together two days and that there is still so much we do not know about each other. But there is one thing I do know-I love you more than I have ever loved anyone besides my son and I want to be with you for the rest of my life.' She gasped, hands flying to her mouth as he slipped from his chair to kneel before her.

'Oh Patrick!'

'Those horrific hours on Tuesday made me realise just how much I cannot live without you. I know now that I want nothing less than everything with you. I want to wake up and have your face be the first thing I see, I want to fall asleep with you in my arms and have the taste of your lips be the last thing I know. I want the world to know how blessed I am, I want to be able to love you freely without judgement. I want to hold your hand and kiss away your tears when you are sad and I want to be there to celebrate your triumphs and joys. I want you to help me to raise our son and any other children we are blessed with. I want to be wherever you are as a family.'

He pulled out a box from his jacket and opened to it reveal a delicate ring, a single diamond adorning it.

'Please Shelagh-will you do me the honour of letting me be your husband? Will you marry me?'

'Oh Patrick!' Shelagh let out a sob of joy, throwing herself down onto her knees in front of him and into his arms, kissing him hard. He wrapped his arms around her and responded enthusiastically. Though she hadn't said yes it didn't seem like she was saying no either- he couldn't imagine her saying no. He refused to even imagine it. She pulled back beaming.

'So?' He asked, desperate to hear the words he was so certain she would say.

'Of course I'll marry you you idiot. I love you so much'. She fell back to rest on her onto her heels as she held up her hand in-between them. Grinning, Shelagh would later claim as she regaled the story to her rapt audience of nuns and nurses, like an alcoholic set loose in a brewery, he took her hand in his and gently slipped the ring onto her finger. 'My beloved husband-to-be.' She barely breathed as he raised her now bejewelled hand to his lips and caressed it with the gentlest of kisses.

'My darling wife-to-be. My beautiful fiancée.' She crushed herself to him again as they kissed again.

After several minutes they parted-tears streaming down both of their faces. 'Thank you. How was I ever so lucky to be given to you? You're so wonderful, so beautiful, so lovely.'

'We were given to each other. This is God's work. I know you don't believe in him but-'

'-after the past few days I may be beginning to. Having you here, agreeing to be my wife, is nothing short of a miracle Shelagh.' He stroked her cheek reverently. He stood and guided her to the settee where they settled, wrapped in each others arms.

This was how Timothy found them an hour later as he bounded eagerly into the living room.

'Well?' Patrick looked up from the miraculous woman in his arms and grinned at his son. 'Did you- you know?'

'I did.'

'And?!'

'Why don't you ask her yourself?' Patrick smiled. Tim frowned for a second before turning to woman in front of him who was also smiling widely.

'Did you say yes? Are you going to be my new Mum?'

'Timothy!' Patrick frowned as his son's bluntness. Whilst he had mentioned Tim being 'their son' such a direct reference to it may scare her off. He studied his bride to be and was relieved to see tears of happiness spring to her eyes.

'Oh Timmy. Yes. I said yes. I'd love to be your new Mum.' She nodded opening her arms to the boy. Tim gaped for a second before bursting into tears and flying into them, curling up into her lap. 'But I'm new to this all so if I make a mistake I'm going to need to help me okay? I'm going to try and be the best Mum I can but I want you to know that I will never try to replace your Mummy.' Tim pulled his head back from her shoulder and smiled.

'I know. And I'll help you. I love you Shelagh. I'm so very glad you're going to be my Mum.'

'I love you too my precious boy. We're going to be very happy together I promise.'

'We're going to be a proper family again. Shelagh will fix us. She's already done so much. I love you two so much.'

Beaming, with her fiancés arm around her shoulder and her soon to be son in her lap Shelagh took a moment to reflect upon the past week. She had started in such torment, had been so unsure of her place in the world. But she had found her way to pure joy and the love of a good man. Though it had been deeply traumatic she was glad that he had not found her on that misty road as she had expected. She wouldn't have met Rebecca, may not have relied too heavily on the Nonnatuns in her time of pain had he arrived. She may have been too scared to ask to stay if she'd had a safety net, she may have run far from them- emotionally if not physically. But she had retained the love of her old family and embraced the love of her new one. She could have easily walked a different road in life. But she couldn't be more certain that she was on the right road.

FIN

I can't believe this is over. It's been so wonderful having all this support from you and I love you all.

This started out as a brief almost-not-even-a prompt from the wonderful my-little-yellowbird and was only intended to be 3/4 chapters long. 2 months and 16 chapters later here we are. Strange how life goes sometimes.

Reviews appreciated xxx