Tommy Shelby ~ Between the Walls and the Whiskey

Untitled Part 9

The birth of the baby came early on a chilly fall morning. The women came together for Cecilia aiding the doctor in any way that they could. It was long and hard, but she found her strength and bore down, pushing the baby into the world to be greeted with the joy and the tears of the women around her.

"A girl" Polly said, holding the baby up for Cecilia to see, her own face glowing with a smile and love.

The baby opened her tiny mouth and let out one good cry to the absolute relief and joy of her mother who reached for the baby as she felt tears stream down her cheeks, hitting her warm breast, ready to nurse for the first time.

*

"A girl" Tommy whispered looking down at the sleeping babe in his arms. "Poor thing. But you're lucky you are. A girl has it hard in this world." He looked over his shoulder at Cecilia sleeping in the bed, "But you live in mine. And my girls get everything their hearts desire."

*

"My sweet darling girl, we shall have to find a name for you, my love" Cecilia smiled down at the child whose eyes were far to curious and aware for such a new thing. "You are the most precious thing in all the world to me. And your papa knows that he must be the best man he can be to make you happy every day. And that nothing must ever happen to you, or there will be a world of hell to pay, to me." She bent her head to smell and kiss her daughter. The love she felt was so powerful she feared it. Taking one tiny fist into her own , she wondered how something so small could hold her heart completely.

*

One whiskey came after the other until Thomas Shelby was good and properly drunk. The cheers and laughter of the men surrounding him as they celebrated, echoed long into the night until sleep took some, sickness the others, and a new found serenity Thomas, as it carried him home to sleep knowing his child would grow up to be a beautiful woman like the mother that birthed her. But a Shelby woman and this was the greatest thing of all.

1 Year Later

        
So he'd come then.

Thomas stood still as a statue, his hands in his pockets, cap down nearly covering his eyes, on the dreary platform surrounded by the steam of the trains.

He was a taring at Cecilia, unblinking, fixed totally on the sight of her framed by the window of the train.

She knew his mind was racing, scrambling to make sense of things as he came to terms with what was happening. The fact that she was already aboard and to far away for him to talk her into going home would be driving him mad.

He could not take them back.

And though she couldn't see through the dim light and the shadow of his hat, she could feel the power of his cool blue eyes on her. He hated her no doubt, she knew he must now, because she had done the one thing she swore she never would.

She'd left. Written a note, taken only a few things to get them to the train and finally the ship that would carry them over the ocean and back home to America.

Her heart was pounding, which was shocking as she was certain it had been broken months ago, but there it was still beating like it should, aching deep in her chest. The pain was to unbearable to be brushed aside as imagined.

The baby stirred, waking slowly from her nap."Mama." She said softly, her voice threatening a cry.

Cecilia began to bounce her gently and hushed the child unable to look away from the man who'd made her.

She was sick with the reality of something she'd only really decided to do in the last few days, something that a year ago would have seemed impossible, but today here she was... leaving Thomas Shelby.

******

Of all the things that could be said about Thomas, one thing remained a constant truth. He loved his daughter.

       
From the first moment Polly placed the tiny sleeping bundle in his arms, he'd fallen in love with her.

Evelyn Evangeline Shelby came into this world a true beauty, with thick black hair as straight as a pin, soft and fine. Her skin was the most lovely shade of sepia and her eyes were as large as her mothers, and the color of honey. She was his absolute pride and joy. And Cecilia loved him all the more for it.

She could sit and watch him play with the baby for hours if only it would last that long. But he was so often pulled away to his office or to deal with problems with the business. And though things were fairly calm, in a world of money, violence and crime, calm was one fight instead of four.

She hated that he couldn't dedicate more time to the baby but she also understood why he had to go. Or so she kept telling herself.

In the quiet fortress of their home, Tommy held his daughter kissing her soft round cheek as she gummed her tiny fist. 

"Are you hungry?" He asked, his face pressed close to hers. "Poor Evie, I cant help you with that" He said smiling as she looked around the room, her only concern for food and comfort.

Cecilia reached up to take the girl from him, smiling and kissing her before she pulled her night gown away to nurse the baby.

Tommy stood over them watching for a while, content, but tense.

"Its alright Thomas, you should go, we'll see you when you come home." Cecilia said. She looked up at him and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

He'd kissed her head, his lips resting on the smooth skin of her forehead for a while until he pulled away as if suddenly realizing the time.

She'd watched him dress that morning, in a rush, cursing and angry that he'd be late to whatever it was he so sorely needed to attend. And as she watched, her day played out as a familiar repeat of the last.

She wanted nothing more than to be with the child she loved so dearly, but she would have been happy to share the time with him. But she would soon find that being alone and worrying for him throughout the day was only the beginning.

The nights slowly got later, later than they had been before Evelyn was born. More than a few times he would get angry with her questions until she stopped asking and just waited.

He was still the same man in many ways, still loved her, still loved the child, but the money and the life seemed to consume the rest of him. It had finally started to go to his head. And though he tried to deny the way it had changed him, even Tommy couldn't turn a blind eye to what happened last, the thing that led her to leave.

******