Hi... again. I know that it's been a long time since I updated, but I lost my muse and only recently regained it. As always, I hope that you enjoy this chapter and reviews are very welcome :)

Domesticity 1919

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - "A Psalm of Life"

July 1919

The alarm clock woke them up at seven.

"It is time to get up," Sybil murmured as she had noticed that Tom did not make even the slightest move. They were lying in each other's arms, and Sybil's head was resting upon Tom's broad chest.

"Just a little lonnggeer," Tom yawned and tightened his embrace around his wife.

"If you want to be late for work, then yes, you may sleep a little longer," Sybil informed him in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I so want it to be Sunday already, I want to just lie in bed and cuddle with you."

Sybil laughed and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "But it's Tuesday and we must prepare for work."

Tom sighed loudly and began stretching on the bed. Meanwhile, Sybil rose from their bed and went to the kitchen to put the kettle on the stove.

They had a changing schedule when it came to preparing breakfast. When Sybil had a night shift, it was Tom who welcomed her with a hot meal. On the other hand, when Sybil had a day shift, she was the one who prepared breakfast for the two of them.

"Would you like some hard-boiled eggs?" she asked her husband, who had managed to get up from the bed in the meantime and directed his footsteps into the bathroom.

"Yes, thank you, darling," Tom replied through the bathroom door.

Tom entered the kitchen just as the eggs and the coffee were ready.

Smiling tenderly, Tom approached his still newlywed wife and gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "It smells wonderfully," he whispered.

Together, they sat to breakfast.

"Are you nervous, darling?" Sybil unexpectedly asked.

Tom smiled awkwardly at her. "I'm going to submit a new article today. I'm not sure whether my editor will like it. I feel like I only rattled in this piece without any convincing arguments."

Sybil reached out for his hand. "Don't be so critical of yourself. Let your editor assess it, and even if he doesn't like it, it won't mean that you're a bad writer. I've read some of your articles and I know that you're good journalist."

Tom grinned at her. "You always make me feel good, darling. Thank you for being my strength."

"Why wouldn't you read your article to me this evening, no matter what your editor thinks of it?"

"Do you want to further improve my self-esteem? Do you see it as your wifely duty?" Tom teased.

"Maybe I'll give you some advice? I want to support you in everything I can. We've been always each other's strength, remember," Sybil winked at her husband.

"You're right. We'll do it," Tom replied in a warm tone. "But now, love, we must hurry, I'm afraid."

They quickly finished their breakfast, and Tom went to the bedroom to arrange his papers, while Sybil occupied the bathroom to perform all the necessary morning activities.

Finally, they were both ready to leave for work together. It was another of their customs – every day Tom walked Sybil to her workplace and then headed for his office, which was located not far from the hospital.

When Sybil returned home from work, she was extremely tired, but also satisfied because she liked hard work on condition that it made her feel useful. The bad thing about working at the hospital was that she constantly saw things that saddened her deeply. After all, war was raging in Dublin and the horrors of it could not be avoided at the place she worked for.

Sybil began cooking dinner when she heard the bell ring. She quickly went to open the door and saw one of Tom's sisters, Colleen, at the doorstep.

Colleen was younger than she (just eighteen), rather timid and shy. She had recently married a man named Kevin and Sybil had heard that they were living in quite poor conditions. They were poorer than she and Tom were. Today Colleen looked very sad as if something bad happened. She had red spots all over her face. Sybil guessed that her sister-in-law had cried quite hard.

"Colleen," Sybil greeted the young woman, "please come in."

Colleen entered the small corridor of the Bransons' flat and Sybil led her to the sitting room.

"Tea or coffee?" Sybil asked.

"Strong tea, if you can," replied Colleen in a sad voice. She sat down on the Bransons' couch and hid her head in her hands. Sybil now became truly worried and didn't know what to do, apart from focusing on making tea.

Ultimately, the tea was ready, and Sybil went to the sitting room with two cups of herbal drink in her hands. She put one of the cups in front of Colleen and sat down next to her sister-in-law.

Colleen took a sip out of her cup, and murmured weakly, "I've learnt something today. Something that should be happy news, but in our situation is very, very problematic."

Sybil reached out to take Colleen's hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

Colleen looked at her gratefully and continued, "I don't want to worry my mother and Megan, so I've come to you. You're my new sister, after all."

Sybil nodded her head in assent. "You can tell me everything," she said reassuringly. But the other woman suddenly burst into tears. "I'm... pregnant," she managed to choke out between the sobs.

Sybil didn't know what to do. On one the one hand, pregnancy didn't seem to be bad news, but on the other she knew that Colleen and Kevin couldn't afford a child and in their case a baby was not happy news. She sat closer to Colleen and hugged her warmly. "Shush, you must not worry too much. Tom and I will help you as much as we can, and I'm sure so will the rest of the Branson family. What is most important is that you will offer this child your love and care."

Colleen still sobbed hard, despite Sybil's calm words. "Oh, I knew that we could count on you even though you yourself don't have much. We really need someone's help even if it's just moral support."

Sybil patted her on the back affectionately, and after a short break Colleen continued, "Maybe we'll give up this baby for an adoption, I don't know. That's maybe a solution."

Sybil froze for a moment. Though she couldn't imagine someone giving away their own child freely, she knew that sometimes it was the only solution for which no one should be judged. She heard about aristocratic girls giving up their illegitimate children for adoption and didn't approve of this, but that wasn't the same case here. It wasn't merely society's opinion that mattered, but the question of bringing up a child in decent conditions. It was a whole different world to the one she was accustomed to. Everything ceased to be easy to judge. Normally she would oppose to the idea of giving away a baby, but not this time. Not to the crying woman in front of her.

"Maybe," she just managed to whisper and gave Colleen yet another hug.

When Tom returned home, the dinner was ready. Sybil went to the corridor to greet him and Tom embraced her closely.

"I'm so glad to be home," he murmured as he released her and placed a tender kiss on her cheek.

"How's the meeting with your editor?"

"Fine. He accepted the article, though he said that it needed a few revisions."

"You'll read it to me later, then, as we decided in the morning?" Sybil cheerfully enquired.

"Yes, it's a great idea," Tom replied and entered the kitchen. "Wow, something smells really lovely."

"It's a pork chop with mashed potatoes. Hopefully it isn't burnt too much."

"I will love anything that you made. Besides, you're getting better and better when it comes to cooking."

Sybil's cheeks grew hot when she heard her husband's compliment. She was so pleased to hear those words because she was afraid that Tom had enough of her low culinary skills.

"I'm glad you think so. Come and eat."

They ate dinner while chatting about their days at work. Tom sang prizes about Sybil's cooking even though the chop was slightly overcooked. He only admitted it when Sybil pressured him into it. "Yes, it was burnt a bit, but delicious nonetheless. Maybe love makes me immune to certain things, but I I liked it for sure," was all that Tom said to his beloved cook.

After dinner, they went to the sitting room to drink their tea together. It was then that Sybil decided to tell Tom everything about Colleen's visit.

"Poor girl," Tom remarked. "We must support them as much as we can."

"That's what I told her," Sybil responded.

Tom's face suddenly darkened. "There's no question to it, but... our situation is far from perfect too."

Sybil sighed. "I know, but you're well aware that I don't believe in perfection."

"Even though you're close to it yourself?" Tom teased.

"Tom!"

"Calm down, love. I admit that you have flaws, but I love you even more because of them." As he said so, he tickled her affectionately.

Sybil giggled and swatted Tom's chest playfully. The next minute, however, her face turned serious.

"What's the matter?" her surprised husband asked.

"Something crossed my mind, darling... What if I get pregnant? What will we do?"

Tom was silent for a moment before speaking, "As always, we'll try to deal with it together."

Sybil furrowed her eyebrows. "But wouldn't you be happy? Not at all?"

Tom answered her by smiling broadly. "Of course I would be happy. As you well know, I want to have children with you. Very much. And I don't want to wait too long for them. It's just that... I won't pretend that it's a perfect time to have them now."

Sybil had to agree with him. "I know what you mean. So, we will not try for a baby, but if it I get pregnant, we'll be happy?

Tom grinned at her. "Exactly, sweetheart."

Sybil curled herself up closer to her husband. "We're so lucky to have a similar outlook on life, are you aware of that?"

"We agree about the most important things, but sometimes disagree about the small ones, like the colour of the lamp in our bedroom. Funny thing," Tom whispered as his arms encircled Sybil.

"Yes," Sybil agreed. "We're a very funny couple."

In the evening, the Bransons lay tightly embraced in a bed together and Tom read his article aloud to Sybil. The article was about Catholicism and socialism and whether one person can be a believer of both.

"I like it," Sybil said after Tom finished reading. "If I were you, though, I would make it more individual and contain more of your personal perspective. After all, you're both a socialist and a devout Catholic. I think that speaking from experience is what engrosses a reader in a piece. Abstraction often puts people off. Don't be afraid to be personal."

Tom laughed and gave Sybil a passionate kiss to the forehead. "See? I think that you pinpointed exactly what's wrong with the article."

"Not wrong, just that it does not reflect you. You're not secretive and not afraid to share your own experiences. Personal touch to articles is what could be your characteristic."

"You know me better than I know myself," Tom chuckled again. "I will introduce these changes. I'll add more genuine emotional involvement in place of abstraction. You're right - that's more like me." As he said so, he put the article on the nightstand and reached out to turn off the lamp. It was time for them to sleep. Tomorrow was another busy day for both of them.

Before they drowned into a blissful state of unconsciousness, they needed to do one more thing - give each other a goodnight kiss. It was long and heated and only then they lay down satisfied and tightly entwined and closed their eyes.

As she was lying with her head on her husband's chest, Sybil thought how she couldn't imagine to be anywhere else. Only here in Tom's arms she felt so peaceful and complete. When she had married him, her life had begun anew. She had always striven to take as much from life as possible, but only now she felt that her life had a real purpose. And she couldn't envision anyone following this path with her but Tom. Her husband's strong body radiated with pleasant warmth and Sybil never felt more safe and content than while lying in her dearest's embrace. With this man by her side she was ready to take on all the daily challenges and looked forward to them. She looked forward to every day, actually. Everydayness did not tire her because being with Tom made the gray aspects of daily life colourful. Being with Tom was in fact a gift that Sybil cherished greatly.

Yes, life was beautiful.