Cannonball

Chapter Nineteen: Being Pushed Away

"You're pregnant again?" Rosemary whispered surprised as she stared at Martha, this was not what she had been expecting when her sister-in-law had invited her to lunch. 

She couldn't help but feel a little jealous that Martha was going to have another baby so soon after John had returned from war. 

Things had not been right since Thomas had returned home, Rosemary had hoped that things would be alright but he was barely sleeping and would not tell her what was bothering him. 

"You're not? They've been home two months and I am sure Kathleen would love a sibling," Martha teased with a smile, she could barely get John to keep his hands off her and she loved how he was making up for all the time that he had missed. 

The children were thrilled to have their father home and John was dotting on them, something that allowed Martha to have a break from the three of them. 

Rosemary swallowed, she did not want to talk about the issues that she was having and she had thought that Thomas's distance would be something that John and Arthur were also going through. 

She was a little disappointed that she was the only one that seemed to have this problem; she sipped on her tea knowing that she could not talk to Martha about it. 

Sensing that something was not right, Martha reached across the table and took Rosemary's hand; she had heard that Thomas had thrown himself into work since his return and figured it had been a way for him to cope. 

John had told her about the hours that his brother was pulling, he was always the first at the shop in the morning and the last to leave of a night; he would not even share his work load with his brothers. 

"I am sure he'll come around... John has nightmares sometimes, it was hell on earth he says," Martha said knowing that they would never know just how bad things had been in France. 

Many of the men that had returned from war were not the same and it would take time for them all to adjust to life back in Small Heath after everything that they had been through.

Rosemary nodded her head, she offered Martha a weak smile knowing that she should not ruin Martha's good news with her own problems; she had no idea how her sister-in-law would manage with four children. 

The three she already had where energetic at best and Martha struggled to keep a leash on them, they had a habit of climbing into stuff they certainly weren't meant to and Polly had been forced to ask Martha to leave the offices several times because of them.

"When are you due?" Rosemary asked trying to change the subject, she did not want to make this about her and she was sure that Martha would want to talk about her baby. 

It was hard to believe how fast she had gotten pregnant and Ada had even joked about how fast Martha seemed to pop out children; she and John had only been together for a few years. 

"Early August," Martha replied with a smile, she was looking forward to it and she would love this child just as much as she loved James, Steven, and Margaret. 

John had been thrilled with the news that they were going to have another baby, he could not imagine just how things were going to work out but he was pulling his weight more to support his family. 

The war had changed him and Martha missed how fun loving he had been before the war, he seemed far too serious now but she enjoyed how responsible he was being. 

It certainly helped with the children, who just last week had climbed into Mrs Jones garden and dig up her flowerbed in the search for buried treasure; John had given them a right talking to for that one.