𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖞 𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗𝖘
❛ you wanna know why i came
back, tommy? well, i came back
for you. ❜
━━ IN WHICH an orphaned heiress and the ex-fiancée of the most dangerous man in birmingham returns to her home with a broken he...
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𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐈𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐑, 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒. Polly stood off to the side, a cigarette perched between her lips. "You look lovely," she said with a coy smile, her eyes meeting Nellie's in the mirror as silver smoke curled around the woman's head.
The young woman smiled sheepishly as she looked at Polly. "Is there any particular reason Tommy asked you to come with?" she asked as she set her cigarette in the nearest ashtray and stepped behind Nellie. Her voice pitched up at the end, an obvious attempt to sound as innocent as possible despite the prying question.
Nellie's hands stilled and her smile faltered slightly as she and Polly stared at each other. She shrugged as Polly's fingers worked her hair into an updo. "None that I know of." Her voice was soft as she fingered the lace on her dress.
Polly hummed as she finished tying Nellie's hair up, her fingers falling to the woman's shoulders. Both women's eyes immediately fell upon the silver chain hanging around Nellie's neck and Nellie almost had a physical reaction when Polly pulled the necklace from beneath her dress.
On the end sat two rings: one beautiful engagement ring with a small diamond, the other a dainty gold wedding band. Nellie remembered when those jewels sat on her fingers and how she would flash them to anyone who dared to glance at them.
She was ecstatic when he proposed and the rings didn't leave her fingers until the day she enlisted to work in a war hospital. To keep them clean and safe, she left them with her mother back at their farm.
She didn't have the heart to slip them back onto her finger when she returned. Reality had settled in by then. Thomas had stopped sending her letters, as did the rest of the Shelbys. She knew then that their short-lived engagement, and their love, was over.
Despite it, there was still never a day when the rings weren't draped around her neck.
Nellie swallowed as she stared at the rings and a sad look crossed Polly's face as she ran her fingers over them. Both women were heartbroken by the way Nellie and Thomas's romance turned out. "Even in the darkest of nights, there is always a glimmer of hope," she whispered as she patted her hand against Nellie's chest.
Nellie felt her throat constrict, her eyes burning with tears as she stared into Polly's eyes. Both women were distracted from the heartfelt moment by the sudden arrival of a guest.
Nellie's hand immediately closed over her rings as Thomas stepped into her room. She spun around, a cautious smile lighting up her face as she sniffled to clear her nose. She hoped her eyes weren't too red... "Morning," she said as she stepped away from her mirror, pausing briefly to stub Polly's cigarette into the ashtray.
Thomas's eyes were on the rings that Nellie haphazardly tucked within her dress as she addressed him. He nodded at her, his eyes lingering on the silver chain that was draped across her chest. She beamed at him, trying to distract him from the engagement rings. Bringing them up once that week was bad enough. She didn't want to address them again.
