Stupid - John Shelby (ON HOLD)

10. She loved him •

Late December 1915

It was cold in the dirty old town they call Small Heath. The streets were dark and empty. Two years ago it would have been filled with families shopping for Christmas dinner and drunk men staggering home from pubs after a long day of work. But things weren't the same in Birmingham now. The war showed no signs of ending anytime soon and the people left at home had become desperate. Wife's had became widows, some raising children who had never met their fathers and never would. Other children was grieving the loss of their fathers and brothers, doing what they could to get by. All the loss made people solemn or angry, it was hard to hold on to hope when you could see no end to the misery.

A young woman scurried along the muddy streets, she had a basket in hand and coat wrapped tight around her. Winifred was now 18 years old, growing more beautiful each year. But she was thinner than she'd ever been, her skin paler, and her eyes didn't quite have the same light in them anymore. She reached the doorstep of her home and went inside to greet her mother, who was sitting in a rocking chair by the window, working on a dress. Mary looked similar to Vin, as if she was sick even though she wasn't. They had received a letter of condolences a few weeks ago, Vin's father, Frederick Lynn was dead. The news had devastated Vin and her mother. Frederick who, just like Vin and Jamie, always had a playfulness to him. Vin had inherited his mischievous glint in the eye, and Jamie his warm, charming nature. He was now gone, and in the strange times they were living in, no one batted an eye at his death. It was too common by now, only the people close to him could afford to grieve him. Mary, who wanted to crawl in to bed and never get up again after loosing the love of her life, kept her head up. She couldn't afford loosing her footing now, not when her daughter just lost her father. They grieved together, along with Polly, Ada and Finn and tried not to loose hope in the other boys left in France.

The Lynn women were struggling with other things as well. Even in the Shelby household money was scarce, and the Lynn's had it worse. Mary, who was a seamstress and had her own boutique didn't have any costumers and their primary income was the earnings Vin got from the betting shop. Polly helped as much as the women would allow her but both Mary and Vin were too proud to ask for help, and didn't like to accept it even if it was offered. Still they got by, even if it was just barely.

Vin emptied the basket of groceries, and started to prepare some tea with bread.

"Do you need me to do anything mum?" Mary looked at her daughter and shook her head with a smile, that Vin returned. Mary missed the mischievous glint it used to hold, the glint she had gotten from Frederick. It had been gone for a while now.

"Have you heard anything from him yet?" Mary asked her daughter carefully. Vin visibly tensed at the question and shook her head curtly, before occupying herself with the tea once more.

"Well have you sent him another letter? Maybe the last one didn't reach him love"

"I have sent him plenty of letters!" Vin snapped. "I'm sure there's just a lot going on over there, I know he is well, Jamie assured me" Her mother nodded slowly, eyebrows furrowed.

Vin and John had kept writing each other frequently for a while. But when the boys were about to reach a year away from home the letters seemed to become fewer. He still wrote, but not as much, and he seemed distant in his letters. Far away and formal, only stating facts and speaking very little of his feelings. The last letter she got was nine weeks ago, she didn't even receive one after the death of her father. At first she was worried something had happened to John too, but when she got post from Jamie, stating that all the boys were fine she started to worry about different things. She had written him six letters, without response. It seemed like Jamie didn't know about John's recent lack of letters. Vin had thought about asking him for help, but then she decided against it. Jamie would be angry with John for ignoring his sister when she needed him, and she didn't want the friends to fight because of her. Especially when she still believed that whatever was going on could still be solved between the two of them. But every day that passed without a response made her lose a little bit of hope. She didn't want to talk about it, because when she did it felt as if it was already over. The only one who she could open up to about John was Ada. Pouring her mother a cup of tea and placing a plate with a ham sandwich in front of her, she muttered that she was going to the Shelby's and that she'd be back later.