Anna [J.Shelby]

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

"Who was that outside?" A voice interrupted Anna's calculations, making her jump.

"What?" Anna glanced over at John who leaned against a wall opposite her.

"That bloke outside, who is he?" He asked her.

"Oh nobody, just a passer by" Anna lied smoothly.

"Really? Because I've heard you've been seeing him up by the cut" John replied.

Anna looked at him in disbelief, "are you having me followed?"

"No, I bloody ain't but there's always eyes everywhere, now who is he?"

"Why do you need to know, John?" Anna asked him.

"You're my fuckin' wife" He bit out.

She stared at him for a long time before something clicked.

"Oh, you are unbelievable, do you think I'm cheating on you?" Anna let out a laugh of disbelief before she stood.

"Where are you going now?" John called after her.

"Walking away before I hit my husband really fuckin' hard and I'll tell you something John, I'll fucking enjoy it" She yelled, but John wasn't having any of that and was after her just as quick, pulling her back and Anna fought against his arms, he had her up the wall in seconds with her arms pinned down.

"What the fuck John" Anna seethed.

"I want to know who he is" John told her, his voice hard.

"His name is Mark Hainsley and all we've done is fucking talk, proper conversation about anything on our minds. It's not like we talk very often" Anna's eyes were hard as she glared into his.

"Of course we talk" John scoffed.

"Do we talk, John? I don't think we've had a long and innocent conversation since before I married you"

"So you think your conversation with that tosser is innocent?" John let out a chuckle.

"Yes, John, I do think it's innocent" Anna bit back.

"Anna, he works with the fucking Italians"

"No, he's a friend of the Italians. But that's the same bloody thing in your head. All this is just bloody jealousy" Anna kicked Johns legs and snatched her arms away from him before she grabbed her coat.

"And you're lucky that wasn't your bleeding face" Anna told him.

John went home not long after dark, Anna still annoyed from how he could possibley believe she would do anything with another man.

She informed the nanny she was going out and would be back soon.

"Where are you going?" John asked as she grabbed her coat.

"I'm going for a walk"

"Then I'll come with you" Anna turned to John, glancing over him before she shook her head and turned towards the door.

"I honestly don't understand why you're getting worked up over Mark, we've just talked, that's all" Anna spoke to break their silence after a short time.

"Talking isn't just innocent for men, Anna. I don't want you getting caught up in the Italians or their 'friends'."

"And I'm your husband, maybe I'm not a great one, or haven't been a great one, but I'm still your husband, you should be able to talk to me"

"John, can we please just pretend we aren't married and have 6 kids for one night?" Anna pleaded.

"For Birmingham, it's a pretty night isn't it?" Anna glanced at the sky full of stars.

"I used to read about the stars when I was younger, or they were mentioned in all the other books I read" Anna smiled.

"You've never mentioned before that you used to read a lot" John glanced down at her.

"Oh yes, I loved it. I only started thinking back the other week when the kids starting asking me what I used to do when I was younger, or as they called it, 'the old days'. I just locked the childhood memories away after everything with my parents, but books were the only thing I really had" Anna snorted.

"Well I've a smart wife then ain't I" John commented, Anna looked at him in amusement.

"Why didn't you realise that years ago?"

"I tell you you're smart all the time!" John defended himself.

"When?" Anna scoffed, John laughing and replying 'nearly every day'.

"You know I used to sit up by the cut and watch the stars, scared everybody mind, because I never told them where I was going"

Anna smiled, "that sounds exactly like you"

"But it was quiet, in my house you never used to get quiet."

"I was always sent to bed ridiculously early, so I rarely ever got to see the stars besides on winter evenings when the sun set early. But there was one night that the church held where we all sat around the church and we watched the stars. Some even had telescopes, but that was the wealthier folk. I was most certainly not wealthy"

"Me and Arthur used to run up here chasing eachother, Tommy was the quieter one, still is but it's the quiet ones they tell you to watch for. And then when the news about the war came, I just sat here for hours, nobody could find me, but I was only 19, already had 3 kids."

"And everybody just said the war would be 6 months, but it wasn't, it was 4 long years. The last time I attended my church was to sign up to be a nurse in the war. I remember getting my uniform and I hated it, it was so restricting, but I was reminded by another nurse, Harriet, who Hatties named after, that we'd only be in them for half the year. When I was allowed sleep, getting that uniform off was the best part of my day"

"I barely took mine off for 4 years straight" John replied.

"Sometimes I wonder where I would be if you didn't survive the war" John snorted at her comment.

"No, no I'm glad you survived the war" Anna laughed.

"And I'm bloody glad you came to Birmingham otherwise I'd be married to a Lee girl"

"They aren't all bad"

"No, but I prefer you over anybody, not just because you're fucking stunning, more than that, you're different, you're fierce when you need to be, you're a great mom to the kids, and you're gentle and you're caring. I walk around Birmingham every day, and not one woman is like you, that's why I love you. I don't say it or show it enough. It scared the shit out of me when you got shot."

"And you can be a right bastard, you get on my nerves all the time. But I wouldn't have it any other way, because you'd be boring without your cheek, your humour, your wilder side. But you can also be sweet, you look out for your family and you look after us, even if you have a funny way of showing it. And if you think I would look at a man in any other than a friendly way-"

"No, I know you wouldn't but its these italians ain't it, and everybody who associates with them, they're trying to get to us, and if that means sending one of their so called friends to talk to you, they would do that. I don't want you ever getting hurt or caught up in this again, not now, not ever. If any of them, or anybody else lays a single finger on you I'd fuckin' cut them. Or kill them."

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I promised you emotion, here you have it. Im soft for them.