In the six months since you and Polly took in Elizabeth as your own, a lot has changed. She slowly became more bubbly and sociable after getting used to everyone. She now smiles and laughs every day. Most importantly, though, she has taken to calling you and Polly 'mum' or 'mummy'. They are titles both of you are proud to hold. She also loves having so many cousins, and they all love her in return.
Finn is so glad to not be the youngest in the house any more, so he'll often take Elizabeth for walks or buy her sweets from the shops, spoiling her with affection whenever she's near. John plays with her all the time, along with his kids, who all adore their new cousin. She has so many friends through them. Arthur reads her stories and likes to give her piggyback rides, jumping up and down to jiggle her and make her laugh. Whenever Ada comes to visit, she always has a new dress or a pair of shoes for Elizabeth, loving that there's another girl in the family. Even Tommy has taken a shine to her, often bringing her to Charlie's yard to show her the horses. He's also begun to teach her how to ride them, always sticking by her side while she's on one. You think this may have made him her favourite cousin, as each time she comes back home, she won't stop talking about all the things Tommy taught her to do, from actually riding the horses to taking care of them. She truly has become a member of the family.
Polly, of course, loves being a mum again. She loves cooking for Elizabeth, and the two of you join your daughter for tea parties every Sunday. Despite her joy, though, an underlying sadness rests upon her shoulders. You often wake up to her crying beside you, but for the longest time, she wouldn't tell you why. All you could do was hold her and stay awake until she fell asleep again, if she did at all.
It took her a long time to tell you that she's been dreaming of Anna, and that in the dream, her daughter tells her that she has passed on. You hope for Polly's sake that it isn't true, but you know that she is never wrong about these things. You're also the only person she confides in after she visits a fortune-teller, who told her that her dreams are true. That night is the hardest for her. She sobs into your chest, and you cry for her, and for her little girl, and your little girl who will never meet her sister.
It's only when Esme finds out who Polly has seen and tells Tommy, that it is actually confirmed on paper. Anna had died in Australia when she was only a small child. Michael, however, is still alive, and in Britain.
Tension rises between Polly and Tommy when he refuses to tell her where Michael is, despite the fact that he has gone to visit the boy himself. It's so tense, that even Elizabeth begins to feel it. She has become sullen and withdrawn over the last few days, something that worries you greatly.
"Why isn't mummy talking to Tommy?" She asks one afternoon while the two of you play with her new dolls in her bedroom in the house Tommy bought you three. You pause as you try to figure out what to tell her.
"Mummy is upset that Tommy is keeping a big secret from her," is what you decide on. Elizabeth only looks more confused.
"What's the secret?" She questions.
"I don't know, sweetheart," you tell her, which is partly true, "Tommy won't tell me either."
"Do you think he'll tell me?"
"No, darling, it's an adult secret. It's best not to ask him about it when he takes you riding." She nods then, and goes back to playing.
---
The night of the Garrison reopening, you offer to mind all the kids at John and Esme's, as you're feeling too tired to drink at the pub tonight.
It's an uneventful night for you. The kids stay up for a while longer than they should, but eventually you get everyone into bed, and then collapse on the couch yourself, exhausted from trying to tire all five kids and a toddler out.
You wake to the sound of them running around and screaming, and a hand tapping you on the shoulder. You open your eyes to see Elizabeth standing over you while her cousins make a mess everywhere.
"Morning, mummy," she whispers, trying to keep quiet, despite the fact that she woke you up and her cousins are screaming at the top of their lungs behind her. You smile in amusement.
"Morning, baby," you reply, sitting up on the couch. Esme comes in then, telling the kids to go play outside instead of making so much noise in the house.
"You were sound asleep when we stumbled in last night," she chuckles, "John nearly fell down the stairs twice, and you didn't even move." You snort. You must have been more tired than you thought.
"How was last night?"
"Great fun. Thanks for looking after the kids."
"It's no problem," you assure her, before standing up and looking down at your daughter. "Shall we go home to mum?" She nods and takes your hand. You both bid Esme goodbye as you walk out the door.
Elizabeth skips the short distance to your home, keeping your hand in hers the whole time. It's only when you open the door that she lets you go, calling out "mum!" as she looks for Polly, who appears from the living room with a nervous smile. She mutters a quick "hi, love" to Elizabeth, then leads her into the room with a hand on her shoulder.
"Elizabeth, there's someone I'd like you to meet," you hear Polly say as you take your time following them. "This is your older brother, Michael."
That stops you in your tracks. Did Tommy finally give up his address? That doesn't sound like something he would do, especially considering Michael is only supposed to be 17. You finally round the corner, and you are greeted by the sight of a young man crouching down in front of your daughter with a big smile on his face, holding out his hand for her to shake. Elizabeth hides behind her mum, shyly, but still reaches out to shake his hand, making his smile grow bigger.
He stands up then, spotting you behind his mum. Polly turns and sees you as well. "Michael, this is my friend, Y/N. She lives with us."
You understand why she called you her friend. It's something you two have had to do for years, to avoid being attacked for it or be arrested, but it stings when Polly introduces you as her friend to her son. You two never lied to the boys or Ada when you began seeing each other, but they were raised to break rules and laws, so this law was nowhere near a big deal to them, and you were welcomed with open arms.
Michael was not raised the same way, though. He was not raised by criminals, and has probably never broken a law in his life, or had any trouble with the police. Going by his suit, bow tie and neat hair, you can imagine he was raised in the countryside, where life is more simple, no doubt. Saying that though, you can see a certain Shelby glint in his eyes as he takes in his surroundings; a calculating intelligence that you often see in Tommy.
"It's nice to meet you, Y/N." He holds his hand out to you as well, and you shake it firmly. His smile is not as big as it was when he was introduced to Elizabeth, but it's still there.
"It's nice to meet you, too, Michael."
---
You end up being right about Michael. He's a Shelby, through and through, fitting in with his cousins immediately. Within no time, he's got himself a job as an accountant for Shelby Company Ltd. and by all accounts, has even been in a bar fight at the Marquis of Lorne, something that Polly is unaware of. He's broken plenty of laws by now, both directly and through the company, and has taken to spending his nights out causing trouble with Isaiah.
Despite how well he has adapted into this lifestyle, though, Polly is still reluctant to tell him about your relationship. As far as he's concerned, you're just a family friend who lives with him, his mum, and his sister. It's starting to get to you now. After all, you and Polly are raising a child together. One that calls you 'mum' as much as she calls Polly it. That was quickly explained to Michael by saying that the two of you both decided to raise her and that you both just happened to receive the same title from her. He looked confused at that explanation, to the point where you started to wonder if he already figured it out, but he didn't question anything.
You even have to wake up earlier than everyone else to sneak out of Polly's bed and into the spare room that you're pretending is yours. Perhaps if you were younger and sleeping with a man, then it would be fun or exciting, but knowing that you're doing this to hide yours and Polly's sexualities, as well as your relationship, hurts more than anything.
One early morning, you're out of her bedroom at around 4. Instead of going straight to 'your' room, however, you find yourself heading to the kitchen. Most of the time when you wake up to switch rooms, you can't fall asleep again, either because you have to be fully awake to leave the room or because you're so used to sharing a bed with Polly.
Unsure of what to do at this hour, you fill the kettle up with water and put it on the stove to boil, hoping no one else wakes up from the noise. You watch it carefully, waiting to take it off before it starts whistling loudly. In your concentrated state, you don't hear someone else enter the kitchen.
"You're up early," the person murmurs. You jump, spinning around to see Michael standing in the doorway. He smiles apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's alright," you tell him, "did I wake you?"
"No, I only came in an hour ago."
"Out with the lads, were you? Not sure your mum will be thrilled when you're too tired to get out of bed in a few hours." He chuckles.
"It won't be too bad. Besides, I promised Elizabeth that I'd take her for a walk today." You laugh a bit at his choice to stay out so late.
"So there's really no chance of you sleeping in then," you joke, knowing full well that your daughter will stand by his bed and talk to him incessantly until he gets up and takes her for the promised walk. He nods with a small smile.
At this moment, the kettle begins to whistle. You take it off the stove before it can get too loud.
"Do you want some tea, or are you going back to bed now?" You ask, pulling out two cups, some sugar, and milk.
"I'll have some, please," he sits down at the table then. You pour the water into a teapot, then place it on a tray with the sugar, teacups, and milk, then bring it to the table. He's mostly silent after that, only speaking to tell you how many sugars and how much milk he wants. When both cups of tea are made, you both sit in silence, just sipping your tea and watching the sun rise.
Despite living together for a number of weeks now, you haven't actually spoken to Michael one on one. You usually leave Polly and Elizabeth to get to know him more, as they are his mum and sister. At the moment, you're just his mum's friend to him. That's why you have no idea what to say.
"I know about you and my mum," he finally blurts out, "you don't have to hide it from me."
Your eyes grow wide in surprise, but not for long. You've suspected it for a while, but never brought it up to Polly, knowing that it's her choice on how to handle this.
"You're quite clever, Mickey," you compliment, "I'm guessing you've known about us for a while, haven't you?" He nods.
"You two aren't that good at hiding it," he says, "and Elizabeth calling both of you 'mum' made it obvious." You have to agree with that one.
"Well, your mum was afraid that you wouldn't accept it, and that you'd leave her."
"I know," is his reply.
"Don't you think that it's time to tell her that you won't leave because of this?" He looks serious as he nods in agreement, something that makes you smile. "Then how about you sleep in for the morning and I take Elizabeth out for a walk instead? Give you and your mum a chance to talk about it."
"I will. Thanks, Y/N."
"Any time, Michael." You take the empty teacup from him, and get up to wash his and yours. "Now go get some sleep, for Christ's sake! Everyone will be waking up soon enough." He laughs, but gets up and heads to the doorway, but is still in earshot when you hear him mutter:
"God, it's like having another mum."