Another Paradise | T Shelby

THREE - BLUE AND RED

It was four in the afternoon when Blair arrived back at Thomas Shelby's home. It was the middle of summer and the air was thick and heavy, the sun still burning high in the cloudless sky as birds sang in the trees.

She knocked on the heavy doors, a gentle breeze cooling her bare legs as the hem of her pale blue sundress floated gently around her knees. Her hair was pinned up in a clip with two curled strands framing her face softly, a natural pink blushing her lips and her cheeks, her pale skin deepening in tone from the exposure to the sun, freckles dusted across her chest and shoulders.

"Mrs Kennedy, please, come inside."

Frances opened the door with a beaming smile, settling the nerves that had been growing in Blair's chest all day. Despite the past she shared with Thomas, it wasn't him that was causing the stirring of her emotions, it was the worry that his child might not warm to her, taking a dislike the same way his father had done all those years ago.

Blair followed Frances into the house, immediately feeling cooler indoors. The high ceilings and thick brick walls made it almost impossible for any heat to hold in the main hallway and the absence of windows blocked out warm sunlight, making the home seem invisibly cold.

"Mr Shelby and Charles are upstairs in his room, I'll take you up there now."

Nodding, Blair stayed close on Frances' heels as they climbed the wide staircase up to the second floor. Large portraits of Thomas and Charles hung on the walls, but the one that caught her eye at the top of the stairs was the one with a woman Blair assumed was Charles' mother in.

Intrusive thoughts were inescapable for Blair and she found herself wondering constantly who the woman that Tommy had left her for was. She developed a self-hatred, comparing herself to a woman whom she had never even laid eyes on, yet was convinced was superior to her in every single way. Though upon seeing the portrait on the wall, Blair was shocked to see that she seemed to resemble herself in many ways, making the question of why her so much harder to answer.

Frances knocked lightly on a door halfway down the hallway, gently pushing it open. Blair walked inside after her into a light and airy room. The walls were painted the same shade of blue as her sundress and the windows were open on a latch, letting in fresh air and late afternoon sun stream through the glass.

Charles was sat at a small wooden desk with a pencil in his fist, scribbling messily across a sheet of paper. He looked up at Blair with a blank expression, staring at her for a long moment before turning to look at his father.

Thomas was leaning against the windowsill, the sunlight glowing behind his body like a golden crown, a cigarette between his thumb and forefinger.

"Charles, come here," Tommy cleared his throat and beckoned over his son, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders.

Blair stood with a friendly smile beside Frances, feeling unusually nervous around the child in a way she never had before. She was a naturally maternal person and the loss of her own unborn child had made it a passion for her to connect with other children with ease, though with Charles, there was a dense wall she knew she'd have a hard time to break down.

"This is Mrs Kennedy, she's going to help you learn how to read and write, play games with you and take you to see the horses in the fields, all of the things you love. Why don't you say hello properly?"

Blair took a few steps closer to Charles, bending down to his level. She softened her smile, her eyes warming as she looked at the child, a hand outstretched.

"It's lovely to meet you, Charles. I'm Mrs Kennedy, but you can call me Blair."

He placed his hand cautiously into Blair's, shaking it ever so slightly. He looked petrified, wide-eyed like a shaking deer, but it was nothing that Blair hadn't seen in a shy child before.