God Gave Me You 13

Patrick sat in his armchair relaying the events of the afternoon over and over in his head. He'd spent the better part of the day in the kitchen at Nonnatus, getting to know his daughter. The shyness she had towards him had all but disappeared after five minutes, when she smiled at him and giggled over nothing, making his heart melt. He was wrapped around her finger already, there was no doubt about that.

Patrick and Shelagh hadn't gotten a chance to discuss much with Angela taking up most of their attention. The main concern Shelagh had voiced was Timothy. What would he tell him? Would he be upset? To be honest, Patrick hadn't even thought of what he would tell his son. Everything was so new and unknown, he couldn't think of a way to begin such a difficult conversation with a twelve year old boy.

But it was a conversation they were going to have as soon as Tim got back from Cubs, which according to the clock on the mantle, was any minute. As if on cue, the door slammed shut signaling Timothy was home.

"Hi Dad! How was clinic? Did you see Sister Bernadette? Did you tell her we're home? Did you know Akela had a baby?"

"Slow down, Tim. I can't answer all of those at once...well, for most of them the answer is yes, so I guess I can." Patrick chuckled at his son as he unpacked his school bag onto the kitchen table.

"You saw Sister Bernadette?! How is she? Did she ask about me? Can I see her soon? I asked Akela about her, but then Fred needed help with something so she never answered me."

Patrick made a mental note to thank Nurse Noakes when he saw her next.

"Uh, Tim. How about we sit down and we can talk? Man to man."

Timothy stopped as his face turned to a frown. "Am I in trouble?"

"No! Why would you think that?"

"You want to have a talk. Talks usually mean I'm in trouble or we're moving."

"You're not in trouble, Tim. But we need to have a talk..."

Timothy sat down on the sofa near his father, his face looking concerned.

"Tim...you like Sister Bernadette, right?"

"Yeah! She's great!"

"Good. Well, Sister Bernadette...um, isn't a Sister anymore. What I mean is...she's not a nun at Nonnatus anymore."

"She's gone?" Timothy whispered. "But...you said you saw her! Where did she go?"

"She's not gone anywhere, Tim. She's still in Poplar, I promise. I saw her a little while ago. It's just...a lot of things have changed since we've been gone."

His son nodded. "I know! Can you believe how big the community center is?!"

This wasn't going the way he planned, Patrick thought. Maybe it was best to be honest. Patrick took a deep breath to prepare himself. "Remember that talk we had when you asked me where babies come from?"

Tim nodded. "We don't need to have that again, do we? It was rather awkward the first time."

"No, Tim. We don't. Now, don't be upset, okay? I've got something to tell you. And it concerns Sister Bernadette. Um...Sister Bernadette...well, her name is Shelagh now. She's not a nun, anymore. She's a nurse at Nonnatus."

"Did they kick her out of being a nun? That's not nice. I thought nuns were supposed to be nice..."

Patrick laughed. "No, Tim. They didn't kick her out of being a nun. She...decided to leave. So she could have other things...like a family."

"Did she get married?" Tim sounded disappointed.

"No...she-." Patrick stopped himself, trying to figure out the best way to tell his son that he wasn't an only child anymore. That there was soon going to be a lot more change in Poplar than he realized. "Shelagh left the Order so she could have a baby."

Tim stared at his father, his confused look growing more prominent.

"A baby?"

"Yes. Shelagh has a little girl, now."

"Oh. But...she's not married?"

"No...she's not. But that's not what I need to tell you, Tim."

"She's okay, right? Sis-Shelagh and her little girl?"

Patrick looked at his son in awe of the young man he was becoming, he was worried about them. "They're both fine, Tim. In fact, we're going to be seeing quite a lot of them in the future."

"Really? That's great!" Tim smiled a wide grin that his father had almost forgotten he was capable of since they'd left Poplar. "But, wait...why?"

"Tim, I've always been honest with you. So, I'm going to be completely straight with you now."

"Dad, you're really starting to worry me. What's going on?"

"Tim, The reason we're going to be seeing them often is because, well, Shelagh's little girl...is my little girl as well."

"What!?"