Marjoreece - Date Night

Marjorie Covering the Rooms

The next morning, Marjorie was in the office sorting out everything she needed to do for the day when the phone rang.

"Hello the Knight Nursery"

"Marjorie, it's Winter. Autumn's still not right, so she's going to go to the hospital so she can get checked out. Can you spare me so I can go with her as well?"

"Of course, yea, you go with her. I can cover in the rooms today."

"Uuumm, are you sure you can do that?" He asked warily, both from the perspective of worrying about the kids and worrying about her being in there.

"Yes, I can do it!!! Just keep me updated, alright?"

"Thank you, Marjorie, I'll talk to you later."

Marjorie hung up and made her way to the toddler room, where Winter was supposed to be spending his shift with Charlotte. When she walked in, she was greeted warmly, albeit slightly surprised, by Charlotte. "Hi Marjorie. What are you doing here?"

"Alright, my love, I'm going to be covering in here with you today."

"Where's Winter?"

"Oh, him and Autumn have gone to the hospital. So they won't be in today." Just as she'd finished her sentence, she realised she'd let slip more than she'd wanted to.

"Hospital? Is everything OK?"

Marjorie tried to think fast and failed. "Yea, yea, Winter couldn't stop.... pooing all night."

"Oh, and here I was thinking it might have had something to do with the pregnancy?"

"Wait, she hasn't told anyone, you know about that?"

"I kind of guessed." Char said sheepishly. "For a few weeks now, whenever anyone walked to wards her or got close, she's instinctively put her hand over her tummy. That and the fact she's using her words and not her fists with the parents was a dead giveaway."

"Oh. So does anyone else know?"

"Most of the staff have figured it out, and I did hear a parent say it had been mentioned in the WhatsApp group that they had been seen leaving the maternity hospital."

Marjorie was shocked. She knew Autumn wouldn't be happy. "When they're back in, I'll warn them about the parents, but it's probably a good idea if the staff keep it to themselves until she's ready to tell people."

Charlotte mimicked, locking her lips and throwing away the key. Just at that moment, a parent walked in. "Morning."

"Morning, good morning Tina, how are we today?" Marjorie said, addressing the parent and her daughter with a smile.

"Marjorie! Don't often see you in the rooms."

"No, I'm covering for a poorly staff member today."

"Oh! Will you be in here all day?" The parent asked, looking concerned.

"Most probably."

"Poor Charlotte! Do you even know what to do in the rooms? Do you know any of the children at all? How long has it been since you covered?" The mother bombarded her with questions.

"It's been a minute. But seeing as I just greeted Tina by name, I don't think you need to worry about me not knowing the children." Marjorie, offended by the comments. She'd worked in the nursery for over 10 years and hadn't been a manager for all of that. She did know the job, even if she was out of practice.

"Yes, well, that's now. What about if you're left alone with them? Do you even know how to do a nappy?

"Yes, I know how to change a nappy." Marjorie said through gritted teeth.

"OK, well, I'll be off. See you later. GOOD LUCK CHARLOTTE." She called across the room as she walked out.

Marjorie looked around at the kids, trying to calm herself down. "Char?"

"Don't worry, I'll do the nappy." Charlotte answered, scooping up one of the toddlers and walking out.

"Thank you, my love. Although, I had probably better start practising if I'm gonna be Auntie Marjorie."

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Marjorie wasn't quite as much of a natural in the rooms as Reece had been the other week, but Charlotte was glad of the support. She'd managed a few nappies and kept her group entertained and organised all day. Charlotte was actually a bit surprised and impressed. When they only had a few toddlers left, and Char could be left on her own, Marjorie said, "I'm just going to pop down to the office and check my phone. See if I've heard anything from Autumn and Winter."

"Good idea. Will you come back and let me know any updates?"

"Of course, my love." Marjorie walked back to the office and picked her phone up off the desk. No message, no missed call. She dropped Winter a quick message asking if there was any news and left it at that. She didn't want to bother them too much. They needed to focus on themselves right now, not her.
By the time she walked back to the toddler room to tell Charlotte there was no news, the remaining children had gone and Charlotte was clearing up. Marjorie jumped in and helped with the tidying and cleaning so they could get ready to leave. Reece would be picking her up anyway, maybe he'd heard something. He was Autumn's brother after all and the first person she'd told about the baby. It would make sense for her to fill him in on this as well.

As she locked up for the evening, there was still no news. Reece came to pick her up, but he'd heard nothing either. Winter and Autumn weren't replying to messages or answering calls. Marjorie looked over at Reece on the drivers seat and could tell he was panicking. She rested her hand on his thigh and started gently rubbing it to try and calm him down. "You know what hospitals are like. You can be waiting ages for tests and results, or even just to see someone. I'm sure it's just that."

Reece looked back over at her briefly and said, "Yeah, I'm sure you're right."

"Besides, they may have just had a stressful and exhausting day and got home and just wanted to be with each other or crashed out."

Reece nodded his head slowly. He really wanted to buy into his fiancé's positive spin on it, but he couldn't fight the feeling in his gut that everything was not OK.