A Mind to Tear a Soul in Two

Chapter Fourteen

Laying in bed at the sun broke over the rooftops, Charlotte wondered what time it was. Usually Tommy woke her before school, but after yesterday's thrashing she wasn't sure if he was still angry with her or not.

She could hear rustling coming from downstairs, but that was absolutely no indication of the time in the Shelby house. With Tommy's nightmares occasionally keeping him up throughout the night, there was no guarantee that he even went to sleep. Same goes for Arthur, for that matter. And John... John would show up at any hour just to escape his own children.

Speaking of John's children... She really owed her nieces and nephew a visit. She'd rarely gone this long without seeing them, ever since their mother passed at least.

Although, now they had a new mother, so maybe it wasn't her place anymore to be sneaking sweets and reading bedtime stories. She didn't want to get in Esme's way — especially after she'd helped so much stitching her up after the attack. And besides, she wasn't too keen on being around John at the moment. He was a right prick anymore, and she didn't have the resolve to fight both him and Tommy. She had to pick her battles wisely these days, and it seems she was going toe to toe with Tommy nearly everyday.

She just wished he'd– "Charlotte! Get a move on!" The shout of Tommy's voice and the pounding on her door jolted Charlotte from her thoughts.

Looks like they were doing things the post-war Shelby way — don't doddle, keep your head down, and move along; actions have consequences, and if you don't learn the lesson with the walloping this time 'round, you'll learn it next time. Even if it wasn't her that had caused the mess, he still wasn't interested in discussing the matter with her.

The whole battle with the Lee's was the shining example of Tommy's post-war attitude — he soundly refused to discuss it with a single one of them, and then before anyone knew what was happening John was getting married to Esme, and everyone considered the whole problem solved.

Thinking back all those months ago, Charlotte realised that she hadn't really even known that things were as bad as they were until she'd nearly been blown to high heaven by a pipe bomb.

Charlotte's head had been pounding all morning, and for the life of her she couldn't find a dark and quiet place to just catch her breath. The shop had been busy all day long, blokes coming in and out placing their bets for the upcoming race. At one point Scud had to break up a fight, throwing both men out the shop door onto Watery Lane — firm on their asses — with a heavy threat of a blinding should they try to place another bet by the week's end.

The thin walls and creaky floorboards of numbers five and six Watery Lane provided no absorption to the constant racket that floated throughout the house and shop. She needed a place to escape. John's house was no good — the children would only make the pounding that resulted in bolts of lightning behind her eyelids to increase. She didn't have a key to Polly's place. Arthur's home was out of the question — although she was loathed to admit her knowledge of the matter — his residence was a veritable whore house at any given hour, and she was not want to experience that sort of encounter again.

She supposed she could head to the Garrison, ask Harry if she could have a lay in one of the spare rooms upstairs. But there was never a guarantee of solitude there. At any given moment a brawl could break out, and she'd just as soon avoid that sort of nonsense altogether.

It would be a long walk to Uncle Charlie's yard, but she supposed that might be the only place left for her to take refuge in at the moment.

Rolling from her bed, she grabbed her cap and coat and made her way down the stairs and out the back door — successfully avoiding her aunt, brothers, and any of the blinders that might've wanted a chat. Smiling to herself at her stroke of good luck, she pulled her cap further down her brow in an attempt to block out as much light as possible and pushed through the throbbing pain to get to the yard.