Saturday 10th April, 1920
Tilly woke up the following morning and climbed in to Rose's bed with Jack's teddy. She laid down facing Rose and shook her gently "mummy" "hmm?" Rose groaned, waking up "what time is it?" she asked, forgetting that Tilly couldn't yet tell time "I can't tell the time Mummy…" she said to Rose, confused. Rose laughed at her daughters tone of voice and sat up to look at the clock. "I'm hungry" Tilly said as she curled up to Rose "we're meeting Jack soon. We'll lay here for a few minutes then get up and get ready" she said, kissing her daughters hair. "Sophia is lazy" Tilly said, confused that her little sister was still asleep "she's still asleep because she woke up so many times in the night! I'm surprised she didn't wake you up!" She laughed "you brought Jack's bear back here…" Rose said, glancing at the bear Tilly still had hold of. Tilly just nodded in response.
—
Rose, Tilly and Sophia came down stairs at 10am to find Jack waiting for them.
"Good morning" he smiled to the three of them "morning" Rose replied with a smile, gently placing Sophia in her pram "hello" Tilly said shyly as she took hold of Rose's hand. "I brought you your teddy bear back" Tilly said as she held the bear out to him, reluctantly. "Oh, thank you Tilly, but how about you keep him? It seems like you take very good care of him!" Jack smiled at her "really?!" She gasped "yes" he laughed whilst nodding. "Thank you!" She grinned and hugged him. He hugged her back, surprised "you're welcome darling" he smiled gently. He noticed Rose was ready to leave so held the door open for her and the pram.
"You didn't have to do that" she said quietly with a gentle smile, referring to Jack and the bear "oh it's fine, he's been in the cupboard for years" he chuckled, watching as Tilly skipped ahead "still, he was your childhood bear" "I know, but I grew up, he may as well go to a good home" he nodded. "Thank you" she smiled and rubbed his back as they walked.
—
They sat at the table in the diner eating their breakfast. "So Tilly, what are you going to name the bear?" Jack asked. Tilly thought for a moment "what was his name when you were little?" she asked "Arthur" Jack smiled "I want to keep it as that" Tilly replied.
The 3 of them talked amongst themselves as they ate, Rose noticing how much of an effort Jack was making with Tilly, and seeing how relaxed Tilly was around him, despite always being scared of men thanks to Cal and his Father.
"Are you busy the rest of the day?" Jack asked Rose "no" she shook her head "I was just going to take them for a walk or something, I don't want to keep them crammed up inside, especially as we only have 1 room at the minute, there's not much room for Tilly to play" she said "would you mind if I joined you?" He asked awkwardly "no, not at all, you're more than welcome" she replied "thank you" he smiled "and you know, if you ever want more space for her to play, you're always welcome at mine" he said "thank you…" she responded. "I just need to run to the bathroom before we leave, would you mind keeping an eye on them please?" She nodded to the girls "of course not" he smiled and watched as she walked away.
Whilst Rose was gone, an old couple walked in to the diner. Jack didn't recognised them and knew they were visitors from another town, rather than locals. Seeing the pram, the couple came over "mind if we have a nosey?" The lady said, already looking in to the pram before Jack could reply "oh she's adorable… she must take after her mummy with all that dark hair! Not like you with your blonde hair, hey? oh, and she's beautiful" the lady nodded at Tilly who just looked confused. Jack didn't know what to reply, he wasn't sure how Rose would feel if she knew 2 strangers were talking about her children, no matter how nice their intentions were. He took a huge sigh of relief as he spotted Rose walk back to the table. She looked between Jack and the couple, clearly confused and Tilly walked over to her obviously overwhelmed. "Well, we best be going now, it was nice to meet you" Jack said as he stood up and smiled at the couple, pushing the pram over to Rose.
"What was all that about?" Rose asked Jack as they got outside the diner, just as Jack went to respond, Tilly spoke up. "That lady thought Jack was Sophia's Daddy and said that she must look like you and that she was adorable and that I was beautiful and that Sophia had dark hair" she rambled "to put it bluntly" Jack chuckled, agreeing with Tilly "to the point as always Matilda" Rose laughed "sorry about that" she looked at Jack "oh don't worry about it, old people always want to see newborns" she laughed, ignoring the bit about Jack being Sophia's Dad.