𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 ʲᵒʰⁿ ˢʰᵉˡᵇʸ

- 𝟎𝟎𝟕

𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤
-𝟎𝟎𝟕-
𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝟏𝟗𝟏𝟗

Polly gently brushed Valerie's hair away from her face. "You'll be fine. Put on a brave face." She whispered to her, giving her a reassuring smile. "You look beautiful.

"Thank you, Polly." She said quietly, staying close behind her whilst they went to take their seats.

Four days ago, Tommy had invited Valerie to John's wedding. He said she could be the 'lady on his arm.' Except she didn't know where Tommy was. And she didn't want to bother asking Polly. She felt so out of place it was almost humiliating.

Valerie had never been to a wedding before. And to make it even worse, it was the wedding of the man who claimed to love her. And he wasn't marrying her.

"Here they come," Polly nodded behind Valerie.

They both watched as they came up the hill that led to the camp. Her heart pounded like crazy and she just looked away, not wanting to face him at all. He hadn't spotted her yet.

Once they got to the alter, Tommy was giving John a talk. And every now and again his eyes would flicker to Valerie. She played with her hands nervously and it took Polly grabbing her hand to make her stop. "Relax." Polly whispered.

The ceremony began and Valerie had tuned it all out. She didn't want to listen, she didn't want to watch. She wanted to sit down and begin drinking in hopes to soften the pain of it all. But she couldn't even do that. Not whilst being pregnant.

There was a moment where John turned to grin at one of his brothers but his eyes landed on Valerie instead. And his face dropped. He looked at her for a few moments. Valerie realised that he had seen her and her mouth parted.

"John—" Tommy hissed, nudging his brother.

"Er.. yeah." He cleared his throat, "I do." He nodded once, tempted to turn and look at Valerie again.

"I don't know if I can stay here, Polly." She whispered. Polly looked at her. "Yes you can." She corrected. "I know you can."

Soon enough, the ceremony ended and it was time to party. Valerie sat with Polly, Tommy and Finn. She couldn't stay focused on one thing. Her mind was all over the place. 

Polly got up to go help Finn with something which left Tommy and Valerie alone.

"Listen," he said, leaning back in his chair and blowing smoke from his cigarette. "I know this isn't easy for you, Valerie." He said.

"Why did you do it?" She interrupted. Tommy frowned. "Why did you organise John to marry someone when you knew he'd been seeing me." She asked. Tommy shrugged. "Well who is willingly going to marry Arthur?" he scoffed.

"Well that girl didn't willingly marry John did she?" Valerie reminded him.

Tommy sighed. "Do you want to hear what i've got to say or not?" He snapped. Valerie raised her eyebrows at his tone. "Not if you're going to speak to me like that, no."

"Right— my apologies." He breathed, throwing his cigarette to the floor. "John's married Esme. You're pregnant with his child." Tommy began. She shook her head. "Thank you, Thomas. I didn't have a clue." She said sarcastically.