Chelsea walked into the Garrison, seeing her whole family gathered inside. Arthur sat beside Tommy and Johnny Dogs, Lizzie on the chair next to Ada and opposite Finn and his new wife Mary, Uncle Charlie and Curly sat in the booths, all looking at Chelsea.
But Chelsea's eyes were stuck on Finn, she hadn't spoken to him in so long and seeing him there made her realise that he was the only person she wanted to talk to right now. Isaiah hadn't been in touch and Tommy wasn't telling anyone about his condition, but Chelsea knew that Finn would help her.
"Hey Princess." Finn smiled, releasing his wife's hand and standing up, walking over and hugging Chelsea tightly, "I've missed you. Where are the little troublemakers?"
Chelsea pulled away and looked up at him, "We'll talk later, I'm sure there's some important business we need to be attending."
Finn chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Always business with you, ain't it?"
Chelsea nodded, "You know me."
Chelsea took a seat beside Mary who smiled politely at Chelsea. Chelsea finally settled down after Ada had to pinch both her and Finn by their ears to stop them from bickering.
Tommy took in a deep breath, causing all attention to be on him, "I've gathered you all here today because there is news. It is of interest to the whole family. First of all, i'd like to welcome Finn's new wife, Mary, to the family."
"Right," Ada sighed, "well i'm very glad that I dragged myself out of bed for this."
Chelsea cast disappointed looks at her family before turning to Mary and Finn, "Sorry about them shitheads, I'm very happy for you both."
Tommy cleared his throat, "There is one more item of business. Johnny."
Johnny retreated from the bar and stared at the back door, "Come on! Come on, will you!"
Chelsea's heart sunk and rage grew inside of her as she watched her fathers son walk out from the door, Tommy taking a stand beside him and resting his hand on his shoulder, "Everyone, this here is Erasmus."
Erasmus looked at Tommy and furrowed his brows, "Nobody calls me that."
"They call him Duke." Tommy corrected, "Twenty years ago, at Appleby Horse Fair, I met a girl. We shared the shade of a hazel tree. Nine months later, this lad was born. This is my son."
Chelsea scoffed and stood up abruptly, muttering under her breath as she walked over to Arthur, "He best be fucking kidding."
"His mother died on the road." Tommy continued, "Up until now, I never tried to find him. But i'm trying to look at life in a different way. A child is a precious thing. So i'm bringing him-"
"In the fucking family with a snap of his fucking fingers." said Lizzie, earning an agreement nod from Chelsea.
"No." Tommy said, "Bringing him into the fold. He'll have to earn membership of the family. For the moment, welcome, son. Have a seat, this is Chelsea Shelby, you're sis-"
Before Tommy could finish, Chelsea cut him off, "I'm just Chelsea Shelby, Tommy's daughter."
Duke nodded awkwardly as he sat down beside her.
Tommy leaned next to Chelsea, "There are some mistakes i've made that I can never address. Some I can. Some wounds I can try to heal."
"New wounds you can open up." Lizzie muttered.
"Anyway," said Tommy, glancing at his wife, "that's the business of the day."
"Is it too early for whiskey?" Ada whispered.
