Darkest Before Dawn Episode 09
Isobel stood in one of the big front windows of the department store, mouth full of pins, and sighed happily.
When she’d told them she had experience of window displays, they’d asked her to start the next day.
She’d never done anything like this, though.
Not that she was daunted. This was the most exciting thing to happen to her and, after just a week, everyone was pleased with her work.
Tilly had fallen on her feet, too, finding a job as a waitress in a busy café.
They were able to travel on the bus together every day and they barely stopped talking. It already felt as if they’d lived here for ever.
Just as she was thinking about her sister-in-law, Isobel spotted Tilly outside in the shadows, handbag and gas mask at her side.
After checking with her supervisor, Isobel hurried outside to see her.
“What are you doing here? Is everything OK?”
“No,” Tilly replied tearfully. “I fainted at work and they said I was to go home.”
“You’re ill? You poor girl,” Isobel soothed, coming over all protective.
Despite the fact that Tilly was older and more worldly wise, there was a vulnerability about her.
“I’m not ill,” Tilly said softly, and her hand fell to her stomach. “I thought I was, but Mrs Murray at the café said perhaps I was having a baby.”
“How have you kept something like that hidden?” Isobel gasped. “You’re not showing at all.”
“I’ve been letting my clothes out,” Tilly said sheepishly. “I thought it was your mum’s cooking making me put on weight.”
“This is such wonderful news!” Isobel exclaimed. “I’m going to be an auntie!”
“But what sort of world will I be bringing a baby into?” Tilly asked.
“And what will Mum say? I don’t want to add to her worries.”
“We’ll tell her together,” Isobel suggested. “Wait for me in the café on the corner. I’ll be finished soon.”
As it turned out, Maud was delighted.
She hugged Tilly and shed happy tears, but her excitement turned to anxiety, as Tilly had feared it would.
“How will we clothe it?” she asked.
“Mum, trust you to be practical.” Isobel laughed.
“Someone has to be,” Maud pointed out.
“Don’t worry about that,” Rose piped up. “I have a trunk full of wool and fabric. We’ll all get knitting and sewing. Even you, Isobel.”
“Me?” Isobel laughed. “I can’t knit very well.”
“Then it’s time you learned,” Rose declared. “I still have the patterns from when you and your brothers were babies.”
They sorted through the trunk that evening, and when Rose saw Isobel struggling with needles and yarn, her brow creased in concentration, she gently suggested that when she finished knitting the bootees, she make a quilt and some bibs.
“You can use a sewing machine, can’t you?” Rose asked.
Isobel nodded happily.
“I love sewing!”
Poor Tilly, Isobel thought the next morning as she got ready for work.
Her ankles had swollen and she felt too nauseous to drink the cup of tea Isobel took up to her.
“I’m going to ask Doctor Kirby to call in,” Rose said when Isobel came downstairs.
“A sick pregnancy is a healthy pregnancy,” Maud replied. “It was certainly the case with mine.”
“I remember,” Rose said. “But her swollen ankles are a concern. I don’t think she should go to work today.”
“She’s not,” Isobel told her. “I’ll catch the bus on my own.”
She missed Tilly’s company, but things were going well at work and she’d already made some friends.
The store manager was so impressed with her window that she was asked to help with others.
“You have an artistic flair, Miss Pollard,” he commented. “We should use it to our advantage.”
She couldn’t wait to tell Maud, and she knew her dad would be so proud when he found out.
She could imagine him boasting to his crew mates that his daughter had an artistic flair.
But when she got home it was to learn that Dr Kirby was concerned about Tilly and had ordered her to rest.
Under no circumstances was she to return to work. If resting didn’t bring about an improvement, she might have to be admitted to hospital.