Passion Bearers

The brothers

If there was one thing that Tess absolutely sure about is that she loved her children with all her heart. She didn't think she could love anyone like she loved her children but from the moment they entered her world, they had captured her heart completely and utterly.

Charlie was quiet, like both Tess and Tommy, and intelligent for his age. He had a perceptive eye, one that noticed things that some adults didn't. He was much like Tommy in his nature, while his looks, apart from the eyes, hailed from Tess. Charlie was sensible, understanding but relentless in his goals.

As for Tara, despite being a splitting imagine of her father, she was much like Tess. She had Tess' gypsy wild spirit, yet she was quiet, even shy. She was kind to everyone, very soft at heart and prone to crying very easily. But, when there came a time of troubles, she'd stand just as tall as her brother.

Tess' children were one of the reasons that she stayed with Tommy at all. Since coming back from Birmingham, he'd become more and more different. There was a ruthlessness in him, as seen by the way that he easily manipulated his brothers into doing they wouldn't usually do. He was often not home, appearing less and less as months went by. There were nights when he just wouldn't show up, later coming back home, drunk and smelling heavily of cigars.

Tess suspected many things but never voiced them, all for the kids. She focused on her work at the hospital, soon to be promoted as head nurse. She helped Charlie out with school and got Tara out and to daycare. She tried to ignore her family's criminal background altogether, feeling normal whenever Tommy wasn't home, which was often.

Tommy and Tess still slept in the same room and they still slept with each other but Tess had long let go of the expectation that it meant anything. She accepted that her heart would be perpetually broken by Tommy. The suffering from being so close to him, yet so far away, the questions about the possibility of other women clawing on her, she accepted it all for the kids.

One day, however, she broke down completely.

It was on an early Thursday morning and Tess had just sent away the kids to school and so she waited at home. She had a night shit at the hospital that day and would be leaving the kids with Polly and Ada. Meanwhile, she was peacefully sitting in their house, listening to the radio as she sat down on the kitchen table.

Suddenly, the front had burst open, revealing Arthur and John, breathing heavily. Tess shot up, a startled and confused expression on her face.

" Aye, Tessie", John said as carried a stumbling Arthur through the door, " Arthur got himself in a scruff. Needs some stitching to do, he does".

Tess sighed, looking Arthur up and down. He was clutching his side, where blood was blooming through his white shirt. He was hissing through his teeth, his eyes clouded over with pain. John was carrying him, looking at Tess pleadingly. She hurried over to the kitchen, taking out her nurse box and taking out a small dose of morphine as well as sterilized needle and thread.

"Take off his shirt and lay him down on the table", Tess ordered to John.

He did as she said and lay Arthur down. She handed him the morphine, which he quickly swallowed, blinking rapidly. Tess took out the needle and thread, rubbing Arthur's bleeding skin with alcohol before going in for a stitch.

Although Arthur hissed as she sewed him up, he didn't say much else and handled it better than most of her patients did. Meanwhile, John was smoking in the corner, observing Tess and Arthur.