Her mother saw it in her the moment she was born; a darkness that swelled in her eyes. She felt it within her, building up and drowning her from the inside. But it was he, Thomas Shelby of all people, that gave her air to breathe once again.
A coupl...
You were right. It's been six months and the war is still not over. I dare say it'll be a couple of years. I'm writing this at the six-month mark, but I doubt you'll get it for another few months, if at all.
I won't tell you about the things I've seen or done. It's better that way. We do a lot of wrong doings as the Peaky Blinders, but I'm telling you now it's nothing compared to what they have us do out here.
Riley and John are okay. As okay as any man is right now, I guess. It's Arthur I worry about the most. He keeps to himself a lot of the time and then when we're all together he's mostly silent.
I don't really want to write much more than that. There's really nothing else I can tell you without some horrible story that I don't want to burden you with. We're all alive. That's what counts. I just needed to write down your name, Kiara, pretend that I'm actually speaking to you in person and not with a piece of paper and ink as I stare at a tintype of your face.
My promise still stands.
I will come back to you even if I have to crawl.
With all the love I posses, I remain yours.
Thomas.
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This is the tintype ^ (a tintype is just a photo on a thin piece of tin FYI. They were common around that time).
A sad smile spread across Kiara's face as she folded the battered piece of paper back up. She had received the letter a month past and often read it, keeping it on her person. It was the only one she had received and Polly had informed her that she was lucky to even get that one as most mail from the war was lost. She had written back to him, of course, but there was less of a chance of her letter reaching him then his reaching her.
"Cheer up, we've got a lot of work to do today." Polly announced as she came into the room, noticing the letter she often found Kiara reading.
Polly liked to keep her busy. The episodes she experienced after her father's death had started happening again since Thomas' departure. Once a month or so it seemed, but if she kept her busy, kept her mind off it all then they happened less.
"I want you to count the money we keep stashed in the house." Polly knew how much was lying around, she always knew. It was just a task to keep Kiara's mind occupied and the now 20-year-old girl was fully aware of that, but she didn't complain. She appreciated all of her odd tasks.
She counted the money, wrote the sum down for Polly and then went home. Well, not her home, her family's home. She now lived with the Shelby's, officially part of the family with the last name and all due to her marriage, but her mother and sister still lived in the same house her father had left them. As did Riley, but he was away fighting. Nevina Donoghue never got over her husband's death. Despite the regular beatings she had still loved him. Ailia missed her father as well. She was the only one of the children that he was ever nice to, but she understood that they were better off without him. However, with Riley away fighting their mother had gotten worse. She was worried sick for her son, her first born.
Kiara brought with her a basket of food as she did each week, leaving it in the kitchen for Ailia to sort through. She was now 14 years old, but already a promising cook and was quite protective over the way the kitchen was kept.
"Thank-you." The blonde girl smiled up at her older sister. "Mum is in the lounge. She's feeling better today. I picked her some of those flowers Riley always used to take her. It seemed to help."
Kiara smiled at her sweet sister before kissing the top of her head and making her way to see her mother.
"Kiara, is that you, sweetheart?" Her mother called as she entered the room. "You're thin as a twig. Have you been eating?" She stated in a weak voice.
Kiara smiled as she walked over to her, crouching down beside the chair she sat in before taking one of her shaking hands.
"Three meals a day." She nodded. "I swear."
"Have you heard from that husband of yours?" She asked tenderly.
"Not since the last letter. Communication isn't good these days. It's hard to get a letter where you want it to go, but I'm sure he's fine. Riley too. We'd know otherwise." She reassured her mother with a voice that made her lie entirely convincing.
Without letters there really was no way to tell. They could have been dead right now and they wouldn't find out for weeks, maybe months.
"Are you staying for dinner tonight?"
"I'd like to, but I can't. Not tonight. I promised Martha I'd stay at her place for the night. With two kids under the age of 2 she barely gets a minutes rest so I offered to help her out, give her a night off."
Martha had discovered she was pregnant again right after John had left. Kiara had helped deliver the second child. It was a premature birth due to stress so they were forced to give a home birth. She was just lucky that Ada and Kiara were there at the time or she would have been alone.
She stayed for a few more hours before heading over to see Martha. John's wife had dark circles around her eyes and looked like she had lost weight in the last two days since Kiara had seen her last.
Kiara ordered her to eat something and then go rest while she watched the two kids. That was how it worked. They all looked out for one another. But they made it work.
