𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 • 𝙟𝙤𝙝𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙮

• 6 •

BEING A Londoner meant I was exposed to a higher class of living than I was back in Birmingham. Though I did my best to avoid attending anything that would bore me to death, there were some unavoidable situations in which I'd have to withstand the finer things in life.

"You look pretty, Mummy," Gerald commented shyly from the doorway, a small smile on his face.

"When doesn't Mummy look pretty?" John rhetorically asked him before swooping him up in his arms.

"In the morning when I'm late for school," Gerald answered bluntly, making me gasp.

Putting down the necklace I was about to wear, I turned to him with a slack jaw. "G!"

John held back a laugh, patting Gerald's chest. "You can't say that about your Mummy, Dollop."

"Don't call him that," I grumbled, hating the nickname he had coined for our son after Gerald realised how much it made his dad laugh to put a dollop of cream on his nose. 

"But Mummy does look pretty now," Gerald defended with a confused frown.

"You're meant to tell me I'm pretty all the time, G," I said, walking over to him and placing a quick peck on his cheek. "Not just when I'm trying to be."

"You're absolutely gorgeous, no matter what time of day it is," John whispered before kissing me sweetly.

"That's cute, but you're still not coming," I said, my smile dropping.

John frowned while Gerald clambered out of his arms and ran out of the room. "Why not, Lex?"

"Because I know what you're like," I answered, walking back over to my mirror and picking up the diamond necklace. "Someone will make one crude comment, or give me one look, and you'll be on a murder spree."

He pouted, following me and wrapping his arms around my waist while our eyes met in the mirror. "I don't want anyone to look at you. Or make comments. Or touch you, at fuckin' all."

I rolled my eyes, "15 years of knowing me and you still don't think I can take care of myself. Plus, Tommy will be there."

"Yeah, and Alfie," John mumbled, resting his chin on my shoulder.

"You don't like Alfie," I stated, to which he didn't respond. "He's helping us out. A lot."

"He stares at you, a lot," He complained. "Sometimes I wish I still had my Peaky cap so I could cut his fuckin' eyes out."

Snorting, I shook my head. "Trust me, if Alfie had any interest in me, he would have made it clear by now."

John let out a dry laugh, "You say that like you've known him years."

My heart skipped a beat, my palms clamming up as that familiar feeling of nausea grew in the pit of my stomach. "Uh, can you help me put this necklace on?"

He happily obliged, not questioning why I changed the subject. Because John was too pure-hearted and too in love with his darling wife to ever think she could lie to him.
 

•
 
 

"I THINK it's best if Tommy don't come in, to be honest," Don Gershwin suggested as we stood outside his car. His cockney accent made him seem trustworthy, as well as his warm smile, which I wasn't expecting to see on a friend of the Mallow twins. "Seeing as it was your brother who blinded his son, Sullivan may not take too kindly to you."

Tommy threw his cigarette to the ground before stepping on it and nodding. "Understandable."

Don led the way while Alfie and I followed. For obvious reasons, we didn't bring Arthur, and Polly forbid Michael from getting any more involved in this side of the business.