The moment the Tommy opened the front door of the house, a barrage of tiny footsteps came bounding down the staircase, a breathless Charles stood waiting at the foot of them, his eyebrows raised as he craned his neck to see who was arriving.
"Blair! You're back!"
The wind was almost knocked out of her lungs when Charlie threw himself at her with such force that she lifted him off the ground. He wasn't young enough to still be carried by any means, but as Blair held the boy on her hip, she felt closer to him than she ever had done before.
"I thought you'd left, you said you wouldn't do that, remember?"
Tommy stayed quiet as he closed the door and tidied away their shoes and coats, stealing a glance at Blair holding his son and looking down at him with watery eyes.
"I know, and I'm so sorry for doing that, Charlie. I promise you'll never have to be without me."
The boy grinned and threw his arms around her neck, giving her a big kiss on her cheek that caused a giggle to escape from her lips as she gave him a kiss on his cheek in return.
"How about some dinner?"
"You'd like me to prepare something for you tonight, Mr Shelby? I can ask chef-"
Frances walked out of the kitchen with a smile when she saw Blair. She had been equally as upset as Charles at the fact Blair had left, plunging the house into four days of darkness, though seeing her face again brought a radiance to the home that most certainly wasn't a coincidence.
"Nonsense, Frances. You'll join us tonight, I'll go and speak to the chef. Why don't you pour yourself and Blair a glass of wine, yes?"
Frances nodded with shocked but grateful smile. She wasn't used to having over extended kindness from Thomas, but she had noticed that whenever he did, it was always in front of Blair.
Tommy disappeared into the kitchen and Frances led the way into the sitting room, Blair following with Charlie still clinging to her like a baby. She didn't mind, however, the maternal instinct she'd nurtured from a young age made moments like that the most fulfilling to her happiness.
The three of them sat together on the sofas, Frances and Blair with a glass of red wine each while Charles insisted on a glass of juice in the same fancy stemmed wine glasses the ladies were drinking from.
"I don't like it when you're not here, Blair. The house feels cold and sad, doesn't it, Frances?"
Frances smiled sadly down at him, "Yes, Master Shelby. It's so much happier for everyone when Mrs Kennedy is here."
Thomas walked back into the room after changing into a more relaxed pair of trousers and a plain white t-shirt, his skin clear of any rings or watches and his face clean shaven. He walked over to the bar in the corner and poured himself a glass of whiskey from a crystal decanter before taking up residence beside Blair, laying an arm across the back of the sofa.
Blair looked at him, inhaling deeply at the first sight of him in something more casual, the way she was used to seeing him when they first met. He looked calmer, softer when he wasn't dressed in a structured suit, his face was warmer and his eyes kinder, making the moment feel like home rather than work.
"Are you sure you don't want me to leave you be? I have plenty of-"
"No objections, Frances. We love spending time with you and you deserve a break, I bet Charlie's run you ragged these past few days."
Thomas winked at his son who let out a childish giggle, his cheeks red with laughter. Frances had noticed the way Blair looked at Tommy when he walked into the room, and the way her body tensed up when his arm lay across the sofa, his fingers merely touching her shoulder as they sat together. She wanted them to have time alone, as a family, though she was more than happy to sit with them, enjoying their company equally as much.
"You've been no trouble, have you, Master Shelby?"
Charlie shook his head and drank his juice from the wine glass, Tommy laughing through his nose at the sight of his son using two hands to hold the glass and tip the juice into his mouth.
They sat together for a while longer, Blair running cars along the floor with Charles while Thomas kept Frances' glass topped up with more wine. On reflection, he felt bad at how hostile he'd been towards her on occasion, but since Blair had shifted light back into his life, he was doing his best to make it up to Frances.
After a while, the four of them ate dinner together at the table, mostly listening to Charlie's stories about dragons that lived in the woods behind the house. Though Tommy was listening to his son's wild imagination, his eyes were incessantly fixed on Blair who sat opposite him. She made no mistake of looking away from Charlie while he was talking and Tommy felt heart-warmed at the way her expressions amplified her feigned interest in his tales, though it pleaded his son to no end to have somebody excited about what he was saying.
"And what happened next, Charlie? Did the knights come and save the princess?"
Tommy smiled to himself as he listened to Blair. He had often lost sleep over guilt that his son would grow up without a mother, knowing that he was a poor excuse of a father which was an entirely different issue in itself, though when he looked at the bond Blair had with Charles, the guilt began to melt away.
It was obvious how much they adored each other, revelling in one another's company as if they had known each other in a million lifetimes before that one. Of course, she would never be his mother, but Thomas knew that Blair loved his son no less than a biological parent would, and he was sure that it would never change.
He had never expected the teacher he set out to hire to love his son the way Blair did, but he had also never expected the teacher he hired to be Blair. The universe worked in mysterious ways and for once, Thomas wasn't mad about the decisions it had made.
An hour later, Blair and Thomas walked up the stairs with Charlie holding one hand each. They tucked him into bed, Thomas dimming the lamp on the beside table while Blair combed the boy's hair and buttoned up his pyjamas. The two of them took turns reading pages of the story to him, at Charlie's request since he couldn't decide who he wanted to read to him the most.
Blair kissed Charles' forehead softly before saying Goodnight and heading out of the room. Tommy did the same, only for his son to call him back with a beckoning of his small hand. Blair smiled and closed the door behind her, heading down the corridor to her own bedroom.
She changed into her silk slip and brushed her hair and her teeth, cleansing her face free of any makeup she'd had on that day. She was just unfolding the bedcovers when she heard the door creak open.
"Sorry," Tommy said, lingering in the doorway with his body resting on the wooden frame, his arms crossed at his chest, "I just wanted to say that you er, you don't have to stay in here, if you don't want."
Blair desperately wanted to smile, though she bit down on the inside of her cheeks and swallowed hard instead, focused on keeping her face expressionless.
"And where are you suggesting I do sleep?"
Her question imposed the desired affect on Thomas, a smirk pulling his lips slightly to the side as he walked slowly towards her, his eyes turning narrow and dark with each step.
"The room I stay in," he said quietly, taking her hand and placing it on his chest, "The bed is far comfier than yours, you might sleep better."
"Sleep better?" Blair questioned, raising an eyebrow while still trying her hardest to hold back a grin.
Tommy licked his lips, dragging his eyes down her body slowly before tilting his head as he looked at her face once more.
"We don't have to sleep, not if you don't want."
YOU ARE READING
Another Paradise | T Shelby
Fanfiction"There wasn't a single second that passed that I wasn't thinking about you." [mature themes throughout]
