VICES AND VIRTUES | Thomas Shelby

SIXTEEN

In all her life Florence wasn't sure she had ever attended so many weddings. Within about four months, she'd got married, George had been married and now John was to be married. It filled her with dread to know that John was clueless about what the day had in store. She had contemplated finding a way of telling him, but despite everything her loyalty remained with Tommy as it always did. She would keep it to herself because that is what Tommy would want. Although that wasn't the entire truth, Elijah was accompanying her, as her husband.

"I don't think I've ever been to a gypsy wedding before," Elijah sighed as the pair waited in his car just outside of the Lee's camp, "Have you?"

"When I was a little girl," Florence nodded with a reminiscent smile, "It was Polly's wedding, Ada and I were flower girls, dressed in shades of blue."

"What'll it be like?" Elijah asked, keeping his eyes on Florence as she kept her eyes on the Lee's camp.

"Chaotic," Florence smiled, glancing at Elijah as he turned his gaze out of the window, "Once the vows are read everyone uses it as an excuse for a proper party."

"So not much like ours?" Elijah replied with a grin.

"Not much," Florence sighed, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Elijah smiled, looking back at her.

"Do you regret it?" She whispered, "Marrying me?"

"What made you think that?" Elijah replied.

"I just wouldn't blame you if you did regret it," Florence explained, "Neither of us had much time to think about it, we just kind of did it, and I need you to be sure that you don't regret it."

"Well, I certainly don't regret it, how many people can say they married their best friend?" Elijah answered, resting his hand on top of hers, "And when that baby arrives I will raise it just as though it were my own."

With a heavy sigh Florence rested her head on Elijah's shoulder, "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

"I could say the same about you," Elijah smiled, feeling his heartbeat quicken at the simplest touch from Florence.

"At that dinner last night Diana was telling me that your parents are already asking her and George about grandchildren," Florence sighed, content with where her head rested on Elijah's shoulder, "I get the feeling that this one will fail to fulfil their requirements of a grandchild before I've even given birth."

"Before the war their opinion would've been my only marker of success, but when we came back I knew that my existence would be wasted if I continued to live life for them, which is why I don't regret marrying you," He explained, France being a topic neither of them had discussed much.

"You barely ever talk about the war," Florence whispered, keeping her head on his shoulder as she looked up at him, their faces closer than either of them had realised, "The Shelby boys don't talk about it."

"We saw things that no eye should ever see, and if I can protect your mind from imagining those horrors, then I will," Elijah told her, running his thumb across her cheek, her skin cold to his touch.

"I wish you didn't have to remember it, in fact I wish you'd never had to experience it," Florence whispered, not minding their close proximity, "Do those memories exist in your dreams too?"

"Sometimes," Elijah nodded, resting his hand on her jaw, "But since I've been sharing a room with you the dreams have been quieter."

Florence felt something shift in the air between them, a result of the vulnerability that neither of them had shared before. It scared Florence, being so close to someone she cared about so deeply. As her eyes flicked between Elijah's eyes and his mouth she imagined a world in which their facade became their reality, only they'd be doing it all in reverse.