AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry guys this is a super short chapter, but I wanted to get it out to you. We are coming up on the last few chapters of the story and I'm digging into how everything is going to come together. I should have a child free week coming up and am hoping to get a large chunk of writing done during that timeframe. With things coming to a close let me know if there is anything specific you'd like me to address with regards to characters or plot lines. Thanks for hanging in there with me on this, I'm both excited to be finishing the story up and yet sad that it's going to come to an end.

Chapter 37

Vatulele Island - Fiji

Aoife POV

She listened to the patter of the rain drops as they fell in a soothing chaotic rhythm. At some point Tommy had risen and opened the doors to the veranda allowing a gentle cooling breeze and petrichor to enter the hut. As she came further awake she slowly stretched out and enjoyed the moment of peace. Opening her eyes she surveyed the room and found Tommy sitting in a side chair by the open door staring out into the distance of the island tropics.

His lean form relaxed back into the chair, bare to her eyes aside from the skivvies he'd dawned. A glass of amber fluid, she assumed to be whiskey on the side table next to him and a cigarette dangling from between his lips. She had to admit that while she would have preferred for him to still be in bed with her, she enjoyed the view he presented very much.

She thought about what he'd said earlier... what he imagined his future to look like. She took a moment to imagine waking up just like this to find Tommy staring out a window in their bedroom. His mind lost in thought as she studied his every nuance to her hearts content. Him framed in the soft muted lighting of an english morning. She had no idea what she would do to occupy herself on the ground but she felt like it didn't matter as long as she got to wake up to this view every day.

She enjoyed the moment, as it highlighted the things she loves. The sound, smell and atmosphere of a steady rain. The comfort of a warm bed and a feather pillow with a light cooling breeze drifting gently across her exposed skin. The view of the man she loves relaxed, enjoying his vices and caught in his own thoughts. She continued to gaze even as her own thoughts began to wander and take her to another place and time, only returning when the low soft sound of Tommy's voice drifted to her.

"Where are ya?"

..."Hmmm."

"You're awake but you're not here."

"Hm. Just contemplating... a possibility."

"... a possibility?"

"Mm. The possibility of continually waking to a similar view in the future."

"... And do you find the view to be acceptable?"

"I find the moment in its entirety to be exceedingly pleasant and the view to be quite lovely."

"...Lovely..." By the softness and slight twist in the tone of Tommy's voice she knew he was tossing the word around in his head, contemplating it for some reason.

Tommy POV

He continued to watch Aoife while he thought about what she'd said. He knew she wanted an explanation from him when she lifted a single brow at him in question.

"I don't know... that anyone... has ever used the word lovely in regard ta me."

"Would you prefer I choose a different word?"

"...No... did you find the possibility ta be lovely as well?"

"The possibility is alluring... I find that this is my second favorite way to awaken."

Tommy felt one of his own brows raising at her response, he took one last drag from his cigarette and set it into the dish by his side. "...Second... what would be your first?"

He watched as the smirk he'd become quite fond of appeared on her lips as the answer to his question ran through her thoughts. Her voice a pitch softer, flowing through him like silk between his fingers.

"It's second because my favorite way to waken, is in your arms."

Tommy took a moment to take her in as he absorbed her words. Her head supported on his pillow as strands of her hair wavered gently around her face as the breeze from outside drifted over her. A single thought running through his mind. They needed ta talk.

Aine POV

She stared at the small envelope in her hands, running her fingers over the edges and putting off opening it. Shortly after Alfie had carried her back to the hut he'd stepped out before the rain to find Celeste and request more tea for her. Incidentally Celeste had showed up at their door, envelope in hand, the answer to her question in her grasp.

She'd hidden the envelope before he'd returned and now he was sitting out on the veranda enjoying his book and the rain, trying to give her some quiet so that she could rest. Except she couldn't and she knew that the easiest way to alleviate her anxiety was just to open the envelope and face whatever was inside. But she was...afraid.

Staring at the envelope in her hand she thought of how the contents could potentially change everything. She and Alfie would need to get married sooner than she planned, hell she'd be someone's mother sooner than she'd planned. Taking a deep breath she pictured Aoife standing there telling her to open the damn thing already and get it over with. The sooner she knew the contents the sooner she could make a decision about what needed to happen next.

Alfie POV

He could make out the sound of Aine moving around inside as he stared out over the waves crashin' against the shore through the pourin' rain. The rain was cool but thankfully not the cold rain they typically got in England. It was rather nice especially after the heat they'd been havin' on the island.

He debated wit himself on whether to go inside and see what was keeping Aine from restin'. Unsure of if there was anythin' he could do to help her relax. He had a feelin' she was workin' herself up about the possibility of bringin' a lit'l one inta the world just yet. They hadn't even discussed the subject together aside from an offhand comment about how neither one of them was ready for kids until later in life. Granted he knew he wasn't gettin' any younger but they both still had time before either one of them was too old.

He continued to stare out at the ocean before him. The thought runnin' through his head that if she was, well then that would be that. Life didn't run on the timetables and desires of individuals, and while they had been careful in their encounters, if it happened, then it happened for a reason. Even if he didn't know the reason himself.

Alfie closed the book that he'd lost interest in and started to stand when he heard Aine's voice callin' for him from just inside the door. He turned slightly to see her standin' lookin' down at a slip a paper in her hand. Aine's expression was unreadable as she held it out ta him. He studied her a moment more before reading what it said.

Bastien POV

Bastien reread the letter that Grace had asked Carrick to deliver. He'd retrieved it before the meeting he'd had with Aoife and Shelby. He'd told the boy that Grace had simply asked the man for assistance and that he'd be able to locate her in Small Heath. That the letter had mentioned nothing about Thomas or any of the Shelby's, so it appeared the letter had no relevance to the man.

He hadn't particularly been fond of the girl when she'd been involved with his grandson, no specific reason, simply a disinterest in her personality. When he'd been informed of their relationship Carrick had spoken with him of her past in New York and while he had taken a cursory look into it there hadn't been any red flags. The single time he hadn't bothered to dig deeper into a person that got close to one of his own.

He was aware of how she'd left the ship and his Grandson. He remembered that he hadn't really been all that surprised by it. She'd never seemed to, well... fit. Though he had been angered that her parting actions had caused danger to fall on his grandchildren. Thankfully they were protective of each other and capable of dealing with such matters.

It was when he learned that this Shelby had a history with Grace that he realized his granddaughter truly and deeply cared about the man. He knew she had to, in order to overlook that fact about him. So it was with a silent resigned sigh that he accepted Thomas Shelby was going to become one of his own.

He sat and listened to the boys current predicament and his solution for it. He had been rather impressed with how detailed and thought out it was. Shelby certainly had an intelligent mind, he wondered briefly what the boy would have been had his circumstances in life been better. If they had been he somehow doubted that he would have been strong enough to live through and overcome what he'd been through in the war though. Everything in life makes a person who they are.

So both his granddaughters would be continuing on the family tradition of choosing men who were more sinners than saints. He was a sinner himself, he understood that even devils need the love of the right woman. And sinners knew that you had to get your hands dirty from time to time in order to get the job done. A man that would kill for his business, would have no qualms about killing to keep his family safe.

So he had agreed to help the boy with his plan.