Another love

Part Fifty - One

Keeping to her promise, Sarah and James walked down to the Vardo together, which was located in the middle of a field. When Sarah reached the Vardo, she placed a rose and said her final goodbyes, her heart hurt beyond comprehension as she finally let it sink in that she'd never see him again. Cursing herself for leaving before he returned from the war and for not reaching out once she knew he was back. There was so much lost time. What was worse was that she'd only seen him a few times since they had been released from prison. Sarah quickly wiped a tear from her eye before turning to James and letting him lead her away, standing next to Polly and Finn as they turned to face Tommy, who was standing in front of the Vardo.

"This is how John wanted to go. On the smoke. And the truth is...we died together once before. Arthur, me, Cain Crawford-"

James watched as Sarah winced at her brothers name and made sure to pull Finn closer to her, "-Danny Whizzbang, Freddie Thorne, Jeremiah, and John. We were cut off from the retreat...No bullets left, waiting for the Prussian cavalry to come and to finish us off. And while we waited... Jeremiah said, "We should sing, 'In the Bleak Midwinter.' But we were spared. The enemy never came. And we all agreed...that everything after that was extra. And when our time came...we'd all remember."

"You remember that God spared you. But what did you do with that extra time that he gave you, eh, Thomas?" Polly spat.

Tommy looked down to the ground with a tense jaw as they all went silent, no one daring to speak until Arthur walked to the Vardo and proceeded to light a match and flicking it to the timber that surrounded it, setting it alight. Sarah watched as the Vardo went up in flames. Tears filled her eyes, heartbroken that this is where their family had ended up, dead, drunk, fatefully wounded and broken. They all ducked from the sound of sudden gunshots. Sarah grimaced at the shocked look on James's face, watching as he looked around at their shocked faces, except found that they were instead of being shaken by fear, they were shaken from surprise.

"At ease! At ease. Do not return fire! I repeat-do not return fire! Stand down. The men doing the firing are on our side. I took the trouble...of giving an invitation to Aberama Gold." Tommy shouted to the crowd.

"Oh fuck! Now it's begun." Johnny Doggs cursed.

Everyone's reactions just made Sarah feel more uncomfortable about James's presence.

"Put it out in the open on purpose. You used John's funeral fire as a fucking beacon." Polly screeched at him in realisation.

"We were never in any danger Polly." Arthur said in an attempt to calm her down.

"That's not the point." Sarah spat as she pulled Polly close to her

"You set a trap!"

"Finn?" Tommy barked out to his youngest brother who was comforting Ada, "Finn? Go to the yard and light the fires."

"You set a trap with us as fucking bait. Who's dead?" Polly shouted as she stomped over to Tommy.

"Our enemies."

"-Who's dead?" She asked again

"- You wanna know, Poll? Two fucking no good Italians heard about the vendetta, tried to make a fucking name for themselves, that's who."

Sarah's eyes followed Tommy's eyeline and saw men approaching on horseback and some who just walked alongside the horses, with two dead bodies slung over them.

"We got word to them about the funeral, the where, the when...Told them where to stand for the best shot." Arthur explained on behalf of his brother.