Field of Poppies

February 1910

//I cannot for the life of me remember if I gave Amelia a last name. And if I did, I can't find it. So if anyone remembers me writing a last name, you get fifty bonus stars. 

            Things were fine for a bit. Amelia put all her effort into looking after Max. Tommy worked pretty much all day and then some nights he'd be at meetings with Greta and Freddie. At night, he gave Amelia a rest from Max, making sure the baby was taken care of. He was growing accustomed to sleepless nights, even when Max started sleeping through the whole night. He would often stay up for hours, writing, planning. He would stay up at his desk near Max's cot, squinting to see in the dim light. Usually, both Amelia and their son would sleep through it. Sometimes she would complain and tell Tommy to come to bed. He said he would but instead, went downstairs so she could go back to sleep peacefully.

There never seemed to be enough hours in the day. Tommy's mind was always whirring with things. With everything going so well, he began to feel invincible. And inevitably, pushed his luck too far.

~~~~~~~~

One morning, when Max was six months and spring was just beginning to bloom, John came bursting in through the door.

"Tom's been arrested!" He shouted, breathless from his sprint back home.

"What?" Amelia startled and turned to Polly who was looking after Max.

"Jesus." The woman sighed and handed Max back to Amelia.

"What happened?" Amelia questioned John.

"We were at the bullring and some coppers came up and arrested him!" John was wide-eyed. Police weren't something the Shelbys were unfamiliar with. Often times, Arthur Sr. would be tossed in jail for the night due to petty theft or disorderly conduct due to drinking. Arthur and Tommy learned to not trust the police officers from their father and would sometimes tease local officers they knew well. But neither of them had ever been jailed. Usually, they were given a warning or marched home to be scolded by their mother. But now that they were older, and the things they were getting into, it was only a matter of time before law enforcement took notice.

"On what charges?" Polly asked, the more level-headed of the three in the room. She'd been cleaning up after Shelby messes for years and knew the drill.

"I dunno."

"Pol, what do we do?" Amelia held Max close.

"I'll handle it." She promised and went to get her coat. "Stay here with the boys. Don't answer the door for anyone."

Gripped with fear, Amelia nodded. She trusted Polly. Trusted her to know what to do in dark times.

John prided himself in being as tough as his brothers even though he was younger. But Tommy's arrest had greatly shaken him up. He always thought his older brothers were invincible. That's how they acted. No one could touch them. But seeing the police wrestle Tommy to the ground and put handcuffs on him was too much.

Amelia could see the fear in the teenager's eyes. "Are you hungry, John?" She did her best to try and have some normalcy. There was no need to panic yet. Polly could handle everything.

John shook his head.

"Okay. Could you hold Max for me for a mo'?" She wondered. "I just have to grab something upstairs."

He nodded and walked over to take the baby from her arms. He sat down at the kitchen table, quietly cradling Max.

"Thank you." Amelia gently touched his shoulder before heading upstairs. There wasn't anything she needed to grab. She just needed a moment to collect her thoughts. She locked herself in the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. This couldn't be the direction their life was going. She would not tolerate Tommy flitting in and out of jail. He promised her he would be there for her and especially for Max. She didn't want there to come a time when Max was old enough to know what was going on. When he asked why daddy wasn't coming home.