"You don't have to come, Sybil. I'm sure Father Walsh will understand, as will everyone else," Barbara said, fastening the buttons on her coat.

"No, I can't miss another service. Besides, I need to start venturing back into the village.

"If you're sure."

"Leave the girl be, Barb. You were the one who said she needed to get out of the house a little more." Jonathan winked at me.

I smiled a little and grabbed my coat, pulling it on and trying not to think about having to face everyone at church. It had been almost two weeks since I received the news about Mum and I had yet to step foot off the farm. Eva, Enid, and Mark had all stopped by several times and tried to convince me to go into the village with them, but I knew everyone had been told about Mum. Jonathan said that Father Walsh bad mentioned me and Mum in the Sunday service I had missed so everyone already knew my business. I didn't want to face their pity.

Even though I hadn't seen too many people, I knew they were all likely to tell me how sorry they were about Mum and that they would act like they had to walk on eggshells around me. It was bad enough having to deal with Barbara who kept staring at me as though I would break down in tears at any given opportunity. Jonathan treated me as though nothing had happened, dragging me around the farm to complete chores and continuously winding me up. Alec was the same. He stopped by a few times to continue my work with Juliet and we only spoke about Mum if I mentioned it.

Once we were ready, the three of us left the house and started to follow the path down to the village. I wrung my hands in front of me, a little nervous to be seeing the entire village after so long. Although I didn't really know anyone besides my friends and their families, everyone else knew a lot about me. I tried not to think about it and instead focused on following the path and the landscape around us.

A cold wind had started to form as we approached the Autumn months. The trees were still green, but there was a crispness to the leaves as they anticipated the changing season. More clouds rolled by than before, reading rain and letting us all know what was on the horizon as we approached the end of the year. It would be my second winter with Jonathan and Barbara, but this one would be different. This time, there was no Mum to anticipate a present from.

"So, what are you and Alec planning on doing next?" Jonathan asked as we started down the hill to the village.

"What do you mean?"

"Your next big carpentry project. You've finished the treehouse, so what's next?"

I shrugged. "We haven't really talked about it. He's been helping me with Juliet so we didn't think we needed another big project."

"How about you build me a new chicken coop? I know we just repaired the new one, but I want more chickens and the coop we have isn't big enough for more."

"Why on earth do you want more chickens? The ones we have are loud enough as it is," Barbara said.

"More chickens, more eggs. We can sell the eggs and I just think chickens are great, what's wrong with that?"

"We're not getting any more chickens."

"I'm with Barbara. Our chickens are already menacing. If we get any more, they might turn on us."

"There's no need to gang up on me."

Jonathan pouted and hauled open the gate that took us to a small alleyway. Tall walls loomed over us as we moved through the darkened walkway, the roofs of nearby buildings blocking out the sun. We walked through the alley and emerged near the village square where people were starting to make their way up to the church for that morning's service. Children were dragging their feet and adults were engaging in polite conversation with their neighbours. Sundays were the only time the entire village was in one place.

We joined the crowd of people moving up through the village square. I kept my head down so I didn't have to look at anyone but I knew I had been spotted and just being with Barbara and Jonathan ruined whatever anonymity I might have craved. Once the whispers started there was no way to stop them and I knew people were talking about me, some even going as far as to point. I could just see them out of the corner of my eye and it took everything in me to not turn on my heel and run in the opposite direction. But I didn't. I couldn't hide forever.

In amongst the crowd heading to church, Barbara spotted the Thompsons and waved them down. At least if I walked with Jonathan, I wouldn't have been as conspicuous as when I had been walking with Jonathan and Barbara. At least I hoped I wouldn't.

"You mean to tell me that you were given the perfect opportunity to skip this and stay home but you chose to come? Sometimes, Sybil, I wonder if you're even human."

"Don't be mean, Alec," Mabel said, hitting her brother on the arm.

"That was mean." Alec rubbed his arm. "Seriously, you could still be in bed."

"I spent several days in bed last week. Besides, I couldn't avoid church forever."

"That confirms it. You're not human."

"Shut up."

I gave Alec a light shove in the chest and he stumbled back, grinning at me. Whatever problems I had when we left the house melted away when I was with Alec. It was as if nothing really mattered anymore, not really. I didn't care if people were staring at me and whispering, I didn't care that the entire village knew about Mum. None of that mattered when I was with Alec. Everything in my head just stopped and fell silent.

He gave me a distraction from everything that was going on, and I found that on the days he came to the farm to help me with Juliet, he was the reason I even bothered to get out of bed. Alec had started out as a friend, an annoying, pain, but a friend but he was the one who taught me to love the countryside and the people in it. He made my evacuation fun and I couldn't imagine not having met him over a year previously. Yes, he may have insulted me when we first met, but he made me happy.

With everything that happened with Mum, Alec and I never had the opportunity to talk about us and what would happen. We were still friends, but both of us had admitted that we wanted to be more than friends, we just hadn't been able to have that conversation. Being around Alec made everything easier and I didn't want that to change, especially with everything that had happened.

"I think you should try and jump Juliet soon," Alec said as we shuffled into a pew.

"No chance."

"Not a big jump, just the smaller ones we practised with. We can spend a week or so at each stage and work our way up to the bigger jumps. It'll be easier that way. I pushed you to do the bigger jumps too quickly last time."

"And what if I fall flat on my face again?"

"You won't. Besides, what else are we going to do tomorrow? There are only so many times you can ride around in a circle."

"Jonathan wants a bigger chicken coop."

"A new carpentry project? I like the sound of that." He grinned. "You know, we could get paid to repair and build things for people. It could be fun."

"Do you honestly think people would pay us? We're hardly professionals."

"You're better than a professional. Just think about it."

Even though I thought the idea to be completely insane, it didn't stop me from considering it. Not only would it give us both something to do alongside working with Juliet, but it meant I could make Mum proud of me.

Mum always used to say that she wanted me to do whatever made me happy, even if it didn't make much sense to her. She never agreed with me working in carpentry, helping Dad, or wearing slacks in public, but she rarely tried to stop me. Not once did she begrudge me for wanting to do the things the boys wanted to do and instead she told me to be happy. As long as I was happy, she was happy and working with Alec on more carpentry projects would make me happy.

If I could do one thing to honour Mum, it would be that. It would be to follow my heart no matter where it led me and trust that being happy would be more important than anything else. All I wanted to do was be respected for my carpentry work and not let anyone tell me I couldn't do any of it because I'm a girl. Even if Alec's idea sounded crazy, it was something I always wanted to do and I knew how pleased Mum would be if I stuck to my guns. She may not have liked what I did, but I would be happy and that was all she wanted.

For the entire church service, I couldn't focus on what Father Walsh was saying and I found myself not paying attention to any of the carols or proverbs that were being said. All I could focus on was what Alec said and how we could do more than build a treehouse for ourselves. The treehouse was just the start of our adventure and there was so much more I wanted to achieve. There were so many more things I wanted to build.

"You were miles away in there," Alec said as we shuffled out of the church door and down the path.

"Just thinking."

"Oh yeah? What about?"

I shrugged. "Not much. Just about what happens next."

"Sounds ominous, care to explain?"

"What you said, about doing more carpentry projects. It got me thinking about Mum and what she'd want me to do next."

"Alright, I'll bite, what would your Mum want you to do?"

"Probably not carpentry." I laughed. "She was never a big fan of me helping Dad, it annoyed her to no end when I used to ask to help."

"I bet she expected you to want to learn how to bake or sew."

"Definitely. She said they were life skills every young woman needs to know."

Alec laughed. "So I shouldn't know how to bake?"

"Can you?"

"I'm not terrible. You should try my shortbread biscuits."

He nodded at me and I laughed, shaking my head and trying to remember if he had ever told me about his baking skills before. I don't remember him having mentioned it and found it strange that after over a year, there were still things we didn't know about each other. Small things that would never usually be mentioned unless prompted, or things that we never really spoke about outwardly. We still had a lot to learn about one another and that was fine with me, it just gave us more opportunities to spend time together.

"If your mum didn't want you to do carpentry, why were you thinking about the two of them together?" Alec kicked a loose stone and sent it spinning across the village square.

"Mum didn't like me doing carpentry, but she knew it made me happy. She always said that as long as I was happy, so was she so even though she protested me helping Dad, she never really tried to stop me."

"And that means what?"

"It means that if you're up for more work, I think we should do it. Offer our services to people and continue with our carpentry projects. The treehouse proved we could do it, so why not?"

"I knew you'd say yes. It's all part of my charm."

"You're about as charming as a worm."

"Rude."

Alec pouted and the two of us continued across the village square to where Barbara and Jonathan were waiting with Alec's parents.

"What are you two smiling about?" Jonathan asked, looking between the two of us.

"Not much. Do you still want that chicken coop?"

"You're a strange one, Sybil."

I shrugged. "It's been said before."

Jonathan laughed but I could see a slight relief behind his eyes, a relief that I was alright after all.

I didn't know if I would ever be entirely alright after Mum died. I didn't know how I would feel from day to day or even minute to minute, but I knew that Mum wouldn't want me to be upset. All she ever wanted was for me to be happy and I was, even if it took me a while to realise it.

Although I wouldn't be returning to London just yet, even though home still felt a long way off, I knew that everything would work itself out in the end. It just had to.

~~~

A/N - And there we go! The final chapter! Keep your eyes open for information on the sequel as it will be coming up not long after this goes up!

Questions! What did you think about the story as a whole? Predictions for the sequel? What would you like to see?

Comment below!

First Published - April 13th, 2022