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Lucille
The house was quiet. Almost too quiet. It was quiet enough that Lucille couldn't avoid the impending feeling that something was wrong.
But what could be wrong?
Tommy had left her sweetly that morning with a kiss on her cheek and a freshly made cup of tea in her hands as she had stepped into the kitchen. Polly had left only an hour after that with a promise to return with bread and milk, and John and Arthur were wherever the hell they went each day. Adds was playing with Finn in the sitting room as she would every morning. Everything was normal, or as normal as things had been since she arrived in Birmingham.
Lucille knew her suspicions had been right as soon as Ada came running through the door, her breaths laboured and hand held protectively over her stomach. So long had passed in Small Heath, that Lucille hadn't even realised how big she had gotten. At first, she had believed that the baby may have been coming, but it was too easy for that, and a woman about to give birth wouldn't be running, cheeks flushed and eyes wild, into the house.
"Have you seen Tommy? Or Freddie?" She rushed, her chest heaving as Lucille tried to guide her into a kitchen chair.
"Not since this morning when he left. Is something wrong?"
Ada gripped her arm that were held out to steady her as she gasped in pain. She sat down wobbly, her eyes forcing shut.
"I can't- They're going to kill each other. I have to find them," Ada exclaimed, trying to push herself back up, only for her to topple slightly, letting Lucille grip her arms once again.
"Calm down Ada, you'll hurt yourself," Lucille insisted. "We'll look for Tommy, me and Pol."
Ada shook her head harshly. "I want to come."
"You have to think of the baby!" Lucille pleaded, eyes wide as she watched Ada's hand smooth over her stomach.
"I am thinking about the baby. I'm thinking about whether he will have a father or an uncle or a family by the end of this," Ada pleaded, tears threatening strip down her soft face. "I don't want to bring my baby up without a family. You must understand me, Lucille. When you joined us here..."
Lucille frowned. She did understand. Of course she did. Every night while in France, she would pray for Tommy's well being, for the sake of her young child, if not herself. She could imagine the pain Ada was feeling about loosing Freddie, because she had gone through it herself.
"Okay, Ada, I understand." She reached a hand forward, stroking a finger down her cheek comfortingly. "I'll find Pol, she can help look."
Ada let out a sob. "Thank you. Thank you."
"Everything will be fine," she cooed, holding her tightly around the arms as she rocked her back and forth like a baby.
They hadn't found Tommy or Freddie, not even with Polly's help and the eye of the barmaid, Grace. She could tell that it took everything for Ada to not cry.
Lucille felt guilty for the lack of tears that reached her eyes. She should have been worried, or at least more torn apart than she was. But at the same time, she trusted Tommy. She trusted in the fact that he promised to make things alright. She was sure he would.
Darkness had clouded over early that night. It was as if the sky could feel their ache for sleep. Night would bring them home, and even Polly stayed up for it, checking through the windows and searching for stars that she would never see.
The banging of the front door and the cursing that followed it startled Lucille from a shallow sleep. She was wrapped in Tommy's sheets, too drained to be on the floor of Ada's old room, where Adds soundly slept. They were comfortable enough leaving her on her own, she was over two years old, after all, and the young girl had a bigger personality than many children of that age. There was a chorus of muttering at the bottom of the stairs and Lucille heard Tommy sigh. He talked with Polly, and another person, who's deep voice Lucille couldn't yet recognise.
"You're alive."
Tommy stepped through the door, shutting it quietly behind him. He looked as tired as she felt, his eyes deeper step by the heavy bags that surrounded them. It was rather crude, joking of the topic so soon, but Lucille couldn't help but let the words flow from her mouth. She felt too relieved to care.
"What do you mean?" He was smiling- he knew what she meant.
"Ada was half mad trying to find you and Freddie. She was sure you'd kill each other," she said, watching as he pulled his jacket and shoes off, turning to make his way toward her. "She was scared, Tommy."
"I'd never..."
"I know," she interrupted.
"You're not..."
Tommy couldn't find the words, and sighed instead. But Lucille smiled softly, placing a hand on his arm.
"I think it's time to tell me, Tommy. I'm not going anywhere." She placed a kiss on his cheek, feeling him smile, creasing his skin with laughter lines.
"Promise?"
"You don't need me to promise for you to know that it's true," she whispered. "But I promise."
"The copper. I made a deal." He turned away, not facing her as he begun to explain. "They would teen a blind eye to everything I'd be doing: all the gambling, race track business, all of it. For that, I'd give him the guns, a massive crate of them that we found at the docks and drive Freddie from Birmingham."
"Oh, Tommy." Lucille swallowed. What else could she say? Hearing all of it, directly from him, made everything more real, more dangerous.
"I know. A load of shit." He let out a bitter laugh.
"Just make up with Ada, please. Her child will need a family." Lucille reaches over, placing another pleading hand to his arm.
"I know. I will. Eventually."
"Come to bed. You need to let yourself rest."
Lucille and Tommy were silent, the sound of his heavy breathing filling the room. She had spent long enough in the same house as him to know when he was struggling. It was the same as that night, when the sobs had racked through the wall.
"Do you still hear them?" She turned to see him already facing her.
"Only when I'm stressed." He opened his eyes. "Just talk. Let me hear your voice."
"What should I talk about?"
"Adds." Tommy smiled. "Our daughter."
"She's beautiful. Finn loves having her around too. She's more like a Shelby than any part of my half."
"I still can't believe it." He laughed out.
"What?"
"Our daughter." He breathed out, a sudden lightness entering that hadn't been there before. "I'm going to take you both to the countryside, when this is done. To the fields with the horse."
