When We Were Young » Thomas Shelby

chapter 11

Tommy had enough to worry about, feeling as if the weight of the world was laying on his shoulders. Freddie and Ada were still in town against his wishes, Campbell was still having an eye on him because of those bloody guns, the Lee's wanted his head and Arthur was once again stuck in his own head. And in the middle of all that chaos, he needed to make sure Scarlett stayed as far away from him as possible. He had succeeded for the past few days, walking past the flower shop every now and again just to check on her from a distance. She was helping around the shop with her mother while taking care of John's children since yet another nanny had ran away. He'd asked Polly to watch them while he had business to take care of but then Scarlett had offered to do so until he'd found a new nanny. She could see how hard it was on John to be without Martha, without a wife.

Just looking at her from across the street and into the clear windows of the flower shop, he felt one of the corners of his mouth lift in a small smile. The three boys were running around her legs and instead of telling them to stop, Scarlett smiled and tickled them whenever they got close enough. He could see John's youngest, Katie, sitting on the counter while Elizabeth talked to her and made a bouquet. Katie smiled as Elizabeth places a small flower behind her ear and into her hair. Tommy was satisfied by what he saw and simply kept walking – being late for his appointment.

Later that day, Scarlett left John's kids with her mother just so she could get some groceries and run some errands. Elizabeth had asked her to drop by the Garrison and get some liqueur since the bottles in their cabinet seemed a little empty. Standing by the bar, Grace turned to her just as the door of the pub burst open and a frantic looking Ada came barging in.

"Scarlett", she said immediately when she spotted the redhead standing there. "Have you seen Freddie, or Thomas? Either one of them?

Scarlett shook her head and kept her eyes on the hand that lay on Ada's stomach. "I haven't seen Freddie since the wedding and I haven't seen or spoken to Tommy for a couple of days".

Ada looked highly concerned and her face was pulled into a painful expression. "I need to find them", she said.

"Ada, you need to sit down and stay calm. Stress isn't good for the baby, love", Scarlett said and put a hand on Ada's arm. She looked over her shoulder, making eye contact with Grace. "Help me place her in the booth. She's freaking out".

The blonde barmaid sprang into action and held the door of the booth open while Scarlett walked inside with an arm around Ada's waist trying to keep her up. As she placed the Shelby girl down into the couch, she turned once more to face Grace. "Could you grab some water for her, please? I will stay here and make sure she doesn't go into premature labor".

"Sure", Grace answered before turning around and closing the door behind her.

Scarlett listened to Grace's retreating feet before sitting down next to Ada and taking one of her hands hoping it would help her came down.