𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫
⁂
"𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥"
Lola still hadn't talked to Thomas and she didn't plan on it.
If he needed to speak to her he could start the conversation.
That was one thing Lola had always been told she was good at. Holding a grudge. Of course, she would usually forgive the person within minutes or hours but she refused to be the first person to speak after an argument.
The exception to this was only her Aunt Polly and Jack.
She hated arguing with them anyway so she'd be apologising within hours.
Lola and her aunt Pol were gathering their things, Lola trailing behind while she mumbled complaints about wanting to go back to bed.
John had ordered a family meeting in the garrison and Polly was the one dragging her to it.
Lola begged for her aunt to go without her and just tell her the news when she came home but she refused, arguing that if she was part of the family, she would attend the meetings.
She followed her aunt into the den where she stood next to Tommy, Lola began to feel incredibly awkward the minute she saw him.
"It's a good day," Polly stated, flicking through the books and Lola stood swaying on her feet awkwardly.
"Where is John?" Tommy questioned.
Lola let out a small sigh of boredom before turning her attention to the woodwork on the table.
"John is in the garrison. He says he wants a meeting about a family matter" her aunt explained as she put her coat on.
"After he's said his piece he'll come back and take his place with Scudboat." his aunt reassured him as she put her hat on.
Polly walked off and it took a few seconds for Lola to realise so she did a sort of awkward shuffle-run to catch up with her.
"Scudboat? John will be here in ten minutes." Polly told the man as she walked out the door.
"All right" the man grumbled in response.
"Five" Tommy muttered, following the pair out the door while Lola, unbeknownst to him pulled a funny face and mimicked his words.
⁂
Lola threw herself down in the middle of Arthur and Finn before sighing loudly as Polly set her things down on the table.
She let a yawn out and her head fell onto her own shoulder as her eyes slowly began to close before she was shoved roughly on her shoulder.
"Oi! What was that for?" she looked at Arthur, incredibly annoyed
"Keep ya bloody eyes open" he chuckled, ruffling the girl's hair.
"All right John, only one man is guarding the house," he stated, while refusing the whiskey Arthur offered him.
"What's troubling ya?" Tommy asked, trying to seem as interested as possible even though they all knew he didn't care.
"Polly, you know what it's been like since Martha died." John began and Lola felt bad at the way she whined and begged her aunt not to come to the meeting since it was clearly a serious one.
"God takes the best first," Polly reassured him, placing a comforting hand on top of his own.
"Truth is, my kids, have been running bloody rings around me," John admitted, looking down while Lola looked at him sympathetically.
"Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours" John continued.
"Pol give him ten bob for some shoes and we can send Lola to do babysitting when she can," Tommy said, dismissively.
Lola scoffed at her brother and the lack of sympathy he showed, also at the fact he'd just basically offered to take all her freedom away.
"Is that all, John?" Tommy asked.
"Tommy, it would be better to do this without you!" Polly cut him off sharply, much to Lola's amusement.
"Now what's your point?" Polly levelled with John.
"What the kids need is a mother, which is why I'm getting married," John told them.
Lola raised her eyebrows and turned to look at Finn in pure shock, Finn doing the exact same thing.
"Does this poor girl know you're going to marry her, or are you just going to spring it on her all of a sudden?" Polly asked, seemingly quite shocked as well, but keeping her composure.
"I've already proposed, and she said yes" John explained, with a sigh.
"I think there's a shell about to land and go bang," Tommy said, lighting his cigarette.
Lola turned to Finn and mouthed the words "idiot" to him and Finn stifled a laugh at his sister's childish behaviour.
"It's er... it's Lizzie Stark," John admitted.
The smug smile dropped off of Lola's face and her mouth flew open looking at John in disbelief, trying to look as supportive as she could.
The room erupted with laughter from everyone, except her and John who looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
"John! Lizzie Stark is a strong woman and I'm sure she provides a fine service for her customers" Polly began, a smile still on her face.
"I won't hear the word! Understand? Do not use that word! John warned. Lola's shocked expression remained stuck on her face.
"What word is that John?" Tommy asked, trying to rile him up.
"You know what word that is" John grumbled.
"Everybody bloody knows!" Arthur interjected.
"Everybody can go to hell!" John fumed.
"Whore? That word? Or prostitute? How about that one?" Tommy carried on.
"Right. I want it known. If anyone calls her a whore again, I will push the barrel of my revolver down their throats, and blow the words back into their hearts." John threatened.
Lola's mouth finally closed and she shrugged at John before scowling at Thomas, which he did actually catch so she looked down at her lap quickly.
"Men and their cocks never cease to amaze me. John, Lizzie Stark has never done a day's work vertical!" Polly reasoned.
"She's changed" John defended and Lola felt she was slowly going insane so she laid her head onto Finn's shoulder and groaned quietly.
"People change! Like with religion!" John stood from his chair.
Lola didn't really care that it was Lizzie Stark John was marrying she just didn't really understand why he chose her.
There were plenty of other women in small heath that would go out with him but he chose her.
She figured it wasn't her place to figure it out though so she pushed it to the back of her mind.
"Lizzie Stark has got a religion, eh?" Tommy asked.
Finn smirked at his sister and moved over to whisper something in her ear. "I bet she gets down on her knees a lot but I doubt it's for praying" he laughed.
"Finn!" Lola whacked his arm, trying to hold back her laughter as she tuned back into what they were saying.
"Now listen, Tommy. I won't do it without your blessing. But of all the people in the world, I want you to see it as brave" he told his brother, holding onto his arm.
"Oh, it's brave all right." Arthur chucked to himself.
"Well, brave is going somewhere no man has ever been before and with Lizzie Stark, John that's not what you'll be doing." her aunt started laughing again, as well as Finn and Arthur.
"All right you three shut up now" Lola said, smiling slightly.
"Listen, Tommy, welcome her into the family. As somebody who has had a hard life, all right. Because I need someone." John pleaded and guilt set into Lola's chest and she tilted her head slightly at the pair.
"The kids need someone."
The moment was interrupted by Scudboat, all bloodied and beat up.
"What the fucks happened!" Polly exclaimed as she shot up out of her seat.
"The fucking bastards broke in and took some shit" he hissed in pain while Tommy ordered Harry to clean him up and the family went down to the den to look at what had happened.
⁂
Lola and Finn stood at the back of the room together as they watched their brothers and Polly look around to figure out what exactly had been stolen.
"Do you think we'll ever know a day's peace?" Lola asked, sighing slightly.
"In this family? I doubt it." Finn chuckled.
Lola watched as John kicked the pile of paper that had been strewn across the floor in a fit of rage. Lola couldn't blame him though, the poor man was having a shit day.
⁂
Scudboat was now sat in from of them, looking slightly less bloody and in pain than he did.
"What the bloody hell happened then?" Arthur asked, leaning against the desk.
"The Lees. All of them. Cousins, nephews, even their bastards." he grumbled.
"They've taken everything they could get their hands on" Polly sighed, putting her head in her hands as Lola put a hand comfortingly on her shoulder.
Tommy stood in front of them holding a pair of wire cutters. "They left these."
"Why would they leave wire cutters?" Polly questioned, standing up from her seat.
"Nobody move" Arthur interrupted.
"I think our friends are playing the game," Tommy told Arthur and John.
Not only was Lola completely confused, she was hungry, tired, and annoyed.
She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.
"So are you going to tell us what's happening or what?" Lola spoke, coming across as ruder than she intended to be.
Polly had started to walk out of the room, Lola was about to do the same when John put his hand in front of her quickly.
"Aunt Pol! Don't touch anything!" John said firmly.
"Erasmus Lee was in France" Tommy explained, looking around the room.
"Shit!" Scudboat yelled which only added to the young girl's anger.
"Is anyone going to explain?" Lola asked again, slightly louder this time as Finn hummed in agreement.
"Whenever we gave up ground to the Germans, we'd leave behind traps, set up with wires. We'd leave wire cutters as part of the joke" Tommy said, slowly.
"Oh Christ" Lola sighed looking directly at her aunt for guidance.
"Somewhere in here is a hand grenade" John put it more simply.
"Holy Jesus" Polly whispered.
"Attached to a wire" Arthur added as they all began to look around, Polly, Lola, and Finn all stayed in place.
"Don't move any chairs, or open any doors," Arthur said in a low voice.
"Go easy, John boy, go easy," Arthur added as he looked around carefully in the area.
"No," Tommy said suddenly.
"Boys, no. It's not in here." Tommy sighed.
"If it was in here it would be blown by now. It was my name in that bullet Erasmus sent. He set up a trap, all right. But he set it up just for me." Tommy spoke, surely and knowingly before he ran out of the room.
⁂
As it turned out, the hand grenade was in the door of Tommy's car.
Nobody was in there and nobody got hurt which was good, however, Lola couldn't shake the anger that filled her.
If someone had been in that car, John or Arthur, or even Finn, they would have died.
For no good reason.
They were constantly in danger.
Nowhere was ever fully safe.
⁂
Once again, Lola had been dragged from her usual everyday activities and was standing next to John in the den.
The quiet chatter of everyone came to a halt when Tommy stood in front of everyone and held up a piece of paper with a bright smile on his face, a smile that people rarely saw since Tommy returned from war.
Of course, all of her brothers had changed since the war, for Tommy however, it was like a switch had been flipped and any happiness and joy in anything had been drained out of him.
When Tommy had left for war it had only been a few weeks after his girlfriend at the time, Greta who was a kind girl with a good heart passed away
They were happy together. Tommy laughed, he was empathetic, and he was happy.
When Greta had fallen ill Tommy didn't leave her bedside, knowing that he was risking his life just being there.
He was there every day for three weeks, watching the woman he loved getting closer and closer to death every day.
Truthfully, that was the beginning of Tommy's downfall.
However the weeks after she passed, Tommy was sad, and he pushed everyone away.
It was surprising to Lola that she remembered so much given how young she was but she guessed the reason she remembered all the details was because that was all she had to hold only for the four years her brothers were away.
When Tommy came back from the war, the sadness transformed into anger and the was the only emotion he seemed to feel anymore and so seeing such a bright smile on her brother's face made Lola's heart swell with happiness.
"Gentlemen." he began, quickly stopping when he saw the scowl on Lola's face.
"And ladies" he added, gesturing to both Polly and Lola.
"I have in my hand, a legal betting license, issued by the beard of control." he grinned.
"The Shelby family has its first legal racetrack pitch" he said finally.
The room broke out into cheers and applause as Lola smiled brightly at Tommy from the wall she was leant against, knowing how much Tommy had wanted this.
She watched as all her brothers and Polly hugged, smiling softly before Arthur dragged her to join.
Lola only could hope that this would make all the business her family was involved with, run more smoothly now things were beginning to become legal.
⁂
The night had fallen after an extremely long day, well after the news that the family had received that morning she didn't actually do anything but she still felt that she had the right to be tired after all the things that had happened in the last week. Lola was lying in her bed, her mind running through a million thoughts at once.
She turned around quickly when she heard her door open, figuring it would be Polly making sure she was going to sleep but her eyebrows raised when she saw Tommy walking through the door
"Are you okay?" Tommy asked, taking a seat on the end of her bed.
Well, Tommy had broken the no-speaking rule so she was free to say whatever she wanted to.
"Yeah, I'm fine" she whispered, not having the energy to respond with many words.
"Lola, you were right the other day, look I do things, bad things, that you don't understand. But I do it for us. For this family. I admit, I'm not always the most level-headed person but I do this so that I can see you grow up and raise your family the way that we weren't." Tommy said, looking her directly in the eyes, Lola was slowly becoming more and more aware of every detail on her brother's face, every freckle, every scar.
"I know, Tom. It's just hard to watch" Lola whispered.
Tommy didn't say anything just looked at her for a minute or two before turning away and sighing.
"John getting married tomorrow," he told the girl.
"What? Christ has he got her pregnant? Is this why this is all happening so fast?" Lola sat up in her bed and looked at Tommy with a serious look.
"No. No, Lizzie isn't pregnant. John is marrying one of the Lee sisters." Tommy put it simply, looking down at his sister with no emotion.
"Does he know?" Lola sighed, already knowing the answer.
"No, he doesn't know," Tommy told her, organising the school papers that were sprawled out messily on her desk.
"Okay," Lola spoke, her voice cracking slightly.
"Goodnight Lo," Tommy said, making his way to the door of the girl's room.
"Night Tom" Lola whispered before turning around a closing her eyes.
⁂
The next morning, Polly burst into the girl's room and threw open her curtains.
"Oh god pol it's a bit bright" Lola groaned, covering her head with her pillow.
"Oh shut up, and put this on be downstairs in twenty minutes" Polly ordered, throwing a light blue dress onto the bed.
Once Lola had gotten dressed, brushed the knots out of her hair, and made herself look somewhat presentable she dragged herself downstairs and into the kitchen where Finn and Polly sat eating their own breakfast.
"You look nice" Polly commented as the placed a piece of toast in from of the girl.
"Thanks" she spoke, muffled by the toast she was already scoffing after letting it touch the plate for less than a second.
"Don't speak with food in your mouth" Polly slapped the back of her head and Finn let out a snort, making the girl glare at her brother.
"Right hurry up, we will be late" Polly said, putting the girl's shoes at her feet for when she'd finished eating.
"Who even gets married this early in the morning? Weirdos," she commented, shaking her head.
"This is a reasonable time actually you're just used to being lazy and not getting out of bed until lunchtime" Finn replied snarkily.
"Shut up, freak" Lola said as she pushed him out of the door.
"You two will be the death of me one day" her aunt said, shaking her head, hiding the grin that slowly took over her face.
"You love us really" Lola teased, patting her aunt on the shoulder.
She only hummed in response, knowing she couldn't argue the fact.
⁂
Once they'd got to the Lee camp, John was already kneeling down on a box at the head of the makeshift aisle and so Polly had the three of them stand next to Thomas at the back.
Lola wasn't paying much attention before John's new wife came out, finding more interest in her surroundings and where she was.
However, she was snapped out of her thoughts when Finn hit her shoulder and nodded his head in the direction of a girl who had just kneeled down next to John.
Lola didn't see the girl's face, which annoyed her and she began stepping on her tip-toes and bending her neck in weird ways, earning her some weird looks from people in the Lee family while Tommy just moved behind her and forcefully pushed her down onto her feet.
Lola didn't have time to protest when she noticed someone had stood next to her, she turned her head, expecting it to be the bride's mother or something but a grin found its way onto the girl's face when she saw her sister, smiling down at her.
Ada brought her into a side hug, trying to be as discreet as they could, while the ceremony was going on.
Tommy moved over and stood next to Ada, them falling into conversation while Lola turned her attention back onto the wedding.
Lola watched intensely as the girl lifted the veil off her face and John turned to look at her.
Lola just hoped this would all work out well for everyone and be a good thing for John and his children.
Lola watched as Johnny cleared his throat and began to speak.
"We're here today to join in matrimony, this man and this woman. So that they can live a life of peace and harmony and togetherness" Johnny began and Lola scoffed slightly at the words knowing none of that was likely to come true for the pair.
"Which is sanctioned and honoured by the presence, and power of these two families around us." Johnny dragged on as Lola looked around at the Lee family, quietly observing them.
"Do you, John Michael Shelby take Esme Martha Lee to be your beautiful wife? To have and to hold through sickness and health until death do you part." Johnny spoke in his thick accent.
"I do" John spoke, loudly and confidently, not letting the shock of the situation affect the way he came accros to everyone else.
Both Lola and Finn lost interest in listening to whatever was being said and slowly started whispering about whatever came to mind until the loud applause cut them off, meaning they were officially married.
⁂
As the night went on, the celebrations continued, the singing got louder and the people got drunker.
Lola watched as Ada spun around on the grass, laughing and smiling at everyone around her.
"Christ" Lola whispered to herself as she made her way over to her.
"Ada! Ada come and sit down I've got so much to tell you!" Lola said, excitedly knowing full well that nothing interesting had happened, just trying to keep her sister and her baby-servant safe.
"Oh come on! Tell me while we dance!" Ada shouted, pulling her sister in and spinning her around quickly.
"Ada please can we sit down my feet hurt" Lola begged, doing everything she could to convince her to stop dancing.
Soon enough, nearly her whole family was trying to get Ada to sit down as Lola stood a few feet back, running her hands through her hair knowing this wouldn't end well, considering that Ada was still a get at her family, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.
"Come and look Esme! Look at the family you've joined! Come and look at the man who runs it!" Ada shouted, pushing Tommy back as John and Esme stood up.
"He chooses his brother's wives! He hunts his own sister down like a rat and tries to kill his brother-in-law! Ada continued, getting louder as she went.
"And now he won't even let me have a dance at a wedding" Ada finished, looking like she was going to cry as Lola went over to try to calm her down.
"Ada calm down" Lola whispered, rubbing her back comfortingly.
Ada doubled over, beginning to sob and she took shallow breaths as both Lola and Polly tried to help her, not fully understanding what was wrong until the the sound of water hitting the ground was heard.
"Holy shit. Water. Right." Polly spoke frantically.
"Not now Ada!" John shouted.
"Blood hell Ada, you do pick your times" Arthur grumbled.
Lola and Arthur followed John and Esme to the car, Lola doing her best to catch her breathe after the shock of it all.
⁂
When they'd arrived outside of the house, Lola rushed out the car and stood still for a few seconds to try and push away the nausea from the way John had sped down the road.
Lola followed Esme into the house as her aunt went out to speak to Tommy.
When Polly came back into the room, her and Esme checked on the baby and Polly tried to get her to push as Lola stayed by her, whispering words of encouragement and reassurance into her ear.
Lola pretty much blacked the whole Birt out, she just stayed by her, telling her it would be okay, trying to block out the agonizing screams that made her heart break more and more every time.
Lola sat and smiled at the sight of Ada and Freddie smiling down at their baby.
Esme had gone to get the door when they heard the knock and the happiness in the room was soon drained as they watched in horror as Freddie was dragged out by the police while Ada begged and pleaded for them to stop.
Polly walked out the house without saying a word, leaving Lola and Esme to console the hysterical girl.
I think it's kind of obvious that I got bored towards the end of the chapter🥲🥲