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Sitting the tray down that held three cups of tea, Leticia handed a cup to a restless Ada who stood near the threshold.
Gladly taking the cup from her hands, the youngest Shelby woman gave the brunette a small smile in thanks. Taking a seat in a nearby chair, Lettie sipped her herbal tea as Polly had just put the little one into his bassinet.
"Mine were terrors for the tit. Both of them," the Gray woman started with a small smile inching on her lips at the memory of her two children. Looking towards her niece, she questioned, "You never knew my children, did you?"
Ada rose her eyebrows, "I was a child myself then," waiting a mere two seconds, she hesitantly voiced, "You never talk about them."
"Never had a reason to. Lettie, I've told stories to you, but only the good ones I like to share," staring down at the baby, Leticia observed how her face turned solemn, "My heart breaks even when I think about them," walking around the new mother and over to an empty seat next to where the Morelli woman resided, Polly continued, "But today, I do have reason to," gesturing to the sofa in front of her, the Shelby matriarch stated, "Sit down, Ada."
Ada Thorne spared a quick glance over to Lettie before taking a seat causing the hazel eyed beauty herself to sit up straighter in her chair after hearing the tone of voice Polly was using. The Gray woman shot a quiet look to leticia before switching her line of sight to her only niece, "They were three and five years old. Anna was three, Michael was five. Well...that's two weeks away from being six," taking a steady breath, Polly felt she needed to get this off of her chest, "It was Sunday morning. Uh, I was at church."
Feeling a tightness in her throat, the strong headed aunt pushed through the strain, " 'You are not forgiven,' this pinch-faced bitch said to me. 'You are not forgiven.' You see, some sheets I had washed and hung on the line had the name of a hotel on them. They had been stolen in a robbery and they said some porter at the hotel had been coshed. And a woman from round here told the police about the sheets,"
Lettie leaned forward on the arm of her chair with furrowed brows scrunched in understanding, "She was jealous."
Polly nodded curtly at the memory, "Yes. She was jealous of the new sheets. Fucking silly, really. And when the police came, they found a spirit still...making a few drops of gin," moving her eyes across the room, she tried to contain her tears from shedding, "And for that...they took my children from me."
The curly haired brunette looked down to her hands when a wave of sadness hit her at the sound of Polly's voice cracking. She had remembered past conversations with the older woman about her children, but she had never gone far into telling a story with much detail. And as she listened, Leticia now felt she knew Polly more from the inside and why she held such anger from her past.
