Devoted (John Shelby)

Part 17

Cynthia, the next day after they marched the Bull Rings, decided to lounge in bed for a bit longer than usual, the children were all still miraculously asleep and it was finally peaceful for once. Cynthia began to think back to when she and John weren't married, she thought of her plans to travel the world and to own a house in the countryside. She felt overwhelmed by emotion, she couldn't do the things she wanted to do as she got tied into a marriage.

She began sobbing, muffling the sounds with her hands as she didn't want to wake up the kids. She looked up once the bedroom door opened and John walked in, "we came home early" John said without looking at her, placing his hat and jacket onto a chair before turning to look at her properly. "Are you crying?"

"No" she denied feebly, attempting to rid the evidence of her crying.

"Darling, tell me what's the matter?" John said, cupping her cheeks and running the pads of his thumbs under her eyes and across her cheeks.

"I-I... You'll think it's selfish" She said, turning her face to look away from him.

"Tell me, Thia" he told her.

"I don't want to stay here anymore" Cynthia burst out.

John stared blankly at her.

"I mean, I don't want to stay in Small Heath, maybe not in Birmingham in general. I want to live somewhere else, in the countryside. I want to travel, John. Like I always wanted to do"

"You never told me you wanted to travel" John frowned.

"It's always been my dream. Well, it was until I married you" Cynthia admitted and the frown on John's face deepened.

"So you regret marrying me because you can't travel places?" John asked, slightly defensive.

"No! I'll never regret marrying you, John," Cynthia yelled. "I just wished we had travelled a bit but with the kids and working we couldn't" she said in a calmer tone.

"I'll take you somewhere, anywhere you'd like, but not right now," he told her, gently cupping her cheeks, "There's a house I know of," he said, "in the countryside."

"Where?" She said quietly.

"Lichfield," he further explained, "I can buy the house. It's a big house with lots of land. We can take the kids there and escape from Birmingham for a while."

"How? We can't afford buying a house," Cynthia told him softly, looking into his eyes with a confused expression.

"It's all gonna change, Thia," he told her with a smile.

"Really?" Her eyes brightened, "it's not dangerous, right? The way you're getting the money?" She thought back to a conversation she had with Linda on how Arthur told her about a huge robbery, not the factory robbery that they all knew about, but another one that was being kept from the women. At first she thought it wasn't true but now she wasn't too sure.

"Not at all," he lied, "are the kids still asleep?" He then averted the conversation.

"They should be, why?" She questioned. Instead of answering John kissed her passionately.

Unfortunately their moment of passion was cut short by several little voices beginning to float through the house. "Just as we were getting to the fun bit," John groaned, looking at his naked wife underneath him.

"Get off before one of them walks in," Cynthia lightly pushed him off before pulling on new undergarments and then opened the wardrobe and pulled out a dress. She looked over at John who was 'sorting out his problem'. "You could've done that in the bathroom," she pointed out.