Elizabeth did her best to keep her eye on Tommy as the weeks passed and he stepped up his efforts in an attempt to become an MP for the Labour party. She had tried to get him to rest for longer, but he had insisted that he didn't need rest. He needed to go out and be busy. It was who he was. On the nights when he came home late, he would go and check on his daughter, standing in the doorway to her bedroom and looking at her, his eyes set on her sleeping form.
Tommy couldn't quite believe how quickly his daughter was growing up. She was turning into a proper young lady. He never thought that he would have a daughter as polite and well mannered as Charlotte. When he had been younger he had assumed that his daughter would end up like Esme had done when she was a young girl. She had been a tearaway; completely untameable. Then again, Tommy thought, nothing had really changed. She had just matured slightly.
But, with Elizabeth as a mother, he knew that Charlotte wouldn't be like Esme. When Tommy had met Elizabeth she had been nothing like his family. She had been upper class. She came from a household where she had been raised to have manners and act courteous. Of course, she had changed since then, but she still had the same values. The difference now was that she wasn't scared of voicing her own opinion. He hoped Charlotte would be the same. He hoped that he was doing right by her.
Standing in the doorway, Tommy watched as Charlotte held her pillow in one hand and breathed shallowly, sleep enveloping her. Elizabeth stood down the landing by their bedroom, leaning against the doorway and looking at her husband as he closed the door to Charlotte's bedroom. Folding her arms over her chest, Elizabeth smiled to him as he looked down the landing to see her stood there. Her hair hung loose over her shoulders and her white shirt was tucked into her flowing red skirt.
"You are home late," Elizabeth commented in a whisper as he approached her slowly.
"I 'ad business," Tommy said and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. "How was yer day?"
"Good," Elizabeth nodded and moved into their bedroom, Tommy following her and removing his suit jacket from his body. Tossing it onto the chair in the corner, he watched Elizabeth sit at her dressing table and pick her brush up, tugging it down her hair. "I took Charlotte to the park with your Aunt Pol. She asked if you could come next time. She is noticing that you are working a lot more."
"She wants to be with me?" Tommy checked and Elizabeth rolled her eyes, spinning on the chair to face him. He sat on the bed, hands clasped in between his legs.
"You are her father, Tommy," Elizabeth said. "She…I told you that she would forget what she saw that day. She is young and she knew you were ill."
"I know," Tommy said. "I just remember seeing my father in ways I don't want to remember. I know yer said she would forget, but I don't forget what he was like. Yer know it is difficult, Liz. I want her to be proud."
"She is," Elizabeth said. "You are not your father, Tommy. You had a bad period for a few weeks, but you were ill."
"I know," Tommy said with a nod and then shrugged, moving to light up a cigarette. "Still find it difficult, Liz."
"You do not need to," she promised him, moving to sit besides him, her hand going to hold onto his thigh as he blew a puff of smoke away from her and she leant her head on his shoulder. "Just try not to work too late all of the time. It would be nice if you could join us at dinner one night."
"I will," Tommy promised her. "But not tomorrow night. I 'ave to travel down to London in the morning and I'm not goin' to be back until late. I 'ave a meetin'."
"And what meeting would this be?" Elizabeth enquired as Tommy stubbed out his cigarette in the tray by the side of his bed, hands going to his hips as he remained stood up and his wife seated. Leaning back slightly, Elizabeth let her hands stretch behind her body and hold her weight up, brows arching as she waited for her husband to respond to her.
"I 'ave the names of members in the Communist Party from Jessie Eden. I am takin' them to Westminster tomorrow and I am goin' to make my move," Tommy informed his wife. "I should 'ave an endorsement by the party by the end of tomorrow."
"You met with Jessie tonight?" Elizabeth checked with her husband.
"I did," Tommy nodded once. "She believed me when I told her that I wanted to 'elp."
"Why did she believe you?" Elizabeth wondered from him. "I know that you intended to talk with her, but I never thought that she would actually give you the information. The two of you have been nothing but curt to each other."
Tommy chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, looking away from his wife for a moment as she kept her gaze settled on him, wondering exactly what was going to happen.
"I can be quite convincing," Tommy informed his wife and her eyes widened.
"Excuse me?" she checked with him. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Tommy's smile remained on his face and he went to sit down next to Elizabeth again, his arm wrapping around her shoulders as she continued to watch him with interest, wondering what he was talking about.
"I think she 'as taken a fancy to me," Tommy said to her. "I can use that to my advantage."
"What did you do?" she asked from her husband.
"Don't yer trust me?"
"Of course I trust you," Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "I know that you would never do anything to betray me. I let you keep Lizzie Starke at work even though I know she clearly fancies you, which, can I add, is quite annoying seeing as whenever I walk in she glares at me. Anyway, that is not the point. What did you do to get her to give you the names? Or what did you promise her in response?"
"I didn't do anythin'," Tommy shrugged. "I mean, I was politer than usual and told 'er I wanted to 'elp. Her cause is my cause, blah, blah, blah…" Tommy waved off. "She believed me."
"Well, be careful," Elizabeth urged from her husband. "I do not like the idea of you toying with someone's feelings."
"I ain't," Tommy responded. "I can't 'elp it if she likes me. I never gave her any inclination that I liked 'er or that I was anythin' but 'appy in my marriage."
Elizabeth nodded once, not entirely happy with her husband, but she knew that she couldn't stop him now. He was involved in this plot and he now just had to be careful. She had to trust him. Saying nothing, she nodded and flopped onto her back, moving Tommy's arm from around her. Looking to the ceiling, her eyes widened as Tommy glanced down to her.
"Yer knew about Lizzie Starke?" he asked and Elizabeth scoffed.
"I am not blind," she informed him. "I know about her and how she was the one you went to after the war initially. You told me that…but she still looks at you like she should be your wife instead of me. Maybe in a way she would have been."
"Why do yer say that?' he wondered from her.
"She would not be uncomfortable with the things that you do," Elizabeth said.
"And you are?"
"Only sometimes," Elizabeth admitted. "You know that. We have had disagreements in the past."
"I know," Tommy declared and Elizabeth felt the bed dip down next to her as Tommy went to rest down. "But there is one fundamental difference, isn't there, Liz?"
"I know," Elizabeth said and turned her head to the side to look to her husband. "You don't love her."
"Never did," Tommy shrugged. "Never loved anyone like I love yer, not since yer walked into my life all those years ago."
Elizabeth smiled at that and shook her head as Tommy reached out to take hold of her hand. "Technically you were the one who walked into me. I was standing outside the pub waiting for my mother when you came out."
"Aye, yer were," Tommy said. "I'm not goin' to tell yer what I initially thought of yer."
Elizabeth laughed then and rolled her eyes. "Oh, I can imagine," she said, not needing any clues. "Besides, I doubt you would want to know what I thought of you."
"I probably know," he responded.
"We were so young," Elizabeth whispered. "Now look at us…we're…we're grown up with a daughter. Where did that time go to?"
Before Tommy had a chance to respond, the door to their bedroom creaked open. Both of them looked over to the doorway to see Charlotte stood there, dressed in her white nightgown with her hair falling down her face. Her eyes were droopy and her hands held onto the doorknob.
"Charlotte," Elizabeth spoke her name. "What is it?"
"I had a nightmare," Charlotte said and Elizabeth held her arms out.
"Come here," she urged from her daughter and she rushed over to her. Elizabeth picked her up and settled her in her lap, holding onto her as Charlotte burrowed against her shoulder. "What bad dream was it?"
"A monster was under my bed," Charlotte mumbled.
"Yer know," Tommy spoke in a soft tone and Charlotte looked to her father, "I 'ave nightmares too."
"You do?" Charlotte asked from him.
"Aye," Tommy said and Elizabeth watched on as Tommy moved a hand to her cheek and stroked it softly. "I 'ave dreams about monsters too."
"I don't like bad dreams," Charlotte commented and Tommy chuckled and shook his head.
"No one does," Tommy said to her and Elizabeth moved so that their daughter was sat in between them. Tommy draped his arm over her shoulders, holding her against his side as Elizabeth tucked her hair behind her ear. "But, do yer know how yer cope with bad dreams? Yer wake up and all yer 'ave to do is look around yer bedroom…look around and remember that it isn't real and do yer know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I would never let anyone 'urt yer. I would never let any person or monster near yer," Tommy said to her. "Alright?"
Charlotte nodded and let herself move to rest against her father. Closing his eyes, Tommy kept his grip tightly around his daughter as Elizabeth watched the two of them, wondering just what was going to happen in the near future.
….
Elizabeth finished looking over the accounts before glancing to the clock, knowing that she had to go and pick Charlotte up from school in the next hour. Tommy had travelled down to London to try and secure his nomination for MP and, while Elizabeth hadn't dissuaded him, she had been weary.
"A bloody MP."
Looking over to Pol as she entered Tommy's office, Elizabeth chuckled. She remained seated at her husband's desk as Pol sat down across from her, a cigarette in her fingertips as she rolled her eyes, a smirk on her face.
"I take it he told you," Elizabeth said, closing the book and sitting back, hands laced together and resting on her stomach.
"Didn't give 'im much choice," Pol said. "He's been skulking around and I knew he was up to somethin'."
"He is always up to something," Elizabeth said, raking a hand through her hair and tossing it behind her shoulders. "I love him so much, Pol, but sometimes I wish that he would just be able to slow down without becoming ill."
"That's not Tommy," Pol said to her. "Besides, he seem to 'ave got it into 'is 'ead that this is the right thin' to do. He wants both yer and Charlotte to be proud of him."
Elizabeth scoffed and snorted. "I am always proud of him," she said. "Charlotte loves him just as he is. He has given us so much that we don't need anything else. We just need him."
"And he needs to do this," Pol shrugged. "But we will wait and see what 'appens. How do yer feel, anyway? About bein' the wife of an MP?"
Elizabeth laughed then, closing her eyes and tossing her head back as Pol also continued to chuckle, the two of them finally lapsing into silence once the noises had died down. Elizabeth shook her head back and forth, biting down on her cheek as her smile remained sat on her face.
"It is comical," she admitted. "Tommy…an MP…"
"It's a new era, Liz," Pol said, taking a drag of her cigarette.
Nodding, Elizabeth's smile remained soft on her face as she closed her eyes for a second. "I guess it is."
….
A/N: Do let me know what you think!
