Blue Eyes

37

//Thank you so much for 40k reads and almost 2k votes!!! The response I've gotten for this fic is overwhelming and I can't thank everyone enough! 

            Alfie was not a patient man. Of course, he would cross land and sea for his wife, didn't mean it was easy to wait for her return. To keep his spirits up, he reminded himself that it was for the better. She was clearing her head after the months of trauma she endured while in Small Heath. He imagined the day they reunited. It couldn't come soon enough.

Alfie turned over and felt a warmth coming from Ella's side of the bed. In his sleep-addled state, he furrowed his brow and blinked a few times. "El?"

Cyril lurched forward and began licking his owner's face. He had taken it upon himself to travel from the foot of the bed, where he usually slept, to take Ella's empty spot.

The man grumbled and shooed the mastiff away. "Oi, fuck off. Your breath smells like shit, mate." He sighed and flopped back onto the pillows, staring up at the ceiling.

There was a soft whimpering from the window. Alfie turned over onto his side and saw Anthea with her front paws resting on the window sill so she could look outside. Her brown eyes watching the street below.

"Thea, what're you doing?"

The pit bull whined and dropped down to pace around Ella's side of the bed.

"Yeah, I know, I miss her too." Alfie rested a hand over his eyes. "I miss her too."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ella had forgotten how sharp the forest air was in the early morning. She nearly forgot the stinging cold of a river as she washed. Her teeth chattered as she worked quickly, scrubbing away the dirt under her fingernails. But she paused when she dragged the soap over her abdomen. The scar was ugly, ugliest she'd ever seen. Still slightly bruised and purple with what was left from the stitches that had been removed.

She frowned and passed the soap over the scar once, twice, three times. Hoping with every scrub that it would disappear.

"Brought you some warmer clothes."

Ella jumped and turned, her eyes going to her gun which was concealed in the pile of clothes she'd left on the bank of the river.

"Easy." Isabel stopped a few feet from the bank so Ella wouldn't spook more. "It's just me."

Her shoulders fell in relief and she began to rinse the suds off her skin.

"Mum was right, you Shelbys have gotten jumpy." The young woman laughed softly. Isabel was a Traveler girl through and through. Her long ash-brown hair.

"Sorry," Ella mumbled and stepped out of the river, reaching for the towel that was hanging on a nearby tree.

"No need to apologize." Isabel smiled. She'd been partly made responsible for trying to help Ella through her withdrawal and see her through the grief. It had been a year since she'd lost her own daughter, who was only sixteen months old. There, of course, was a mystique around the Shelby family. But Isabel had known them growing up. It was strange to see how much Ella had changed but it was understandable.

As Ella dried off, Isabel handed her the long skirt and jumper. "You must be freezing, you're so thin."

"I lost weight in the hospital." She mumbled and pulled on the warm clothes.