beautiful thieves | ✓

twenty-three

I'm still struggling to sleep about half an hour later. Maeve fell asleep as soon as she buried herself under a ton of blankets and I keep checking her to make sure she's still breathing since she's so still. Blake is twitching on the floor beside me, so he's either awake or in the middle of a very intense dream. I raise my head slightly to see Colby curled up on the armchair, his long limbs spilling over it, and just as I lower my head to try and sleep, I notice that Enoch and Chelsea are still awake, speaking in hushed tones.

I cautiously unravel myself from Maeve and the millions of blankets and pad slowly across the room with one draped across my shoulders, almost tripping over Blake's long legs. Enoch notices me approaching them and opens out his arms.

"Come hither, child," he jokes, and I sit between him and Chelsea on the other sofa while he wraps his arms around me.

"Welcome to the insomnia club," whispers Chelsea. I chuckle along with her, tightening the blanket around me to keep warm.

We watch the crackling of the fire for a few seconds before Enoch sighs. "You were the one to find Danielle, weren't you?"

I nod my head, picking at the blanket. "Her screams were so loud."

"I don't blame her," Chelsea says. "It must be--" She looks down at her baby with pure love in her smile as Posie gurgles in her sleep. "It must be so horrible. Wanting something so bad but it just keeps getting stolen from you. I couldn't imagine Posie being taken from me. I'm not sure if I could live without her."

Enoch and I nod in agreement.

"I feel for Adam, too," I say, keeping my voice low. "He was telling me how much he wants a big family."

"I reckon it won't be long until they go for adoption," Enoch says. "But I'm not sure how they'd be able to lie about their lifestyle and be allowed to do that."

I huff, resting my head against the back of the sofa. "That sucks."

Blake breaks the silence that follows. He sits up, rubs a hand across his face, before throwing the blanket off him and getting up to leave the room.

Enoch nudges me in the side when he's gone. "I saw you two making out with your hands earlier."

Chelsea laughs while I nudge him back. "That was just him apologising for being a douche."

"Blake doesn't apologise," Chelsea says. "He does something shitty and gets away with it. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy like a brother, but just like a brother you hate his guts at the best of times."

"Tell me about it," I laugh. "I have two."

"I have three," Enoch says smugly. "Colwyn, Marc and Rhydian. I don't know where Marc and Rhydian could be and, uh, let's just say I never had the best relationship with Colwyn, but that's probably for the best."

"I love the welsh names," I tell him. The way they glide off his tongue in his Swedish accent is beautiful.

"Yeah, my mother was Welsh," he says. "Dad was the Swede, and that's where the four of us were born."

I don't ask where his parents could be now as his eyes drift to the embers of the fire. He can tell me in his own time, if and when he chooses to.

"You know, he wanted me to give Posie a Welsh name," Chelsea chuckles. "I had nothing against the idea, but I had the name Posie in mind way before we even met."

"When did you two meet?" I ask.

"We were twelve," Enoch says. "I moved here when I was eleven and we quickly became best friends. Then a few years ago, my brothers and parents fucked off and I was recruited here, and about a year later, Chelsea fell pregnant and had nowhere to go. I told Danielle and she practically adopted Chelsea right there on the spot."