WRITTEN FOR ME ( thomas shelby )

019 ━ The Headaches of Family ..

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" The Headaches of Family "

          FOUR DAYS. FOUR DAYS IS HOW LONG Balthasar appreciated it would take Tommy to reach London in that boat with Curly. Another day or two for the business he has to attend and probably three more days on the way back, or less, if he is in a spending mood and will procure himself a wheeled ride back home. 

Either way, that was almost more than a week in which all Jackie was left with was Tommy's promise and the remnants of her patience, all coming together and sheltering behind her only worry-free concern: wedding preparations. It was Tommy's early apology before he left on this business trip to London in the awful condition he was in — Jackie received free reign to handle anything she wishes from the wedding preparations, abiding by her desire to get on with their formal union as soon as possible.

Naturally, the easiest thing for her to do was at first to handle a list of attendees. 

It wasn't all that long on her side, with only Lester and Gene to call family, and should Tommy think he needed more of his kin present than those she noted down from memory, that would be handled when he returned. All in all, she appreciated there would be no more than thirty people present for their ceremony in the local church. 

Thankfully, that part of her work was done before staying in the same room with a fidgeting Lester would get too annoying — he was brought to an uneasy distress by the long delay to their merchandise being brought in-land, nor did he appreciate the significant setback to actually looking for buyers  in the area for everything they were shipping. Like adding hay to a growing fire, Jackie had to remind him for the third time, "No business until after my wedding." 

But to the eldest Alloways, the wedding itself looked a lot like a business deal too hence, after having watched Jackie leave their hotel suite's living room, he sighed further into his armchair, until even the book opened on his lap and facing down slid closed between his legs. Fatigue by all the nonsense he had to deal with from his sister, Lester allowed his head to rest on his right palm and thus slowly lift his gaze to Gene, who was reading the newspaper across the room from him. "How are you alright with this?"

"With what?"

"Everything," Lester gestured.

"Like the riots at the docks in London?" Gene flicked a hit on the newspaper before dropping it down on the table besides his armchair. "'Cause that I find to be ridiculously bad news."

"No, damn it," Lester closed his eyes, annoyance building up, now on the wave of the detrimental bad news he shared. "Jackie," he looked again at his younger brother. "You do realize she's not telling us everything, right?"

"She rarely does," Gene merely shrugged. 

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"You get used to it after a while, really," the admission was spoken calmly. "Though I suppose you should have gotten used to it by now. Two years around the world and you still don't know our sister will keep things from us until it's detrimental that we know? It's better this way, face it. We don't want to accidentally ruin her plans. So just sit back and relax, read your little... What are you reading anyway?"

"Keynes," he responded shortly.

"Never heard of him," Gene concluded even quicker. "But you read that, brother, because rest assured, if our sister needs us, she will let us know. Consider this an extended service in the army, if you must, though substract all the gore and add instead the marvelous benefit of wealth."