Out Of Time | A Shelby

seven

"Where were you last night? Again?"

Arthur groaned when he walked back through the door of his home that afternoon. After helping Nancy and her son with their injuries and offering them a bed for the night, he felt too wary to go home. He decided to spend the night at the pub, sleeping on one of the sofas in the back room, just to make sure they were safe. He'd never have forgiven himself if Henry had come looking for them.

"Emergency, Linda."

"Emergency? What kind of emergency makes you disappear for 24 hours without letting your wife know? Thomas and John were at home with their families, why weren't you with me?"

Arthur rolled his eyes and pulled out a cigar, throwing himself down onto the sofa and lighting it between his lips.

"How about I ask you some questions, ey?" Arthur pointed at his wife with the cigar, "How about I ask you where you've started spending your hours when you should be at work? Esme and Pol have noticed you've been taking longer breaks, where have you been?"

Linda huffed and disappeared upstairs with a pile of clean washing in her arms, leaving Arthur alone with his thoughts.

His relationship with Linda had been rocky from the beginning. They got together very quickly and Arthur had fallen head over heels before he'd had time to take a step forward, but they'd always had problems with trusting one another. When they were good, they were amazing, but small, petty arguments turned into nights spent sleeping on the sofa for Arthur and days where Linda would not show up for work, refusing to tell anybody where she'd been.

Deep down, Arthur knew his wife wasn't being faithful, but part of him didn't blame her. He knew he wouldn't win any awards for World's Best Husband, but he tried. Arthur was fighting battles in his own head day in, day out, and he found it difficult to show Linda the love she deserved. It frustrated him that he couldn't love her like he wanted to, but it also frustrated him that she would never understand, and what made it worse was that she never tried to understand.

There had been times when Arthur would drink himself into oblivion and break down in front of his wife. He would cry for hours, recalling the trauma he'd lived through in the war and how everyday when he woke up he'd have to remind himself that he wasn't in the trenches anymore, no matter how much it felt like he still was inside his head. But Linda would only ever get angry at him, she'd call him out for his drinking and his late nights, ask him why non of her friends' husbands acted like this and why he couldn't be normal.

Everything had driven Arthur to feeling like his life wasn't worth living. He was a poor excuse of a man, and of a husband, and that's how he'd found himself standing on the bridge above the Cut on the night when Nancy found him and saved his life.

Nancy.

She was younger than Linda, by a good few years, yet it seemed like she had lived a million lives before this one. Arthur felt so sorry for her and how she'd been treated. He'd felt eternally grateful for what she'd done for him that night, she'd been so kind to him, a stranger, showing how big of a heart she had. Arthur would've done anything to have Linda show an ounce of concern towards him, and yet a man like Henry had it all but still decided to treat her like she was worthless.

It made Arthur sick.

He left the house and walked a few doors down to Esme and John's, knocking on the door and taking a step back.

Nancy was the one to open up, as he had expected. He knew John was out with Finn and Esme would be with Polly at work.

"Oh," Nancy smiled as she stood shyly behind the door, "Hello, Arthur."

"I just came by to check on you, I knew you'd be on your own all day."

Arthur pulled off his cap and held it in his hands, twisting it around as he stood before Nancy.

"That's so kind of you, would you like to come in? I've just made some tea."

Arthur hesitated, swaying back and forth on his heels for a moment or two before finally accepting Nancy's invitation and stepping inside John's home.

He sat down on the sofa beside the fireplace and watched as Nancy poured the both of them some tea. He would've preferred a whiskey, but thought perhaps he shouldn't drink in front of Nancy for a while yet.

"Your boy at school?"

Nancy nodded, "Esme took him this morning, made sure his teacher knows to not let him leave if his father comes to pick him up."

"You heard anything from him, from your husband?"

She shook her head and Arthur noticed her anxiously twisting the gold wedding band on her finger, chewing on her lip as she looked down at it.

"Not really sure what to do with this now." She said, laughing as she held up her hand.

Arthur chuckled lightly, relieved that she was definitely not going to go back to her husband. She looked so frail and young as she sat across for him, it made Arthur wonder how someone as big as Henry could ever lay a finger on her.

"Take it down to the Jewellery Quarter and sell it, get you some money back and you won't have to look at it anymore."

Nancy looked at the ring, pulling it from her finger and holding it between her fingertips.

"I'm not sure why I even still had it on. Just a reminder of the worst thing I've ever done."

Arthur stayed quiet, not sure what to say. He just sipped his tea.

"Sorry," Nancy gave him an apologetic smile, "I don't mean to be so miserable. I really appreciate what you did for me and Vin the other night, I don't know where I would've gone if I hadn't had run into you. You saved us."

Arthur placed his cup down, smiling across at Nancy. Her skin was pale but there was a rosy glow in her cheeks and her eyes that had been so dull yesterday were slowly starting to sparkle. Her blonde hair was wavy down her chest, Arthur noticing she had it pulled around the front to cover the marks on her neck, though he didn't say anything.

"Well, I owed you one, didn't I? You did save my life."

"Oh gosh," Nancy smiled with a big sigh, "I just did what anyone else would've do-"

"Esme can I borrow some- who the bloody hell are you?"

Nancy looked up at the slender blonde woman with eyes like daggers barged into Esme's home without knocking. Arthur immediately jumped to his feet at her arrival.

"Linda, this is Nancy, she-"

"Is this where you've been disappearing to all these nights? Have you been with her?"

Nancy stayed quiet, looking down at her shoes as Linda glared at her. She felt herself tense up at the aggressive atmosphere, all too used to it after living with Henry for six years.

"Linda just listen to me, she's just-"

"You," Nancy's head snapped up as Linda pushed past Arthur and walked over to her, "You fucking whore, stay away from my husband or I swear-"

"Linda for fuck sake shut your fuckin' mouth," Arthur pulled his wife back by the wrist and opened the front door, pulling her outside and saying something that Nancy couldn't hear before he closed the door in her face.

Arthur turned back to Nancy, sighing loudly and shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, Nancy, so sorry. She's just..." Arthur's apology trailed off as he wondered how he could possibly explain his wife's reaction. He couldn't.

"I think you should probably go home to your wife, Arthur."

Nancy tenderly held the cup between her hands and looked up at Arthur with deep brown eyes and a solemn look on her face. He pursed his lips for a moment before nodding and walking towards the door.

"I'm sorry, again."