Criminal Royalty

Ada's Secret

Despite the late night, Polly was still up bright and early, something that could not be said for young Ada Shelby.

Polly was reading about the communists and Fenians in the paper when her niece leisurely strolled into the kitchen after noon. Too engrossed in the news of the wider world, she barely glanced up at Ada before returning her eyes to the words on the page.

Being ignored was new to the second youngest Shelby and she busied herself with breakfast. Normally she wouldn't eat at all but today she had a real craving for jam on toast. When she sat at the table, toast in hand, it made her aunt Pol look up again- this time she had her attention.

"What do you bother reading that for anyway?"

Polly's eyes scrutinized her, " They've killed fifteen of our boys this week."

Knowing arguing with Polly to be fruitless, Ada moved on to the less politically charged conversation of her night's sleep. Honest to God, she could not remember the last time she had a good night's sleep but that was probably due to her iron deficiency.

"And then I had a dream that I was in this boat" she rambled on about her seemingly meaningless yet odd dreams. Of course, to a gypsy woman like Polly Grey, there was no such thing as a meaningless dream, and she had cottoned on to something her niece clearly hadn't.

"Stand up" she ordered.

Ada simply stared at her for a moment, wondering what had gotten into her aunt. Even so, she complied readily, not seeing the harm in doing as she was asked. She had barely stood upright before her aunt had come up to her, squeezing her breast.

"Ouch!" She bit out, "What'd you do that for?"

Polly's suspicions were confirmed.

"Ada how late are you?"

As it turns out, Ada wasn't just late, she was pregnant and fairly pregnant at that, having not had her period for at least seven weeks. Of course, they would have to go to the nurse to be sure, but Polly was never wrong about these things.

This was not good news as it should have been. As far as Polly had known, her twenty-two-year-old niece hadn't even been seeing anyone, and yet here she was, two months pregnant. Ada was having a similar internal crisis, having a baby with the love of her life, Freddie Thorn, seemed marvelous if it weren't for the fact that they were unwed, and he was on the run from the police. And, as though that wasn't quite enough for her to deal with, she could only begin to imagine how her brothers would react- especially Tommy who seemed to hate his once best friend ever since they had returned from the war.

Before anything, Polly had her mind made up about the next steps for Ada- steps that would reverse the situation entirely, an abortion. Just as she had done when she was sixteen and in the family way, this was once again the best choice in her mind. Despite her own tribulations about the predicament, Ada was less certain about what to do. First and foremost, she needed a good cry and to get her head around the situation. But that would have to wait, as Polly decided to take her to the midwife.

...

With her pregnancy confirmed, Ada was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She knew she could love this baby and wanted desperately to keep it but what if Polly was right? What if Freddie didn't come back for her? Finally, ready for the emotional breakdown she had been gearing up for, she went to find Rose, who was as much a friend to her as she had been to Polly, prepared to drag her off to the cinema where she could hopefully find a supportive ear in her wartime friend.

Rose had just finished bathing John's youngest, Robert, when there was a pounding at the door. She went to see what the commotion was and found a tearful Ada and a stern-faced Polly.

"I'll watch the kids for a bit, Ada needs to talk to you."

Rose felt guilty at abandoning the children when she had promised to look after them, but Ada clearly needed a shoulder to cry on right now. Plus, the kids were in good hands with Aunt Pol.

The two young girls made their way to the cinema where they brought tickets for the latest romantic film. Not one to force a conversation, Rose waited patiently for Ada to open up about what was going on.

About five minutes into the film, she began speaking, "I've got to tell you something and I need to know what you'd do because I'm so confused."

This concerned Rose greatly and a thousand terrifying thoughts filled her mind at what Ada may reveal next. She gave a subtle nod, but it was enough for Ada.

"I'm pregnant."

The silence lasted barely a minute, but it was enough for Ada to grow tense. Could she really handle a negative reaction? Especially from such a good friend.

"Wow, congratulations!"

That was not what Ada had been expecting to hear and it made her tear up at her friend's positivity despite the situation. She could already imagine that most people's first response would not be congratulations.

"So, is it Freddie's then? Aww, I can just imagine you both making such adorable babies. How far along are you? Who else knows?"

Still tearful, Ada could not help but smile at her friend's obvious excitement- she had forgotten in their short time apart how much Rose loved children and all things babies. Her eagerness sparked the flame of excitement within herself at starting a family with her beloved Freddie.

With a chuckle, Ada responded to her excitable friend.

A wave of tension left her as she could easily guess the answer to her next question, "What do you think I should do? Polly reckons I should get rid of it, but I just don't know, it doesn't feel right."

Another tear leaked from her eye at the thought of ending the life that had barely begun inside of her. Looking into those teary eyes broke Rose's heart and she could tell her friend was in turmoil.

"Oh Ada, only you know what you should do, all I can say is that you must follow your heart for you'll always regret doing something because of another person's wishes- especially something as big as this."

Well, that wasn't particularly helpful as what Ada really wanted was to know the right thing to do, which path to take that would not lead to regret. Nevertheless, she was grateful to her friend for empowering her to think of her own decision.

There wasn't time for the conversation to continue before Tommy came storming through the doors. It didn't take a genius to realise the cause of his mood: he knew.

Tommy completely disregarded Rose's presence and went straight to the point with his questioning. It made Rose feel slightly on edge to be witness to a family moment, but she placed her hand on Ada's in support anyway. When Ada responded with the actor's name as her baby's father and Tommy left, she could not quite believe it.

Of course, such an event would be too good to be true and he returned after having the film paused to evacuate the cinema and interrogate his sister again.

Already emotional and victim to her hormones, Ada couldn't maintain her cool and heatedly revealed the father of her child.

"It's Freddie Thorn's! That's right, your best friend".

Needless to say, Tommy did not stick around long after that particular revelation.