the marriage (john shelby.)

Twenty Nine.

♚

"I miss you." Amelia whispered as she gently ran her fingers over a sleeping John's cheek. He had a few various cuts and bruises gained from fights, but none affected his beauty in any way. "And I love you." She declared her love in the confidence that he couldn't hear.

The peace in the room almost felt unbelievable. There were no kids interfering, no Tommy dragging him away for business, no Sarah calling her in for work. She just lay there, her cold fingers tracing the scars on John's face, gazing at him with all the love she had in her body.

She never stopped loving him once, but she knew being together was killing them. Why couldn't she just tell him? There was nothing stopping her, and her love was completely genuine. She just couldn't do it.

As her fingertips grazed over his lips, his hand came up and held onto her wrist, before gently pressing his lips onto her hand. His eyes were still shut, but a smile appeared on his face.

"I don't think you understand how long I've waited for this moment." He whispered.

"I do. I've missed you so much." She beamed.

They lay in blissful silence for an entire hour, simply soaking up each other's presence. Amelia listened to his heart beat regularly, speeding up whenever he glanced at her.

"I didn't mean what I said when we split." She admitted, breaking a long silence.

John cocked his head to look at her, seeing her broken look and squeezing her hand ever so slightly tighter before kissing her forehead.

"I'll be honest, I forgot what you said." He lied.

Lies. He'd remembered every word, every expression, every tear.

"I said that we don't work." She sat up properly. "I was so wrong. We did work and we still do."

"Oh that." He nodded thoughtfully. "I never thought that."

"Me neither. I said it to hide my fears. I was just so overwhelmed with the arguing and I just felt like we were falling apart. I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried." Amelia explained.

They fell into a silence as they struggled to fill the air. He just wanted to call her his wife again, but he knew she wouldn't want to dive in straight away. She was far too scared.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I think I love you even more having not had you for so long." He admitted.

"It was only two years, and you saw me in between." She lay on her front beside him, her hands playing with the tips of his fingers.

He'd hoped for her to reply with a declaration of love, causing his heart to sink a little.

"I just was so desperate to be near you. I was even more desperate to fuck you." She smiled cheekily, proud at the fact he'd made her blush.

"Honestly? Me too." She smiled and bit her lip.

"Don't do that." John sighed and threw his head back onto the headboard.

"Why not?" She batted her eyelids dramatically, her bottom lip still caught by her teeth.

In the blink of an eye, John was on top of her, pinning her hands up by her head and kissing her neck.

"Don't play innocent with me Amelia Jane Shelby." He murmured against her skin.

"You remembered?" She gasped in mock shock.

"Got your name tattooed on my brain darling." He peppered kisses along her jawline.

"If you leave any questionable marks that the kids will then ask me about I swear to god Jonathan I'll-"

John cut her off with a kiss, kick starting the butterflies in her stomach. She wanted to be sick from cliché, but she also couldn't give a fuck.

"You'll do what?" He asked.

"I'll call you Jonathan for the rest of your life." She concealed her laughter before John burst out.

"My poor mother did not go through seventeen hours of labour to call me Jonathan." He laughed so hard he started vibrating.

"I was gonna call our next kid that." Amelia laughed with him.

John's head shot up, with a mischievous look upon his face.

"So we're having another kid?" He asked.

"Maybe." Amelia smirked.

"Well, if you want one-" John started to kiss down her neck and down her chest heading towards her stomach. "- you have to give me the chance to make it happen."

John's head disappeared under the duvet cover as Amelia felt his hands grip her waist and his lips go lower and lower. His mouth reached the inside of her thighs and she moaned softly, a smile stamped upon her face and cheeks heating.

Suddenly, the bedroom door was pushed open and in came the small tapping of kids's running.

"Mummy!" Harvey, Emily and Alex shouted at the same time.

Amelia covered up her chest with the duvet in the nick of time. She somehow felt she was getting déjà vu.

"Where's daddy?" Emily asked.

On cue, a sheepish John emerged from the duvet, his cheeks tainted pink and his hair a mess.

"What are you doing?" Harvey asked.

John and Amelia gave each other a desperate look as the begged the other to come up with a plan.

"Mummy lost an earring. I was looking for it." John lied.

"She's wearing both her earrings." Emily pointed out.

Both John and Amelia blushed profusely.

"Ciara's been sick and she's crying." Harvey pointed out.

"Daddy will do it." Amelia spoke record breakingly fast before he could get a word in.

The kids ran out of the room immediately, leaving a very awkward couple.

"I'm coming back for you." He kissed her hard before standing up and throwing some clothes on.

"I'm not fucking a man that smells of baby sick." She smirked.

Amelia's heart was warm. Just for the moment, her family felt totally normal. She felt like she had a normal husband, who had a normal job with normal relatives.

Just for once, it felt okay.

♚

a/n: this was such a filler ugh but i've kinda fallen out of love with this book ):

EDIT: i've not fallen out of love with it really, it just feels like much more of an effort to write and i'm never fully happy with the chapters. this doesn't mean i won't update it tho, it just means it takes longer for me to!! xxx