Cobblestone | Arthur Shelby

Chapter 4

Morning had come and Arthur went into Ada's bedroom to wake up his sister. No one had told him that his favourite barmaid was in fact staying with them in his sisters room. He reaches forward pushing the door open, he was shocked at the sight of the body of a person laying in the other bed.
He rushes over to Ada rapidly shaking his sister awake. Ada stirred but soon opened her eyes to see her eldest brother standing over her, giving him a puzzled look
"Ada, who is that?" He whispers while pointing over at the sleeping figure on the other side of the room, Ada chuckled at her brother before throwing her blanket off of her body before padding over to the other bed and gently clasping her hands onto the 'unknown' girls shoulder
"Time to wake up Norah" Ada chimes while smirking at her now flushed brother who rushed out of the room.
Norah stirred awake and looked over to Ada who now resides on the other side of the room
"Good morning" Norah smiles over at Ada's greeting "come on let's go have some breakfast, you have work today" Ada hadn't even finished her sentence by the time she had dragged Norah down the stairs.

"Good Morning girls" Thomas greets both Norah and Ada who both reply with a civil good morning. Ada took the seat next to Polly and Norah went to the only empty seat left which was next to Arthur. The older man smiled down at the girl he admired so much, he was thinking that she still looked as gorgeous as ever even though she had just woken up.
Norah felt his gaze on her and blushed slightly which didn't go unnoticed to the patriarch of the Shelby family, Polly.
Toast and jam was passed around to everyone as different clusters of conversations were had between different family members.
"So how are you feeling Arthur?" Norah questioned the man that resides beside her, who continued to silently admire her beauty
"No need to worry for me Love, come on eat up ya wouldn't want Harry to accuse me of starving his workers would ya" Arthur chirps at her as she just smiles and releases a light chuckle as she continues her toast.

"I am sure Ada could lend you some clothes for work, couldn't you Ada?" Suggests Polly. Ada smiles and nods towards her aunt and leads the barmaid back to her room to get dressed for the day.
"You know I haven't seen Arthur look at anyone the way he looks at you" Ada informs the girl
"Oh, really?" Norah asks the girl, being unsure on whether that is a bad or good thing
"In a good way of course" Ada chimes in at the end seeing Norah deep in her thoughts over Ada's statement. "Come on, I have this outfit I think would look amazing on you" and with that Ada helped Norah get dressed, resting her curled hair down her back.

Norah's body was wrapped in Ada's clothes, a pale pink blouse with beige stitching and a beige skirt. She felt gorgeous, not only with the clothes but with the new makeup look that Ada had coerced her to wear.
She slowly walks down the stairs being careful to not fall. When she reaches the kitchen her eyes meet Arthur's green ones, his mouth opening wide as he takes in her beautiful appearance, Polly coughs to allergy Arthur of how stupid he looks and he quickly closes his mouth. Polly then claps her hands "Well don't you look stunning, better make sure none of those drunkards try anything" Polly compliments the girl who only smiled and nodded in reply.

Norah had been at work for and hour now everything was somewhat calm. Her and Harry were pulling pints and keeping the men satisfied with alcohol.
She was sweeping the floor when a man comes barrelling into the pub screaming and yelling. He was throwing tables and at some point knocked over Norah.
Thomas, John and Arthur came out of the snug and took in the scene that is unfolding.
Thomas and John rush over to Danny Whizzbang and restrain him and try to calm his aching soul.
Arthur rushes straight over to Norah who was wide eyed, concern for the man radiating from her. Norah didn't notice the older Shelby brother rushing towards her until she felt his arms pull her into a tight embrace holding her head to his chest to prevent her from seeing the Danny.
"Norah? Norah, Love you're ok I've got you" Arthur consoled the confused girl while he run his hands through her long hair holding her tightly against him.

Once Thomas had gotten Danny to leave, Arthur and Norah stood from the floor and that's when Arthur noticed her hand was bleeding.
"Norah! Your hand is bleeding" Arthur panics and checks the girl over for anymore injuries while Thomas talks to Harry about the cost of damages.
"Oh, I must have fallen on some glass" mutters Norah as Arthur drags her back to his home on Watery Lane so that his Aunt can treat her wound.

Polly removed any leftover glass from Norah's hand delicately, while Arthur rubbed her back trying to soothe the girl he had grown to care for in such a short amount of time.
Once Polly had wrapped up Norah's wounds she insisted the girl to stay for dinner.
Norah had kindly refused, thinking of her mother being alone.
"Thank you for treating my wound, but I must get back to my mother" Norah states as she collects her belongings from the table and heads out onto the street and walking home.
Once entering her house she sees her mother looking extremely angry sitting at the table,
"Where have you been you stupid girl!" Screeches Joyce while she throws a plate at her only daughter
"Mum? I was just with a friend please calm down" she begged her mother for peace wanting nothing more but to sleep away the eventful days
"CALM DOWN! You are so ungrateful I bring you here and give you an amazing life and this is how you treat me" her mother's screeches grew louder as Joyce grabbed her daughters hair and dragged her to the front door.
"Live on the streets you Stupid Whore!" And with that Joyce threw Norah out the front door and onto the cobbled pavement.
Tears poured from Norah's eyes as her hands and knees bled from her harsh landing on the jagged pavement.

Silently she limped her way to the Garrison hoping she still had her keys so she could sleep there. When she reached the doors, she felt her pockets empty. So she slid down the wall and falling asleep on the doorstep of her workplace.