Chapter 1
It was easy to miss the blue light dropping a child on to the ground with all the bombs going off. The childin the too big suit curled into a ball and whimper as bombs fell. It was morning a few hours after the bombs stopped falling. The three year old laid under rubble sobbing.
"Dr. Turner over here!" A woman's voice shouted out. She carefully moved rubble off the little girl. Her brown eyes blinked up at her with such pain.
"Sister Julianne what is it?" A man, who most have been Dr. Turner, asked before spotting the girl. "Oh my dear girl you must have had quite a fright."
The little girl flung herself into the man's arms. It had to be safer than the bombs that were raining down hours earlier. She was so scared. She didn't know who she was or where she was and right now she just wanted to be held. The man held her gently as he picked her up and took her over to an ambulance.
Hours later after being poked and prodded at by nurses and doctors the man came back. He sat down at her bedside with a look of concern.
"My dear girl we couldn't find your parents in the rubble. Do you know where they are?" Dr. Turner asked. The girl shook her head. She didn't know. Did she have parents?
Dr. Turner sighed as another doctor rounded the corner. They spoke in hushed whispers to each other. What the girl could pick up was something about the orphanage having enough room. Dr. Turner sighed again and said he take her.
Hours later in the front seat of the man's car she felt safe enough to sleep. So she did. She curled around herself in the front seat and fell asleep. Dr. Turner carried her into the house he shared with his wife.
"Marianne," he called softly. His wife rounded the corner and stopped with a small gasp. "She was found in the rubble. The Home is full and we can't find any signs of her parents. Is it okay if she stays with us?"
"Of course Patrick," Marianne said gently taking the girl. "She needs a home and love and we have both." She laid the girl couch and took of the shoes that the hospital gave her.
"She hasn't spoke and she was wearing an over sized button up shirt," Patrick said sitting down in the arm chair.
"She won't have to live like that anymore," his wife said as she sat in his lap.
"I know I just want to know where her parents are so I can give them a piece of my mind. That girl is no older the three and she was alone during the blitz. It's stressful enough to have to deal with all this as an adult," Patrick said with a defeated sigh. Marianne kissed his check and stood from his lap.
"Go get some sleep. I'll keep watch over her," she said before moving to the kitchen. Patrick did as he was told and went to lay down.
Marianne marked on the calendar when this little girl was brought into their lives. March 28 1941.
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No one came forward to claim the girl so the Turner's have taken her in to keep. She still hasn't spoken almost a year after when she was found. Marianne has taken to calling her Honey. She responds to it with a big smile and runs up to her happily.
"Honey dear can you hand me the carrots," Marianne asked as they were cooking one night. It was one of the rare nights that Patrick was hopefully going to be home for dinner. Honey slide the bundle of carrots over to the woman.
Honey knew her name was Vanya but she doesn't like that name very much. Honey is much better to her. Marianne reminds her of a woman she can't quite remember but she knows what she's called. Marianne should be called the same.
"Mommy?" Honey asked softly. Marianne turn to her with glossy eyes. Her baby just said her first word. She was ecstatic.
"Yes baby?" Marianne asked sniffing softly.
"Me honey?" She asked pointing at herself.
"Well that's what I call you. Do you know your name?" Marianne asked softly. She didn't want to spook the girl. Honey shook her head. "Would you like to pick a new one?"
Honey nodded eagerly and went back to helping wash the vegetables for dinner. They worked in relative silence until the dinner was done. Patrick still wasn't home so they moved to the livingroom to listen to the radio.
They were talking about the late Queen Victoria and the policies she put in place. Honey hit the couch three times and pointed at the radio excitedly. It took Marianne a moment to realize what was going through her daughter's mind.
"Do you want to be called Victoria dear?" She asked softly. She got an excited nod from the girl and she smiled. "Alright then Victoria. Would you like my middle name as your own? That way we'll always be connected."
Victoria thought about it for a minute before nodding with a big smile. "Alright then. Victoria Elzie Turner but you'll always be my little honey," Marianne said before kissing the top of her head.
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In 1947 Victoria became a big sister. Timothy Patrick Turner was born in the summer and he was 8 pounds and 10 ounces. He was perfect. Victoria held him for the first time with her father beside her instructing her on how to hold his head.
She was nine years old now and she spoke more then she did. She was also remembering more from her previous life. She remembered her siblings how cold and distant they always were. She remembers her father and how he would yell and hit when they were alone. She had a new family now. She didn't need them anymore.
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When Timothy was four years old they buried Marianne. She had passed away of smallpox in an isolation room and the children didn't even get to say goodbye. Victoria was thirteen as she held a sobbing Timothy as they lowered the closed casket into the ground.
She took over the house duties to try and make it easier on her father in between her studies. She wanted to be a midwife like the ones at Nonnatus House. The nuns and the nurses there had always been good to her family. They were like aunts to them. She would be like them one day.
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She got into Grammar School after having top marks all throughout her schooling. She was going to become a nurse. Her father and brother was so proud of her. They threw a party for her at Nonnatus House. She was going to be one of them one day.
Sister Bernadette gave her the biggest hug. She relaxed into the woman's arms. It felt like when mom used to hug her. They listen to music and ate cake that Sister Monica Joan hadn't gotten too.
The first time she was sixteen she was alone and so depressed that she could barely function. Her siblings didn't pay attention to her and Ben had died so she enjoyed this one so much more.
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She came back from boarding school with much fanfare. She was welcome onto the Nonnatus House with open arms. She would start her work under Sister Julianne for her first birth.
The call came late into the evening and the two of them set off. They got to a little flower shop with a flat above it. The woman was in her late stages and ready to start pushing at any moment. Sister Julianne stepped back and observed Victoria as she was the lead midwife on this case.
"You're doing very well Mrs. Gill but I'm going to have Sister Julianne look at something for just a tick," Victoria said motioning for the nun to join her at the bed. "Breched?" She asked in a whisper. Sister Julianne nodded and stepped back. She would step in if needed.
"Alright Mrs. Gill the baby is a little shy it seems and isn't ready to face the world head on. So I'm going to need you to scooch to the edge of the bed and sit up for me," Victoria said with a smile. She didn't want to give away how nervous she was. She could do this. She had seen two and delivered one in her training. "Sister Julianne if you wouldn't mind popping behind Mrs. Gill that would be lovely."
"Please call me Ritu. You are going to be down there a while. We might as well be on a first name basis," Ritu Gill said her accent seemed to thicken was a contraction over took her.
"Clever girl Ritu your baby is coming along nicely. Now that his little legs are out I'm going to let baby dangle for a moment so gravity can help us along," Victoria saidas she wrapped the baby body up and let him dangle for just a moment. She gently took back hold of the baby with a smile.
"Now Ritu I'm going to turn baby slightly," she said as she did just that. "Now give me one big strong push love. That's it you clever girl!"
The little boy wailed as he was born. He may have entered the world ass first but he had some strong lungs on him. Victoria got the metal clamps and cut the babies cord. Sister Julianne handed him to his mother to hold before taking him to be cleaned off.
"You aren't done quite yet love. You still have to push the placenta out," she explained as she got the pan ready. Everything was right as rain after it was done. Mother and baby were resting while the two nurses packed up.
"Any thoughts on a name?" Sister Julianne asked softly.
"We have a r theme going with our others. I think I'll name him Ronnie," Ritu said holding her baby boy closer. She was exhausted but so proud of herself. The proof of her and her husband's love was here and her other children were with their father safe and sound.
"I think Ronnie Gill is an amazing name," Victoria said with a smile. Her and Sister Julianne stepped outside to the sunraise. She couldn't help but think that this is where she belonged even if she didn't feel like a she a 100% of the time. Their work in Poplar had just started and they didn't plan on leaving anytime soon.