Nellie Lovett

Chapter 1

Nellie woke up to the smell of alcohol breath, what happened last night? She felt really sick, obviously from being hung over, her vision was blurry. She sat up, holding her covers over her, she realised she was naked. Why was she sleeping naked? She never slept like that, not since Albert was still alive, but in the short time they were married he was abusive and never let her out the house to tell people what he did to her at night. She looked down, saw Sweeney lying next to her, and then looked up again. Her extreme nausea made sure that the message didn't sink in strait away, but then she looked back down and realised what had happened.

"Oh my lord." She said. "What did I do..."

She got up quietly, to try and avoid waking Sweeney up, and then picked her undergarments up. She unconventionally started getting into her underwear, her bra and underwear and then slowly building up. She picked up her dress, it was quite old, she only owned two dresses, and they were both bought when she was twenty, 12 years later she hadn't gained enough weight to need new ones, nor had she needed new ones for pregnancy as now she was 32, her hopes of having children seemed doomed.

Suddenly, Sweeney moved in his sleep, and then started to sit up while rubbing his eyes. In a mad panic, Nellie covered herself up with her dress and tried to act casually. "Good morning Mr Todd, how are you?" She asked innocently.

"A little confused." Sweeney replied, realising what must have happened when he found out he was naked. How could he betray Lucy like this? He had sworn that he could not love another woman after Lucy, as no one could match her beauty. "What..Why?"

"I have no idea what's going on. I didn't even sleep here last night." Nellie lied, still holding her dress over her underwear. She slowly walked across the room towards the door, walking sideways so that she didn't reveal herself.

"Your lying, aren't you." Sweeney replied, hoping that he was wrong. He was also a little confused that Mrs Lovett was walking around weirdly with a dress she wasn't wearing, he was hoping that she was wearing something underneath.

"Yeah.." Nellie said, biting her lip. "But if you want, this never happened, you were never here last night, and I haven't seen you since you left."

"I think that would be for the best." Sweeney agreed. "Because, you know, I wouldn't want you to be seen as a woman who would sleep around with just anyone, and...yeah." Sweeney covered himself up with the bed sheets and leaned down to pick up his underwear.

"I'll leave you to get changed." Nellie said, temporarily forgetting that she hadn't finished changing herself. She crept out of the door and closed her eyes, both regretting and questioning what had happened the night before. He was just drunk, he could never love her, his love remained with Lucy.

"Mum, what... are you doing?" Toby asked, shocking Nellie as she hadn't realised he was there. He just kept staring at her. "Do you want me to take your dress to be cleaned?"

"No, no, I just umm.." Nellie started, trying to think of a good lie. "There's just a funny smell in there, so I was going to get changed out here." She started to bite her lip as she always did when she was worried, she loved Toby but knew that wouldn't approve of her being with Mr Todd, he already didn't like him.

"Do you want me to take a look at it?" Toby asked. "I wouldn't want anything to bother you..."

Nellie, who was quite emotional, was having to swallow her tears at the thought of Toby being so sweet. It wasn't much, but it was the small things that made her love someone. "No, I think it'll be fine, I can just air it out. Anyway, I left a penny on the counter for breakfast, how about you go and but a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. And with the change, you can go buy yourself some sweets, does that sound alright?" Nellie asked sweetly.

"Thanks mum!" Toby said, before giving Nellie a small hug and sprinting off to buy the food. Nellie sighed, and laughed a little. Toby really was a good boy. After Toby had gone, Nellie slipped into her dress and brushed herself off. As she wiped her dress off, her finger got caught in a hole. "Damn it." She said. "I really need a new dress."

She went downstairs and started to get ingredients together to make the pastry, and then soon after Sweeney came down the stairs. "Morning Mrs Lovett." he said awkwardly.

"Morning Mr Todd." Nellie replied, cracking an egg. "Would you like some ale, you know, to wake you up?"

"I think I need it." Sweeney said, sitting opposite Mrs Lovett as she poured the ale, and continued to mix the dough. "Thank you."

"No problem." Nellie said. "Sweeney, I know it never happened, but I still think we need to talk about this." Nellie then took a deep breath, she had known Sweeney for years but still could never predict his next move, but something about that just made her like him more. But at this point, she'd rather it wasn't an aspect of his personality, she was worried that he would get mad and maybe try to hurt her, but had done her best to dismiss these thoughts, she needed to stay strong for Toby.

"I think a conversation is in order." Sweeney agreed. "But before we start, I must tell you, that after careful deliberation that took place while changing, I have decided to move on from Lucy. She was very beautiful, but I have come to realise that I was in love with her face, not who she was inside, not what really counted."

"Well I'm glad you've been able to move on from this, I know it's been very hard for you." She soothed. Sweeney stood up, he walked around the counter towards Nellie, startling the baker a little. "Now Nellie, don't talk, don't think, " He instructed. He then put his hands round her waist and kissed her passionately for about a minute, before leaving the shop with a simple goodbye.

I hope you liked this part! Please comment your ideas for the future!