Darkest Before Dawn Episode 30
“I’m worried about Isobel,” Maud said when Tilly asked what was wrong.
Tilly couldn’t help noticing that Maud had been unusually introspective of late.
She hadn’t wanted to intrude, but she had to see if it was anything she could help with.
She was surprised to find that it was Isobel at the root of things.
“Isobel?” Tilly asked. “Why? I haven’t seen her as happy as this for ages.”
Tilly loved seeing Isobel back to her old self, and it was all down to Stefan.
He didn’t get much free time, but what he did have he spent with her.
It was almost six months since he and Jan had moved in last February, and they seemed to brighten the household.
“I know all that,” Maud reasoned. “And I like Stefan, but he’ll go back to Czechoslovakia after the war.
“What if she wants to go with him?”
“Oh, Maud,” Tilly replied. “I know things seem serious, but Isobel won’t rush into anything.
“And even if they do end up getting married, perhaps Stefan will settle here.”
“I told you, Maud, we have to let Isobel make up her own mind,” Alf put in, giving Maud a start.
“I thought you were asleep,” she accused him.
“I was halfway through a blink,” he replied.
“Isobel’s been through a lot, and if she’s found happiness with that young man then we have to support her.
“I would be proud to have him as a son-in-law.”
“I might have known you’d take their side,” Maud muttered.
“It’s not a case of taking sides,” Alf retorted, earning himself a filthy look from Maud.
“It’s about Isobel’s happiness.”
When Stefan and Jan came home later, Stefan looked stricken.
Jan squeezed his shoulder and whispered something before going upstairs.
“What is it?” Isobel asked.
She wasn’t long home herself and hadn’t yet had time to wash and change.
“Now the Allies have taken Sicily, we have to go and fight,” Stefan told her.
“Now? No!”
“I am sorry. We are to collect our belongings and go.”
It was an awful wrench for them all, but so much worse for poor Isobel.
Stefan didn’t even have time for a proper goodbye before he and Jan were hurrying away from the house.
Isobel ran upstairs in floods of tears, and Tilly went after her.
“I can’t believe he’s gone, Tilly.” Isobel sobbed. “It all happened so fast.”
Tilly held her in her arms, wishing she could find words to comfort her sister-in-law, but knowing there were none that would ease her pain.
So many times Isobel had comforted Tilly when things overwhelmed her and missing Edward became unbearable.
Now it was Tilly’s turn to do the same for her.
“The last six months have been the happiest of my life,” Isobel whispered.
The sobs had subsided now and she was just crying quietly.
Tilly had never seen her like this before.
“I might never see him again,” she went on. “Oh, Tilly, I can’t bear it.
“If this is love, I don’t like it. It hurts so much.”
“He’ll come back,” Tilly told her, trying to offer comfort, repeating the words Isobel had so often said to her.
“But what if he doesn’t?” Isobel clung tightly to Tilly.
“He will,” Tilly reiterated. “You have to believe that, just as I believe Edward will come home.”
There were times when Tilly struggled to believe it, but she couldn’t give up hope. And neither must Isobel.