"Sorry I'm late," I called coming into the kitchen and dropping my basket on the table and Katie ran to me, throwing her arms around my legs.

"How's Merry?" Polly asked, settling Edward down as he started to fuss in her arms. He stumbled his way to me, unsteady on his feet as he tried to push Katie away.

"She's getting quite sick, which is unusual in the fifth month of pregnancy." I picked up Edward as he reached up for me squealing. "The lady at the market told me to give her ginger tea, but she couldn't even hold it down."

"Is she eating?"

"She's been picking at her meals. I think she's afraid she'll be sick. I've told her to eat throughout the day, even if it's a little. I was told that could help," I said, walking over to the kettle and filling it as Edward clung to the rune necklace Pops gave me.

"I've got a tea that might do her some good." Polly frowned as she thoughts, stopping on her way to the betting den. "I'll pop round this evening and give it to her. Perhaps getting her to go out on your walks would help. Being shit up ain't no good for her."

"I'll get her to come when I take the children down to the park tomorrow."

"Make sure she doesn't get too cold though," Polly warned, giving me a look before entering the betting den, closing the door behind her.

Polly wasn't the sort of woman you would expect to care about a pregnant woman that left her husband, but she seemed fond of Merry. The five weeks we'd been here must have worn her down to us. It might have also helped that Merry was clueless about anything to do with pregnancy and clung to Polly's words of advice.

"We got a letter from my daddy!" Mary exclaimed, thrusting said letter in my face, causing Edward to grumble in annoyance.

"That's great! Shall we write back to him?" I looked over to Finn, who was sitting at the table, a letter in his hands. "Do you want to write back, Finn? Who sent you your letter?"

"Tommy," he mumbled, his frown deepening as he glared at his letter. "I can't read it."

"Oh, well, in that case, I can help you read it and then we'll write back to Tommy and then I can teach you how to read and write," I told him, grabbing some paper and crayons for the younger children. "Why don't you draw a picture for daddy, he'd love it." I set the crayons on the table and turned to Finn, giving him a soft smile. "Let me settle Edward and then we can start on your letter."

Finn gave a small shrug and turned his attention to the window, a look of sadness on his face.

Cradling Edward in my arms, I walked into the shared room John's kids had and rocked him in my arms as I arranged his crib. Grabbing his teddy, I tucked it between him and my chest and covered him in his blanket before settling in the rocking chair by the window, closing the curtain.

"Time for you to sleep now, Little Bear," I whispered, pressing a kiss to his head as I started humming to him, rocking him close to my chest. He gurgled in my arms, trying to fight me, so I adjusted my arms and ran my hand through his hair. "Once there was a way, to get back homeward. Once there was a way, to get back home. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby." I stroked my fingers over the bridge of his nose, smiling softly as he turned his face into my chest, snuggling his teddy. "Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry, and I will sing a lullaby. And I will sing a lullaby." His eyes drifted as I sang to him softly, his fingers clenching around my thumb as I brought his hand up to my lips. "Once there was a way, to get back homeward. Once there was a way, to get back home. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby." I slowly rose, rocking him gently as I settled him into his crib, tucking the blankets over him. He moaned, his fingers gripping tighter to me as I caressed his face, singing softly again. "Golden slumbers fill your eyes, smiles awake you when you rise. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby." I hummed the last line a few more times until his grip loosened and I moved away, watching him for a few seconds before leaving the room, keeping the door slightly ajar.

I was startled to see Ada in the hall, a small smile on her face as she leaned against the wall.

"He cries when I put him to sleep," she said, shrugging as she followed me down the hall. "I never heard that song before."

Well, she wouldn't, considering The Beatles were yet to write it and Elbow were yet to do a cover of the song. I bit my lip and gave her a small smile.

"My mother used to sing it to me," I told her, going over to the kettle and putting it on the stove. I took down a cup and gestured to it, receiving a nod from her. "If you sing him the song while in the rocking chair, he tends to fall asleep just after the chorus."

"I don't think he'd like my singing," she muttered, sitting at the table and helping Katie colour her picture as the four-year-old shoved a crayon in her hand.

"It's not about the singing," I said, glancing at Finn as he turned his attention to me. "It's about the comfort, knowing you're there as he drifts off to sleep. He likes the sound of the vibration and the feel of your heart. I tend to rest his head on my left side so he can hear my heartbeat."

"Do you have children?" she asked, even though she knew I didn't. I knew a lot about them thanks to my many nieces and nephews and all my cousins.

"You know I don't, Ada." I gave her a small smile as I set her tea in front of her and settled down next to Finn. "Shall we reply to Tommy then?"

"I dunno what to say," he grumbled, placing his letter on the table in front of us.

It wasn't a long letter and as I read over it, his older brother assured him that he was fine and he was with Arthur and John at the moment. He told him he missed him and couldn't wait to return home.

"Well, why don't we tell him you're starting to learn how to read and write and you'd love to send him a letter every week to practice?" I suggested, grabbing a sheet of paper and the fountain pen and ink bottle from the centre of the table.

"I suppose," he muttered fiddling with the envelope his letter arrived in. "Can I tell 'im 'bout you?" I hesitated at the mention of me. Did I really want there to be written proof that I existed here in this era? I guess, in a sense, I'd already messed that up considering I bought a house and I was working for the Polly.

"If you want," I told him, writing the words for him on the paper and instructing him to copy them on another sheet. "I'll sound them out for you, Finn. D-E-A-R T-O-M-M-Y and the place a comma after that. This little symbol." I pointed at the comma, handing him a pencil as he copied the words I pointed to on the sheet I had written for him.

"He ain't gonna understand it," Finn snapped twenty minutes later when he finished his letter to Tommy.

"How about I write to Tommy as well and explain what your letter says to him?" Finn clenched his jaw, his hands tightening into a fist. "With time and practice, Finn, Tommy will understand your letters. He will love this letter, trust me." I shared a glance with Ada, hoping she'd help convince Finn.

"Tommy will love it," she said to her brother, resting her hand on his as she wrote her own letters to her brothers.

"Look, here, let me write to Tommy," I said, taking a new sheet and penning him a letter.

Dear Tommy,

It might seem strange to receive a letter from a stranger when you expected to read one from your brother. I'm the new nanny your Aunt Polly has hired to help out with the children.

Finn's learning to read and write and he's afraid you would not be able to understand his letter.

He wishes to inform you that he will be practising his writing to you every week. We know you might not receive them all, but it will help him gain his confidence and his new skills.

He can't wait to see you again and he is happy that you are with John and Arthur. He loves you all so much and thinks about you every day.

I've never written to a soldier before and don't know how to end this letter.

I feel that saying 'stay safe' is worthless, how can you truly stay safe while in a war zone? I don't have an understanding of what you've experienced and I now feel like I am overstepping my boundaries.

I'm sorry if I offend you at all,

Please forgive me,

Romy x

I didn't even think about adding the kiss and the end but felt like it would be a stupid idea ot scribble it out and I didn't think it was a good idea to re-write the letter, not with the way Ada was watching me carefully.

"We'll let them dry and once Edward is awake we can walk down to the post office and get them sent off," I told the children, taking their pictures and writing their names on them as Ada finished penning a letter to their dad.

The house I bought was finally ours.

The family that had been living there previously had just moved out, the loss of her husband and son had been too much and she wanted to leave as soon as possible. She was moving to live with her sister, who had also, unfortunately, lost her husband to the war.

After two months of being in Small Heath, I had come to the realisation that I was as close to getting us back into 1926 as the war was to end. And if there was something I knew, it was that there was still over two years left until that would happen.

"It's big," Merry muttered as she ran her hand over the railing as she climbed the stairs. She was also getting big, not that I'd say that to her face. She had just entered her sixth month of pregnancy, or at least by our calculations, she had. She might be a week or two off, but I had taken her to St Mungo's and they had agreed.

"I've already had it fully decorated," I told her, following her up the stairs. "It's a four-bedroom, a surprise really, but the smallest room is nothing bigger than a box room, more like a storage cupboard to be fair." I opened the door to the small box room to show her the little nursery I had set up for her.

It was large enough to fit in a crib and a rocking chair and a small dresser. It was nothing compared to the other rooms, which could all hold a double bed, but it gave her a space to have Tom sleep when he got older. It also meant she could have her own room without his constant keeping her awake.

"I love it," she whispered, leaning over and taking the dragon teddy I had gotten from Diagon Alley.

"Your room's the one opposite, so you can be close." I opened her door to show her the room before carrying on down the hall, pointing at the doors as we passed. "Bathroom, they don't have hot water pipes, but I've managed to fix that with a spell. Spare bedroom, which is currently set up for the Shelby children."

"In case they ever need to stay here," she added, looking into the room which had a double bed pushed into the corner and two singles against the other wall pushed against each other lengthways. There was also a crib for Edward. "Your bedroom?" she asked, nodding to the door at the end of the hall.

"Yep," I muttered, opening the door to show that my room was decorated similarly to hers. "If you haven't guessed, I may have fiddled around with a few extension charms."

"You've advanced for a witch of your age," she muttered frowning slightly at the advanced magic I had done on the house.

"If you met my family, you'd understand," I told her remembering the annoying summer holidays when we were basically enrolled into school again by all the lessons that were forced upon us. Papa had always been worried that we needed to know everything. I don't think he ever forgot his seventh year when he travelled around hunting Horcruxes.

He said he wanted everyone prepared. Prepared for what I didn't know, but Mum and Dad agreed and made sure we were always ahead in our schooling. It was probably why I'd managed to fly through the last of my schooling during the last couple of months here in Small Heath.

"I've warded the house too," I said, returning to the stairs and taking her through the kitchen and into the living room. "To protect us from other magical beings. There will be no boggarts, pixies or doxies finding their way in here."

"I think it's too much," she muttered, looking around the cosy living area as she settled onto the sofa. "I don't deserve this."

"You do deserve this, Merry. Why wouldn't you?" I asked her, feeling my heart pang when it became obvious that she'd never had something like this before. My whole life I had a stable roof over my head and had always gotten what I wanted, whereas Merry got treated like dirt. "Things are different now, Merry. This is our home. This is what we have."