𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐄 ᵖᵉᵃᵏʸ ᵇˡⁱⁿᵈᵉʳˢ

𝟏𝟓, her

   

XV. 1919

    Polly missed her children. She never got to raise them, feed them, make sure they were well anymore. She knew nothing about them. They were taken when they were too young, she always thought they forgot about her - she hoped they didn't but they were three and five. She imagined they loved happily in a house in the country, surrounded by animals and land. She hoped and prayed the son and daughter stayed together, never separated, but she was never sure.

Praying for them to have loving parents and to be well looked after and fed, hopefully, raised away from any illegal business, but she was always jealous that she couldn't be the loving parent that gave them that. She wanted to be there for them and be their mother.

Raising the Shelby siblings, helped a little. It hurt at first, taking care of children that weren't hers, as if she were replacing them. But it didn't take long to realise that she wasn't replacing her children with her nephews and nieces and she wasn't replacing their mother either. They didn't need Polly to be their mother - even though she was in many ways - they just needed her to be there for them, through pain and suffering, and love and joy.

The woman loved them, more than anyone would ever know. It pained her one of them was in pain and it felt worse thats he was no help.

Sitting in a chair beside the teenager, she watched as she slept. She had cried a few times, silently begging her to wake up. She held her hand the whole time, examining the bruises every so often.

It was five o clock and the sky started to darken. She had told Esme to shut her bloody mouth about Vivian until she figured out what to say to them. Her nephew's wife called up a few times, either with tea or news.

Esme mentioned Tommy was looking for Vivian as was Finn. She told the woman, "I told both of them she was with you. I told Tom that you wanted to talk to him."

Soon, she heard footsteps up the stairs and across the landing. She hoped no one would could in here and if someone did she hoped it was Esme.

No one came in but she heard a knock on a door, not Ada's door. Someone had knocked on Vivian's room. They called her name before entering the room. And then a voice broke the silence out there.

-

"What are you doing?" Esme asked. She didn't think Polly would want to talk to them tonight but she knew Tommy had to know the state his sister was in.

"Where's Vivian?" Furrowing his brows, Tommy said, he scanned the room from the doorway, before turning to his sister-in-law.

"She's not there." No fucking shit, he thought.

"Then where is she?" He huffed, rubbing his eyes. He needed to talk to her about something important. He wanted to discuss her future in the family business. She was turning eighteen in a few months. And he also may have needed her for something else.

Rumour was the guns were close to being found or about to be found and since Vivian knew fucking everything, he's ask her about it. If she knew anything, heard anything.

He wanted to know as soon as possible, but instead, he was stood in front of Esme, trying to work out her riddles, "I think it's best you leave her for a bit. Polly wants speak to you."