"Aunty Ross, Aunty Ross!"

I stopped staring out at the night sky and took a moment to quickly wipe the tears from my eyes before I spun around and gave Tommy a smile.

"There's my boy!" I said, leaning down and letting him jump into my arms and wrap his small legs around me. I stood up and twirled around with him for a second, but I stopped to look at him. "Let me look at you. You're bigger than I remember…heavier, too."

"No, don't put me down!" He begged, grabbing onto me a little tighter.

I laughed. "No, no, I won't, I won't. Where's your daddy, huh?"

"Behind you," the unmistakeable voice of James Darmody resounded behind us.

I turned around, but I couldn't believe it. James was in a very bad way. His eyes were puffy and dark, he hadn't shaved…just everything about him was a mess. I slowly walked over with Tommy resting on my hip.

"Hello, Rosslyn," he said and kissed me on the cheek.

I turned to Tommy. "How about I put you to bed now, Tommy? I'll tell you a story, okay?"

Tommy shook his head. "No, song!"

"A song? Sure, Tom-Tom. But you have to go to sleep straight after. Deal?"

"Deal!"

I sighed and looked at James. "Can we talk after?" He nodded in response and I gave a small smile then presented Tommy to him. "Wanna give daddy a kiss goodnight?"

Tommy leaned over to kiss his father on the cheek and then quickly retracted back to me, urging me to hurry up and get him to bed.

I helped Tommy brush his teeth and I got him changed into his pyjamas and then finally into bed.

"Song, song!" He clapped impatiently, sitting and wriggling under the covers.

"Lie down or you'll get nothing," I warned him and he quickly obeyed. "Okay, let's think…uh…alright, got one," I cleared my throat and began to sing: "If you were the only boy in the world".

I finished the song and Tommy looked up at me, smiling, and I leant down and kissed his forehead. "Close your eyes."

"Aunty Ross…mama can't come back, can she?"

"No, but I wish she could. Don't think about it now, Tom-Tom, just think about horses and meadows and waterfalls and streams and big, big trees. Goodnight, Tommy. I love you," I said, giving him another kiss.

"Love you, Aunty Ross," he whispered back and then closed his eyes.

As I turned and got up, I got a shock when my eyes fell upon a face in the crack of the door. It was the face of a man, a strange face, but it was also very calm. Once the man realised I was looking at him, he seemed embarrassed, but his face never showed it.

"I didn't mean to scare you, mmm... you sing beautifully," his voice was husky and deep; a strange, handsome voice. I was about to ask his name, but he walked off before I could say anything.

I looked back at Tommy when I got to the doorway, sighed, turned off the lights and walked out, closing the door. James was talking to someone in the lounge, so I followed the voices and found him talking to that strange man from before.

James, standing with a glass of whisky in his hand, said, "Want some, Rosslyn?"

"No, thank-you," I replied and I walked over and sat down on one of the chairs next to the fireplace, the man in the third chair in front of the glass cabinets. Now that there was more light in the room, I could see his face properly.

It was obvious he was once a handsome man, and still was if you didn't count the masked side, with jet black hair and healthy, yet somewhat scarred, skin. I knew he was looking at me and, as soon as I looked back at him, he would turn his face to the side or look down at the floorboards.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Richard, this is Rosslyn Harris, Angela's cousin and Tommy's Godmother, and Rosslyn, this is Richard Harrow, my business partner. He stays with us," James explained, sitting down and making us all fit in a triangle.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr Harrow," I said, nodding my hello.

Mr Harrow nodded back. "Tommy…he calls you Aunty?"

I smiled. "'Cousin once removed' is a bit of a mouthful… and Angela and I were closer than that anyway." At that, my smile faded and I turned to James. "What happened, James?"

James took another swig before answering. "A burglar shot her."

"Your nose just got longer."

James furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Pinocchio, you're lying to me. I see whisky, an expensive house and that you're armed. I can see what business you're in, and you dare sit there and lie to me about Angela," I said, staring him straight in the eyes.

"I didn't know school girls got an education on the liquor business," James replied coldly.

"Jesus, James, just tell me what happened."

"If you're smart enough to know what I do, then you can guess what happened, can't you?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. This was unbelievable. "I could, but I rather not guess because I don't like playing games with anyone but Tommy."

James just stared at me for a long moment, not at all intending to tell me the truth. He slowly got up and walked off to his room and called back: "It's late, Rosslyn, you should go to bed."

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I gave a small smile to the man sitting silently still left in the room. "Well, Mr Harrow, do you know where I'm sleeping?"

He responded by getting up and looking at me. "Come, I'll show you."

I followed him and he was about to pick up the bags I left near the front door, but I stopped him. "Please, don't trouble yourself. They're not that heavy."

"It's fine…I don't mind," he replied, avoiding eye contact and took my bags.

"Thank-you, then," I said as we resumed walking. He led me to a room just before the end of the hall and opened the room.

It was a mid-sized room with two single beds on either side, a mirror and a small window looking out at the beach. There were some old curtains held up in the centre, tied to each end of the room, making a sort of wall between both sides.

"I put new sheets on the bed for you," he motioned to the bed on the left side. "I imagined you to be much older and I thought, mmm…it wouldn't matter if we were sharing a room."

"Mr Harrow, I am fine sharing this room with you, but if you would like me to leave—"

"No, I don't mind. I just thought, mmm, you would be uncomfortable with…me," he said, still avoiding my gaze and it bothered me, but I just couldn't ask him about it.

"Why would I be uncomfortable?" I asked. "There's a curtain dividing us!"

"You must, mmm…not be used to seeing a face like mine."

I shook my head and fiddled with the curtain a little. "Your face does not bother me at all, if that's what you mean. A war wound, right? Well, all I can say is you were lucky not to have died."

He smiled at me and, for the first time looked me in the eyes, but only for a brief moment and then stood silent once more. I didn't really know what to do, so I feigned a yawn to at least break the silence.

"Goodnight, Mr Harrow, I'll see you in the morning," I said and he nodded and left the room.

As I lay in bed, I wondered what a strange man Richard Harrow was. The war had changed him, that was for sure but he still seemed a nice, young man. I didn't even hear him come back in and go to bed, I fell asleep that fast.

NO ONE'S POV

James had waited for Ross to leave the lounge to come back and pour him some more whiskey. He wished he could forget his pain with the brown liquid, but all it did was numb him and make him drunk. Even though Angela didn't love him, he loved her, loved her so much. Death was what he wanted; to be with her in Heaven. Who was he kidding? He'd never end up in that pious dump, he'd be in Hell and maybe she would be, too.

Richard came into the room and stood quietly while James drank his final drink for the night.

"Rosslyn," Richard said finally. "She seems older than she looks."

James hesitated for a second before answering. A happy memory came flooding back to him of Angela, Rosslyn, Tommy and himself together at the beach having a picnic. He began to stare in a dream-like state at the glass in his hand.

"Yeah, seems thirty when she's only… seventeen, eighteen? A kid anyway," he mumbled then looked at Richard, snapping out of his trance. "She's just finished school, you know. Angela was talking about inviting her up here to see the new place before…well, at least Tommy seems happier with her here."

"When is she, mmm, going home?" Richard asked, not knowing how to feel on that subject.

"I asked her to stay for a month, to look after Tommy and the house," James replied, rubbing his eyes.

Richard was a little confused. "I thought your mother would be looking after Tommy?"

James sighed, thinking about how his mother pulled his strings all his life; he didn't want that for Tommy. "Ross is Tommy's Godmother, and my mother isn't. Anyway, ma spends enough time with him already and Tommy loves Ross…he would have fun."

Richard thought for a moment. "She is, mmm…a good person then?"

"Practically a saint," James said, standing up, swaying a bit as he did so. "Smart as hell, too."

"I heard her sing before."

"Yeah, yeah; she always sings to Tommy—only thing that guarantees he'll sleep."

"You didn't tell me she was pretty, Jimmy."

James furrowed his brow. "Was I meant to? Don't tell me you're embarrassed!"

"We're sharing a room; what if she sees my face?"

"So what if she does? Richard, she ain't the type that cares," he sighed and felt the need for sleep. "I'm going to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

James left Richard feeling blue. He was nervous around all women, but he always had the escape of living away from them. With Rosslyn, he felt an instant attraction, but how could he hide himself with her living with him?