A Twist In Time

Christmas Time, Mistletoe, and Wine

As they entered December it got colder. It was to be expected, seeing as most nights they lay under the stars in cramped base camps or squashed together in the trenches.

It had been two weeks since John had left for a different mission. Tommy was lucky he still had Arthur with him. It seemed the men higher up understood that Tommy could control his older brother better than they could. It's why they left him under his command as they shovelled their way through the underbelly of France.

"Oi." Tommy looked up at Arthur's husky voice. He thought he had a few minutes to himself while everyone got themselves settled for the night. "You got a letter."

Tommy felt himself smile as Arthur handed him the letter. His heart beat that little bit faster when he noticed it was written in Romy's hand. She'd finally written back to him.

Skimming through the letter, Tommy frowned, she called herself a bitch. Why was she always degrading herself like that? Tommy folded the letter up once he finished it and pulled out the photographs Romy had sent him.

There, lying in the middle of a large bed was a tiny baby that was sleeping with a smile on his face. Tommy believed it was a smile, his Aunt Pol would have told him it was wind.

As he looked down at baby Tom, Tommy felt his chest tightening. Why did he feel so proud looking down at the boy? He was perfect, not that Tommy would admit that to anyone.

In his mind, the baby looked a lot like Romy. They had the same shaped eyes and the same eyebrows. How different would he look when he got back from France? Would he still be a baby or would he be a grown man?

Tommy's smile grew as he looked at the other photo. He was sure it must have been one Ada snapped again, but he was surprised Romy had been the one to send it to him.

It was also slightly inappropriate which made him think Ada had slipped it in.

Romy was in the bath and she held Thomas in her arms. Ada had taken the photo at a low angle, not capturing any of Romy's body beside her arms and above her shoulders.

He couldn't believe that Ada thought this was a good idea.

"What you lookin' at?" Arthur asked, reaching over and taking the photo from Tommy. "Fockin' hell, Tom. You got a right sort there!"

"Arthur! Not so loud," Tommy snapped, snatching the photo from him before he could draw any more attention. Tommy pulled the other two photos from his breast pocket and slipped his newest ones under the old. Before he could slip them back away, a hand took the photo of Romy.

"What's this, Tommy?" If there was a moment in his life that Tommy hated his brother it would have been now. "Hey, Al, look at Tommy's girl!"

Rodger, the soldier that looked at the photo of 'Tommy's girl', flung the photo to Al and the group he was standing with.

"This your girl, Tommy?" Al asked, raising his eyes in surprise as he looked down at the beauty in the photo. The other soldiers hooted as Al passed around the photograph and Tommy hated the idea of them all looking at her.

As if sensing his brothers rising anger, Arthur rose and snatched the photo from their hands, before giving it back to Tommy.

"Alrigh' bugger off," Arthur saved walloping Rodger over the head as he muttered under his breath. Arthur shuffled over to Tommy, his head hung down in shame as he scratched at the hairs on his chin. "I'm sorry, Tommy."

"It's alright, Arthur," Tommy said, taking a cigarette and placing it between his lips. As he smoked, he looked down at the photographs of Romy and the baby.