midwife » michael gray. [completed]

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE.

  → CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE; THE TRUTH.  

Every day at five o'clock, Michael would ring the convent so he and Hannah could have a swift chitter-chatter about their day, it usually happened when Hannah was unable to get to the safe house due to work commitments. It ran the phone bill up big time and the sisters usually had a grumble about it but it wasn't the company phone that Hannah was using and Michael always gave Hannah some money towards the cost of the phone call which was very sweet of him. It had become a nightly routine, so when Michael didn't call, like he said he would, Hannah instantly thought of the worst possible scenario.

Hannah had been sat by the phone for ten minutes, fingernails in her mouth and leg bobbing up and down, scared stiff that she would get a knock on the door and it would be one of the Shelby brothers to inform her of Michael's demise. Even though Luca had made a deal with Polly, it didn't mean that he wouldn't change his mind in the long run and would go after Michael, all it would take was one wrong word from either Polly or Tommy. If Luca could find out information about Hannah that hardly anyone knew, then he would easily be able to find out where Michael was hiding. All it would take was a little bit of cash and some kind words to desperate people who would do anything to survive financially.

With her mind all over the place, Hannah picked up the phone and dialled the telephone number before asking the person on the other side of the phone line to be connected to the safe house where Michael was meant to be staying. It was a long minute as she waited for someone to answer, she tried to block the images of Michael's murdered body out of her head but it was becoming impossible, every second that was passing was just another second of Hannah not knowing what was going on and why he hadn't called like he usually did.

It could be a simple misunderstanding, Michael had probably taken a nap and had overslept or he was busy doing something and hadn't noticed the time. When you dated a member of the Shelby family though, something like this always meant that you thought of the worst thing possible. It was hard to have common sense after everything that had happened over the last few years.

"Oh, hello, I was just wondering if Michael was in," Hannah said to the women who owned the house. She had been sworn to secrecy by Tommy and so far, she had kept her promise to protect Michael from any wrongdoings. Maybe she was a bad person though who had snitched on Michael to Luca and the Italian's, you couldn't trust anybody.

"No, he's not in love. He left a few hours ago and hasn't been back since."

"Left?" Where could he have gone? If he had come back to Small Heath then he was an absolute fool. Hannah believed that Luca was still knocking around, the vendetta not over and done with yet. "Where did he go?" If Michael was in Small Heath like she hoped then he would have popped by the convent to inform Hannah of any updates, he wouldn't have just left it because he knew that it would worry Hannah.

The woman thought for a moment as she tried to recall what had happened earlier on in the day. "An older gentleman came and picked Michael up and took him to see his mother and cousin."

"Oh," Hannah said quietly - there was nothing to worry about. Hannah's imagination had just got the better of her again. "Thank you for your help and I'm sorry for wasting your time."

As Hannah put the receiver back on the hook, she chuckled quietly to herself. Michael would probably be around any minute then or he would go back to the safe house and call her from there. Hannah felt like such an idiot for being dramatic and worrying about him but she had ever right. There was a wide-spread panic in Small Heath and surrounding areas, almost everybody knew about the Italian's vendetta with the Shelby's - mostly because Tommy wanted to show off and have shootouts in the middle of the street. If everybody else was worried then you could only imagine what Hannah was life. She wasn't much of a religious person but every night, she would walk with the sisters to the chapel in the convent and pray that Michael would be safe and that no harm would come to any of the Shelby's. Even though her dislike for Tommy was very strong, she would never wish death upon him. He was a father, with a child on the way, and she didn't want any devastation left behind for any members of the family.