On the other side of the city in a small hotel, two people lay together in a bed, completely wrapped up in each other.
"Is it ironic that the former morality officer is bedding a police officer?" Constance said as she curled against Jimmy.
They had met at a New Year's Eve party three years back with a few friends. Over the course of the night, they danced and drank together, kissing at midnight before he lost sight of her. He asked around and no one could tell who she had been. He thought he had been seeing things when she had come into the station as a social worker. They were friends, and when they needed a date for a police gala that year so she was the one who suggested they go together. Of course, she laid it down firmly that she needed to work until her brother could finish his trade training. Not having to have him worry about helping the family was her main goal for her family. Jimmy understood and told her he was fine with that. Though by the summertime, they were escaping the city limits for picnics. Necking in the car until the windows fogged up on rare similar days off. They had their understanding and rules.
"Probably?" Jimmy said after a moment before he grinned. "Though what they don't know won't hurt them. You can't get married, you'll lose your job to help support your mother and younger siblings. So we just have to wait until things are better for everyone and your brother is finished with his training"
"Anything about Willow? Did the call to England turn up?" Constance inquired. "Scotland Yard?"
"Nothing new, no leads but then again, they could have changed names since they stopped writing," Jimmy told her.
"How old would she be now?" Connie says asking
"18? I tried getting some information from a nearby school where she used to live. Also tried to check with a few boarding schools but it was a dead end. Unless I can give them a surname that she uses because Anderson is a dead-end or even her grandparent's surnames which I don't know. It's like she just disappeared into thin air, along with Adeline."
"She would have remembered writing to you," Constance told him. "People don't just stop writing, you were her brother."
"Yet I can't find anything about her," Jimmy sighed. "The only hope I get is that when I send her a birthday card or Christmas card. They are never returned."
"You'll figure it out," Constance said kissing his cheek before she rolled herself off the bed as she grabbed her brassiere and panties that were on the floor. "I should get going home."
Jimmy nodded looking at his own watch, "I should as well, I promised Mom that I would mow the lawn this morning. " He replied as she tossed him his trousers. "Been a pleasure as usual," he teased her.
"Oh hush you," She swatted at him before she pulled her dress over her head and did up the zipper on the side. She leaned across the bed and kissed him before she grabbed her coat and bag. She checked her hair in the old mirror and plopped on her knitted hat. "I will see you later?"
"As always," Jimmy said nodding. Looking around the cheap hotel room they occasionally used. It was the only time they managed to be alone.
"Actually you should stop by Oleander later today the holiday," he says bravely.
"My sister wants to meet you?" He adds on. "Mom and Dad also want to get to know you better?"
"You want me to officially meet the family?" Connie looks at him.
"Trust me a family picnic is a hell of a lot better than a private family dinner," He tells her with a small grin.
"I'll see what I can do," Connie says after a moment.
"Bring your bathing suit, the pool is the place to be." Jimmy grins and she shakes her head, as he knows she doesn't swim.
He was fixing his shirt as he went through the back door, nodding to Mrs. Clarke who was busy in her kitchen already.
"Coffee is still warm," Mrs. Clarke told him.
"Thank you, do you need a refresher?" Jimmy asked looking at her cups as Ken walked in pulling up his suspender. looking up at the ceiling they could hear the commotion on the floor above from the chaos of the kids for a moment who were arguing over something or another. He nodded to the older man who took a drink of coffee.
"You have lipstick on your jaw," Ken told Jimmy who stood beside him pouring himself a cup of coffee for himself. He instantly blushed and tried to rub his jawline with a washcloth from the sink.
"So is it who I am thinking of or someone new?" Ken smirked into his coffee as Jimmy gulped down a drink of hot coffee grimacing. "You're twenty-six I don't care how you lead your life."
"I still rather not talk about it," Jimmy told him.
"Then I will leave you with the same advice I gave years ago, don't get her pregnant," Ken told him with a stern look.
"Don't get who pregnant?" Rilla said from the doorway, in her day dress that she just put on. "You didn't just get home Jimmy?"
"Aren't you just getting home?" Jimmy retorts back.
"I was at the hospital thank you very much," Rilla says taking a drink of coffee herself grimacing and passing it back to her husband. "You know dealing with new mothers and all that jazz?"
"Dad is just being overly concerned," Jimmy told Rilla quickly going red and not wanting to get into his private relationship with them.
"Your life is your life, Jimmy," Rilla told him. "But I do agree with Ken. I am much too young for shotgun weddings and grandbabies," Rilla told him patting his cheek. "You can fool Rowena and Oliver and your co-workers but really you think you can fool us? That perfume is a total giveaway."
"I going to go mow the lawn like you asked," Jimmy said wanting to get out of the situation he found himself in.
"Did he think we didn't know?" Jimmy heard Rilla say to Ken who chuckled before there was a loud crash above them. He chuckled to himself before heading up the stairs.
"Children!" Rilla called out to whatever was occurring from upstairs as they all get ready for the day. "If I find anything broken it's coming out of your allowances!"
There is a moment of silence before more shouting.
Rilla looked at Ken and shook her head. "Have children they said, it will be fun they said," she
says under her breath.
"It's never a dull day?" Ken said with a smirk.
"Mom! He won't stop making fun of my hair!"
"Dad! She won't stop bothering me!"
"Mummy! My teddy bear's tail fell off!"
"I'll take the sewing, you take the older ones?" Rilla sighed.
"I'll send in one of the older kids to help with breakfast," Ken told Mrs. Clarke who only smiled knowingly.
With the crisis taken care of Rilla sinks down the sofa after breakfast, which she didn't eat much of.
"How are you doing old girl?" Rilla says scratching the old grey ears. Artemis looks up with dull eyes, before settling back on her cushion. "I feel the same way some days." She jokes stroking down the soft hair of the cat. Artemis was old, yet she always seems to last another year, another birthday, another Christmas.
Rilla sighs stretching out on the sofa and Artemis looked at her mistress, tail flicking to brush against Rilla's arm. She moves slowly coming to curl up on her mistress's lap. Rilla shakes her head but strokes her down the back methodically as the purrs begin.
"You've seen so much," she says to the cat. "I know you did not like the train ride here," she says as Artemis looks up with tired-looking eyes.
"All the curious babies and children, though you were all right when it came to Clara," Rilla muses.
When Rilla woke up Artemis wasn't nestled into her anymore, though her bowl of food was empty. She put a bit more food in it as she walked through the kitchen.
"Mommy look!" Clara says clambering through the back door of the house. "Look!" She says holding up a snake in her one hand. "I found him in the garden with Uncle Carl while you were resting can I keep him!"
Rilla shrieks. "Out, out!" It must shock her daughter as the next thing she knows is the snake is in her kitchen, on her floor.
She grabs the broom that was near her.
"Don't hurt it, Mommy!" Clara exclaims.
"What is going on?" Jimmy says coming down into the kitchen, suspenders still hanging as he buttons his shirt after another quick shower from mowing the lawn apparently.
"Carl!" Rilla shrieks. Knowing her friend and husband were somewhere.
"It's completely harmless," he says popping his head and quickly gathering up the offending reptile.
"I don't care," Rilla hisses at him. "Snakes do not belong in my house," she says as he lets the offending slithering reptilian around his arm and his neck.
"I thought you were dropping by later," Rilla walks toward Marianne, kissing her cheek as Phoebe skipped over to Clara.
"You said two pm?" Marianne says looking at her watch.
"Is it two already?" Rilla says. "My apologies, I slept longer than I thought I did?" She says.
"It's all fine," Marianna shakes her head before looking at her husband. "That is not coming home with us."
"I'll keep it—," Carl starts off, as Marianne shoots him a look. "All right then, come on girls let for find captain scaly a new home shall we."
"We are not keeping the snake!" Marianne tells him yelling and Rilla shakes her head yawning and laughing at the same time.
"You feeling okay lately?" Marianne asks her friends. "You're not the one to usually sleep during the day.
"Ken had a rough night, all this talk of war in the east, and the rumblings in European make his nightmares worse lately," Rilla sighs. "Then I was up late as it was at work, another baby was lost last night."
"Why do you torture yourself so there?" Marianne frowns.
"Because, at least someone there should be sympathetic towards those mothers," Rilla says sighing, before turning towards the stove to set the kettle on. Hand on her back. "Doesn't help I feel like I'm coming down with something."
"You sure it's not another surprise," Marianne jokes.
"You know that's not possible," Rilla give her friend a look.
"Nothing is impossible, they told you it might be difficult and to wait a few years," Marianna reminds her.
"I'm practically forty years old Marianne," Rilla reminds her friend. "Ken is forty-six, a baby is the last thing we need right now, or want."
"Well, at least you get that," Marianne says sighing. "I have a feeling we have acquired a new pet."
"You wouldn't actually let him keep that thing!" Rilla exclaims.
"Do you think if I truly had a say, we would have the amount that we do?" Marianne reminds her friend.
Rilla shakes her head and passes her friend a mug of coffee.
"I better not be pregnant," Rilla says sighing, sniffing the coffee and setting aside.
"I mean I would say Christmas came early for you," Marianne says with a smirk. "But given I know that you and your husband probably have more sex than newlyweds…I'm not surprised you don't have more kids honestly.l"
"Mommy, what's sex?" One of the kids says from the doorway. Rilla shoots daggers at her friend.
"It's something married adults do, it's all rather boring really," Rilla says fast on her feet. "Oh look there is your Aunt Lily and Uncle Shirley with your cousins," Rilla says with a look of relief.
"Uncle Shirley!" Clara goes and runs off.
Lillian who was near the child shakes her head and wipes her feet on the mat and goes to kiss her sister-in-law.
"Anglaise mes Chers!" She calls out to her children who were speaking in French to each other before looking over Rilla's tired pale face."You look fatigued?" She comments and Rilla groans.
"I think she's pregnant," Marianne says as she kisses Lillian's cheek in greeting.
"Oh dear, really?" Lillian frowns. "I don't remember anyway anniversary or birthday lately?" Marianne snorts and shakes her head.
"I'm not…." Rilla says through her teeth. "Let us all just enjoy this day, the men are getting the grill ready, and I made the one thing I can't mess up, salad," Rilla tells him.
"Well, thank god for that," Rilla hears Persis who was holding some desert. Looking still fairly young and blonde, "My god you look horrible, you aren't pregnant are you?"
"Who's pregnant?" Leslie asks coming through the door.
"No one," Rilla stressed and goes to greet her mother-in-law. "Owen, there is a cooler of drinks on the table," she tells her father-in-law. She looks through the door and saw all the children splashing around in the pool in their swimsuits on this Dominion Day weekend. George and Amelia Persis's children were the same as her own as teenagers, both with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "I just had a long night, and they are all teasing me."
"Well, you do have that look to you," Leslie looks at her and Rilla groans.
"Mama, Tante Rilla?" Lunette comes rushing in, her long blonde hair in two braids.
"What is it, Cheri?" Lillian asks her youngest daughter.
"Can we have a snack s'il te plaît?" Lunette asks.
"There are vegetables on the picnic table," Rilla tells them, feeling her stomach flipping at the thought of food, luckily her niece runs back outside.
"You are definitely pregnant, oh another baby," Persis says grinning. "We need a new baby in this family."
"Then you can have one," Rilla tells her sister-in-law with a glare.
"Excuse did we just hear that someone was pregnant?" Ken says in the doorway, with the other men. "I think we are all a little old for that.
"It's all speculation," Leslie says patting her son's cheek, going to her husband that was sitting down with a beer in his hand.
"I don't know I'm on forty-two, I can handle another one," Shirley says grinning. "Though Ken you're pushing it at forty-six."
"Très drôle chérie," Lillian rolls her eyes and went out in her Parisian flair to go see the children.
"Perse?" Joe her husband looks at her.
"Oh, you know very well that I am not," Persis tells him and he breathes a sigh of relief. They had barely escaped Winnipeg and the recession, Toronto was fairly better but they had lost a lot of money.
Rilla sighs and looks at Ken who was paler by the moment. "They are just teasing, I just had a long night and coming down with something."
"Rills," Ken says carefully.
"Let's just enjoy the day and we can talk later all right?" She pleads with him.
Ken can only nods his head and then goes back towards the grill. Rilla comes out, sitting on one of the lounge chairs, the older girls are all sitting on the edge of the pool.
"It's horrible, isn't it? The whole thing?" Rowena says. "Like last week we went swimming at school and I had to sit out like a child. Of course, everyone knows at that point, seriously it's a curse."
"You get used to it," the lightly accented voice of the eldest girl of Shirley's says to her cousin. Elodie was the only one protecting her silver-blonde hair with a bathing cap.
"How? I still created a murder scene last month because it came in the middle of the night!" Amelia exclaims and some of the boys look at her.
"Don't ask," Jimmy says shaking his head. "You don't want to know."
"Why not?" Jasper asks.
"You want to start hearing about cycles, sanitary napkins and cramps?" Jimmy looks at them, and all the boys make a face. "See? Though I will say, grow up and don't make face one day when you're seeing someone, or engaged or married you'll deal with it often enough and some sympathy earns you loads of bonus points."
"Listen to him, he has some good idea's sometimes." Says a new voice and Jimmy turns around.
"You made it!" He says jumping out of the pool. "I thought?"
Constance shrugs lightly, turning her head slightly as he tries to kiss her in front of everyone.
"Mom, Dad, you remember Constance?" He says turning to them not letting it detour him from introductions of her golden-haired beauty.
"Of course, lovely to see you," Ken says as he watches his wife's face pale over something. "Give her a minutes she's had a long morning at the hospital," he says as Rilla manages to shake off the feeling of impending doom that was in her stomach.
"Really it is," Rilla says. " Sorry, I must have eaten something off this morning during rounds. It just hit me."
"I hope you feel better," Constance says nodding her head.
"You are so pretty!" Rowena says jumping in. "No wonder Jimmy is in love with you!"
"Roe!" Jimmy groans.
"You are very pretty as well," Connie says in reply with a smile. "You must be Rowena? Jimmy has spoken about you a fair bit."
"Oh god don't tell her that. She already has enough of an ego," Jimmy groans and Rowena sends him a glare.
"What about me?" Clara says looking up soaking wet from the pool. In her little bathing suit, which was bright yellow. She wiggles for a moment picking it out of her bottom.
"You must be Clara?" Connie says bending down slightly. "Oh yes I knew all about your impish ways," she laughs.
"I'm not an imp I'm Clare-bear!" Clara chirps.
"My apologies," Connie laughs.
"Did you bring a suit?" Rowena asks.
"I'm not a great swimmer," Connie says shaking her head.
"Jimmy can teach you, he taught all of us? I'm sure mom has a spare?" Rowena says shaking her head.
"It's okay, I think I will stay dry," She says shaking her head, pulling at her floral summer dress as Clara still stares at her. "You must be happy schools out?"
"I don't to school yet," Clara chirps.
"She's only five, and Rilla likes to keep them home for as long as possible," Ken says quickly, knowing what place Constance works for.
"Well, I am sure you will have all the fun when you do," She says smiling and nodding her head. "I know theist few years have been hard for all the parents in Toronto, but school is important for children her age."
"You work for the Department of Children's Aid do you not?" Ken asks her to confirm.
"I do, I mostly run between station houses and help out when they need a guardian for a child found lost," Constance nods her head.
"Is that how you met Jimmy at the station?" Rowena asks from the side of the pool as the boys dive splashing them. "Ollie my hair! You're going to ruin it!"
"You're in a bloody pool Roe!" Ollie says shaking his head of curls.
"If you start fighting, both of you are out of that pool," Ken warns them.
"Children," Constance says with an awkward smile at him.
"So you say," Kenneth nods his head and focuses on Rilla for a moment. Handing her a drink that was frothy and yellow. "Do you like pineapple?" He asks holding another for Constance.
"I'm good thank you," she says shaking her head as Jimmy sits beside her on the bench.
The kids play in the pool for most of the afternoon, Phoebe falls asleep on her father's lap mid-day while Clara climbs in between Jimmy and Constance, looking at the young woman with narrow eyes as she cuddles into her big brother. Not see the look of amusement between them as she tries to show her territory, as she refuses to eat dinner anywhere but his lap as well.
It only amuses the adults more to her confusion, until she falls asleep mid-dessert from all her play and running around.
It was the next morning when Rilla woke up to a shriek that sends her bolting straight up to bed with Ken doing the same thing. He is first out of bed, not bothering with a shirt or even slippers as he races down the stairs. As the shrieking and crying continue as Rilla grabs her robe following him.
It's Clara who is screaming bloody murder at 6:30 in the morning.
It takes a long moment for Rilla to figure out what was going on. There is no tell-a-tale sign of life from the cat on the cushion. She reaches for her old friend, still warm but also stiff.
"Oh, Artemis," Rilla whispers, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"I'll take her," Rilla hears Oliver say to his father. She turns and sees both of her older children, minus Jimmy who was working downstairs as well. Ken has Clara in his arms and another arm around Rowena who still has curlers in her hair.
"I'll go find a box," Mrs. Clark says still in her own dressing gown and hair still in curlers.
"Oh old girl," Rilla says softly and Ken comes up behind her. "I never thought…"
"No one does," he says wrapping his arm around her waist. Oliver has Clara now, and Rowena is sitting on the stairs.
She watches Ken deposit the old feline into the box, wrapped up in an old blanket that she liked to lay on before tucking it away outside. Clara was still crying, watching from her mother's lap.
"We'll find a nice spot under the try," Oliver tells her. "Give her a nice burial and funeral," he tries to calm his little sister.
It only makes her cry more.
Breakfast is solemn,
"I can't believe it," Rilla says quietly into her husband's chest as he rubs her arm with the one around her shoulder.
"She was older than Ollie," Ken says quietly.
"I know, but sometimes it seemed like she would just be around forever," Rilla says sighing.
"She was a wonderful feline," Ken says trying to agree. "We can always get another when we're ready for another."
"I just feel horrible that Clara was the one," Rilla sighs. "I know that feeling, waking up to finding something precious gone."
Ken frowns, knowing just what memory she is talking about. He kisses the top of her head silently. Not knowing what to say exactly, because what was to say when you felt the same way?
"She'll be all right Rills, she's resilient to the core." Ken reminds her. "Better now with this than later when it is someone else who she may love. Neither of our parents is young," he reminds her.
Rilla nods her head.