Lillian

As the back door slammed shut Lil slumped into the nearest chair. Tears of humiliation and regret continued to flow down her cheeks. Her arms sprawled across the kitchen table her head resting listlessly against the crook of her arm. She just didn’t have the energy to make them stop. She had known this day was coming, it was inevitable, but the reality of facing Bert had been pushed to the background when he was so far away.

What did people expect from her anyway? She was young and lively and had been alone for the last four years. Encouraged into marriage when she was little more than a child, Bert had been a demanding older husband. At the time it had seemed like such an adventure, she felt so grown up. The reality of family life had set in soon enough though, little money and four babies in six years had kept her so busy, and it was a guilty sense of relief when Bert left for Europe. 
A sudden nudge brought Lil out of her mournful reveries. Sitting up and wiping her face on the apron stretched across her swollen belly she heaved herself to the sink and filled the kettle. Events were out of her control now and she would just have to make the best of things. As she gently rubbed her tummy a new resolve coursed through her. Olaf would stand by her, she knew.‘Pull yourself together girl,’ she mused, there’s no going back now.