Disclaimer: I do not own anything Peaky Blinder related, that belongs to the series creator Steven Knight.
Some of you will have noticed that several chapters have disappeared, I decided to rewrite and explore what happened during the years that I originally planned to skip since the story felt lacking without them.
Chapter Seventeen: The Parker Women.
"You're going where?" Colleen asked not entirely sure that she had heard her mother currently, she stopped feeding her son and turned to face her with a frown on her face; she certainly hadn't expected this. Victoria had been home late the night before and Colleen had been rather annoyed since it meant that she couldn't go out with Peter; she hated being cooped up at home with baby Robert.
Rolling her eyes, Victoria continued to pack some things into a basket with a smile on her face; she wanted to help Rosemary out in anyway that she could. Times were hard right now and with a newborn in the house, Rosemary was going to need all the help that she could get if she was going to keep food on the table.
"I am going to Rosemary's house," Victoria repeated slowly, she often wondered what she had done wrong with Colleen to make her so spoiled; she had never worked a day in her life and expected everything to be handed to her on a golden platter. Both Rosemary and Yvette had started to work as soon as they could, they had done their parents and Victoria knew that times weren't going to get any easier the longer that the men were away. Ellen looked up from her breakfast, a curious look on her face surprised to hear that her mother and oldest sister were talking again; she had feared that things would never be fixed between them.
"I didn't think you were talking," Colleen sulked, a frown on her face knowing exactly what would have changed things; she had heard her big sister had given birth and she hated that it took attention away from her Robert. Victoria ignored Colleen, she wasn't in the mood to deal with her and she almost wished that Peter's parents would take her in; as much as she loved her daughter, she wanted to be the centre of attention all the time.
Poor Peter had been practically disowned by his family because he hadn't gone off to fight in the war and was doing nothing for the war effort. He was seen as an embarrassment to his family and Victoria had to admit that even she couldn't avoid the whispers about him as she walked down the street; there was no escaping what was said about him.
"Can I come?" Ellen piped in, she had heard about the new baby and she wanted nothing more than to see; it felt like forever since she had seen Rosemary as well. Yvette looked at her mother, she felt a great relief that everything had been sorted out; all that was missing now was for their father and Thomas to come home from the war.
"Of course, I am sure Rosemary and Kathleen would love to see you," Victoria encouraged with a smile on her face, she finished what she was doing and looked at her three daughters that still lived at home. A part of her was a little sad that soon she would likely have an empty nest, she could only imagine what the next few years would hold for her.
Ellen beamed at the answer, quickly finishing her breakfast before disappearing upstairs to get dressed; she didn't wish to keep her mother waiting too long. Victoria watched her go and smiled, she truly wished that Ellen didn't have to grow up; she had always been her baby and she wanted her to stay little forever.
The fact that her youngest daughter was fourteen only made Victoria wonder where all the time had gone; she now had two grandchildren and it was hard to believe that she was a grandmother. Yvette got to her feet and moved to get ready, she was going to go with them; she was rather excited about meeting her niece for the first time.
"She's so little," Ellen whispered in awe, she held Kathleen in her arms unable to take her eyes away from her; she hadn't been allowed to hold baby Robert when he had been born because Colleen wouldn't let her. Colleen had insisted that Ellen would only drop him and had refused point blank to let her hold him because of that; she had kept Ellen as far as possible away from the baby.
Victoria smiled moving around the kitchen as she prepared lunch for them, she had insisted that Rosemary rest since she'd been busy with the baby all night. It was strange being in the home that Rosemary shared with Thomas and Victoria very much doubted that they'd had much time to make memories here before he was shipped off to war.
"Any news from Thomas?" Victoria asked knowing that her son-in-law was fighting in a war that he might not come back from; she prayed every night that both he and Robert would come home safe. It was never going to be easy and she had feared just what might happen should her daughter be left a widow at such a young age; she had a child of her own to think about now.
"He expressed his joy at the news that we have a daughter… he wishes that he could come home to see us," Rosemary said thinking about the letter that had arrived that morning. She was sure that he had been thrilled that they had welcomed a daughter and she wished that he could come home now; she hated that things had worked out like they had.
Victoria sighed, there was so much going on that they didn't know about; the war was meant to be over by now but nothing seemed to be done yet. A war over by Christmas was what they had been promised, now it was the middle of May; there was no sign of an end nor that anyone was coming home.
"I pray that this is all over soon," Victoria said knowing that nothing would change, she could pray all she wanted but it wasn't going to bring her husband or son-in-law home. It was hard to believe that things had turned out this way, a part of her feared that she might never see Robert again and he wouldn't get to see his grandchildren; she had nightmares some days of what would happen.
The room was quiet for a moment, all of them thinking about the war that was going on; they had no idea just what was happening across the channel in France or the main continent. The papers kept things vague and anything that might be given away in letter was crossed out before they were delivered to the families.
"Where are you working?" Rosemary asked turning to face Yvette, she didn't want to think about the war or the idea that Thomas might not come home and never get to meet their daughter. Rosemary knew that if she thought too much about it then she was going to cry; she hated that there was nothing that she could do to help bring him home.
Yvette looked at her older sister, her job wasn't that important and she knew that it wasn't a lot; she was just trying to help making sure that they could still put food on the table. She knew that their mother had also taken up a job as a typist, the loss of their father's pay check was being felt and they had struggled with putting food on the table.
"It's just a cleaning job," Yvette said shrugging her shoulders, it wasn't anything special but it helped pay the bills and it was much more than anything Colleen was doing. Their sister sat around the house and expected everything to be done for her, she even expected their parents to pay for a house right now for her, Peter and Robert.
Something that wasn't going to happen while there was a war on and their father was away fighting.
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