Interminable Moonlight

1913

Tommy smoked another cigarette while he waited, his third or fourth since he'd parked himself on the stray bale of hay left by the cut. Greta didn't mind the smell on him, the bouquet of the cigarettes mixed with the cologne, but she didn't tolerate him puffing the smoke into the air between them. Truth was, neither one usually liked to have much of anything between them.

They'd missed meeting each other all week, had something come between them each and every night, and Tommy found himself anxious as he waited, his heartbeat picking up just at the thought of seeing her.

Tommy's book sat off to his side, discarded after he passed the first hour of waiting by reading through the same passage over and over, not a bit of it sticking. He watched the swirling waters of the canal instead, watched as the warm glaze of golden sunlight was replaced by the algid sheen of the silver moon.

Tommy flipped his collar up against the bitter wind, a shiver traveling the length of his spine as he wondered after the time. It was late enough that he couldn't have read anymore even if he'd wanted to, nothing more than the diffused moonlight reflecting off the water to help him distinguish his surroundings.

A scattering of pebbles let Tommy know he was no longer alone and he stubbed out the half-finished cigarette against the stone archway.

"Tommy?"

He smiled, eyes bright as the full moon above as she came through to him. Tommy pushed off the bale to meet her, his palms clasping over her face as he kissed her lips.

Greta pulled back when Tommy tried to push past the chaste peck she'd allowed. She placed her hands on his, pulling them from her face to fall in the space in between them.

Tommy searched her eyes and studied her face, deliberating whether the girl ought to be out by the cut on a cold night when she was pausing his advances, giving him wan smiles, and looking up at him with glossy eyes, her skin warm to the touch of his fingers.

Greta shivered and Tommy dropped her hands to rearrange the scarf around her neck.

"How are you feeling? Kitty said you were sick?"

"I'm fine, Tommy," she answered, taking over the scarf rearranging for herself. "Just needed a bit of rest."

"Three days worth," he said. "I was beginning to think you didn't like me."

Greta rolled her eyes and Tommy pulled her close again, his hand closing over her fingers as he pulled her to his chest. "You do still like me, eh Greta?"

"I still like you." Greta placed her hands around Tommy's neck, her gloved fingers tousling the hair at the back. "Though it doesn't much matter what I think since you've already charmed my mother. The woman goes around calling you 'that sweet Shelby boy.'"

Tommy hummed, his head and neck relaxing into her fingers as the tousling shifted to a tender kneading, Greta's fingers releasing the willful tension he carried there.

"Now, that's only because she doesn't know you're sneaking out in the moonlight to get yourself a green gown from that very same sweet Shelby boy," Tommy answered, a grand smirk overtaking his face and before he could come to a proper finish.

Greta cuffed him on the shoulder, using the other hand to hide her smile and the laughter which quickly dissolved into a fit of coughs.

Tommy sighed, catching her as she struggled to trounce the dry cough, doubling over as its persisted. He guided her to sit, pushing a loose curl from her face as she settled, studying her for another moment.

"Must be something going around," he mused. "The kids were laid up too."

It was why Tommy hadn't made it out earlier in the week, the relentless whining of the youngest Shelby's keeping him home far past their bedtimes as he supplied innumerable fairytales to their fever-addled brains, negotiated spoonfuls of off-putting tonics, and pacified the delirious outbursts until they were all too exhausted to continue.

"But they're better now?" Greta asked.

Tommy nodded. "Still playing at being sick though… Had to hold the baby's hand until she fell asleep tonight," he answered, shaking his head. "If you ever find yourself in need of a well-spoilt child, I know where to find two."

"And who's fault would that be?" Greta smiled at him, raising both eyebrows. "They're still babies, anyway. They should be doted on, should be made to feel loved. All little ones should."

"Maybe you're right," he allowed as he sat down beside her.

Any bother about it on Tommy's part was feigned, or at least overstated, because Tommy hadn't minded the week of Finn and Clara demanding his attention. He'd not once regretted being present to hear the twins' fevered professions of love or need. And something swelled in his chest each time Polly came down the stairs demanding he go up to deal with the overwrought twins who wouldn't settle for anyone other than him.

"I could've doted on you a bit if you'd let me." Tommy slipped his hand in hers and pulled it to his lips. "Held your hand until you fell asleep? Told you a few stories?" Made sure you felt loved? he thought to himself.

Greta met his eye and almost smiled before shaking her head. "You don't have time to be doting on me," she answered. "And my mother doted more than enough. Smothered is the more appropriate term. And she still won't let me be, had to wait until she went to sleep in order to get here."

Tommy shook his head at her, a smile playing on his lips. "Why am I not surprised you'd give that delightful woman such a hard time?" he asked.

"Delightful woman?" Greta laughed. "And that's why she thinks you're some sweet, innocent boy."

"You don't think I'm a sweet boy?"

Greta glanced at him. "I do," she answered. "Too sweet, which is why I had Kitty to tell you to stay away. You've got enough to worry about with the kids and the horses and–"

"And you think that means I wouldn't come sit by your side until you fall asleep?" he asked. "If you'd let me, I'd never leave your side."

"If you never left my side, one of us might commit a murder."

"Oh?" he said. "One of us?"

"Yes," Greta answered with a smirk, "I was referring to me."

"Well, how about just for tonight, then?" Tommy asked as he pulled her into his side, his arm settled around her shoulder as he pointed across the cut and through the trees. "I'll not leave your side 'til that moonlight dips below the trees, eh?"

"We'll see, my sweet boy," Greta answered, playing coy though she'd already settled her head against his chest, letting her eyes flutter closed as she listed to the sturdy beat of his heart, the steady cadence of his breath, and the lapping of water against the tow path's edge. Greta could tease Tommy all she wanted but in that moment their desires were the same, to sit there properly close, not a thing between them, under an interminable moonlight.