A Lost Love

Thomas Shelby was a happy boy. He became a cold man.

Before the war, he thought himself madly in love, has the war stolen this from him too?

....
"I'm royal I'll have you know."
"More like royal pain in the arse," he retorted.
She let out a laugh at his antics. That laugh sounded like music to his ears, he never wanted it to stop. Barely a moment went by without him making her smile. A smile that could dazzle anyone. His brother, Arthur, had told him the best way make a girl love you was to make her smile. If this was true, why was he the one falling when she did?
It was beyond him, but his brother knew best he supposed, being older and all that. He had answers to all of Thomas' questions. One day, Tom promised himself, that he would be the one with answers. That it be him everyone turned to for advice. But for now, he was stuck using his brother's advice in hopes of getting Dolly, his best friend and possible love of his life, to fall deeply and madly in love with him. It wasn't working.
For years, they had grown side by side. Two of Small Heaths' finest, they were both destined for greatness. They were destined to fall in love and be the power couple of Watery Lane, or so Thomas thought anyway. He was head over heels, madly in love and the only worry he had was convincing her she felt the same. At least, it was the only worry he had had. Then the war loomed, and such concerns seemed trivial.
Thomas was to go to war, abandoning the battle for his dear Dorothea's love. To fight another battle, on enemy lines. One that would take years to win. One that would rewrite history itself and change everything, forever. The Great War.
Yet he continued to love her, even when she didn't write, even when the war stole what joy he had left, even when she wasn't there to welcome him home. Nothing was certain in this life, nothing but his inevitable love for the one girl he could never reach.