Anna [J.Shelby]

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Anna laughed at the children as they fought over the last 3 slices of bread, coming up with all sorts of games to decide the winner.

But even that wasn't as easy as it seemed.

"Jack, you cheated!" Katie whined.

"Did not! You cheated!" Jack shouted back.

"Alright! Alright, how's about this ey? James, Katie and Isabelle gets the slices, and tommorow Jack and Harry gets an extra one. That's fair." Anna told them, placing a slice each on the plates before shaking her head as they continued to bicker regardless.

A knock at the door made Anna shout for the person to come in as she tidied up Hattie and lifted her up.

Anna entered to the doorway to see who was at the door, and was greeted by Linda.

"What a pleasant surprise, came to get hands on experience? I've 6 kids if you want to take any of them" Anna joked.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something Arthur told me last night, and I believe it will be very interesting for you to hear"

"Go on" Anna responded.

"There's not much I do know about it, Arthur was quite vague, but it's what I do know that'll interest you, not the other details. There's going to be a robbery"

Anna let out a laugh, "they're the Shelby's, they control most of England, when is there not robbery's?"

"No, Anna. I'm talking hundreads of thousands of pounds, diamonds, jewels. There's more I suspect, but I thought you ought to know what your husband was getting himself into, and what Thomas has them hiding from us"

Anna's lips fell into a straight line as her mouth ran dry.

"Thank you, Linda."

Linda replied with a smile before bidding a goodbye and leaving.

Anna waited for the nanny before she went around to the betting shop, walking through the large doors concealed by curtains and into the living space.

"I have something to ask you, or rather, question you about." Anna smiled at Tommy, with her arms crossed above her bump and Polly and Lizzie staring at her not knowing what would tumble from her mouth.

Tommy stared back at the smile on Anna's face, he knew that smile, he'd saw it a few times, on Polly, on Lizzie.

"The robbery, and I'm not talking about the small ones or the factory one, I'm talking about hundreads of thousands of pounds worth in jewels and jewellery, all the type of shit you don't seem to get in England, unless you know people higher up. Like the Russians, perhaps, like the one who Ada talked to at your wedding, you know who I'm on about, right?" Anna's tone turned sarcastic as both Lizzie and Polly looked at eachother unknowingly before turning to Tommy.

"You what?" Lizzie asked him.

"John has a big mouth"

"No, actually. It's Linda who told me, so the one with the big mouth is your other brother, Arthur"

"So Arthur told Linda, right, alright, I need to talk to you Pol"

"No, Thomas! Why the fuck are you dragging everybody into more and more mess! This family has climbed the ladder but my fucking god Tommy, you crossed the line when you started talking to fucking Russians and whoever comes along with them" Anna spat.

"Anna, go on" Polly told her softly.

"I want to know what's going on, Pol, perhaps we're women, but we deserve to know just as much, John's my husband, Linda is Arthur's wife, you're their aunt, Ada their sister, and Lizzie, well-" Anna paused, glancing over to Lizzie, the only word crossing her mind was 'someone Tommy liked to fuck around with' "but the point is, we deserve to know."

"And I'll tell you later, now you go and get back to the kids, right, I'll see you later" Polly replied, Anna sighing and leaving the room.

It was late evening, just as she had finally managed to send all the kids to sleep, Hattie in her arms and Isabelle curled into a chair, she bit at her nails as she thought about what Polly had told her earlier in the evening, her heart beating quick at the thought before John came through the door quietly.

"I thought you'd be in bed" John spoke quietly.

Anna shook her head, "these two wouldn't go down until 10 minutes ago"

John let out a quiet laugh with a small smile coming to his lips, picking up a stirring Isabelle and carrying her upstairs as Anna followed with Hattie.

With both of them in their beds, John and Anna undressed and settled into bed for the night.

Anna was propped on her elbow as she stared at John.

"I heard about the robbery" She muttered to him.

"From who?"

"Linda, Tommy confirmed it, Polly told me the rest, filled the missing gaps"

John closed his eyes and sighed.

"I can see you're tired of this life, tired of hurting innocent people. It's in your Shelby name but you are not a bad person, and maybe when you were younger, just after the war even doing Tommy's bidding was okay, you had fun setting fire to pubs, scaring the shit out of people who didn't listen, but I can see it in your eyes. You don't want that anymore. You want to get out just as much as Arthur does. You want to walk away from this life, away from the black clouds, the dirty streets. Tell me you don't want this anymore, tell me, and we can get a house, away from here, and live a normal.. live a settled life with the kids." Anna whispered, John's blue eyes staring into hers as she brought her lips down to his gently.

John pulled her into his arms, leaning over her this time, he stared into her eyes and could have gotten lost in them.

"After this Russian business, after whatever the fuck is going on with Tommy, I'll get the money, and we'll get a house in the country for the kids. A big house with acres of land, a garden, more bedrooms so the kids wont have to share. And we'll get away from all this, from everything you've ever been afraid of living here, we'll move on with our lives" Johns voice was low and promising.

"I've been waiting years for you to say that to me" Anna smiled softly up at him.

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What time is it? Feedback time! We all know 'Anna' is getting nearer to its end, and I can drag it out as much as I want but as most is planned, I know what's happening. But your opinion has always been so important to me, as I write this not just because I love watching Peaky Blinders, but because you love watching and reading too!

If there's any feedback or comments or ideas you want to give, I'll take them in board as I did last time x

Ps- random gif!