Continued thanks for the encouraging reviews, keep them coming! :) Thought I'd indulge myself and do a quick chapter of wedding planning...

It snowed the entire week leading up to the wedding. They had decided to be married on December 23rd, so their honeymoon and holidays off work would coincide - this was a good few months after their engagement, but it felt appropriate to wait. For a start they had to win over a still unconvinced Sister Evangelina; the last thing anyone wanted was tension spoiling the happy day. Shelagh had started back as a midwife part time, after all, she was still supposed to be convalescing after her brush with mortality. The days she had off she spent trying desperately to make herself useful, helping to clean the convent, helping with paperwork when they were short-staffed. She ended up working just as hard as if she had been out on calls, and Sister Julienne resorted to confining her to her room for periods at a time. Shelagh tried to protest, but was wary of sounding obstinate and ungrateful, and she knew deep down it was sensible to rest, so obediently did as she was told. She could not wait to escape the monotony and begin her new life, although she doubted things would be much different when she was married to Doctor Turner. Knowing him he would probably be more protective than even the devoted Sister Julienne. But she would cross that hurdle when she got to it; to be Mrs Turner she would suffer anything.

As the wedding drew nearer, the flurries of snow outside reflected the flurry of excitement within. Jenny, who had always designed her own dresses, begged to design Shelagh's, and Chummy offered to make it. Shelagh could not have been more grateful. Though she did not like to admit it, fashion still terrified her greatly. She was still getting to grips with what suited her body shape, and what colours she could and couldn't wear. After Patrick had told her one day how stunning she looked in cornflower blue, she had worn nothing but that shade for a week, until Trixie had had a flap about such a flagrant disregard for the rules of fashion, and Shelagh had admitted defeat. They had sat on Shelagh's bed on their first 'wedding planning night' and giggling like schoolgirls had began to formulate a plan for the perfect winter wedding. Together they decided on a flowing floor-length skirt, and had found a pattern for an elegant jacket with dozens of pearl buttons up the front. Shelagh could hardly contain her excitement, and had to exercise an enormous amount of restraint not to let any details slip to her fiancé.

"Now what about hair?" Cynthia said one such evening, after the second round of drinks (which were probably more alcoholic that any of them appreciated!)

"Up, with curls."

"Down, definitely down."

Shelagh intervened. "I just want something simple-" she began.

"Simple?!" exclaimed Trixie in indignation. "If you say that word again I'll withdraw from preparations!"

Cynthia tried to placate her. "If Shelagh wants simple, it's up to her. Anyway, you'll look lovely in whatever you wear, and Patrick will think so too." Shelagh blushed, and smiled at Cynthia in gratitude.

Sister Monica Joan, it soon became clear, although not likely to sit in on the late night planning sessions, wanted a piece of the action too. "What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile, a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the earth, and are not our stars the flowers of the heaven!" she had recited one breakfast time, when the impending wedding was the topic of conversation (which it very rarely wasn't). After a puzzled silence, Sister Evangelina sighed.

"I think what Sister is trying to express is that she would like to help with the flowers. Am I right?" Sister Monica Joan merely grinned and squeezed Shelagh's hand, and Sister Evangelina promised to monitor the arrangements carefully. "You'll end up with roses, dandelions and birch twigs if we're not careful," she huffed. Perhaps this wedding was closer to her heart than she was letting on.

The weeks flew by, and soon December 23rd was upon them. With emotions running high Shelagh and Patrick said goodnight for the last time before the big day, and as he held her gently in his arms and kissed her tremulously on the forehead, Shelagh found herself bursting into tears. "I just can't believe this is all happening," she laughed, wiping her eyes with her cuffs. "I never thought I could love a human being like I love you, and be loved in return." Patrick brushed away her tears and silenced her with a slow kiss.

"We are going to be so happy together," he breathed, "and you are going to make the best mother to Timothy."

"Oh stop it, you'll set me off again," Shelagh sniffed, burying her face in his jumper, and clinging to him tightly.

"Now off you go, and get your beauty sleep. I'll see you at the chapel tomorrow afternoon."

"If you don't get snowed in," she added, and he kissed her again, smiling against her lips, wordlessly giving her the courage she needed to take the final step of her journey, and the first step of a new one.

Please review if you have the time :) Next chapter... the wedding!