✓ | GOLDEN LIAR ↠ Thomas Shelby.

45.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.

               TOMMY SHELBY COULD BE awfully secretive when he wanted to be — he'd been away for a week or so, dealing with business in Coventry once again, and in the times where he was not away, he had hardly uttered a word to his wife about anything remotely business related; not that she was complaining on the matter, as the few moments they had together without another Shelby family member presents they had spent it intimately with no longing to take their hands off from one another at all. Neither could bear being apart from the other for too long but both knew that it was inevitable, as Tommy was a stupidly busy man who just could not seem to stop himself from dragging him and the rest of his clan into new messes time and time again. Messes that he would rather not tell them about, in all honesty, not even Felicity, so that was what she had assumed to be going on as of now. . . some reckless plan he was mulling over and refusing to tell her for fear of her getting overly panicked about the entire situation.

And along with that, with all of his desires to keep Felicity out of every problem that he was actually able to hide from her, he'd been planning to surprise her for a little while now. . . and yet Tommy found that he was not the best at keeping things from the woman, not after everything they had fought through. So he employed the help of his aunt, as he felt she'd be the one that would be the most helpful of all of his family, and simply hoped that she was just more keen for the end result as he was rather than more loyal to the girl and her pestering questions.

"We hardly ever go out any more these days," Tommy noted to her one day as the pair were alone in the Garrison: for once without any relatives surrounding them with noise.

"No?" Felicity replied lazily, hardly paying attention as she swirled her finger around and around in curly patterns on the table before her. She had her legs swung over his as she did so and they'd stayed like that for a little while, simply enjoying one another's company alongside the rarity of peace that they hardly ever found themselves to have aa well.

"No," he clarified. "And i feel awful about it. I promise you the world and then spend half my time on it fixing its problems."

"That isn't your fault."

Tommy frowned, and shook his head. "It isn't," he agreed. "But I'll still do something about it as though it were, okay?"

She glanced up to meet his gaze. "Like what?"

"You'll find out soon enough, darling."

For such a man riddled with violent, blood and mud, Felicity found that Tommy could be awfully romantic. . . as well as awfully secretive when it came to said romance.

"Can't you tell me one thing?" She questioned, swinging her legs off him.

Tommy laughed, and shook his head. "I can't," he affirmed regretfully. "But I can take you out to see just what I have in mind of making it up to you, if that'll help?"

"Only barely," Felicity grumbled.

⎯

              Once again, Felicity found herself beside Tommy in a car as he drove up the winding country roads, out of all the smoke and shit that Birmingham was. And once again, she found him stopping at the top, cutting the engine and stepping out. . . except this time, he would not allow her to follow her, not immediately.