𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝘿𝙪𝙤 ; 𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙮 [ BOOK 2 ]

TWENTY SEVEN

He shrugged her away. "No, Caroline. Unlike you, I have no remorse for having feelings for someone who isn't my partner in holy matrimony."

Arthur snarled towards his cousin whilst holding Caroline back. "Watch yourself."

"Fuck you too, Arthur!" Michael's bellow echoed the street. "This is my fucking wife. I bring her home, to this? Come on, Gina."

Arthur moved to stand in front of Michael, blocking his path. "Well, where are you going now, eh? Hmm? Introduce me at least."

"Look at this." Michael turned to look at the surrounding thugs with a scowl. "This is it, Gina. This is my fucking people. Do you want to know the truth, Arthur? Do you want to know the truth, mum? Do you want to know the truth, Caroline? I did not betray my fucking family! Now, mum. I want to go home."

Polly squared off with her son. "I've booked you a suite at the Midland Hotel."

"Was that Tommy's orders, then. Was it? See, the Midland Hotel is Tommy's little kingdom." Michael's words stung Caroline's healing heart. "Where all the porter's keep an eye, where all the telephone exchange girls are reporting on my calls."

"Yeah, well, why don't you think of it like quarantine, Michael?" Caroline circled the newlyweds like a vulture. "We'll treat you like a fucking dog, hmm? Until we know you're clean."

An inch away from her signature rouge lips, Michael mustered the willpower to whisper. "Fuck you, Caroline."

***

He grabbed her by the waist, pulling her up close against his chest. His hand gently glided through her hair, as he looked at her in a way he had never looked at a girl before. Her eyes were candles in that morning, their light a spark of passion . . . desire. As a small but teasing smile crept upon her face, goosebumps lined her skin, not the kind than one gets in the cold, but the kind one gets when nothing else matters except right here, right now.

He was all logic and feigned cool detachment until her touched her skin. Then something not only stirred in him, but it took over his thinking. The rest of his world became an unimportant blur that was banished into the far recesses of his mind. The only thing that mattered was touching her more, kissing her mouth, her stomach, her breasts. He tried to be gentle with her clothing, not to rip the lace, but it was hard. His hands were made for combat and building bombs rather than tiny clasps.

A tiny knock on the door was all it took for the moment to be ruined, followed by several patters on the wood. Caroline giggled and shrugged her nightgown back on whilst Thomas groaned and sluggishly opened it.

"What is it, Rose?"

"I'm hungry."

"Come on." Thomas lifted his daughter into his arms, shifting her onto his hip. "Let's go get you some breakfast."

Caroline sunk back into the small bed with a grin. She had many accomplishments, but having two placid children were her greatest success in life, and as she tossed in the sheets, she wondered if she'd be able to have another through the madness of recent circumstances.

To avoid the swirl of sickening fears, she arose from the bed minutes later. After her feet adjusted to the cold floorboards, she followed an alluring sound that warmed her cold heart. Rose's laughter was like ripples in a still pond after a stone has been thrown in. It radiated outwards through the packed hall of decades old furniture. Now two other voices began to titter and soon the ripples of laughter became great waves of hilarity.

"What is going on in here?"

Thomas glanced over, the corners of his lips fighting a smile, his eyebrows slightly raised. Caroline then shifted her vision to the two children who stood on either side of their father's legs, plastered in grins, coated in flour. The slyness that smothered their face caused the matriarch to follow suit, until the room exploded with joyous cackles.

It was a laughter that Caroline could feel in her lungs, so hard that it took her breath away. The lack of oxygen didn't matter. All the anguish of the past few days melted like snowballs in a furnace. This laughter created a small vacation, a blessed relief from all the distress that shoved its way into her brain. For a single moment, the lack of money to pay the stack of bills did not matter. She lost the tightness in her chest. The muscles in her neck relaxed. After all that had occurred, she felt hope. And hope feels good. 

"Right, sit up and eat those pancakes, you two." Thomas spluttered with mischief. "Your mother and I will clean up this mess."

"Oh, no I won't." Caroline held her hands up and began to walk away. "This is your mess, mister Shelby. You clean it up yourself!"

"You're not leaving me with all of this!"

With a yelp, Caroline's body had been dragged back into the kitchen while Thomas's strong arms wrapped round her waist to pull her back into the havoc in which he and the children had created, all in good fun. 

She traced his lip lightly with the tip of her finger. It pouts slightly, and she had such an urge to bite it, to kiss it, to wrap them up in a quilt and listen to their gentle breathing, watching the cotton ripple like skipping stones and sharing crooked smiles. His lip felt slightly chapped under her feather light touches but she simply could not bring herself to give a damn. She gazed so intently at each divot of that lip, as if it could map out ancient seas and warfare plans and tell her everything she didn't know. And she didn't want to look up. Because if she looked up, she may find herself at the mercy of questioning eyes, pleading, begging to know what she was doing, and she was not at liberty to say because she simply did not know, other than she was ecstatic that despite their breakdowns within themselves, their pieces collided together.

"Thomas." She breathed. "I feel like a teenager in love again."

He placed a tender kiss to her head and sighed deeply. "So do I, sweetheart. So do I."