• DIVORCÈE •

Part 1

I shut the door, hearing him talk to her and her dribble on about things I cannot understand. Only Thomas Shelby can get a riot out of her, make her baby-talk on and on about how her day went and nonsense no one can understand.

"Isn't that lovely!" Thomas plays into her words. "What else did you do?!"

Evangeline's eyes go wide, as she points to the teddy on the ground. She's completely oblivious to the fact that her dad has on a cast and sling. Wonder how that happened.

"Teddy," Thomas says, leaning down to pick it up. He grabs the bear by its ears. "Can you say, teddy bear, Evangeline?"

She tries, "Teddy!" She opens her arms and takes it into her hands. "Hug teddy!" She squeals. "Dada!"

And Thomas does so, hugging the teddy bear - another perfect moment that causes my jaw to drop. Thomas fucking Shelby the leader of the Peaky Blinders, embracing a teddy bear.

I wrap my arms around myself and move from their weird relationship and move to the kitchen. Dinner is on the stove, alongside fresh bread in the oven. I sip on my fine wine before hearing Thomas and Evangeline's voice coming closer and closer to me.

"Mama!" She calls, causing me to turn around and face the both of them. "Look! Dada!"

May eyes grow wide, "I know, darling!"

He's holding her hand with one of his fingers, making me want to awe. It's a moment I mentally take a photo of. Seeing Thomas and her together, and seeing her eyes light up. And the smile on his face.

"Since when did she walk, y/n?!" He's bent over, studying me as he raises an eyebrow.

I meet his blue eyes, "She only just begun, she took her first steps three days ago."

"Three days?!"

I know exactly what he's going to say, so you brace yourself.

"Why didn't you ring me?! I wanted to see her take her first steps, you know?"

"Because," I take a sip of my drink. "I don't have a phone." I shrug. Trying my hardest to get out of this subject. You know this, you almost hiss at him. But Evangeline, you sigh, Evangeline doesn't need to see her parents bicker, so you keep your mouth shut.

"It's those bloody people at the school who don't pay you enough..." He starts.

My eyes role to the back of my head. Here we go.

"Let me buy you a telephone." He scoops up Eva, putting her on the table. She giggles and reaches for his body.

"No!" You bark, "Thomas, I don't want your gifts. I told this before-"

"It's not a gift," He bites back. "Do it for Eva, what if there's an emergency and you need to phone me."

"Fine," I know deep down that this the truth, and I did desperately want to phone him three days ago as Eva took her first steps. "But it's coming out of my cheque."

"Fine." He laughs, "Be my guest." He clears his throat, picking up Evangeline and holding her in his arm, "I've got something to tell you."

This ought to be good. My eyes move from our little girl to the man who I've once loved. "Oh God."

He scoffs, rolling his eyes at me. "I'm to be married soon."

"To whom?!" I nearly laugh.

"Lizzie Starke. You remember her, my secretary?"

You mean, "The whore who fucked you on the day I gave birth to our baby girl?"

He flushes, intimated by my words. "She needed me."

"More like your cock needed a place to stay while I was pushing a watermelon out of me."

I can see the words puncture him, his face twists. "Come on now, y/n."

A smile tugs at my lips, "I'm just saying Thomas, she didn't need you in that moment. Don't lie to me."

Lizzie Starke has flirted with my ex-husband various times before my eyes. She's definitely desperate, but I always thought she knew all along to not ruin a marriage. But of course, I was disappointed when I found out that Thomas spent the first few hours of Evangeline's life with another woman. I was shattered, devastated to say the least.

"I'm just here to let you know before you hear from anyone else,"

"Lovely, thank you."

"You're welcome."

The room fills with an awkward silence, once that makes Eva look at her mama and then her dada. She's excited beyond belief, looking at us with these wide eyes and chubby cheeks. She looks like she's seeing the most wonderful thing, and to my little angel baby, this might just be the most amazing, fantastical and beautiful thing to see. Her parents, who she loves dearly coming together. Poor thing was only two months old when we separated. She knows nothing about love and adornment. She isn't allowed to go to Thomas's home, seeing as only violence erupts from that mansion. She knows nothing about Thomas's life outside of these walls. And I'm hoping to God that when she finds out she'll love her dada just as much as she did.

"Do you think she wants a sibling?" Thomas asks out of the blue.

I'm sure she has several in the whores of Birmingham. I turn to him, but look at her.

"Don't know." My lip tilts upwards. "I think she'll be very jealous though."

"Kind of like I was when John was born." He tells me, chuckling. Thomas runs his hand over her hair, kissing her forehead. Evangeline busies herself with the Teddy. Singing one of the many lullabies I sing to her before she goes to bed every bloody night.

He then presses his cheeks against hers and looks at me, my world stills in that moment, as I can't take that level of cuteness.

"Lets make another."