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Demelza Poldark ([personal profile] letitbetrue) wrote2016-11-19 06:37 pm
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Upon meeting Katie under such terrible circumstances, Demelza had meant every last word of support she'd offered, knowing it was the least she can do. Tintern Abbey won't let her return to work until mid-January at the very earliest, a request to which she had very reluctantly agreed, and so now she has nearly two months to fill with nothing but her children.

She loves them terribly, she absolutely does, but Demelza is a woman used to working. She had perhaps gone from being a miner's daughter to a gentleman's wife, but she'd married a wonderful and peculiar gentleman in that he had engaged in just as much work -- and often, considering Jud and Prudie, a good deal more -- as did his servants. Demelza had fallen into that life easily, first as his hardworking scullery maid and than as his equally hardworking wife.

Life in Darrow is easy by comparison. She certainly doesn't dislike it, she finds this place to be quite lovely in every aspect, but she does miss the work of the homestead.

And so she must fill her times in other ways. For this afternoon, that is meeting Katie and her young son at the park with Julia and Jeremy in tow. Jeremy is far too young to play, just barely over two months old himself now, but Demelza hopes Julia is enough to help entertain Katie's son. She speaks a fair bit, though some of it is still nonsense, and she's quite active, running and jumping, but Demelza knows there are many abilities she's not yet mastered that Katie's son will have long since learned.

But if he's as kind as his mother, Demelza is certain all shall get along well.

She's pushing her stroller along carefully, both her children dressed warm against the chill, the stockings under her own long dress now ones made of warm wool, and she smiles when she enters the park and catches sight of Katie.

"Hello," she calls, pushing the children in her direction.
toanend: (now the ghost is finally gone)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-11-23 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hi," Katie calls back, waving, her smile warm at the sight of Demelza approaching. The circumstances under which they met may have been awful, but it's nice to have a potential friend and to get out and do something. It's too easy to spend her spare time moping, and if she gives in to that, she's not sure she'll ever quite pull herself out. She wouldn't know how to start.

With Jamie, probably, she thinks. He's always been her anchor, but now she needs that more than ever.

Still, the possibility of having a new friend comes as a relief, as does an afternoon spent pleasantly while the children play. "Jamie, this is Demelza. Do you wanna say hi?"

"Hi," he says, and looks at the children with her. "Who's that?"
toanend: (now the ghost is finally gone)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-11-27 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
"Hi, Julia," Katie says warmly. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Jamie echoes dutifully, if less articulately. He's clearly curious about the other children, still feeling out the situation. Even though he's been doing well enough with other kids, she's found the last several weeks have him back to feeling somewhat shy around others, sticking close to his mother's skirt. If meeting up with Demelza's little girl helps to pull him out of his shell, even for a bit, it'll be a blessing.

"They're adorable. How old are they?"
toanend: (Default)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-01 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Three and three quarters," Jamie informs her, the fraction clearly of utmost importance. He looks at Julia as she walks past, twisting to watch her. She's a baby even to him, proud of his big boy status, but that doesn't mean she can't play. "I'll be four soon."

"In February," agrees Katie, ruffling his hair. How the time has gone so quickly, she doesn't know. He was as small as Jeremy just yesterday, as far as she can recall.

"What are you doing?" Jamie asks Julia, ignoring his mother's addition.
toanend: (all my mistakes led me to you)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-05 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Okay," says Jamie, considering Julia's footprints carefully before he begins to make big, heavy steps of his own, admiring the prints he leaves behind. He holds a hand out for her the way his mother has taught him to do when he has somewhere to go, staying close and safe and connected. "You wanna slide?"

It's enough to make Katie's heart fill with warm relief. She's worried so much about him this past while, but if he can make a new friend, he can be okay.

"There's a bench right over here," she says to Demelza. "Why don't we sit?"
toanend: (never really expected much)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-09 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
"I hope it does," Katie says, laughing a little at herself. She's had, as Jamie points out, three and three-quarter years to get used to this, but she still feels that pull in her chest if he wanders too far on his own or tries something that could prove dangerous or if he starts to cry. She's tried not to hover too much, but she can't help worrying. "It's easier with Jamie than it used to be, but he's still... he's my baby. He always will be. I can't help worrying."

The world is a big and terrifying place, even in Darrow.
toanend: (chase all the ghosts from your head)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-11 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
Katie nods. She's seen that a lot in the hospital, how much harder every subsequent illness can be on a parent. Even the ones who are chronically ill, their parents never get used to it. They learn how to handle it, but the worrying never eases. "I'm a pediatrician," she says. "I work with kids who are seriously ill all the time. And still every time Jamie has so much as a cold, I'm terrified. I don't know what I'd do if he'd ever had something like diphtheria."

She smiles, watching the pair of them at play. "She seems healthy now. Strong."
toanend: (I'm an invisible disaster)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-13 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
"Very," Katie admits. She worked hard to get where she is and she wouldn't trade her job for any other, but it's a difficult one. The actual medicine is only part of that. There are some days she comes home heartsick, wanting nothing more than to hold her son. "It's... it's very rewarding, too. There are so many kids I'm able to help and that makes it worth it." Their parents are always so grateful and so is she, knowing how afraid they must have been, amazed still that she's able to help.

"But sometimes there's nothing we can do. I can never get used to that."
toanend: (oh‚ if I could only go back in time)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-17 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
"He sounds lovely," Katie says warmly, resting her hand briefly on Demelza's. "It's incredible how much there is to learn. I bet he'd love it. It was 1982 where I'm from, and just thirty years made such a difference in what there was to learn." She doesn't know the exact year, but she gets the impression Demelza is from a somewhat earlier time even than herself, so this Dwight would be faced with a wealth of new information to absorb. It wasn't easy, but she loved it, and she's sure he'd feel the same.
toanend: (bends her breath when she talks to him)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-21 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Katie laughs. She never can gauge how much further back in time people are than here, though it's often easy to tell who's from after her. Sometimes she feels like she's still catching up, though some of the technology has become second nature. Even after all these years, it's still a work in progress. She imagines that must be all the more so for Demelza, with so much more to adjust to.

"Well, you've aged beautifully," she teases. "You hardly look a day over 180. Are you figuring everything out alright?"
toanend: (now the ghost is finally gone)

[personal profile] toanend 2016-12-28 05:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, thank god for that," Katie says. "We didn't have them even in my day, but they're lifesavers. Sometimes literally." They've had plenty of calls that would have been difficult to make without someone having a cell phone that ended in patients making it to the hospital in time. It's a fantastic invention. She smiles to think of Demelza doing something so sweet on her own. It's nice to know someone like her is out there caring for those who have passed.

"I'm still partial to a record player for music," she admits. "Which I guess is new to you, too, but it's considered pretty old-fashioned around here. But it's what I grew up with."
toanend: (bends her breath when she talks to him)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-02 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, where do you work?" Katie asks. "I never learned how to play anything."

She can't regret that now. Between Jamie and life in general, there's no way she could afford an instrument these days, and she can't be sorry about that when she doesn't know how to play anything. But Jamie might still learn something when he's older. If he wants to then, she'll figure it out somehow. For now, he's young enough that his instrument of choice is still banging his toys around.
toanend: (all wash away)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-12 09:21 am (UTC)(link)
"It sounds like you like it there," Katie says, smiling. It's good to hear. One way or another, most people have to work, and a lot of them don't have the luxury of enjoying their work. Serving at a restaurant means long hours on her feet, but Demelza seems not to mind too much, which is nice. Katie hates to think of her hating her job, even if that's the reality for so many people. It shouldn't have to be.
toanend: (when I was staying just out of reach)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-13 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, that's so exciting," Katie says, smile bright at the idea. There's nothing wrong with the work Demelza does now, but if she wants to do something more, getting her GED is a great step towards that. "I think you'll be surprised how much you do know, and I'd be happy to help you study. Sometimes it's easier with a partner." She always used to study in groups back home when she first started med school. It had led to some wonderful friendships. Besides, when it's material Demelza isn't familiar with, she could probably use a helping hand.
toanend: (all wash away)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-17 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course," Katie says, nodding. It's probably for the best anyway, her offer impulsively made. Still, it stands. If Demelza changes her mind, she'll be there. "I totally understand. It's really... empowering, pursuing your education like that. It made a world of difference for me when I started going for my medical degree." She'd been so much under David's thumb before she went back to school. Taking classes was the first thing in a long time that made her feel like her own person.
toanend: (that's why you keep calling me back)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-22 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
Katie nods, looking from their children to Demelza with a smile. She's stubborn herself, God knows, intent on making her own way in the world. There were times that was to her detriment, she'll admit. Her insistence on being able to do things herself may have killed her in the end, for all she knows. But most of the time, it comes out in the wash and the satisfaction is worth the struggle.

"My father died when I was a teenager," she says, "so it was just my mom and the four of us. I wanted to strike out on my own as soon as I could so she wouldn't have to take care of me." She lets out a small laugh. "And because I wanted to be independent and I thought I was old enough." She doesn't think it was leaving home that was the mistake in the end. It was David. "I get wanting to do things for yourself. I think it's the best way to learn. And not just in school."
toanend: (landed on both my brokenhearted knees)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-28 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
At sixteen, Katie still felt so much like a child. Losing her father didn't make her feel as though she'd grown up faster; it just made her feel small and alone. She can't imagine having set out on her own that young. But she can understand why Demelza did, her stomach tightening in empathy.

"You did what you had to," she says, nodding. "That was brave." It must have taken such strength, she thinks, to walk away and fend for herself. Sometimes that doesn't even seem like an option. "There's never any excuse for it, not really. My first husband was like that. Not just when he drank. He got into these awful moods, like he was someone else. But it was him."
toanend: (you know you make me a ghost)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-01-30 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"You never did," Katie says, reaching over to touch Demelza's hand. "It's just how they are." It's easier to believe now than it was when she was still married to David. Even knowing she didn't deserve it, she couldn't help sometimes wondering if maybe she did, if there was something wrong with her instead. He tried to make her believe it, told her it was only because of things she did or because he loved her so much and she was hurting him. He'd get so upset sometimes after the fact that sometimes she thought it must be true.

Sometimes that's the worst part of it. Not that he hurt her, but that he undid her own sense, turned her against herself like that. Not that she couldn't trust him, but that she couldn't trust herself.

"But there are still good men in the world. Your Ross. My Russell. Ross sounds like a wonderful person. It's no wonder you love him so much."
toanend: (I can think of a thousand reasons why)

[personal profile] toanend 2017-02-04 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Katie laughs, nodding at that. She'd rather that kind of rudeness than the sort she knew from David, where he simply didn't care about other people and didn't know how to pretend to be like them or to give a damn. "I can handle it," she promises. "I like people who are blunt."

She wants to believe the best of people, and she still, in many ways, does. But she's lived too long not to have woken up to a few things in the end, and that includes the fact that not everyone is what they seem to be. She'd rather someone be who they are, even at the cost of propriety and politeness.

"And besides, he must be pretty great to have won your heart."