Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

2.

She might not have been a Shelby but that didn't mean Ailbhe Kennedy had any less of a temper. She had overslept, another late night crouched by the low light of the lamp finishing another dress her mother had abandoned for a bottle of whiskey instead. She had leapt out of bed, knowing when she woke that she had not meant to sleep at all. She dragged a brush through her long hair and pinned as much of it as she could back before dressing quickly. It had been almost dawn when she finished the hem of the last dress on the rails inside her mother's workshop and crawled into bed.

She had arrived home, starving and tired but the fire had gone out and there was no food left in the kitchen. There were three shirts and a dress hanging from the rails in her mother's workshop that needed to be mended still. Her mother had promised to do them while Ailbhe went to work the day before but she clearly had better things to do. When Ailbhe got home from the meeting last night, giddy from her walk with Finn and burning with life and excitement, she realised she couldn't yet go to bed. There was work to be done.

She very quickly was brought back down to Earth, having to sit and mend, stitch and darn until her eyes were sore and her fingers were aching.

Now morning time, her mother was passed out asleep in the bed on the other side of the room to Ailbhe. She knew better than to try wake her, it would be a waste of effort.

Storming down the stairs and into the kitchen to put on some coffee she quickly alerted her brother to her foul mood. Niall had already left to go to work with Arthur but Liam sat at the table eating his breakfast.

"Steady on, Ailbhe, what's the matter?" Liam asked her, pulling a drag from the cigarette he had firmly between his thumb and forefinger.

"What isn't the matter is a shorter answer" she huffed, poking at the fire embers to bring out more heat.

Liam watched his younger sister carefully. She looked tired. She usually did these days, with their mother having one of her bad spells it meant the tailor work fell all onto Ailbhe's shoulders when she came home from working in Shelby Company Ltd's office.

Tommy had seen how clever she was, how perceptive she was and so he had offered her a job once she had left school. She worked in the offices, beside Lizzie. Their mother was the only seamstress worth anything in Small Heath and yet she hadn't been worth much since before the war. Liam wished there was more he could do for his sister, after all she was just shy of seventeen and already had too much responsibility but they had no choice.

Liam also knew it was less of a money issue than a pride issue. They had money, they had enough from Liam's work down in Charlie's yard and from their eldest brother Niall's work with the Shelby's. They even had Ailbhe's wage from the Shelby's too as Tommy had made sure that the Shelby's had become one of the richest families in Birmingham. As a family so publicly joint with them, the Kennedy's were part of the Shelby dynasty. But Ailbhe, along with her brothers and the Shelbys didn't want anyone to know how bad their mother had become.

With their eldest brother working closely with the Shelby brothers as whatever they saw fit, he hardly had time to check up on their mother, let alone come babysit her like Ailbhe usually did.

"Cheer up Alv, weddings are a happy occasion" Liam reminded her, pulling on his cap that let everyone know who his allegiances laid with, despite his Irish heritage.

She accepted the kiss atop her head as he left swiftly through the back door, letting the morning chill sweep in through the room.

He was right. Weddings were a happy occasion and God knows Tommy had been waiting long enough for his happiness.

She drank the coffee black because her mother must have forgotten to go to the shops again yesterday before she fell into the bottle of whiskey that they had tried to hide from her. But Ailbhe didn't have time to try wake her mother and get her to pull herself together for the day ahead of them. Grabbing the dresses that she had finished yesterday morning she slammed the door behind her, not caring if it shook the walls until the picture of the King himself fell. The day had already started badly and it wasn't even 8 o'clock.