7th August, 1920
Tilly woke up at 6am the following day. With her never really waking up early, Rose assumed she was unsettled and wanted to go home. Tilly lay there for a minute, trying to go back to sleep to avoid waking Rose, but it was no use. "Mummy, mummy" Tilly shook her. "Hmm?" Rose groaned as she half opened her eyes "can we go home now?" She asked, causing Rose to glance at the clock. "Tilly, it's only 6am baby" Rose said as she scrunched up her eyes. "But it's light outside" Tilly pointed out. Rose sighed, not having the energy to wake up "when Sophia wakes up and I've fed her, then we'll go home, alright?" she said. Tilly pouted "fine". Rose stifled a laugh at her daughters pout, she reminded her of herself when she gave that facial expression. "Good girl" she stroked Tilly's cheek.
—
Around an hour later, Sophia had woken up and Rose had fed her. "Now can we go home?" Tilly pleaded. "Yes, get dressed and we'll go" "thank you!" Tilly grinned and jumped off the bed, running to get ready. Rose found it sweet that Tilly was so excited to see Jack- he was her Dad in every way but name and the more she thought about it, the more she thought they might be able to keep James after all.
Rose decided to keep Sophia in her baby grow, knowing she would likely fall back to sleep on the walk home. "Right, let's go" Rose said as she threw the bag of their stuff under the pram. Tilly smiled and followed Rose out of the room. There was no one at reception yet, so Rose wrote Mary and Lucy a note to thank them, and to let Lucy know she would pop in to update her soon.
—
Rose unlocked the door as quietly as possible and whispered to Tilly "be quiet darling, Jack might still be asleep" "I'm not" Jack said as he walked out the kitchen and in to the hallway. "JACK!" Tilly shouted excitedly and ran to him. "Hey" he smiled and lifted her up, kissing her head "are you OK?" He asked. She nodded and clung to his neck "missed you" she said "I missed you too" he kissed her head again. "Tilly, why don't you go and play with your toys?" Rose suggested "OK" Tilly said as Jack put her down. Rose checked the pram and seeing Sophia was asleep, she left her there and followed Jack in to the kitchen.
The two of them stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments before Rose spoke "I'm sorry" she said awkwardly "you know I'm only doing what I think I have to, right? He has no one else Rose" Jack replied "and as I said, I don't think the responsibility should fall on you… but if you want him to stay, then he can" she shrugged "we have the means to take care of him" she forced a gentle smile, still not sold on the idea. "Thank you" he nodded. Again, they stood there in an awkward silence before Rose spoke "Tilly missed you last night, she asked for you a few times" she smiled weakly "I missed her too" Jack smiled gently at the fact Tilly loved him as much as he loved her- if that was possible. "So, are you staying here now?" Jack asked and Rose nodded "yes…" "good" he nodded.
—
James walked in to the kitchen and smiled a little at Jack, his facial expression changing to a slight glare as he saw Rose, something Jack didn't notice, but Rose sure did. Choosing to ignore it, she spoke up "morning James" she smiled "hi" he replied "would you like some breakfast?" She offered "yes" he answered "what would you like?" "toast" he replied. Rose took note of his lack of manners and sighed to herself. Jack made some toast for the 4 of them and Rose shouted through to Tilly "Tilly, breakfast is ready!" Tilly came skipping in and sat at the table as Rose helped her butter her toast. "Tilly, this is James, he's going to stay with us" Jack explained, remembering the two of them hadn't really been introduced the night before. "Forever?" She frowned, confused. "I think so" Jack nodded "OK…" she looked at Rose, unsure. Rose forced a small smile to her daughter. "So James, tell us a little bit about yourself, we don't know much!" Rose smiled at him. "I'm 7, and I like to play football. I like chocolate and my favourite colour is blue" he shrugged, not enjoying the conversation "very nice" Rose nodded and smiled gently. "What would you both like to do today?" she asked "can we go to the park please?" Tilly asked "I don't like the park, I like playing football" James almost snapped. Rose looked at Jack, trying to hide her annoyance that James lacked manners "well, there's a field at the park, how about we go there so Tilly can play on the swings and we will play football?" He offered "OK" James shrugged.
—
The 5 of them headed to the park and Rose watched on as Jack and James played football - pleased for Jack that someone took an interest in playing football with him. Tilly enjoyed playing occasionally, but definitely preferred drawing with Jack instead. Rose pushed Tilly on the swings and spoke to her quietly so Jack wouldn't hear "so, how do you feel about James living with us?" She asked "I don't mind" Tilly shrugged with a smile. Rose smiled back, her heart bursting with pride at her daughters kindness.
She was brought out of her thoughts by hearing James "I don't want to!" He said in a loud and frustrated tone. "We have to. It's lunch time" Jack replied and walked over to Rose, Tilly and Sophia "should we go home and make some lunch?" He suggested to Rose "yes" she nodded. "Assuming he's not onboard with the idea?" She nodded at James who was sat on the grass "nope. I guess this isn't going to be as easy as I thought" Jack sighed "just walk away, he's bound to follow, trust me" she shrugged and pushed the pram towards the exit of the park. Jack chewed on his bottom lip, unsure if it was a good idea but seeing Rose wasn't going to stop, he followed her, assuming she was right... and she was, as they reached the exit of the park James ran to catch up with them.
As always, thank you so much for the reviews and follows recently! I really appreciate it x