A Twist In Time

Making Friends

"Ada, wake up," I hissed, slapping her leg as it stuck out of the covers. "Ada!"

"What?" she grumbled, turning in her bed as she squinted up at me in annoyance.

"Shh, come on, we've gotta put the presents under the tree," I told her, dragging her out of the bed, thankful I'd put a silencing charm on the bedrooms before grabbing Ada.

We snuck downstairs, careful not to wake Polly in the converted bedroom downstairs - I never used the parlour so thought it would benefit her to have a place to stay when she wasn't boarded up in the Shelby house working.

"Polly's going to kill you," Ada muttered, shaking her head at the bags piled with neatly wrapped presents. I hadn't gone too overboard. Only one big gift bag for each of the children and most of it was clothing.

"They deserve it, Ada," I told her, directing her to where I wanted the presents to go. "I want Katie's presents here, Matthew's there and Finn's next to his. Put Mary next to Polly, you know how upset she's been getting lately. And Edward and Thomas' can come between ours."

"I think I've changed my mind about your New Years party," she said, getting to work and organising the present as I entered the kitchen.

"Jesus Christ, Polly," I said seeing the woman sitting at the table reading the paper and smoking over a cup of tea. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Aye, well, I knew you'd be up with Ada soon." She was like my mother. Always knowing when I was planning to sneak out or something.

"I was going to have a special breakfast ready for the children," I told her, grabbing the milk, eggs, and flour.

"You think you're going a bit overboard?" Polly asked repeating what Ada had said moments ago. I paused, placing the wooden spoon on the counter and turning to face her.

"I want everything to be perfect for Thomas-J's first Christmas."

"He's seven weeks old, love. He's not going to remember it." Now I felt foolish. She was right, Tom wasn't going to remember it. "Look, those children upstairs are going to be excited and they ain't had that in a long time. I'm grateful you're doing it for them, but how about we save the extravagant Christmases until the boys return from the war, aye?"

"Okay, fine, but I'm still having my New Year's party. Phineas is bringing his fiance and apparently, a friend wants to visit. Phineas has spoken about me to him and he's intrigued."

"Another male friend," Polly muttered and I could hear the disapproval in her voice. I guess they didn't approve of females having male friends in this time period. I didn't want to argue with her, not over something this stupid.

"It'll be fine, Polly, trust me."

Twenty minutes later, the children were up and around the table eating the freshly cooked pancakes. It was a treat for them and little Katie had never had them before. Ada was enjoying them just as much as the children and even Polly was smiling through breakfast.

It was moments like this that I lived for. Looking at all the smiles on their faces, smiles I had caused, it made me feel good. It reminded me of my family and although I missed them, I didn't have the privilege to think about them every day.

What was the point?

If I couldn't go home to them, if there was no way for me to get back to twenty-forty-seven then why should I not live my life? I had Thomas-Junior to think about now. Everything I did had to be for him. I had to provide for him. I needed to think about how my choices would affect him.

Everything was about him now.

"Where are you going?" Polly asked, looking at me suspiciously as I cradled Thomas to my chest. Man, I knew there were risks with baby carriers and newborns, but with a safety spell that had been invented in the twenty-thirties, I could have done with one of those now.