Little Shelby Girl

Part 14. Listening

Tommy's POV

"I can't force her can I Tom. She doesn't want to come home, alright? We need to arrange protection for her." Polly says.

Jesus Christ. Literally, the timing of Ada being pregnant couldn't be worse. After Finns death I decided to stay away from everything illegal, but I got myself in a bad situation again.

"You should've never stolen those guns. What were you fucking thinking Tom? Vive's just got better, we already lost Finn, wasn't that enough to quit this kind of business? You're putting us all in danger." Pol adds.

A few men of mine stole a whole bunch of machine guns a few weeks ago and yesterday I hid them together with Charlie. Nobody will ever find them, and if they want the guns back, they have to pay for it. I know it'll cause trouble, but not something I can't handle. I have already heard the city will be full of coppers who need to find the guns. Us, Shelby's will be under their magnifying glass during their search. They're not crazy. But, if I had known about Ada earlier, I would have waited with all of this. Her not living with us, makes her an easy target.

I lean against the kitchen counter, my hands crossed. "I'll arrange protection. Alright?" I say.

"And what about Freddy?" Polly asks.

Apparantly, my old friend Freddy Thorne is the father of my future niece or nephew. Out of all men, he is the fucking father. He's lucky I'm busy enough these days to bother too much about the situation. "What about 'em?"

"You'll leave him alone alright?"

I nod. "The damage is already done isn't it." I get myself a glass of whiskey as I sit down at the table.

Polly's looking at me intently while smoking her sigaret.

"And then we've got a last problem: Arthur" she continues.

I drink the whiskey in one gulp and stare at the table. Arthur hasn't been out of The Garrisson a lot since Finn and the whole situation with Vive. Of course I know he's not doing great, but with everything going on lately, I haven't really had the chance to pay attention to him. He's just isolating himself lately and it's like he can't be in this house anymore.

John noticed as well, but he's just really busy with his children at home and working in the betting shop.

Arthur thinks about our time in the war a lot and it just makes him mad in the head sometimes. He's traumatized, an alcoholic, drinking his way through the days. He blames himself for what our dad has done to Vive, he blames himself and me for Finns death.

I nod at Pol, "I'll talk to him when I see him."

I stand up to make my way to the betting shop. I need to talk to John about the guns. As I open the kitchen door I come face to face with Vive. Who's startled by me, having a guilty look on her face.

"How long were you listening?" I ask her.

"I, I, just came back..." she points to the front door, giving me her big blue eyes. I know she's lying. I pull her back into the corridor softly and bend on my knees so I'm on the same height as she is.

"Look at me." I say turning her cheek my way. "Don't let me ever catch you listening up on me again, alright? You're a child and we're adults which means some information is not for your ears to hear." I let go of her cheek, standing up making my way out of the front door.

The girl is making me crazy sometimes. Reminds me of the times she was always listening to the door with Finn when we were having family meetings. Came to a point I had to lock them in their room for half an hour until we were done.