Disclaimer: I do not own anything Peaky Blinder related, that belongs to the series creator Steven Knight.
Chapter Six: No Longer a Parker.
Staring up at the house that she had grown up in, Rosemary felt ill at the idea of heading inside and speaking with her parents; she doubted that they were going to take the news well. She could just picture how they would react and Rosemary was thankful that she had brought Thomas with her; she didn't know for a moment how she would handle the task of telling her parents without him beside her.
Heading towards the front door, Thomas knew that this had the potential to end badly and he wished that there was something that he could do to spare Rosemary what was about to come. The door to the house swung open and Thomas had to raise an eyebrow at the sight of Colleen, he had always thought that Rosemary's younger sister was a bit of a busy body.
"What's he doing here?" Colleen hissed standing in the front door, she stared at Thomas like he was nothing more than dirt on the bottom of her shoes; she couldn't believe that Rosemary had the nerve to show up with him, especially after not coming home last night. They had all been worried sick and Victoria had been very close for sending for the police to have them tracked down her eldest daughter but Robert had stopped her.
"I need to speak with mother and father," Rosemary insisted feeling even more nervous about what she was about to do; she didn't need Colleen sticking her nose in and making the situation harder than it needed to be. There was silence for a moment as the two sisters stared at each other, neither backing down before Colleen pursed her lips and moved aside to allow Rosemary and Thomas into the house.
She shut the door behind them and wrinkled her nose as she stared at the back of Thomas's head; she didn't like this and she hoped that he'd be gone soon. Heading towards the living room, Rosemary felt even nervous when she spotted her mother and father; her heart pounded in her chest and she felt sick knowing that in a matter of moments things would implode.
"Where have you been?" Victoria shouted leaping to her feet and moving to approach her daughter before she saw who was behind her; she stared wondering just why Thomas Shelby was here when she had forbidden Rosemary to see him. Robert looked between the two as they stood before him and Victoria, he had a feeling that he already knew what this was about. It wouldn't have surprised him considering what was going on out there and they wouldn't be the only young couple to make such a mistake; he slowly reached for his wife and attempted to pull her back.
"We have been worried sick Rosemary," Victoria said staring at her daughter, she shrugged off her husband and stepped closer to the couple; she eyed Thomas wanting him gone so that she could focus on her daughter. She had no idea what Rosemary saw in him and she couldn't believe that her daughter had brought him home with her; she had never liked him and she had hoped that Rosemary would stay away from him.
"Thomas and I have something to tell you," Rosemary said trying to sound more confident than she felt, she squeezed Thomas's hand when he took it glad that he was here with her. The look that appeared on her mother's face scared Rosemary and she stepped back towards Thomas hoping that this wasn't going to end in tears so quickly. Colleen, Yvette and Ellen hovered by the door waiting to hear what would be said and quickly jumped as Victoria stormed towards them frightened that they would meet her wrath like Rosemary was about to do.
"Upstairs now," Victoria snapped sending the younger Parker daughters scrambling up the stairs and away from their angry mother who had quickly turned her attentions back to her eldest daughter. Rosemary flinched at the look that her mother gave her before Victoria leapt forward and started to hit Thomas; she stumbled back in fright unsure what was exactly going through the woman's head right now.
"How dare you get her pregnant!" Victoria screeched slapping Thomas, she almost felt pleased when the Shelby didn't try and stop her attack; she knew something like this would happen and she could imagine what people would say. It was only when Robert pulled his wife away, that the attack stopped and Thomas was thankful that he hadn't attempted to stop her; the last thing he needed was people saying that he had attacked her. Moving forward to make sure that Thomas was okay, Rosemary peeked towards her parents; she was sure her news might be a little better than what they had thought.
"Thomas and I eloped," Rosemary announced knowing that surely that would be better than her mother had imagined; she wanted them to understand her choices. Her words were greeted by silence and for a moment she wasn't sure that her parents had heard her at first; it was when her mother released a wail that she realised that there was no going back now.
Victoria stumbled away from Robert and collapsed onto the couch in tears, she couldn't believe this had happened; she should have known that something like this was going to happen. In the year since Rosemary had started courting, Victoria had done everything in her power to make sure that her daughter didn't fall into this trap.
She could do so much better than a Shelby and Victoria wished that Rosemary would have fallen more for a baker like Colleen had and had stayed far away from Thomas Shelby. Robert stared at his wife for a moment before he turned around to face Rosemary and Thomas; he didn't like seeing his wife and he could only see one option to fix this.
"I think you should leave now," Robert said firmly, he couldn't deal with this when he was due to leave for war and he knew that everyone would be talking about this when the news broke. Victoria was a proud woman and Robert wished that Rosemary could see how much her decision had hurt her; they had always wanted better for her and that didn't involve marrying Thomas Shelby.
His words shocked her and Rosemary had hoped that it wouldn't come down to this; she felt like the ground beneath her had just disappeared knowing that this was it. Victoria couldn't bring herself to look up as Rosemary and Thomas walked out of the living room; she buried her head in her hands as she wept alone for a moment.
She jumped a little as Colleen wrapped her arms around her in comfort; she leant into her daughter glad that at least someone listened to her when it came to things like this. Stepping back out into the street, Rosemary felt numb as she realised that this could be the very last time that she stepped out of her childhood home.
The door was shut firmly behind them as she and Thomas stood in the street, neither of them having expected things to happen so quickly; they had at least hoped that Victoria and Robert would listen to them. Rosemary couldn't help but start crying, she hadn't thought they would just ask them to leave; she had wanted to explain her decision to them.
Wrapping his arms around Rosemary as she cried, Thomas held her close wishing that went better than it had; he had never wanted things to work out this way. He had even hoped that Robert and Victoria would come to see how much he cared about Rosemary and that he wanted the best for her.
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