To Be Alone | Tommy Shelby

Chapter 16

"Celia! A letter for you!" Edith chirped as she walked into the shop.

"Thank you!" Celia smiled before opening the letter.

Celia,
I am writing to let you know that both your father and I have made it safely back to America. We are up in New York and living with your brother and his family until we make enough to get back on our feet and buy a house. Your father has gotten a job with a steel company here that Joseph does the books for. He is eager to work once again, and I hope that his old self continues to shine through the dark period that being in that city brought him.
I hope that you are doing ok being there by yourself, and that Tommy is taking good care of you. I can see that he is a good man beneath all of those things that he is involved in, and that he cares deeply for you. It's in his eyes.
Please write back soon.
Sending you all of my love,
Eliza Farraday

Celia couldn't stop her smile from growing as she read her mother's words. About a week after that incident at her apartment, her father had enough money to get a ticket on a boat back to America. She was happy to hear that he had found his wife once again and that they were now living with her brother and his family. Further yet, she was happy to hear that her father had found work and was eager to stick to it. She felt her heart flutter when her mother mentioned Tommy, happy that she approved of her relationship with him, because she held her mother's opinion in high regard.

"Happy news?" Edith questioned from the back, having this skill where just knew that Celia was happy.

"Very happy news," Celia responded with a head nod.

"Excuse me, Miss?" the woman at the counter chimed in then, making Celia jump slightly because she didn't quite know when she had entered the shop.

"Oh! Hello, I'm so sorry!" she abashed, asking the woman how she could be of assistance.

"You don't recognize me, Celia?" the woman asked then, making Celia's eyebrows furrow.

"I'm sorry, I don't," she shook her head as the woman laughed.

"I'm Jennie," the woman told her, but Celia was still confused, "come on, you remember me. Jennie...from primary school. My goodness Celia, you don't look like you've changed a bit," she attempted to jog the confused woman's memory.

It took a few more seconds before the light bulb went off. "Jennie?! From grade five?" Celia questioned, hoping she'd get it right, "Mrs. Heintzel's class?"

"Yes! It's me!" the lady exclaimed, seemingly relieved that she had remembered her. Celia went to primary school outside of Birmingham, because that's where she and her family lived up until grade five, when they made the overseas move to America.

"Well it's so nice to see you again," Celia put a smile on her face. "I'll go grab your things," she said then, moving to the back to get the items that Jennie needed.

"Thanks so much. You know, we've gotta get together soon. Do you live in the city?" she asked after giving Celia the money for her items.

"Yes. I live in the apartments in the square where the market is," she explained, hoping that Jennie wouldn't actually know where that was.

"Oh ok. I live with my husband and kids on the outskirts. Johnny's a foreman at one of the factories. He's making a good wage," Jennie explained. Of course she had a husband who had a good job.

"That's great to hear," Celia hoped by now that her smile didn't come off as fake.

"Well I've got to be going. The kids should be getting off of school," Jennie stated then, her unbothered comment telling Celia that her façade had been working. "We really do have to get together some time," she brought back her previous comment.