Here with her husband the affable and bookish george armitage george however had been called to northumberland for some urgent family matter the details of which poppy had never quite got straight and elizabeth had been left alone at her seaside house six and a half months with child bored and confined she’d invited poppy to come for an extended visit and poppy had happily accepted it would be like old times for the two friends poppy popped another bite of cheese into her mouth well except for the massive size of elizabeth’s belly that was new [Music] it meant elizabeth couldn’t accompany her on her daily jaunts to the shore but that was no matter poppy knew her reputation had never included the word shy but conversational nature notwithstanding she rather enjoyed her own company and after months and months of making small talk in london it felt rather nice to clear her head with a sharp sea air she’d been trying to take a different route each day and she had been delighted to discover a small network of caves about halfway between charmath and lime regis tucked away where the foamy waves lapped the shore most filled with water when the tide was in but after surveying the landscape poppy was convinced that there had to exist a few that remained dry and she was determined to find one just because of the challenge of course not because she had any need of a perpetually dry cave in charmouth dorset england great britain europe the world one really had to take one’s challenges where one could given that she was in charmouth dorset england and that seemed a decidedly small corner of the world indeed finishing the last bites of her lunch she squinted up toward the rocks the sun was to her back but the day was bright enough to make her wish for a parasol or at the very least a large shady tree it was gorgeously warm too and she left her redding gut back at the house even her fishy which she’d worn to protect her skin was starting to get itchy and hot across her chest but she wasn’t going to turn back now she’d not come this far before and in fact had only made it to this point after convincing elizabeth’s plumpish maid who’d been drafted as her chaperone companion to remain behind in town think of it as an additional afternoon off poppy had said with a winning smile i don’t know mary’s expression was doubtful mrs armitage was quite clear that mrs armitage hasn’t had a clear thought since finding herself with child poppy cut in sending elizabeth a silent apology it’s like that for all women i’m told she added trying to get the maid’s mind off the subject at hand namely poppy’s chaperonage or lack thereof well that’s certainly true mary said tilting her head slightly to the side when my brother’s wife had her boys i never could get a sensible word out of her that’s it exactly poppy exclaimed elizabeth knows that i will be perfectly fine on my own i know spring miss after all hopelessly on the shelf they say as mary attempted to assure her that that was most certainly not the case poppy added i’m only going for an easy little stroll by the shore you know that you came with me yesterday and the day before that mary said with a sigh clearly not relishing the prospect of another afternoon of exertion and the day before that as well poppy pointed out and what all week before that mary nodded glumly poppy didn’t smile she was far too good for that but success was clearly right around the corner literally here she said steering the maid toward a cozy tea shop why don’t you sit down and have a rest heaven knows you deserve it i’ve quite run you ragged haven’t i you’ve been nothing but kind miss bridgeton mary said quickly kind and exhausting poppy said patting mary’s hand as she opened the tea room door you work so hard you deserve a few minutes for yourself and so once poppy had paid for a pot of tea and a plate of biscuits she’d made her escape two of the aforementioned biscuits in her pocket and now she was wonderful with her husband the affable and bookish george armitage george however had been called to northumberland for some urgent family matter the details of which poppy had never quite got straight and elizabeth had been left alone at her seaside house six and a half months with child bored and confined she’d invited poppy to come for an extended visit and poppy had happily accepted

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