It took me a few seconds to remember where I was when I woke up the next morning.

I awoke to sunlight streaming in through the thin curtains, filling the room with bright light and warmth. Outside, I could hear conversations unfolding on the streets below and the occasional bird tweeting away to its friends. Frances stretched out and I had to roll over a little to avoid being kicked by her - that happened far too often during the night but at least her feet were nowhere near my face.

Evelyn stirred but didn't wake up, her slight movement causing the bed to creak and groan under the weight of three people. I stretched my arms out behind me, trying to move as quietly as I could so I didn't wake anyone else up. Stifling a yawn, I pushed the blankets off my body and tried to move off the bed as quietly as I could. My side was the one placed up against the wall, but if I swivelled around, I could easily slip off the bottom of the bed without having to climb over anyone.

Once on solid ground, I stretched again to unfold my limbs which had been crushed into the corner by Frances spending most of the night spread-eagle. The bruise on my back ached a little when I stretched but I had managed to avoid being kicked.

"What time is it?" Evelyn mumbled, stretching herself out and almost elbowing Frances in the face.

"Early. You can go back to sleep," I said.

"Mother will have us up for church soon." She stifled a yawn. "Come on Francis."

"Don't want to," Frances grumbled. She pulled the blanket tighter around her body.

"Wake up!"

I watched Evelyn grab a pillow from behind her head and hit Frances with it as hard as she could. Frances squealed and rolled away but Evelyn kept hitting her until she eventually emerged from the blanket with a frown on her face. Her hair stuck up in all manner of different directions and it looked like it would be a nightmare to brush, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she scrambled off the bed and then left the room without saying another word.

"She's going to get into her own bed now, mark my words. Every Sunday she's a nightmare to get up in time," Evelyn said, climbing off the bed.

"I was the same. Mother had to drag me out of bed once because I refused to get up."

"We threw water on Frances to get her up and then Nancy and I were the ones who got into trouble for it." Evelyn laughed.

"Girls? Are you up?" Mrs Davison asked through the closed door.

"Yes, Mother."

"Good. Get yourselves dressed, we have to leave soon."

Evelyn crossed to the dresser and pulled out a dress for church before leaving me alone in the bedroom. I pulled out the dress and shoes I had packed before along with my toothbrush and toothpaste. Father always said I had to look after my teeth, but I didn't think a toothbrush made of boar hair really helped, although I tried not to think about it.

Once Evelyn had dressed, we swapped places with me heading into the small washroom to wash my face, change and brush my teeth. When I returned to Evelyn's room, I stuffed my things into my suitcase and grabbed my hairbrush, running it through my hair to try and tame it a little. As usual, it didn't work. I tied the ribbon into my hair in hopes of disguising the mess before latching my suitcase closed.

The two of us rushed downstairs and grabbed our hats from the hat stand. Frances and Martha ran around the hallway chasing each other with Mrs Davidson trying to round them up and make sure they were ready for church. Nancy appeared at the top of the stairs and shook her head at the actions of her younger siblings, although I noticed a slight smile on her lips.

"Right, are we ready to go?" Mrs Davidson asked, grabbing Martha by the collar of her dress to stop her from running around.

"Yes!" Frances said, jumping up and down.

"Alright, let's go!" Mrs Davidson clapped her hands together. "We'll drop you with your parents after church, Isabel."

"Alright, thank you."

I tightened my grip on the case and followed the Davidson family from the hallway and out into the busy London street. We passed women dressed in their finery on their way to church, men in suits and top hats and children darting around all over the place. Everything looked so calm and peaceful but I had my doubts that it would last. Once I returned home, the calm and peaceful feeling I had felt for the past day would all disappear.

"How do you think your parents will react when you tell them you want to study as a lawyer?" Evelyn asked. We trailed behind the others as we walked down the street.

"I might not tell them."

"Why not?"

"With everything going on at home with my grandmother and aunt, I don't think it's the right time to tell them. Maybe I'll wait until they actually ask what I want to do."

"They've never asked you? Mother asks me almost every week."

I shook my head. "It's never come up. They didn't even mention it when your mother mentioned the reason I had been asked to stay."

"Strange. I'm sure they'll bring it up eventually."

Somehow, I didn't think it would get mentioned for a little while yet. Even if they were to bring it up and finally ask about what I wanted to do beyond school, I wouldn't tell them. With everything going on already, telling them I wanted to do something that just seemed outside the realm of possibility wouldn't go over very well.

We walked the rest of the way to the church, Frances and Marth continuing to run around until we reached the church door. I followed the Davidson's inside the church and into one of the rows near the back, tucking my suitcase underneath the pew so it wouldn't get in the way. Throughout the church, people were settling into their pews and trying to control children who were running around and trying to find their friends.

Across the church, I could see Mother and Father sitting with the rest of the family, neither of them turning around or even looking around the church to see if I might be around. The anger started to build up inside my chest at the thought of them not even acknowledging that I would be in the church with them. I stared at them in hopes that they would turn around and look at me, but they didn't. The only person who turned around me was Anna who waved when she caught my eye, but I doubt that had been on purpose. She can never sit still.

"How long do you think it will be before Francis starts fidgeting?" Evelyn whispered to me. I peered around her to look at Frances who already looked bored and the service had yet to start.

"About two seconds," I said.

Evelyn snorted. "Probably. Sitting still is next to impossible for her."

"If the service doesn't start soon, she's not the only one who's going to be fidgeting."

"Tell me about it. My bottom is getting sore."

I bit back a laugh, placing my hand over my mouth so I wouldn't make a noise or draw attention to myself. Beside me, I could feel Evelyn's shoulders shaking, her also trying to keep herself from laughing too hard. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I fought to keep my laughter under control but it was hard when Evelyn was doing the exact same thing beside me.

After a few minutes, I managed to get myself under control and quickly wiped the tears away and tried to look as natural as possible, but it was hard. Every now and then, Evelyn's shoulders would shake before she managed to calm herself once again. I turned away from her and glanced back over to where Mother and Father were sitting only to make direct eye contact with Father. He shook his head and I couldn't help but notice a slight look of disappointment on his face, no doubt at my actions.

He turned away and I scrunched up my fingers in my dress and then flexed them out again to try and keep the anger at bay. I did it several times until I felt the anger start to dissipate, smoothing out the skirt of my dress so no one would see that it had become wrinkled. Evelyn looked at me like she wanted to say something, but before she could the organ started up and the service began.

I tried my hardest to focus on what the priest said throughout the service. He commented on grief and the aftermath of the sinking, although it appeared to have been mentioned as a passing comment rather than a meaningful one. It felt like the entire country had forgotten what happened just a few weeks ago and moved on from it. No one talked about it unless someone else mentioned it and those that died had started to fade into a distant memory - Grandfather included.

How could everyone forget about it so fast? Did their lives not mean anything? Did Grandfather's life mean nothing? All Mother and Father could talk about was the will and how long we had before we had to move out of Grandfather's house and back home. To me, it looked like losing the estate meant more to Father than losing Grandfather.

"Did you have any idea what he was going on about?" Evelyn asked when the service ended.

I shook my head. "None. I never know what they talk about, I fall asleep about ten minutes in."

"Do you not believe in any of it?" Evelyn tilted her head to the side and stared at me.

"I do, I just can't concentrate if someone talks for too long. It's too much information in one go so I lose focus."

"Sometimes I think it all sounds too unbelievable. The whole resurrection for this Easter is just strange."

"But it does mean we get to hunt for coloured eggs once a year."

Evelyn laughed. "True."

"Come on girls, let's get out of here and try to find Isabel's parents," Mrs Davidson said.

I reached under the pew and grabbed my case, gripping the handle before following Evelyn out of the pews and through the door. Outside, the temperature had risen but a light breeze had come with it. The breeze caught my hair and whipped it around my face, the ribbon doing little in the way of stopping it from going into my mouth. It made it a lot harder to see and a lot harder to track down Mother and Father.

Eventually, Mrs Davidson spotted them lurking near the gates talking to Uncle Zachariah who battled to control the younger ones. We approached them just as Anna made a run for it, charging right for us and not looking where she's going at all. Before she could hit anyone around us or run straight into Martha who always wasn't paying any attention, I stuck my arm out and caught her in the chest. She stumbled a little and I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into me.

"And what do you think you're up to?" I said.

"Running!" she exclaimed, her chest heaving from how fast she had been running. "Hello, Izzy!"

"You're a right little terror."

"Thank you." She grinned at me.

"Good morning, Mr Ealing," Mrs Davidson said.

"Good morning." Father nodded his head in acknowledgement. "We hope Isabel wasn't too much trouble."

"Not at all, she was a delight. We would love to have her back sometime in the future."

"Good to hear it. We'd also like to return the favour one day and have young Evelyn come to us for a day or so."

Mrs Davidson smiled. "I am sure Evelyn would enjoy that."

Although Father appeared to be pleased with the idea of having Evelyn around to ours or even that the report back had been positive, I knew it was all for show. There was something in the way he stood, in his straight back and the slight raise in his eyebrow that told me all I needed to know about his feelings. To be honest, he looked disappointed that he didn't get a bad report about me and my behaviour whilst with the Davidson's.

I didn't know what he wanted from me. First, he yelled at me because I had been acting a little unusual and the next he's acting like he wanted a bad report so he could chastise me even further. He couldn't have it both ways.

How could he expect me to act a certain way when he kept giving me mixed messages? I just didn't understand what he wanted from me, but I knew how to find out.

~~~

A/N - We are back! I definitely didn't forget yesterday was Tuesday... xD Anyway, we are approaching two of my favourite chapters so I hope you are ready!

Questions! What do you think is going on with Robert? Is he being too harsh on Izzy?

Comment below!

First Published - August 25th, 2021