The moment the front door had been closer, we were set upon by several small children.

Mrs Davidson offered me a sheepish smile and then proceeded to try and round them up into one of the other rooms so they weren't filling the hallway. I could barely move for small children. I stood awkwardly in the entranceway, unsure how to act or behaviour or even what I should do beyond standing there. From the other room, I could hear the clamour of children and couldn't but wonder if they were all Mrs Davidson's or if some were just visiting.

Evelyn appeared at the top of the stairs with a smile on her face, oblivious to the amount of noise coming from the other room.

"Hello!" she exclaimed running down the stairs.

I smile. "Hello."

"You can take your hat off and leave it there." She gestured to a coat stand by the door. "We can put your case in my room."

"Alright." I removed my hat and placed it on the stand before following Evelyn up the stairs, glancing briefly towards the drawing-room where the noise was coming from.

"Don't worry about them. My younger sister thought she would invite some friends over too, something about feeling left out." Evelyn shrugged.

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Four. An older brother and sister and then two younger sisters. I'm the middle child."

"Must be better than an only child."

Evelyn laughed. "I guess. It can be a bit annoying, though. But I have my own room."

I shook my head and laughed before following Evelyn up the stairs and down a thin hallway with doors lining the wall. Some of the doors were propped open and I peered in when I passed. One had two small beds inside on either side of the wall with a singular nightstand in middle. Neither of the beds had been made and each one had a small teddy bear on it; I deduced that the room had to belong to Evelyn's younger sisters.

We passed a washroom and another closed door before coming to a room at the end of the hallway. Evelyn opened the door to reveal a small room, most of the space overtaken by a large bed against the wall, just beside a window that looked out onto the city. A small dresser leant against the other room with a large painting above it. There wasn't much room for anything else, the bed took up too much space.

"We'll have to share the bed, we wouldn't be able to fit another one in here," Evelyn said, a blush rising in her cheeks.

"That's fine." I smiled.

"Martha and Frances have been told they're not allowed in here under any circumstances and that they're to leave us alone." She looked at me with a reassuring smile. "You can put your case on the dresser, then I can introduce you to Nancy."

I nodded and stepped into the room, tiptoeing around the bed to reach the dresser where I gently placed my suitcase on top of it. Leaving the case latched, I made my way back around to Evelyn who gestured for me to follow her back down the hallway and towards one of the other rooms with a closed door. She raised her fist and knocked lightly, eliciting a quiet response from within.

Evelyn opened the door and gestured me inside, I followed but it felt odd to do so. I had never spent the night at another person's house before because I had never been invited so I had no idea what the rules or etiquette of that sort of event would entail. There had to be rules about what I could or couldn't do and just walking into someone else's bedroom, especially someone I didn't know, just didn't feel right. It was all a little too uncomfortable for my liking.

Inside, a woman several years older than the two of us sat at a small writing desk that faced out of the room. She looked up when she saw us and smiled, placing her pen down on the table and standing up from the chair. Her blonde hair had been pinned up on the back of her head and she wore what appeared to be a hobble skirt, white blouse and a jacket.

"You must be Isabel Ealing," she said. "Evelyn has told me a lot about you. It's nice to meet you."

"You too, Ma'am."

"Nancy is fine." She smiled. "Evelyn told me that you wanted to discuss your future prospects, is that right?"

"Yes, the topic has come up a few times now, but I'm stuck for ideas."

A loud shriek came from downstairs and Nancy sighed. "Why don't I take you two out for lunch? It will be easier to talk and we won't have to put up with the endless shrieking."

"Can we go to the restaurant Mother took us to when you finished your degree?" Evelyn asked, her face lighting up at the thought of going to a restaurant.

"I don't see why not. Let me get my purse and I'll meet you downstairs."

Evelyn bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, causing Nancy to laugh slightly as if it were an everyday occurrence. We left Nancy to gather her purse and anything else she may need for our trip out and headed downstairs to the entranceway. I removed my hat from the stand and put it on as Evelyn forged through the stack of clothing for her own. From the drawing-room, I could hear the shrieking and giggling from Evelyn's younger sisters and their friends with Mrs Davidson trying to keep them quiet.

I moved down the hall towards the drawing-room and poked my head around the door just to see what was happening. There were teacups on the table, although all were empty, and an old teapot that looked like it had a crack down the side of it. The girls were giggling and laughing, caught up in their tea party and having the time out of their life in the process. I could feel my body starting to tingle as the anger built up again, but this time more out of jealousy than anything else. I never had what they had.

"Right, are we ready to go?" Nancy said, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. I flexed my hands at my sides to try and calm the rising anger. I had no reason to feel like that.

"Yes. Someone buried my hat," Evelyn said, jamming her hat onto her head.

I laughed, hoping it would release some of that anger. "My cousin steals mine. She seems to think it's funny."

"A certain someone used to do that to me all the time." Nancy gave Evelyn a sideways look.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did. All the time." Nancy laughed. "Come on, we should get going."

Nancy led us away from the drawing-room and back through the hallway to the front door, the three of us spilling out onto the busy pavement. People went on with their daily lives, visiting neighbours, venturing further into the city towards the shops, or just out for a walk around the city whilst the weather was nice. Many of the people we passed appeared to be on their way home or to a restaurant or cafe in search of something to eat as the clock tower chimed.

I spent the entire walk towards the restaurant sitting back and just listening to the conversation between Evelyn and Nancy. They bounce off each other constantly and there is never a real break or silence for the whole time we're walking. Sometimes I wish I had that. A sibling to bounce off of, someone I could spend time with without it being overly complicated. Someone I could tease and who would tease me back.

We reached the restaurant, a familiar one that I had been to before. Nancy led us inside and spoke to one of the workers who gestured us over to a free table near the back of the restaurant. I sat down on the table and looked around the room, taking in the yellowish glow from the ceiling, the pure white table cloths and paint on the wall. The servers walked around in white suits with black ties and trays balanced on their hands.

"Have you been here before?" Evelyn asked.

"My cousin works here. In the kitchen," I said.

"Huh, you must have family all over the place. Your uncle owns a tailor shop, right?"

I nodded. "One is a tailor, one is a lawyer, one is a carpenter. All on my mother's side. On my father's side, I have two uncles, one who is a children's book author and the other an accountant."

"That's a lot to live up to," Nancy said. She took a sip from the water that the servers had placed for us along with some menus.

"I suppose so. My father's a doctor and my mother was a nurse, she only works occasionally now."

"Your mother works?" I nodded. "That's interesting. Almost all married women don't work because of the marriage bar."

I furrowed my eyebrows at Nancy, unsure about what she meant. "The marriage bar?"

"It's a ban on married women holding working positions. Once a woman is married, she's forced to retire to stay home, it's why all female teachers are unmarried. It's an antiquated rule if you ask me, but there is nothing we can do about it."

Our conversation is interrupted by one of the servers. We all had a quick scan of the menu before informing the server of our orders. He dashed off to the kitchens to inform the chef, including my cousin Sebastian who had worked in the restaurant for several years now, leaving us alone.

The conversation didn't resume until after we had been served and the entire time we were waiting, I couldn't get Nancy's comment from my mind. I had no idea such a ban had been in place, especially since Mother had been to work several times over the years and before I had been born. Not only that, but Aunt Kitty had worked for Uncle James since they had known each other and after several years of marriage, they still worked together.

When the food arrived, I busied myself with eating the pie that I had ordered and drinking the water that had been provided. With everything that had been going on, a meal away from home and time away from Mother and Father was a welcome relief. I hadn't realised how much I really needed a break until I was away and part of me didn't want to go back. Everything was so much simpler with Evelyn and her family.

"So, what professions have you considered?" Nancy asked, dabbing her mouth with her napkin.

"I haven't really considered any. There just aren't too many professions I'm interested in," I said.

"What about teaching?"

"I don't think it's for me. I've tried helping my younger cousins with their school work in the past and I would never want to go through that again." I laughed.

"Understandable."

"Miss Reid said she could argue a point really well, maybe that's something," Evelyn cut in.

"A professional arguer?" I shook my head. "I don't think that's a profession."

"No, but a lawyer often has to argue a point in a court. That's a respectful profession and your uncle works as one so he could help."

"But women can't practice as lawyers."

"Not yet." Nancy raised an eyebrow. "Eliza Orme got her law degree in 1888. Who knows, by the time you're old enough to train, the laws may have changed."

I considered her reasoning, my mind running faster and faster at the idea of me training to work in law. I had always admired Uncle Christopher and his work and I had always found it interesting, but I never thought I would see myself in that position. It all looked so complicated and confusing, but Mother always I could argue my way out of any situation and I couldn't see myself in any other position in the future.

Whether Mother and Father would go for it, I didn't know, but I didn't hate the idea and I certainly would like the opportunity to explore the idea a little further. Maybe I could finally have a place to send all of the pent up anger and to put my time into until everything with Grandmother and Aunt Matilda had been sorted.

Nancy might have been onto something.

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Fourteen! Some fun historical context for you all - yes, the marriage bar was a real thing and wasn't abolished in the UK until 1946 (Home Civil Service) and 1973 (Foreign Service) which is just mad. 

Anyway, QUESTIONS! What do you think about Nancy's suggestion? Should Izzy go with her suggestion, or something else?

Comment below!

First Published - August 10th, 2021