Love But With A Cost

Unu

 Thomas Shelby and Eveline Thompson were the ideal couple. Everyone in Birmingham, England wanted to be them. Either the person themselves or when they thought of love. They were childhood sweethearts, who grew up in the 1900-1920s. There was much suffering for them, but they went through it together.

Thomas Shelby was a soldier in World War One. He worked in the muddy and cold trenches in France. However before he was a soldier, he was an engaged man who owned an illegal business and was a very small gang leader. He was nice and sweet and everything a father would want for their daughter. However, the cruel war made him just as cruel and hard to where he shut everyone out, even at times he's a beautiful fiance. Now, this is where Eveline Thompson comes in. She is the complete opposite of him. Eveline is the sweetest and most innocent young lady you will ever meet. She loves to help out her neighbors and the children around Birmingham. When the war came to England, she took it upon herself to become a nurse. When she told Tommy he was not pleased because he did not want his future, innocent wife to be experienced in the cruel world. However, her mind was set on going and helping. So they both went to war and it changed one for the good and one for the bad.

Now Eveline and Thomas' lives were not the best. They did not have the best of parents and did not grow up in the best of places. Thomas Shelby's mother suffered from depression because of having to stay home with her 5 children. First, there was Arthur Jr, the eldest also named after his father, then Thomas aka Tommy, John Shelby, the one who annoyed everyone, then the only girl, Ada Shelby, and finally the baby Finn Shelby. Their father was not the best either. He was a deadbeat drunk who loved to gamble and not spend time with his depressed and suffering wife and his beautiful children. He took off after his wife left this world after about a year or so of giving birth to their youngest. Now Eveline Thompson's life was hard but in a much different way. She grew up about a street away from the Shelby's and went to the same school as them. Her parents were between the middle and top class in wealth. She however lost her mother and only sibling to consumption when she was still in elementary school. Her father later passed away because of what some would call the stress of work and raising a child on his own, and what others would call the death of a broken heart. From then on Eveline would grow to live with her poor aunt. However, she spent most of the time with the Shelby's anyway.

Thomas Shelby was a small gangster before the war. During the war, his aunt, Polly Gray, and his sister, Ada Shelby, along with some other women ran the gang and made sure the protection of people and the town was still intact. When he and his brothers got back from the war, they became hard, mean, cruel, and vicious. They made the small gang become something that all of England, and other countries, know who was boss. When Eveline came back from the war not much changed for her. She was still this naive and adorable young woman that she was before the war however, she became more aware of how cruel and sad the world was. When Tommy and Eveline returned home and greeted each other again something was missing that both of them had lost. She saw how hard and mean Thomas had become and it scared her. Nevertheless, his appearance changed when they embraced each other. He became a sweet and kind boy again.

Being a gangster comes with many enemies, and boy did Thomas Shelby have many of those. He had kept Eveline out of the limelight of his enemies however he could not always make sure she was. This made her a target for the rival gangs of the Shelby clan. She was unaware and oblivious to the fact that she had a target on her back. She would later pay the price by being held hostage for ransom. This took a huge toll on their relationship because she became scared and a shell of herself that would hinder their relationship for months to come.