Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

42.

 Two horse drawn wagons were walked down Watery Lane the following morning. They were so similar to the one that brought John to his final destination and yet his funeral seemed to be so far in the past. While Niall wasn’t of as strong gypsy heritage like the Shelby boys the family had decided that Niall would rather go on the smoke with Arthur, like they had always thought they would in France.
 
Ailbhe stood outside her door with her brother, watching as their wagons were brought to where they would be finally put to rest the following day. That’s what everybody kept saying to Ailbhe, that her brothers ‘could rest now’ and that they were ‘at peace’. It made her want to scream. Arthur, Niall, John had all died for war, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that they were raising hell below her and that they wouldn’t settle for resting in peace.
 
And yet she couldn’t believe they were dead.
 
She held it together, never letting a tear drop from her eyes as she stood beside Liam, watching how people came out of their houses to pay respect. She looked across at the house opposite, how Finn stood beside Ada and Karl. He too didn’t cry or let himself fall apart; he had shed enough tears the night before.
 
It was almost midnight the night previous when Finn was at her door. He had vanished once they were told that Arthur and Niall had been killed by the wops. Tommy had sent Liam, Finn and Isiah to find the men responsible and make them pay. Ailbhe had seen the blood on his hands, the scratches on his cheek and neck from when the man resisted and lashed out in pain as Finn took his eyes. Liam made sure the women stayed gathered by the ring, protected by Aberama Gold and his men before Liam avenged his brothers. Linda was sitting to the side, her head in her hands and Polly whispering to her. Lizzie tried and failed to get Ailbhe to calm down, to stop pacing and sit down. When the building was cleared out and the words “Arthur and Niall are dead” were still ringing in her ears, Finn came back to her.
 
He had grabbed her hand and dragged her with Lizzie to the car they had waiting. He walked much too fast for her, his long legs and flat shoes having the advantage over Ailbhe who was in shock and heels.
 
“Ailbhe, please just once do as I’m asking” He exclaimed, offering his hand to Lizzie to help her into the car before turning and do the same to Ailbhe.
 
She could see how panicked he was, that it wasn’t over yet. His eyes flitted back and forth while his head checked over his shoulders every few seconds. She got into the car, knowing that if she didn’t do it of her own free will he would have no problem picking her up off her feet and making her. Lizzie grabbed her hand and held it the whole way home, telling her that everything would be fine but Ailbhe didn’t believe her for a second.
 
She and Lizzie had been brought home to their old house on Watery Lane. Linda, Polly and Ada were made stay in the old Shelby house while Lizzie was told to stay at the Kennedy’s where they would be watched. Scudboat, Isiah and three of Aberama Gold’s men watched Ailbhe’s house like hawks, prepared to shoot down anyone who came near. But the only person who came to them walked straight past, knowing they would let him through.
 
Lizzie had been pacing since they got home. Ailbhe had tried to get her to calm down, she knew it was bad for the baby and eventually she fell asleep in Liam’s room. It made Ailbhe sick to look in the door of Niall’s room and realise he wouldn’t ever come home again. She couldn't even remember the last thing she'd said to him. She was in denial, she knew it but she couldn’t get her brain to focus, to realise what was going on.
 
The knock on the door came while Ailbhe had been sitting on the floor in front of the fire for almost three hours, wrapped in an old coat belonging to Niall and crying. She felt beaten, like the Italians had won.
 
She swung open the door to find Finn, still stained in blood and his eyes red from forcing himself not to cry and failing. She had nothing to say, there was nothing either of them could say. She brought him in, telling him Lizzie was asleep upstairs. She pushed a towel and some clean clothes into his hands and he went and took a shower. When he came out, clean again but still shrouded in darkness and feeling like he was still too tainted to touch her she was sitting by the fire again, Niall’s coat around her. She had been crying for hours, that much was clear. He hadn’t wanted to go near her, to taint her perfect self and ruin her with his darkness and the burdens he carried knowing he had killed a man that night. But the way she looked up at him and put her hand out to him. He was pulled in by her, wrapping themselves around each other and just letting themselves fall apart.
 
The next morning, he was gone when she woke, lying by the fire that had gone out and tears dried onto her cheeks. She woke in a daze, wondering why she was on the rug beside the fire and why her head ached. Then it all came rushing back to her and she felt the sharp pain her chest she was growing well accustomed to.
 
Liam came back around 10 o clock. Ailbhe knew just by looking at him that he hadn’t slept yet, he also had been drinking but she knew that sometimes alcohol didn’t affect you when you had so much pain and adrenaline coursing through you. He had blood on his shirt, his hands and under his finger nails. Ailbhe didn’t ask questions, she just knew the men who had killed their brothers were gone.
 
They were called to a family meeting, what was left of them. Ailbhe had dug out her black dress, realising it was getting too much use as of late and how much she hated it. Ada, Polly, Finn and Tommy were already there when she arrived with her brother. It even felt bizarre to walk with just one brother, she had grown so accustomed to walking with both brothers in front of her on the pavement. Liam had stepped out of their house and gone to walk ahead of her, only to realise there was no one beside him. He looked over his shoulder, nodding at her to fall into step beside him instead. They were all that was left.
 
Tommy didn’t look up when they arrived, his head down and the glass in front of him was unlikely his first. Ada looked up, her watery eyes noticing how pale and exhausted Liam looked, how Ailbhe looked like she had barely slept. She knew she didn’t look much better herself.
 
Liam stood beside Tommy’s chair, waiting. Tommy stood up, only looking at Liam. Ailbhe knew they weren’t going to say anything, there was nothing to be said but the way they looked at each other, the way Liam held Tommy’s shoulder and the way Tommy slapped his hand down on Liam’s shoulder broke Ailbhe’s heart. They had lost more. When they thought they had lost everything when they lost John, they had lost two more brothers.
 
Ailbhe sat down beside Finn, his head down and his hand gripping the glass in his hand. She knew there was nothing anyone could say, she knew it because there was nothing anyone could say to her to make her feel better either. The only thing she could feel was the cold, how freezing she was as she sat there in the silence.
 
The door opened, the sound of a cane and footsteps didn’t make them look up either. Only Polly reacted, rushing to her son and pulling him into an embrace. Ailbhe didn’t look up. She was still furious with Michael for telling the Italians her secret. The family knew that Ailbhe was angry, that her grief could cloud her judgement and make her do or say something she would regret. Ada saw how her hands gripped her glass when she knew it was Michael, how Ailbhe could lose her temper at any moment.
 
“Tommy, Liam. I’ve been trying to find the words-” Michael started to say, to try and offer condolences and sympathy but Polly stopped him.
 
“Don’t” She warned him, turning to look at him “Words don’t work”.
 
Ailbhe felt Polly’s eyes on her, knowing that she was watching her and silently begging for her to stay calm. Ailbhe couldn’t make any promises. It was Michael’s fault that the Italians had attacked her, had wanted to make her worst nightmare come true and if her brothers had been any slower, she would have been found hanging from a noose.
 
“Michael, we’re in a grave situation” Polly interrupted Ailbhe’s rampant thoughts as she explained to Michael the gravity of their predicament.
 
“Tommy has a plan” She told him.
 
Ailbhe felt herself almost laugh. Tommy always had a plan yet he hadn’t listened to them last night when Ailbhe and Arthur knew something was up, when they knew there would be trouble. His plan hadn’t worked out so well. She knew Tommy couldn’t be blamed, but in the absence of someone to blame Ailbhe found herself a suitable candidate. She should have pushed Tommy to believe her, to warn Niall and Arthur to be more careful and to ease off on the booze and the snow.
 
“Instead of going to Australia, you’re going to New York” Polly explained.
 
It was Ailbhe’s first time hearing the plan but she barely cared. As long as Michael was far away from her, she didn’t care. He questioned their decision and Ada told him there was business for them in America that he would take care off. The way she said it, it sounded like a real opportunity but Ailbhe knew what it really was. An exile.
 
“Will I be coming back?” He asked, his voice giving away how unhappy he was about this decision but Ailbhe couldn’t look at him. She couldn’t look at anyone, she kept her eyes down on her hands.
 
“The train leaves in an hour Michael” Tommy piped up, his voice hoarse and unemotional.
 
Ailbhe felt Tommy’s eyes move, to look at her. She looked up as he spoke to Michael but his eyes stayed on her, on the girl whose bruises were only just fading, the girl who would carry the burden of what Michael had done forever.
 
“You made a choice Michael. You knew I was gonna be shot and you chose not to tell me. You knew Ailbhe was going to be attacked, likely tortured and killed.”
 
He stated, never taking his eyes off Ailbhe. He had to remind himself why he had made this decision, that Michael was a danger to his family and he couldn’t be trusted. He felt the tension in the room when Michael walked in, how Liam and Finn looked like they were being forced into a room with an enemy and how Ailbhe looked as though she would take Finn’s cap and blind him herself.
 
“I chose my mum” Michael explained, his eyes on Polly and although Polly looked as though she would cry, she stayed strong and stayed beside Tommy.
 
Ailbhe felt his eyes on her, how he tried to get her attention but she couldn’t. She didn’t trust herself not to do something that would make Polly hate her and she wouldn’t lose any more family.
 
“Ailbhe I’m sorry I didn’t know they would-” He started to say, to step towards her but Liam was in his face before he could take more than two steps.
 
Liam moved like lightning, from his stance beside Tommy’s chair to in front of Ailbhe to block Michael. Finn jumped to life too, standing in front of her and knowing that if Michael tried to go near her, he would lose a hand.
 
Liam’s finger pointed only centimetres from Michael’s face. He hadn’t slept, he was running on adrenaline, grief and whiskey. Liam was as unpredictable as the weather then; he didn’t know what he was capable of anymore. He just knew that Michael stood there, alive and well and his sister had been almost killed and his brother was dead. It wasn’t fair and Liam had always been one to take justice into his own hands.
 
“Don’t even fucking look at her” He snapped, his face twisted and vicious “The only reason you’re not lying face down in the cut without your eyes is because of Aunt Pol”
 
Ailbhe could see Michael back down, knowing that Liam was someone who could frighten anyone. There was something about the look in his eyes. They held the same threat as his brothers', the same intensity as his sisters'. But there was that edge, an edge that reminded you that Liam Kennedy had left his sense of right and wrong in the tunnels of France, that justice was only restored by his hands.
 
“Boys” Polly called them to calm down.
 
Finn sat back down, his hand finding Ailbhe’s in her lap and holding it. She felt his hand, warm and tense against hers as it relaxed slightly in hers. She was so cold, her hand feeling almost unfamiliar in his. Liam stayed standing, his arms folded and beside Tommy.
 
“When this business is all over, we’ll be free to make our own choices” Polly told Michael, as if there was a chance in hell Ailbhe or any of them would be able to ever trust him again.
 
“So, is that it?” Michael asked.
 
“You get the train to Liverpool and the SS Monroe. Boat sails tomorrow.” Tommy told him, holding the ticket out in his hand and not even looking at him.
 
He didn’t know what he would do if he looked him in the eye.
 
Michael took one last look at his family, what was left of them. It was pitiful. They were all that was left and they were broken.