The Tie That Binds

- The Time To Take A Chance

“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” -Plato

Three days passed and Sean could feel his side easing, the pain wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been and if he was honest with himself he needed to – wanted to escape back to work. He had rested more than enough as far as he was concerned and as much as he didn't want to admit it, his Mother and his Aunts had driven him mad with their fussing. There was one other reason he couldn't settle – Louisa.

Her face haunted his dreams, the soft voice that he had fallen so deeply for echoed in his mind – Sean knew there was only place he wanted to be and that was with her. He wanted to begin knowing her properly, she'd come into his life in the strangest way by being in the one place he knew he should not be. The book store was small and hidden away in a backstreet about a twenty minute walk from the meat market. The moment Sean had walked in there he had felt at home, the smell of both new and old books mixed together was an elixir to his mind.

When he saw Louisa though, he knew he was in trouble – yes, she was beautiful. He'd noticed that when she'd moved in with her family but there was something else about her she was different to every girl he had known. She had the essence of innocence that in the streets he lived in and the places he frequented with his brothers was never seen in a girl of her age. There though was a problem for Sean, Louisa was a lot younger than him and as much as he wanted her in his life – he knew people would judge him. Then again, people had been judging him his entire life through one thing or another so what would be any different?

Dressing in his small bedroom in one of his older dress shirts and suit trousers he looked at himself in the mirror – his hair was a little too long for his liking a trip to the barber was in order before he visited Louisa. Then after seeing her, he would go to work, Lord knows what chaos the place would be in and the paperwork that he so hated would have built up. Sadly though, he was the only one capable of doing it, probably why he detested it so much – he had no choice but to do it. Then there was that small matter of the twins to think about, they had made it clear that he was now part of the firm. There was no getting out of it so as he had lain in his bed or sat in the front room reading the paper he'd made a decision, he was going to be greedy. He was going to be a part of the firm because really he had no choice but he was not going to give up on the chance of a normal life. He wasn't going to give up on Louisa even though he didn't technically have her yet.

His Mother was waiting for him as she always did these last few days, her faced filled with concern, Sean knew she loved him – he was her blue eyed boy but he was also a grown man. Leaning down to kiss her before she held out a jacket that he found himself refusing, he may have started to heal but he couldn't handle the extra weight just yet. He hated having to dress like this, his Mother was so used to seeing all three of her boys in their new suits from Saville Row and here he was wearing something that had hung in his wardrobe for the last six months. Then there was seeing Louisa, dressing like this made him look younger, more relaxed for wandering around the book store and maybe talking to her.

He drove out to the barbers and made his way in to be greeted with three or four people who he drank with. The looks on their faces said it all – they wanted to know where he had been these last few days, Sean couldn't help but notice as well that their eyes swept over him, taking in his appearance and he felt his temper rise. Was that all that mattered to these people, how he looked and how they could give him praise in the hope they'd be safe from the 'monster' he was deemed to be. Sean had at one point welcomed the reputation that preceded him, it gave him the peace and quiet he craved. People kept out of his way and let him concentrate on life, his family and making his business work – now though they seemed to congregate towards him instead making him feel suffocated. God help him if it came out that he was now a member of the firm, though of course there was one benefit – there were very few people in the city of London who weren't afraid of the twins and the reputation they had.