Peace would never come easy. Everyone who was in this business knew that; Tommy, Arthur, Finn, Marguerite, Olivia, Alfie Solomons. They all knew that.
But those few moments of peace became more frequent. They were no longer rare. They were even common now. There was a strange clarity in Tommy's mind. No Campbell, no Changretta, no Sabini, no puppeteering and parading through the halls of the House of Commons, no.
No, it was the halls of his Manor that he wandered now, huffing in annoyance as his daughter scurried around through large rooms, Marguerite giggling beside him.
And there was music and laughter. There was Ada pouring Arthur a beer because he decided he wanted to be more sober, more calm, more at peace than he used to be. There was Olivia getting everyone to like jazz, even Tommy.
And there was love.
Not a perfect love, not ideal. Complex and sometimes limited, but it was unrequited and passionate.
Oh, how beautiful that love was.
A love not only dispersed on white linen bedsheets at night or heavy oak desks at midday after lunch, but in the soft starry gazes and sincere smiles. And to see Tommy smile was a gift. A real gift.
...
"Tommy, my love," whispers Marguerite, her head spinning slightly as she awakes from her dizzy, euphoric slumber. Small hands are pounding at the door of her and Tommy's bedroom.
He groans, pressing his face against her bare stomach as they shuffle under the light bedsheets.
"Mary!" bellows Tommy, his lips still lingering on his wife's body, who in turn giggles.
Mary, their housekeeper, runs to pry the young Shelby daughter away from her parent's locked doors. She protests, but lets herself be led away, leaving Marguerite and Tommy chuckling in their vulnerable, exposed state on their large bed.
"Fuck the work tonight, Maggie. I'm staying here," states Tommy, stroking her bare shoulders with his coarse, rough fingers.
Marguerite hums in return, running a hand through his hair as he lowers his lips further down her stomach.
To think that she now had a family life, a real family life, although unconventional, with this gorgeous brute of a man, was magnificent to her.
All in all, her sacrifices had not been in vain.
And her heart was full of love for this beautiful criminal.
Her own gentle devil,
Thomas Shelby himself.
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