Astor // Arthur Shelby x Reader - Peaky Blinders

Chapter 43

Our wedding is quiet and simple. A secret.

This time, there is no photograph in the newspaper. I do not even tell my parents. Only May attends, along with Arthur's family, and if I am not mistaken, she and Tommy disappear for a stretch of time while Arthur and I squabble over who's cutting the cake Ada made. I wore no ring with Luca. I refused, ripping the ridiculous piece of silver with a trio of diamonds from my finger the moment the ceremony had finished, and acting vacant when anybody questioned where it had gone. A small triumph against him.

Now, the ring Arthur slips onto my finger has become my most prized possession. A simple golden band. And I cannot help myself — as I slide a ring onto his own finger, I lean in and whisper, "I hid page nineteen inside."

He laughs, and his eyes are so warm, almost green with the way the sun fills them as he looks at me. We're both kneeling together before the celebrant. Before each other. Before God himself, should he exist.

When we dance, there is no twelve-man-band, no polished marble floors. Only a patch of grass on the estate, far from the house, close enough to the woods nobody could find us. A bonfire. His arms at my waist.

"I cannot remember the last time I felt so happy," I tell him, as we move slowly to the music.

His hands rest gently atop the simple white gown I'm wearing. "Don't think I ever have," he tells me, and he looks at me like he's seeing sun for the first time.

My dogs yap a dozen or so feet away from us, where Finn is throwing them a ball. Tommy and John tear Arthur away for another drink, a cigar, and Polly leads me to sit on a bench with her and Ada. She presses a glass of wine into my hand.

"Welcome to the family, love," she tells me, lifting her glass.

"So it's official?" Ada asks. She squeezes my hand.

"Almost. I just need to get the annulment certificate from the lawyer tomorrow, and then I'll be a Shelby." I smile, barely able to believe the thought myself.

The sky around us has darkened, and a shiver runs through me at how cold the air has become.

Polly seems to notice. "You've the house to yourselves tonight," she tells me. "The rest of us are staying at May's. Tommy and Arthur fought about it for hours."

"Probably less about the lack of security, and more Tommy not wanting the extra company," I say, fighting a grin.

Polly laughs. "Too bloody right."

We finish our drinks and then the others ready to leave. May takes both my hands in hers as she says goodbye.

"If you need anything at all—"

"I'll be fine, May," I try to reassure her.

But she doesn't move. "I don't know quite what's going on," she says. "But I see how happy your are with Arthur, and I'm so thankful you are with him. And free of Luca."

Not quite free yet. But May does not have the stomach for these things. She is not easily scared, or weak — she simply would rather not know. She values her comfortable life too much. This I can understand, and respect.

"Thank you," I tell her. "Now go. I promise things will be back to normal and you and Tommy will have the house to yourselves tomorrow night."

She smiles shyly. "If you say so."

When everyone has left, just Arthur and I remain. I begin to busy myself cleaning up, but the heat of his body presses against my back as he holds me, stopping me from any hope of packing things away.