"I'm pregnant!" Ange said- looking at both Katie and Alicia, who both instantly jumped up excitedly- "AHHHH! Ange is preggers!" Alicia said laughing- "Well, I hope it's George's…" Katie remarked sarcastically- "Congratulations!" they both said in unison to her with big smiles and hugs.
Ange laughed- they'd decided to just come out and tell everyone about the baby. Molly had not been pleased at first. She'd hit George around the head with one of her books and swore at him for getting Ange pregnant before they were married. "You silly boy!" she had said- whereas Arthur had been extremely pleased- Molly had soon enough warmed to the idea though and spent the whole evening talking about baby clothes, cots- everything with Ange. Whereas Arthur had been having a rather more serious conversation with his son.
"George… you can't bring a child up in that flat" Arthur said sternly. George frowned and put his hands in his pockets as he had walked around the garden with his Dad. The kids had all gone back to school- meaning less business in the shop, meaning less money. There was no way him and Ange could afford to buy a house right then.
"Dad… I'm going to try. Okay? Do you think I want to bring a baby up there? There's barely space enough for me and Ange…" he said with a deep sigh, feeling as though he had let his fiancé and unborn child down. He couldn't provide them with a proper home.
"George… save up for a house- you can both do that. But… Can I make a suggestion?" Arthur said carefully- George looked at him, knowing what his Dad was going to say. "George, you should use Fred's room for the baby. If you're going to be moving out- you'll be leaving that behind anyway. But please, please put the room to good use. Do you know how proud he would be if he knew that his niece was now safe in his room? He'd love that- I know he would" he'd said.
George thought about his Dad's words last night- he slowly opened the door of the room. Just as Fred had left it- which wasn't necessarily a good thing. He moved over and opened the window- the gentle sound of birds outside floated in. This would be perfect for her. To wake up to that every morning, he wanted that for his daughter. He slowly looked around the room- laughing at things he found before slowly packing Fred's things into boxes-
Don't worry, Fred. I'm not throwing this stuff out. No way. I don't know what you'd really feel on your niece having this room. But… I do think you'd be happy with her in here. It means you can watch over her for me, whenever I'm not with her. You'll do that- won't you?
Ange went into the flat- hearing gentle sobs from nearby. She slowly put down her bag- yawned slightly and headed to the root of the cries. She'd had such a busy day- her, Alicia and Katie had been to the dressmakers- trying to find a way to change the dress so that she'd still be able to fit into it in 5 weeks' time. Ange didn't want the corset so tight around her- she was convinced it would harm her daughter and didn't want that.
She slowly pushed open the ajar door of Fred's room and looked inside- George had packed up basically everything- leaving out a few pictures. Ange smiled when she saw them- glad that her daughter would have these in her life every day. She moved across the room, which was empty right then- George had even had the bed removed- which had been hard to do, it had been the place where Fred had definitely spent most of his time.
She put her arms around George- who was stood, looking around the room and sobbing. "Baby…. Don't cry…" she said softly, rocking with him until he calmed down. She looked up into his eyes- "He'd be so proud of you for this. I know that" she told him honestly, before leaning up and kissing him softly as they left the room, his arm slung around her shoulder carefully. He sighed as he shut the door behind them and they moved towards the couch for another night, snuggled up in bliss with each other.