A Twist In Time

The Shelby Princess

It was decided that I wouldn't go to check with Bessie.

Although some part of me wanted to go and see her, I knew she wouldn't be at her house and there was no way for me to track her.

If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't want anyone to find me if I had announced that I was about to kill myself to be with my deceased husband.

I would go somewhere that was special to the both of us and I wouldn't let anyone know until it was too late.

Plus, I had my daughter to think about now.

How strange.

To think that I had a daughter now.

"We need to go to Gringotts."

It wasn't surprising that it was Tommy that suggested this as soon as we entered the kitchen. He took a seat, the baby resting against his chest.

He'd shed the blanket she was wrapped in and was pressing her tiny body against his bare chest.

It melted my heart to see him holding her close, her head resting over his heart. This was what it would have been like if he was here when Thomas-J was a baby.

"I know," I muttered, running my hand over my face as I took in the situation we found ourselves in. "There are things we need to plan and discuss before we go."

"We're not waiting like you made me do with TJ."

I almost rolled my eyes at the annoyance he sent my way. It made me smile watching him as he cradled the little girl in his arms, the protective way he was holding her, sending twinges to my heart.

"I'm not going to make you wait. We just need to get some things in order before we go and annoy the goblins."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well for starters, I think it's important that we discuss her name. The last time I took you to see the goblins, we were lucky that these sorts of details were already organised and set into motion, they didn't have a reason to be bastards," I grumbled remember some not so very fond times when the goblins had been arseholes because they felt in the mood for it.

"Let's name her and get the blood contract sorted," Tommy said, his hand gently brushing over the tuft of light hair on her tiny head.

"Any ideas on a name then?" I asked, hoping he'd had some idea of what he wanted to name a daughter.

He paused and glanced down at the baby that had already stolen his heart. I could tell in the way his eyes softened as he gazed down at her. He had a similar look on his face when he was with TJ.

One day, when Tommy decided he didn't need to make a name for the family, when he came to the realisation that money wouldn't make us, I would remind him of the times he spent with our children and allow himself to stop thinking about the ways he would better himself.

He didn't need to be better than the man I had sat at the kitchen table cradling his new-born daughter.

That was the man I loved.

The one that let himself love his children unconditionally without a care as to what others thought or saw of him.

A man that would shower me in love and make me feel complete.

"I was always adamant I would name a daughter Elizabeth after Polly," he muttered, his eyes lifting from the tiny thing that had come so suddenly into our lives.

"But she's not Elizabeth, is she?" I asked, knowing what he meant.

From the small glance I had at her before I passed her over to Tommy, I knew she didn't look like Elizabeth.