"'It seems to me, gazing back across the decades, 'that my journey into womanhood began on the streets of East London 'working as a midwife in the city's poorest quarter." "'I never knew an idle day, a misspent hour, 'a single moment without some sense of purpose." "'I could be bone tired and I would rally exhausted 'and bounce back time and again.'" "Many happy returns, Jenny!" "Thank you." "'Life was fuelled by learning, but there was laughter too 'and I was forging friendships that would last me all my days.'" "Stop!" "I've got something in my shoe!" "Oh, Cynthia, do hurry up!" "The bus won't wait, and neither will Rossano Brazzi." "Never mind Rossano Brazzi, there's Chummy!" "Sorry." "Sorry!" "Sackcloth and ashes!" "Evening, ladies." "Hello, Peter!" "I just got into the most atrocious fix with a steamed sponge pudding!" "One has to constantly top up the pan with water, or else the tin will just... explode." "There's no harm done, Camilla." "Go and enjoy the film." "I can still see bits of syrup on the braid!" "'We strove to serve women, living alongside and amongst them." "'Men were creatures that you married, or marvelled at, 'or yearned for, or found somehow perplexing." "'Mainly, they made work for us, and we knew no rest.'" "All hands on deck!" "Sister Julienne has already gone to Mrs Hall." "Her waters broke a week before the due date." "Clinic starts 2.00 sharp, this afternoon." "In the meantime, Sister Bernadette, you will man the phone." "Yes, Sister." "Nurses Lee and Noakes, you can take the booking-in list." "Yes, Sister." "Nurse Miller, I think we should add in Mrs Mournsey to the morning calls." "The baby's refused the breast again, and we should check him for tongue-tie." "Yes, Sister." "Oh dear, have we started?" "These kirby grips have got a mind of their own this morning." "Where would we be without Nurse Franklin, bringing up the rear like a poodle at the circus?" "Mafeking Buildings are all yours." "Single-handed?" "Hmm." "But there's been 18 births there this month alone!" "Hark at the oracle!" "Maybe you can ask them, while you're there, if they know what causes it." "But, Sister, from experience..." "Experience?" "If you had more experience and less confidence," "I might be inclined to listen to you." "Mafeking Buildings, and that's final." "Yes, Sister." "You'll just have to keep your head down, Trixie." "Sister will have forgotten all about it by the end of the day." "You might get a supplementary lecture during clinic." "I got "needing to learn some respect" the other day." "What Sister Evangelina needs to learn is that respect goes both ways!" "And you can hold your horses, young Trixie." "I have never known a chain drink as much oil as yours." "We don't want you coming off and incurring further wrath, do we?" "No." "And you can ignore all that stuff about experience." "What she says deep down, is a load of hot air." "Trouble is, Fred, deep down I know it isn't." "Heavy boy." "Little butterball." "Off you go." "Mrs Collins?" "You've forgotten something." "Oh well, plenty more like her at home." "Mrs Brignall?" "Molly Brignall?" "Nitrous oxide, also known as gas and air, is a wonderful method of pain relief." "Is it the same as that pethidine?" "In my view, it's much better." "We'll be offering nitrous oxide in the new maternity home." "I want to stay in me own home!" "You've got a car." "Why can't you bring it in your boot?" "I suppose in theory I could." "Doctor only comes out in complicated cases!" "Now, if Doctor's agreeable, we'll have a little demonstration of how this apparatus works." "Thank you, Nurse." "Er, perhaps you'd climb onto the couch." "It's perfectly safe to inhale the gas when you're lying down, as of course you will be when you're in labour." "Nurse Noakes, if you'd take over." "This form of pain relief really is top-hole." "The midwife will turn it on and off for you, but rule number one is you start to breathe the gas before the contraction really gets its boots on." "Thus, the pain begins." "I indicate this to my attendant." "The gas is activated." "I breathe in and out." "As Nurse is saying, you then simply breathe deeply and evenly until the contraction passes." "It reduces the pain, and gives a hazy, relaxed feeling that many describe as being rather pleasant." "What if you take an overdose?" "It's not possible." "Nurse remains in charge, and after the contraction, a few breaths of ordinary air will bring you round." "Nurse." "Nurse?" "You can let go of the mask now." "All in all, a thoroughly pleasant sensation." "I'll have one of them." "I don't hold with all this gas and air malarkey." "It's downright cruel, showing a woman pain relief when you can't give it to her." "We can give it to them." "In the Maternity Home." "Maternity Home." "Since Dr Turner lost his wife, he's been nothing but grand schemes." "We'll have half the East End trying to book in there instead of gritting their teeth and getting on with it!" "They shouldn't have to grit their teeth and get on with it." "All of the younger midwives have been trained in analgesia." "I've been trained myself." "When are you going to get yourself to an optician?" "Your work and your patients will suffer, if you can't see what you're doing." "Sister Evangelina, Molly Brignall missed her appointment today." "Oh, another one?" "She's almost at term, and we haven't seen her for four weeks now." "You'll have to call in there tomorrow after you've finished your morning list." "Yes, Sister." "Hello." "What other options we got, Mol?" "What other options we got?" "Cos I certainly can't think of any, can you?" "Don't know." "No, you don't know, do ya?" "Hey?" "We've not got a penny piece." "What am I supposed to do?" "Ritchie, it's nearly my time!" "I can't do it!" "Midwife calling!" "Is anyone at home?" "I'm afraid if you don't answer, someone more senior will have to call tomorrow." "Come in, Nurse." "Cup of tea, Nurse?" "It's in the pot." "No, thank you." "I'll bring a fresh bottle of milk back after I've done my shift." "Tinned will do." "Whatever the lady wants, hey?" "I'm sorry to call by unannounced, but it is a worry when you don't come to the clinic." "It's on the wrong bus route." "What's this?" "Banged it on the handle of the wardrobe." "According to your notes, you're down for a home delivery, Molly." "I'll have all this looking like the ideal home by then." "Oh, hello, lovely!" "This is my little Lorraine." "It's only the nurse." "No-one's going to hurt you." "I can't understand why that hovel has been passed as fit for home delivery!" "I checked the records when I got back, and five weeks ago it was deemed as suitable." "Jenny, five weeks ago, it was!" "I passed it fit myself." "It was probably her mother." "When I delivered Molly's first, she was at it non-stop with the Stardrops." "If someone was helping Molly, then we have to find out why that help has stopped, and if it can be resumed before the baby's born." "Sister Monica Joan, you haven't had the Swiss roll." "I cannot excite myself about a fatless sponge." "It is principally air, and I feel untethered by it." "You must speak to Molly's mother." "If an improvement cannot be guaranteed, then Molly must be booked into the hospital for a hospital birth." "She was adamant she didn't want that." "Or more to the point, her husband didn't want that." "Sorry." "But I find that the most disturbing thing of all." "What I wouldn't give for another cup of tea!" "No shilly-shallying!" "By all accounts, Bella Collins pops them out as though she's shelling peas." "With any luck we'll be back in time for Horlicks." "Here comes the cavalry!" "Bella!" "It's the nurses." "Obviously not a false alarm!" "I'll leave you to it." "Hooter's gone off for the evening shift," "I need to go and buy myself a pie." "It'd just be inconsiderate, asking her for sandwiches." "You'll wear yourself out, Bella!" "Now, Nurse Foster says last time you had a splendid chat about Pat Boone between contractions." "And during contractions I screamed my bloody head off." "Oh, it never gets any easier." "And I've gone off Pat Boone since he sang Tutti Frutti." "You're ticketty-boo." "Now if Nurse Miller helps me rearrange the bedclothes, it might well be when we examine you, you'll be ready to start helping baby on its way." "Aw, full marks, Bella!" "You've already put the paper on the mattress." "I reckon it's a right big bugger this time." "What's going on?" "Sorry, old bean, you're still only six fingers dilated." "Seems this baby isn't quite such a Speedy Gonzales as we thought." "I'm getting too old to do this again!" "Stuff and nonsense, you're quite the spring chicken." "Perhaps you'd like to try some pethidine?" "I'm not going down that road again!" "It makes the wallpaper look as if it's moving." "I need the doctor." "I'm quite sure we don't need to trouble Doctor..." "Haven't you ever heard of a mother's instinct before?" "I need him to come." "I'm in agony!" "Mrs Gray?" "Has my Molly had the baby?" "No, Mrs Gray." "I need to talk to you." "Molly was as good as gold till she was 14." "Then she got a bust, and started giving lip." "She started saying, "Why did you send me off to the country?" ""Didn't you want me?" "I never asked to go."" "She'd been home years then," "I shouldn't think she could remember being on the farm." "Was she evacuated, during the war?" "Tenterden, in Kent." "Molly and her brother." "Labels round their necks, brand new plimsolls." "And their dad was just a telegram on the mantelpiece." "Missing in action at El-Alamein." "Mrs Gray." "The worst thing about my job is that I sometimes have to pry." "I'm afraid I've come here today to pry about Molly." "You don't want to be getting mixed up in her sort of mess." "You're a young girl." "You want to be out doing your dancing, somewhere way up West." "No, I don't." "I did my dancing during the war." "It was like my kids had been magicked away." "I thought we could just pick up the pieces when peace came, but we never did." "My boy's in the Army now." "I saved up, got a phone put in, but he never calls." "Got keys cut for Molly, but she don't come round." "We are quite worried about Molly, Mrs Gray." "I was wondering if you yourself had any concerns?" "What, you mean apart from him?" "Apart from him and including him." "She won't talk to me about anything." "She's always saying, "Ritchie loves me, Mum." "He protects me." ""He never lets me out of his sight"." "I never wanted her to marry him." "When the first was on the way, I was terrified he wouldn't." "But he did." "If Molly can't clean up her living conditions, Mrs Gray," "I'm very much afraid that Social Services will want to get involved." "Is it as bad as that?" "It's every bit as bad as that." "Help me!" "You were right to send for me." "I'd always be concerned about ante-partum haemorrhage, when the pain is very acute." "But all is well." "There's no cause for concern." "Oh, none at all." "I'm only having a bloomin' baby!" "Everything's going like clockwork, Bella." "Absolutely." "You'll be done and dusted in an hour or two!" "I want gas." "Dr Turner's got some in his boot." "He said so, when he was at the clinic!" "I want gas!" "That's right, Well done, Bella." "Well done!" "I just want little pushes now." "Can you hear me?" "Little push." "Head's born." "Bravo." "Absolutely top-notch." "And so is the gas and air, if I may say so." "Now, Bella, I want one absolutely mammoth push, and then it'll all be over." "Concentrate now!" "Congratulations, Mrs Collins!" "You have a little girl, Bella." "I'll be spreading the news about that gas." "Oh, just you wait, they'll all be wanting it!" "Thanks, Mum." "Don't have to thank me." "I'm your mother." "Wonderful." "The flat's in pristine condition, and so are you." "I'll let Sister Julienne know all's well, and register you for home delivery." "Nobody told me we'd be having company." "Molly's baby's almost due, Mr Brignall." "She'll have regular visits from midwives from now on." "I didn't mean you." "I meant her." "Get out!" "Get out!" "We don't need you here!" "I look after her." "I know what's best." "If you know what's good for yourself, now leave." "Don't push me!" "Leave!" "Please don't hurt her!" "I will hurt her unless you leave!" "Get out!" "Get out and leave us alone." "I've said it to her, and I'll say it to you." "You clear out of my home, or I'll burn her, and I'll burn her again!" "That's enough." "Where's Lorraine?" "She went behind the sofa." "You've seen him in action now." "Yes." "I have." "It certainly sounds like assault." "But we need to speak to Molly Brignall." "Could an officer go round to the flat?" "We could try." "But if she won't press charges, we can't prosecute." "I could press charges." "Ritchie threatened me!" "I think, if you did that now," "Ritchie would not allow Molly to receive care." "The needs of the patient must come first." "I know Molly's needs, Sister!" "She needs him." "And worse, she wants him." "She thinks he loves her, I can tell." "Whenever he's in the room, her eyes follow him." "Like a dog's eyes." "It's pitiful." "Nurse, we're not here to pity!" "We are here to serve." "A man may beat his wife with a stick no bigger than his thumb." "It is enshrined in statute, and occasionally cited in the courts." "Sister, are you sure that's still the case?" "He is entitled to do it if she cuckolds him, insults his beard, or wishes pain upon his teeth." "I am reminded of the latter because my own molars have been a source of some discomfort." "And we are faced with ginger nuts again." "You are apprised of my method, Sister." "I await your permission." "Of course." "No more gas and air at home deliveries." "I've had it out with Dr Turner, and he has conceded defeat." "Surely not?" "Women have been begging for gas and air!" "And you have absolutely no business giving in to them!" "Doctor's been prevented from seeing half his patients." "He's just sat at his desk, and his face was grey." "I'm sorry, Sister, but it's 1958." "Women want pain relief." "Good management of labour is not about medical folderols." "It is about care, and making sure the woman feels supported." "Besides, we already carry pethidine." "And nitrous oxide simply isn't practical." "If you ask me, Dr Turner's completely over-reached himself." "Has anyone else noticed a button's come off his clinical coat?" "He's got no-one to sew it on for him." "It hardly inspires confidence!" "Ugh, and his poor little boy's looking quite unkempt." "Speak more respectfully of Doctor, please." "And I'll thank you to hand me the malt loaf." "Anything exciting?" "I was just reading Situations Vacant, for old time's sake." "It takes me right back to my otherwise entirely ghastly youth, dreaming of Africa, and the missions." "There's a six month posting here, to Sierra Leone." "Just my cup of tea, once upon a time." "Will you test me on the Prostitution Laws?" "You can recite the Prostitution Laws in your sleep!" "I can recite them in my sleep." "That's the point." "I'm aiming for promotion." "No point in ambitions, if you don't try to achieve them." "No." "I don't suppose there is." "Now, shall we begin with importuning?" "Or do you want to ring the changes with procurement?" "Molly, are you there?" "Please open the door, Molly." "Ritchie said I had to leave the bolt on." "Molly, in the next few days, you're going to have a baby." "And you are going to need help, and I think you know that." "What should I do, when the baby comes?" "You must telephone Nonnatus House." "That's Poplar, 459." "We've arranged for you to have the baby in the Maternity Home." "What about Lorraine?" "You mustn't leave her alone." "I never leave her alone." "I love him." "But I know him." "And I love her." "Of course you do." "You could ask your mother to look after her." "Molly!" "Molly!" "♪ Glory to thee, my God, this night" "♪ For all the blessings of the light... ♪" "'I struggled then, though I do not now, 'to comprehend that not all love was good, or all obedience holy.'" "♪ Beneath thine own almighty wings" "♪ Glory to thee... ♪" "Chips?" "I swear one day, if ever I go a long, way away from here, this is the smell that would have me sobbing hot tears of nostalgia." "Sarson's malt, and a dash of printer's ink." "You aren't going a long, long way away are you?" "Gosh, no." "Honeymoon in Ramsgate." "That was enough to quench my wanderlust." "Besides, I've a pack of wolf cubs to keep in order." "No, this is home now." "Wherever I went," "I'd wing my way back here like a bally racing pigeon." "Home." "Heart is." "All of that." "The heart ends up making its home in some very peculiar places, if you ask me." "Are you talking about Molly Brignall?" "I've never loved a brutal man." "I've loved a wrong one." "It was so hard to break away, and for Molly that would be even harder." "I'm not sure she could find the courage." "Gosh." "Courage." "Wish we could bottle it, like gas and air." "Sister Evangelina wouldn't approve." "Oh, Lord." "You did it." "You got new specs!" "My prescription had to be revised, so it did seem justified." "The frames really do suit you." "They're much lighter than your old pair." "Oh, it's not the colour." "It's absolutely the upsweep." "Opens the peepers wider than three coats of mascara." "Do come and look at Sister Bernadette's glasses!" "They could only be improved by diamante on the arms." "I don't think you can get diamante on the National Health." "Are they on the National Health?" "Oh, go on." "Indulge me." "What do you think?" "I take it the upswept frame and I are not soul mates?" "Sister." "It is time to partake with the privilege of silence." "I'm off." "I'll bring you back a Babycham." "If you're good." "I'm always good." "So come here, and give us a kiss." "No." "You come here." "Nah." "And I want to hear that bolt go on." "Nonnatus House." "Midwife speaking." "Camilla?" "It's me." "Mr Impertinence." "We're both on duty." "I'm just off on a house call." "Listen, we've had a call from the West India Dock night watchman." "'It seems there's a woman in labour, on a ship.." "Passenger ship?" "No, cargo." "Cargo?" "Women aren't permitted on cargo ships." "I have to say, I don't much like the sound of it." "Who's on call?" "Trixie." "Don't send her on her own." "Fetch Jenny." "Quickly." "Mum!" "Molly?" "Still think it may be some sort of a ruse." "We could end up being robbed till we're floating face down in the docks." "Come on now, all the nice girls love a sailor." "'Nonnatus House." "Midwife speaking.'" "It's Molly Brignall's mother." "I'm bringing her to the Maternity Home." "I'm sorry, Trixie." "I need to go to Molly." "But you've already said you'll come with me!" "Molly needs to be with somebody she trusts." "And I don't need to be with Sister Evangelina!" "Who alerted the night watchman?" "It was this gentleman, Sister Evangelina." "He's the captain of the ship you can see across the river." "Ah." "Well, I shan't waste my breath asking you a straight question." "Because I won't get a straight answer." "My English has limits." "Mitt sprak ar Svenska." "German." "No sprachen, you're out of luck." "The ship's sailing under the Swedish flag, Sister." "No sprachen Swedish either." "Has anyone inspected this man's papers?" "Nurse." "This is no time to play the shrinking violet." "It just seems rather irregular." "How... is... the... mother?" "Ah." "Very great scream." "Every five minutes." "That regular enough for you?" "Follow me." "I thought it would be more like a hospital." "No, not at all." "Dr Turner's in charge, and the midwives deliver the babies, just as they would if you were at home." "Will you deliver mine?" "Of course." "That's why I'm here." "I've never been on an ocean-going vessel in my life." "Just shake your golden curls." "Pretend it's the Good Ship Lollipop." "But how do they get us on board?" "Probably just winch this boat up." "Be a piece of cake." "Very well." "And now, follow me." "I'm sorry." "I'm not really dressed for gymnastics." "Pull yourself together." "No-one's going to be looking up your drawers!" "Um, er, important!" "We have bags." "Come!" "I won't waste my breath saying "after you."" "You can touch up your lipstick while you're waiting." "My arm!" "Leave me be!" "Leave me be!" "Oh, Lord." "If I've ever given you the impression that" "I don't believe in you, I absolutely promise that I do now." "I did it!" "One curtain call only, your bouquet's in the post." "Auf Wiedersehen." "Frauleins only!" "Shutsen!" "I am so happy to see some other women!" "Men, they don't know anything." "Me, I don't know much." "You don't need to know anything." "Now we're here." "I'm Sister Evangelina, and this is Nurse Franklin." "I'm Kirsten." "What a pretty name!" "Kirsten, now then." "Let's have a little look, shall we?" "Well, baby looks nice and cosy." "But I can't be expecting." "Pinard, if you would Nurse." "Obese." "We're in for shenanigans, mark my words." "Yes." "Yes, a heartbeat." "A baby?" "Kicking away to beat the band." "A baby?" "Yes, of course." "Are you certain?" "Yes, and a good thing too, I didn't fancy taking out your appendix." "My father said it was a baby." "He remembered my mother's cries, when she gave birth to me." "Your father?" "He's the captain." "My mother died many years ago." "I want her examined internally without delay." "Yes, Sister." "How am I going to access the birth canal?" "She's wedged into that bunk like a sardine!" "I'm sorry to have to break this to you, Nurse, but you're just going to have to use your common sense." "Sorry, sweetheart." "I really need to put you somewhere comfy, where you can lie on your back with your legs apart." "Would you tell that to my father?" "It wasn't so bad when he first brought me on board, but there's more flesh to me now than it was then." "I have had men slide right off my body, and fall onto the floor." "Men?" "The sailors." "I see." "My father always says there is no fighting on a ship when the crew have a woman they can go to for relief." "He's got it all organised, hasn't he?" "He thinks of everything." "You feel under my pillow." "Go on." "What an absolutely enormous amount of contraceptive sheaths." "My father has never, ever, let me run out of rubbers and I'm free from disease and... and I cannot get pregnant." "Help me up." "Your daughter, mein Herren, must be removed to a decent cabin." "She needs clean bed, hot water, bright lights, soap and towels." "Comprendez?" "And if he doesn't comprendez, do you?" "There's nae need to holler at me." "I'm fae Glasgow." "Sister." "I don't know you've done to yourself but I want you on that chair now." "I've dislocated my shoulder." "I can feel the displacement, and I can't move my arm." "I've a jolly good mind to give you pethidine." "The pethidine is for the patient!" "And we'll have a bottle of brandy while you're about it!" "I saw a horse have a foal when I was in the country." "Did you?" "I sat on the gate with my brother, and I watched it happen." "They don't do it like we do, horses." "They stay standing." "Or that one did." "As though it liked the feeling of the sun on its back." "It's all right." "Try not to bite your lip, Molly." "You'll make it bleed." "It don't hurt." "It didn't hurt the horse, it just stood there." "Kirsten." "Tak, Fader." "Du fortjanar det." "If I deserve it, why did you wait until now?" "Thank you, Captain." "Raus." "I'll take over from here." "Not too late for the gas and air, Molly." "Nothing!" "Sure?" "Gosh." "Plenty of room in here!" "Sister." "Sister!" "What?" "I think we've got a prankster on our hands." "It appears to have pushed its cord into the birth canal." "Prolapsed?" "I'm not actually sure." "I've never had to deal with one." "Well, you're just going to have to stay calm, and remember what you were taught in training!" "In training, they said a Caesarean section may be needed!" "Well, we haven't got that luxury." "You need her on her knees, with her head on her forearms and her bottom in the air." "If I got her into that position, she wouldn't be able to sustain it!" "Well, you've to get the cord out of the way!" "If the baby's head crushes it on the way down, it will stop the oxygen, and it might die." "You look worried." "Oh no, that's just my silent sympathetic glance." "On your feet." "What?" "I need your chair." "What you going to do?" "Put your feet up!" "Not my feet, Sister." "Her pelvis." "Trust me, Sister." "You look like a lion tamer." "Frankly, Sister Evangelina, taming a lion would be preferable." "Now, would you like some more brandy?" "No, thank you." "I am replete." "Then I'll proceed." "Sweetie, can you raise your bottom." "As far as you can." "Taking as much weight on your shoulders as possible." "Like what...?" "It's all very well playing tricks with gravity, but how's she actually going to deliver in that position?" "I think a boat went past." "Unless it has an obstetrician on it, that's of no interest to me!" "And Sister!" "I asked you to trust me, because if you don't, I won't trust myself!" "And Kirsten won't trust me either." "Yes, I am." "I trust you." "I trust you." "Ready, sweetie?" "I am going to press very hard on your baby's head, but you need to stay exactly where you are." "Ya!" "Feel for the pubic bone with your left hand!" "I'm feeling for it!" "It's here." "It's here." "Keep up the external pressure." "What if I tear the sac?" "You won't tear the sac, because we're not going to lose this baby." "There really ought to be some sort of a fanfare." "The cord's slipped back, and I can't feel anything but the baby's head." "Lift up now, sweetie." "I'm wetting the bed!" "No." "Your waters have broken." "And you're now in the perfect position for delivery." "Let's just put him on your chest a moment." "Ritchie wanted a boy." "Hope he's got his father's eyes." "If he was like that little foal, he'd be up on his legs and running around in a minute." "All through the flowers and the grass." "I imagine he would." "My mum says to me, "Moll, you shouldn't romanticise." ""You shouldn't always go seeing the beauty where there's none!"" "But if I didn't, then, what would there be to see?" "Come along, young madam." "It's a girl?" "It's a girl!" "Shake a leg." "It's your birthday!" "It's in shock." "You'll have to smack it on the backside." "No!" "Don't touch her!" "There's no need to hurt her." "She's doing it all for herself." "♪ Ja, ma hon leva!" "♪ Ja, ma hon leva!" "♪ Ja, ma hon leva uti hundrade ar... ♪" "♪ Javisst ska hon leva... ♪" "You've made the crew very happy." "I always make them happy." "It is my job." "Well, if you intend to continue in this vein, you'll have to sort your contraception out." "All of that can wait." "I have lived without friendship for such a long time." "But today, you came." "And she came, too." "So now I have a friend for ever." "Hey, miss." "There, there, little 'un." "Don't make a sound." "Don't stroke my head!" "Nurse." "You have, um, gratitude from me." "And you'll have gratitude from me, sir, when you have a boat waiting for me, at the quay, at noon, every day, for the next two weeks." "Nej, uh..." "I cannot do that." "You have no choice." "Your exploitation of your daughter has been shameful." "And it's as easy for me to report you to the police as it was for you to call and ask for help." "Oh." "My shift's not over until I've seen you safely into hospital." "Make yourself useful." "Pass me the gas and air." "Neighbour saw her coming back this morning, with the newborn in her arms." "Molly?" "Are you at home?" "It's very dangerous, to discharge yourself from care!" "Welcome home!" "Do you want to meet your little brother?" "Yeah!" "Yeah?" "Come on, let's go find him, eh?" "Come here!" "I'd do anything for her." "I know." "She'd do anything for him." "I can't even tell you the things that people say." "Ignore them, Mrs Gray." "You know your own daughter." "Yeah." "I do." "I wish I could turn back the clock." "If I'd been a better mother, I could reach her now." "It's Molly whose skills are in doubt." "Not yours." "It's all part and parcel of the same." "I made a mess of everything." "'I called at Molly's flat each day, but the door was never opened." "'It seemed she'd locked herself away in what she thought was love." "'The truth was worse, though I didn't know it." "'In thrall to her husband, Molly was leaving her children alone, 'dosed with milk and alcohol so they didn't cry." "'We knew nothing of her actions until disaster struck.'" "Please, let me through!" "Left on her own." "There's another one!" "A newborn." "Another one!" "'In court, the couple were convicted of child neglect." "'They were both imprisoned.'" "Looks like it was started by a fag end." "'And that was the end of Molly's journey as a parent.'" "'Meanwhile, Trixie, permitted now to go to work in slacks, 'helped another mother to make a better start." "'Pushed to her limits, she had flourished 'and with her support so did the Captain's daughter.'" "A little goodbye present." "Not gift-wrapped, I'm afraid." "It's from the National Health." "I'm Swedish." "I pulled strings." "And these are a very reputable brand, they won't fail you like the last lot did." "I don't need them." "Well." "Not this week, one would hope." "I'm going back to Stockholm." "I will live on land, and walk on grass." "And she will walk on grass, and her bed will be her own." "Has the captain agreed to it?" "I didn't ask him." "I told him." "And I would like to say he said yes because he loves me." "But I think it's because he's ashamed of himself." "I think he saw himself through your eyes." "I saw myself through your eyes." "And I was pathetic." "No." "No." "You were magnificent." "I wasn't then." "But I am a mother now." "Liten flicka." "'Love cannot ease every anguish in the world but tenderly applied, 'it can transfigure fortunes, light up faces." "Turn the tide.'" "'Molly's children went to live with their grandmother, 'who bought an immaculate pram on hire purchase, 'investing in the future, whilst turning back the clock." "'Her spotless house became a happy home again, 'centred on a baby boy and a little girl." "'There was pain, but she could bear it." "'For her journey had come full circle." "'They were her second chance at love." "'And she was theirs.'" "Do you understand what a very great step you are about to take?" "Absolutely, and I'm utterly terrified." "Hello, stranger." "Oh, my gosh, Jenny." "What happened?" "I did everything I could." "You understand we have to ask these questions?" "Constable Noakes, am I being accused of something?"