He smiled at me, that same lopsided smile that used to greet me when I went down to the docks after school. Somehow, he looked different, older if that were possible, but he carried himself better than he had back home. Back home Dad would spend his time stooped over and carrying heavy objects from one ship to the dock and back again. He might have been strong, but he had terrible posture that often made him look like a banana but standing in front of me, his back was straight and he looked like he mattered.

I squealed, and ran across the square, throwing away any shred of dignity I might have had left. Dad dropped his bag onto the floor and pulled me into a hug, swinging me off the ground and spinning around in a circle. It had only been six months since I last saw Dad, but it felt like a lifetime ago, an eternity.

"What are you doing here?" I exclaimed when he put my feet back on the ground. I pulled myself out of the hug but he held onto my upper arms. "You didn't say anything about getting leave.

"I got a weekend pass. I'll be going up to London this evening to see your mum, but I wanted to see you first."

"I missed you so much!"

"Me too." He squeezed my arms. "Look at you, you've gotten taller! And look at your hair!" Dad grabbed a small stand and lightly tickled my nose with it, something he did when I was younger. "If it weren't for the colour I would hardly recognise you."

"I haven't changed that much."

"Yes, you have, little songbird. You're all grown up." Dad smiled.

"Don't start crying, you'll ruin the image of a man in uniform."

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Dad saluted and then pulled me into another hug, squeezing me as hard as he could until it felt like I was going to explode. I didn't like to think I had changed all that much in the six months I had been staying with the Goodwin's, but I knew that it would be inevitable. For the first time in as long as I could remember I had decided to grow my hair out and I knew that all the work on the farm had to make some difference in how I looked, even if I never saw it for myself. Six months was a long time.

Even with Dad standing in front of me, I couldn't help but wonder when I would next see Mum. She had been adamant that I couldn't return to the city until the war was over, but we didn't know how long the war would go on for. It could be months, years even until I next saw her and who knows how much would have changed in that time. I didn't want to become someone she wouldn't recognise in that time.

If the war lasted as long as the Great War did, I would be eighteen by the time the fighting ended. I would be a woman capable of going off on my own and supporting myself in the wider world if I wanted to. In that time, I could grow used to being in the country and being with the Goodwin's till the point that I didn't want to leave. War changed everyone, even those who were nowhere near the battlefield.

"I think you have some introductions to make, Syb." Dad gestured behind me and I turned around to Jonathan, Barbara and Alec who were all watching. I had forgotten they were there.

"Right, I definitely didn't forget."

Dad chuckled and patted me on the head. He grabbed his small bag from the floor and flung it onto his shoulder. I led him over to where the others stood, trying to fight the smile that had embedded itself onto my lips. It might have only been for a few hours, but Dad was there.

"Jonathan, Barbara, this is my Dad," I said.

"Andrew Vaughn, pleasure to meet you. If I'm right, you're the couple that took my Syb in," Dad said. He extended a hand to Jonathan.

"That we are." Jonathan accepted his hand and shook it. "It's great to finally meet you, you raised a great young lady."

"It's lovely to meet you, Mr Vaughn."

"Andrew, please. Mr Vaughn was my father."

"And this is Alec, he's a local."

"Right, Sybil has told me a lot about you and the riding lessons you've been giving her. It seems the two of you have become rather firm friends."

"Since you're only here for a few hours, Mr V-" Barbara paused. "-Andrew, perhaps you would like to come back to our farm for tea? You and Sybil can catch up properly then."

"That would be great, thank you. I'd like to get to know the people who so willingly let my daughter into their home. Anyone willing enough to put up with Sybil voluntarily is a hero in my book."

I lightly smacked Dad in the arm and he pouted before laughing it off. We waved goodbye to Alec who looked a little bashful after Dad's comments and made our way across the village. Eve emerged from the Post Office when she saw Dad, the two of them striking up a brief conversation before we continued on our way. No matter how much she tried, Eva could not hide the disappointment behind her eyes that I had been able to see Dad and she wouldn't be able to see Anthony for a while yet, if he even survived.

We left the village square and headed up the first hill towards the farm. Dad asked several questions towards the Goodwin's about how I had been behaving and the work we had done over the past few months. Even though I had told him about almost everything when I wrote, he expected a blow-by-blow account of everything, including all my riding lessons and the time spent helping restore the farm.

It felt odd having Dad asking so many questions about me, questions that he should have known the answers to because he should have been there to witness it all. Although I was glad he had come to visit, a few hours didn't feel like enough and I didn't want him to leave again. I wanted him to stay behind and watch me continue with my riding lessons, to watch me fall and get back up, to watch me grow up. War would take so many things from me, and Dad not being to witness all the work I did was only a small part of it.

When we reached the boundary to the farm and the newly repaired fence that encircled us, Jonathan made us stop next to the sign so he could gush over the Christmas present one last time. It had been his favourite thing to do since Christmas and practically everyone in the village knew about it, even Mr Thompson who knew I had been working on it. That didn't stop Jonathan from telling him all about it.

"I remember the spice rack you made for your mum a few years back, Syb. You spent almost two months on it," he said.

"Alec helped a little. He finished off the carving when I cut my hand." I showed him the scar left behind from the chisel.

"Trust you to cut yourself with a chisel, although I suppose it's not as bad as the mallet incident."

"No, I've matured from hitting myself with a mallet."

"Clearly." He laughed. "It is excellent work, Sybil. I always said you had a talent for this sort of thing and it seems that coming to a farm was a good choice."

"She's been a great help," Barbara said when we continued on towards the farmhouse. "I had my reservations at first, but she proved herself in more ways than one over the last few months. The farm wouldn't be close to operational if it hadn't been for her."

I almost stopped in my tracks, but I knew it would be weird if I did. Barbara had been rather lacking in the complement area when it came to my work on the farm. Although she didn't appear as upset that they had ended up with a girl rather than the boy she wanted, she still didn't look all that happy with me most of the time so I never expected a compliment. Part of me wondered if she had only said it because Dad was there, but the slight smile on her lips told me otherwise.

We reached the farmhouse and the moment we opened the door, Goose came bounding over, jumping up and trying to get us to fuss her. Dad laughed and shuffled past her, dropping his bag onto the floor and then reaching over to stroke her on the top of the head. Goose being Goose climbed all over him and even licked him across the face because she didn't have any boundaries.

It took several minutes for Goose to calm down and once she did, she slouched over to her basket in the corner of the room and curled up to go to sleep. She often tired herself out quickly but she was usually up and causing havoc in no time at all.

"You've managed to do the one thing I always failed at," Dad said.

"And what would that be?" Jonathan asked.

"Get Sybil a dog. Sally would never let us get one because she didn't like the mess, but you've succeeded."

"Mum said we could keep her once the war was over," I said, "if she was housetrained.

"That would be quite the jump for a dog. Going from all this space to a busy city?"

"A bit like me, but I adjusted."

"You went the other way, Syb."

I didn't say it, but I knew Dad to be right. Goose would be spending the first few years of her life with so much empty space and freedom that a move to the city might be too much. The thought had crossed my mind at least once since Christmas. Although I didn't want to leave Goose behind, I knew it might be the best thing for me to leave her with the Goodwin's when I returned to the city.

"So, this Alec boy you've been spending a lot of time with," Dad said. "He's cute, in a nerdy sort of way."

"Don't even think about it."

"Don't what?"

"First Eva, then Jonathan, I don't need you piling onto this as well. Nothing is going on between Alec and me."

"I never said there was, Syb, you just assumed that's what I meant." Dad laughed.

"You're so annoying." I grabbed a cushion for the sofa and hit him with it.

"You do talk about him a lot in your letters. I mean, he's giving you riding lessons, he helped out with the sign and I'm pretty sure he blushed when I mentioned that you had told me about him in your letters. It seems like there is something going on there to me."

"Or, everyone is looking too far into it and are forgetting that girls and boys can be friends and that there doesn't have to be a romantic undertone. We're friends."

"Uh-huh, of course you are."

I hit him with another cushion and slumped down on the sofa with my feet resting flat on the ground. Goose climbed up from her bed and jumped up beside me, nudging me with her nose and licking me until I stroked her on the head. At least she wouldn't comment on Alec and me.

Barbara came back into the living room from the kitchen with a tea tray and turned the topic of conversation to something I could stand. Jonathan asked questions about how I had been growing up and Dad continued to ask them about the work I had done on the farm. We discussed my reading lessons which had continued into the new year and I liked to think I was doing better at them. Dad even decided to test me by giving me a few words to spell.

"Your mum is going to be shocked when she sees you, Syb," he said.

"You think so?"

He nodded. "Country air, time away from school and the work on the farm has done you good. You landed on your feet with Mr and Mrs Goodwin."

A few months ago I would have said he was wrong, but he did have a point. The Goodwin's had done so much for me and I owed them so much. I didn't know how I would ever repay them.

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Twenty-Nine! Again, I still have no idea how long this is going to be xD

Questions! Are you glad Sybil's dad paid her a visit? Is he right to think there is something going on between her and Alec? 

Comment below!

First Published - September 29th, 2021