Staunch Fate

Chapter 7

She tossed and turned in her sleep unsettling Tommy's own. He sighed. Her restlessness left him without sleep. She left him without reason too. Meeting again the little girl that was lost, seeing her for the first time as a woman grown, the familiarity he felt that day he thought was a byproduct of the baby he held once. Always settling down when she snuggled close to his beating heart. He loved that little girl who always ran to Uncle Charlie's. To him. He remembers as if it was yesterday his mother standing with a heavy belly and a knowing smile watching him sitting in the armchair cuddling little Anna. Back then he thought she was gearing up for grandchildren. It took one look at the approaching woman at the Boswell camp for Tommy to realise the trouble coming his way. Her soft introduction and her playful words managed to confuse him.

The mark decorating her back was enough proof. Polly used to lord it over them. How it was a woman with the king's mark. His father pretended not to care, only when drunk he would wail at how useless his sons were if none of them inherited such a godsent mark. His grandmother would have been ecstatic. If not for her birthmark then it would be for her looks. Small of stature with brown hair as dark as his. No wonder Bethany Boswell took her in. She was the spitting image of their grandma. He remembers the woman fondly. Even if with only a poignant look she would strive fear in them. Anna inherited that too, Tommy was soon to find out.

He recalls the first time he heard her sing. He sat far away not paying attention to the band. His only need to drown in whiskey. The first girl to perform had a decent enough voice but was no better than a barmaid standing on a chair in the middle of a tavern. After that, he lost track of his thoughts for a while remembering simpler times if he can call them that. When Grace was just the barmaid and nothing more. An audible hush pulled him from his daydream. On stage was a pipsqueak of a girl. A slight little thing she was as ordinary as they come but she caught his attention. She walked to the piano at the corner of the stage and Tommy's eyes dropped considerably from the back of her head all the way to her arse and hips. She took a seat and Tommy took a sip of whiskey. She played beautifully and her voice engulfed him in such warmth, like a lover whispering to him while they lay in bed late at night. An ethereal and bright voice captured him in a spell. Tommy's mouth had hung open and stayed that way till she finished. He stood clumsily and clapped awkwardly.

The few moments he saw her perform were enough for him to appoint her trouble and lock her away from the forefront of his mind. She was a siren. Stealing his reason of thought and leaving him a blank canvas that she was to paint on. Even as weary of her as he was, Tommy would visit Eden club only to hear her sing. To clear his mind or to simply feel what she dictated with her sweet voice. He recently heard her sing to Charlie, a sweet lullaby his mother had sung once to Ada. He realised as he watched his son doze off in her arms, as he felt calm for the first time in a while that he missed her singing. So he bought a piano.

He bought a piano for his cousin who was to leave him and go stay with her mother. After all, that was their original plan. He grew to dislike that plan as quickly as Anna settled into their life. He had yet to hear her play for fear of losing control, of what little he possessed and locking her in the house. It was uncomfortable how easily he accepted her, how much comfort she shared with him. The little girl he failed to protect once, returned to him a woman grown making him feel thirst and discontent.

Going to her bed was easy. The first night at the Boswell camp where she sat by her bed as he lay there with Charles in his arms, he was too tired to think of the ramifications as he asked her to stay with him. It became clear in the morning why he shouldn't have when accusatory eyes followed him but Thomas hardly regretted it. He slept better with her close by. It took him a few days away from her to regret his actions. He tried to grow distant from her. She was a stranger after all. But as he watched her exit his car that he sent for her, walking up to him self-assured like she owned the place and him with it. Every little defence he built came crashing down. He started working at all hours avoiding her.