Cannonball

Chapter Six: No Longer a Parker

Staring up at the house that she had grown up in, Rosemary felt ill at the idea of heading inside and speaking with her father; she doubted that he would take the news that she had married Thomas Shelby well. 

Already Rosemary could picture how Robert would react, her father had always had a bit of the temper and the news that she had eloped with Thomas wasn't likely going to go down well. 

Heading towards the front door, Thomas knew that this had the potential to end badly and he wished that there were something that he could do to spare Rosemary what was about to come. 

The door to the house swung open and Thomas had to raise an eyebrow at the sight of Colleen, he had always thought that Rosemary's younger sister was a bit of a busy body, always sticking her nose were it did not belong. 

It had only gotten worse since she had wed, her marriage to Peter having given the younger Parker sister a sense of empowerment especially since she had wed before her older sister had done. 

"What's he doing here?" Colleen hissed standing in the door way blocking their entrance, she stared at Thomas like he was nothing more than dirt on the bottom of her shoes. 

Colleen could not believe that Rosemary had the nerve to show up with him, especially after not coming home last night. 

Their mother had tried to wave away concern stating that Rosemary was helping Mary out with some last-minute wedding dress alterations but Colleen did not believe her. 

"I need to speak with dad," Rosemary insisted feeling even more nervous about what she was about to do; she did not need Colleen sticking her nose in and making the situation harder than it needed to be. 

There was silence for a moment as the two sisters stared at each other, neither backing down before Victoria shouted from the living room for Colleen to let her sister into the house. 

Colleen stepped aside to allow Rosemary and Thomas into the foyer of the house; she wrinkled her nose as she stared at the back of Thomas's head with disgust. 

Colleen did not like this, and she hoped that he would be gone soon before anyone realised that he had been inside of the house. 

Heading towards the living room, Rosemary felt even nervous when she spotted her mother and father seated inside; her heart pounded in her chest and she felt sick knowing that in a matter of moments things would implode.

"Where have you been?" Robert shouted leaping to his feet and moving to approach his eldest daughter before he saw who was behind her; he stared wondering just why Thomas Shelby was here when he had forbidden Rosemary to see him. 

He had always feared the worst when it came to the Shelby boy especially when he recalled all the trouble that Arthur Shelby had caused before he had disappeared and abandoned his family. 

Robert looked between the two as they stood before him and Victoria, he had a feeling that he already knew what this was about and a part of him wished that he could have seen this coming. 

It seemed everyone was rushing to wed especially with all the men shipping out to the war and even if the government swore that the war would be over by Christmas no one knew if they would be home. 

Victoria hesitated for a moment, her eyes moving from her daughter and son-in-law to her husband who seemed to be standing stock still. 

She moved to stand and places a calming hand on Robert who shrugged her off, she quickly schooled her face to stop the hurt from shining through at his actions and she knew that he was bound to be upset.