Crown of a Prince (Finn Shelby)

53.

The reality of what she had done sunk in and Ailbhe was beginning to realise that her life was being threatened.
 
"You're going to go home and pack your things. There's a boat sailing from Liverpool the day after tomorrow, you're going to be on board"
 
Tommy explained, ignoring Finn's deep exhale in frustration. He shouldn't have brought Finn with him; he was too emotional. But Finn had been with Tommy when Moss called and he overheard it.
 
"Michael will meet you in New York, you'll stay there until this dies down Ailbhe, I'll make sure they know you had nothing to do with it, that you're innocent. It's alright" He promised her.
 
Tommy understood her. He knew that Ailbhe couldn't turn her back on a situation like that. Tommy never could either and it was what had landed in situations like this more times than he could count now. Ailbhe believed in Ireland the way that Tommy believed in their family and he couldn't fault her for it. It just meant he would have to come up with a plan to get her out.

He'd sooner let himself meet his end at the end of a noose than let Ailbhe be hung for a crime she didn't commit. She represented something too special to him to watch her be taken away from them. She deserved better than him for a brother but he would do everything he could to keep her free, to keep her alive.
 
"It's alright" He promised her, making sure she looked him in the eye and nodded.
 
She nodded back, the fear in her eyes clear as day. Ailbhe was just a kid, just like Tommy had been before France. She thought the world should be a fair place, just like Tommy had thought once too. He thought Ailbhe had given up on Ireland but he should have known that Ailbhe was too stubborn to give up that easily. He should have known Ailbhe wouldn't be able to turn her back on something this important to her. He was just relieved he had a plan already. Once they found the real culprits for the murder of Field Marshall Johnson and once Tommy had called in a few favours and greased a few palms he was sure they would stop coming after Ailbhe and she would be able to return.
 
Ailbhe tried to take a deep breath as Tommy took one final look at her and left through the door in a flash. He left Finn and Ailbhe alone with the atmosphere so thick it could be cut with a knife.
 
"Finn I-" She started to explain but he just looked back at her, his eyes full of anger and hurt, frustration and pain.
 
He turned his back on her, slamming the door behind him as he left her there to finally let a tear slip out and to wonder if it had been worth it.
 
Ailbhe pulled herself back to the present, away from memory lane and the pain that trip always caused her. She climbed out of her bed, knowing sleep wasn't going to come no matter how hard she tried or how many times she tossed and turned.
 
In recent nights her broken and disturbed sleep had been plagued by a dream of a black cat, one that looked at her with big grey eyes. She dreamt of walls closing in and a singular magpie. They were all bad signs according to what Polly taught her and they unnerved her to no end. She could tell something bad was coming, the feeling had settled on her shoulders and she was just waiting for it to reveal herself.
 
She pulled on the robe that she had left on the floor and climbed out the window, onto the balcony fire escape her bedroom had. She flicked through the reports Michael had signed off on, as well as the extra investment reports he had filed through her. She read them with the dull glow of the lamps from her bedroom and the lights of New York and she nearly dropped them when she saw it. The reason for the omens in Ailbhe's dreams.
 
"That mother fucker" She snapped, shuffling through the reports and feeling her temper flare.
 
She shoved them back into the file, climbing back in through the window and storming down the stairs to the hallway table where the telephone sat.
 
"Hello operator, I need an overseas connection please"
 
She asked, checking the clock over her shoulder and knowing that since it was 3am in New York it would be 8am where she was phoning.
 
"Birmingham, England" She asked of the operator praying that Tommy hadn't decided to start sleeping in the four months she had been away. God knows she hadn't slept much since she had left either.