marigold // t.shelby

chapter 2.

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"Hospital Talk"
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now playing..
·˚꒰ [Linger, The Cranberries]

August, 1916

"What's your favorite animal?" Tommy asks, fingers fiddling with his cotton sheet blanket.

Paisley waltzed around the hospital wing, folding blankets and cleaning surface tops. After only 4 hours of being in the company of Thomas Shelby, the sergeant major has managed to slip his way into the busy life of Paisley Mae- even insisting for her to address him as 'Tommy.'

After Tommy's short rest, he has been passing the time by asking Paisley many questions, some of sorts being completely random and out of the ordinary.

She didn't mind though, not one bit. Thomas was the only source of real company she had had in a long time. It was refreshing being able to talk so freely with another person.

"I'm quite fond of rabbits, though I do quite like horses." She replied, a gentle smile grazing her soft features. "And you?"

Tommy's ocean gaze washed over her figure moving about, taking her answer into consideration.

"Horses. Always horses." His gravely voice stated, a stone cold look plastered on his face as he averted his eyes to the wall in front of him.

"Maybe one day, after all this is over, I could take you to the races, eh? You seem like a race girl, don't you Miss Mae?"

There was a hint of amusement hidden in his statement. As he picked at the dirt in his nails, he heard a small laugh emit from the kind nurse.

It made his heart flutter.

"You have such a way with words, Tommy. I'd be flattered to accompany you." Paisley replied, grabbing a small tin off the shelf and waltzing back over to where the man lay.

Taking a seat next to him, she popped the tin onto his lap, looking up at him expectantly.

With curiosity in his eyes, Tommy flashed a smirk at the nurse, opening the tin to find nothing but old lousy playing cards.

"Cards?" He questioned, an eyebrow raised as he pulled them out of the packaging. He ran his course fingers over the smooth cardboard of a king, then places it back onto the bed before him.

"Well... I have nothing else to do, unless a soldier comes in, and you have nothing else to do either. I thought we may as well have a little fun whilst you're recovering." She said, flashing him a small devious smile as she sorted through the playing cards.

Tommy's eyes lit up, before adjusting himself in his bed so his back was resting against the head board.

"I must warn you, I've never lost a game of Pontoon." He said, a small smirk growing on his face as he fueled his own ego.

Clearing her throat with a cheeky grin, she sorted the cards into small piles. "Then I must let you know, I've never lost a game either."

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Tommy watched in awe as Paisley sat on a stool placed in the middle of the room, guitar in hand and enchanting lyrics coming from her lips. According to Phil, the soldier accompanying the bed next to him, this was a nightly occurrence that Miss Mae used to lull the men into a peaceful slumber.