Tommy placed his case in the backseat of the car alongside Elizabeth's. His wife was stood in the hallway, saying goodbye to Charlotte. Pol had hold of the little girl, her hand inside of hers as Elizabeth bent down and kissed her tenderly on the forehead, promising her that she would be back soon and that she would feel better. She had to promise her daughter that she wouldn't be as sad as she had been. She wouldn't be that woman. She would stop drinking. She would stop everything that wasn't her. She would go back to the woman she had been before.
"Yer ready?" Tommy asked, checking his pocket watch, knowing that they had to make tracks before it got too late.
"Yes," Elizabeth said and moved to her feet as Tommy watched her wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes, knowing that she was feeling emotional. He pressed a hand to her forearm and let her go, moving towards the car.
"Yer be a good girl for Aunt Pol, eh?" Tommy urged from his daughter as he ruffled her hair and she nodded. He bent down to kiss her on the cheek and she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold onto him for a moment, kissing him on his cheek. "I'll see yer soon, alright? Love yer, Charlotte."
"Love you too, daddy," she responded and Tommy managed a brief glance to Pol and his Aunt nodded once, silently promising him that everything would be fine. She would look after Charlotte for however long was necessary for Tommy to sort out the mess he was involved in with his wife.
His coat blew slightly in the wind behind him as he moved to the car and climbed into the driver's side. He started the engine up as Elizabeth toyed with the ends of her leather gloves on her hands. Her red coat was buttoned up to her chin and her hair hung loose down her back. Tommy saw how much it had grown and wondered what else had changed that he hadn't paid attention to. He suspected there was a lot.
He said nothing as he began to drive off, but he felt Elizabeth move a hand to his arm, squeezing it tightly in reassurance. He looked over to her as she looked out the window and wondered just what was going to happen when they were alone that evening.
….
Elizabeth walked into the flat as Tommy held the door open for her. She looked around the space, not failing to recognise that it was intricately decorated. Most of Tommy's properties were very well decorated she had come to discover. She bit down on her tongue as Tommy placed their bags by the door and he moved further into the flat.
"There's two bedrooms," Tommy said to his wife, pointing down the small corridor. "One for us and one for Charlotte if she comes down with us one weekend."
"I…it is odd, isn't it?" she checked with her husband. "You own this and yet I haven't even been to visit you here. It's been so long…so long since we've been just us two together like this."
"I know," Tommy said to her. "I've cancelled business this weekend and had meetin's moved to Monday."
"So when will I go back up to Birmingham?"
"Whenever yer want," Tommy responded, moving into the sitting room and taking a seat, his wife following suit as she sat on the settee to the opposite end of him, her fingers laced together as she peered down and Tommy pulled out a cigarette from his container and lit one. "Yer can come back with me on Tuesday or go back earlier."
"I will wait," Elizabeth responded. "It would be nice to see where you work in the House of Commons."
Tommy managed a slim smile. "I'm sure I can arrange that," he promised his wife.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them then and Elizabeth wondered what they were going to talk about. What did they usually talk about? What did they normally talk about when they were together? Elizabeth couldn't even remember. It had been too long since she had been with him. It had been so long and she missed it. She missed her husband and the way they had been. She missed all of it.
"Do yer remember the first time we were in London together?" Tommy tried to talk to her, knowing that he had to start somewhere. It was a few moments before he moved closer to her, stubbing his cigarette out and coughing into his fist.
He watched Elizabeth intently, seeing her smile as she looked down to the ground and kicked her shoes from her feet.
"I finished work on the Friday and found you stood outside the bakery with cake," Elizabeth reminisced and finally managed to peer over to him. "I can't imagine you doing anything like that nowadays."
"I'd fetch yer cake if yer wanted cake," Tommy responded to her. "I'd do anything for yer, Liz. Yer know that. Just ask me and I'll give it yer."
Elizabeth smiled sadly at hearing him and nodded, feeling tears forming in the corner of her eyes once more as she struggled to comprehend why she felt so emotional all of the time. All that she seemed to do was cry.
"I know," Elizabeth said and reached to squeeze his hand. "But you know that I have never wanted anything…anyone…but you, Tommy. I just want you."
"And yer 'ave me," Tommy promised his wife. "Yer always 'ave me."
"Can we just…I don't know…I want…" Elizabeth stammered, wondering what it was she truly wanted. She didn't know what was going through her mind. All she knew was that she was with Tommy. It was just the two of them and she wanted it to be how it once had been. She wanted it to be easy like it had been.
"What?" Tommy asked her, urging for her to talk to him. He'd had issues with people not listening to him more recently than not, but with his wife he'd had issues in getting her to talk to him. "Liz, just tell me what yer want."
"Can you just…just hold me like you used to, Tommy?" she asked from him. "You know, without me pulling away or you being worried. Can we just have that?"
"Eh," Tommy said in a low voice as he wrapped his arms around his wife and drew her against his side, feeling her hands take hold of his arms that went around her. "I've got yer, Liz, alright? I 'ave yer."
Tommy didn't know how long he held his wife for, kissing her tenderly on the side of her head as she remained in his grip. Neither of them said anything, knowing that this was more than enough for now. Tommy rested his chin on the top of her head for a few moments before pulling back and away, leaning his head back against the cushion. He didn't know how long had passed before he felt Liz's weight increase on him and he realised she had dozed off. He wasn't surprised. She was exhausted. She was drained of energy.
Tommy took his time to sit up with her in his grip. Carefully, he handled her, picking her up into his arms. She only stirred slightly, her arms going around his neck as she adjusted her head on his shoulder. Tommy carried her to the bedroom and was grateful that his maid had already turned the bed down. Laying his wife down, her grip remained around his neck, pulling him down to her.
"I love you, Tommy," she whispered.
"I love yer too, Liz," Tommy assured her, daring to bend down and kiss her. She didn't turn her cheek or recoil. Instead she remained still for a second before moving her lips against his, remembering the feeling. He continued kissing her, the motion tender and gentle. She groaned softly for a few moments before she felt Tommy move his hand to her waist, pulling at her dress. It was then when she froze.
"Tommy," she spoke his name in a small voice and he stopped his movements.
"Sorry."
"No," Elizabeth said to him. "It isn't that…well…it is…I want to. I do. It is just…I'm not ready again. I'm just not ready."
"It's alright, Liz," Tommy promised his wife, voice gruff and low as he pecked her on the lips once more. "It's alright."
"Thank you."
"Yer 'ave nothin' to thank me for," Tommy promised her, sweeping her hair behind her ear. "Now get some sleep. I'll be back in a while."
"Where are you going?" she asked him as she reached for the duvet, tugging it around herself and not caring that she was still dressed.
"Just got some work I need to finish in the study. I'll be ten minutes."
"Alright," Elizabeth conceded and he walked away, leaving her in bed, well aware that she will have dozed off by the time he came back. Tommy smiled to himself as he wandered to his study, feeling a renewed sense of optimism that everything was going to be okay for once.
….
Tommy knew that his wife was watching in the gallery. He had taken to the floor of the House of Commons with the speech he had prepared for that day. He was championing socialism, telling people what he really thought of the rich and the fat cats. He hadn't looked up to her as he spoke, feeling a sense of nervousness that he had never felt before. Why was that? Why did he feel that way? Was it because he really did want to make her proud? He guessed, to an extent, that would be it. He wanted his wife to be proud of him, alongside his daughter. He just wanted them to see him as a respectable MP.
After the debate, Tommy walked by the public gallery, finding Elizabeth stood outside. Other MPs walked by, some clearly looking at his wife and whispering about her while others didn't bother to say anything. Tommy paid none of them any attention as he went towards her and she smiled at him. She wore a deep red coat and hat, her legs covered in thick tights and smart black shoes. She had worn her hair in a neat bun at the back of her neck, her complexion free from makeup.
"You were amazing," she said as Tommy held his hand out and took hold of her waist, bending down to kiss her. She placed her hands to his chest as he pulled back. "I am serious, Tommy. You were brilliant."
"Yer 'ave to put on a show in there," Tommy chuckled.
"Well, for such a serious and brooding man, you did a great job," she assured her husband and he chuckled at that, nodding his head once. "So can I see your office?"
"Course, come on," Tommy nodded.
He took her hand in his arm like a proper gentleman and walked down the corridors, conversing with her over everything and nothing. She noted how people looked at them. Some seemed to look at them like they didn't belong there and, to an extent, Elizabeth agreed. She had never expected them to be in the Houses of Commons after where they had come from.
"Ah, Mr Shelby."
Tommy stopped walking, his free hand adjusting his tie against his shirt as he turned to look into the office of the man who had just spoken.
"I enjoyed your speech," the man spoke, his face narrow and his jaw strong. He had a moustached and his hair was slicked back, freckles dotting his chin. His eyes were set on Tommy and gleamed, almost as though he was excited by something. "I have to say, you speak very eloquently."
"Thank you," Tommy nodded his head as the man looked to Elizabeth.
"And this must be your wife," he said, holding his hand out to her. Elizabeth took hold of his hand and he bent down, kissing the back of it as Tommy resisted the urge to pull his wife from the man's grip. "I have to say that she is even more radiant than the photos I have seen in the papers. I seem to recall your brother, Mrs Shelby…one Mr Kimber."
"He passed," Elizabeth said, not wanting to discuss her brother.
"I heard. I am sorry for your loss."
"It was many years ago now," Elizabeth dismissed his condolences.
"Forgive me," he said. "My name's Mosley. Oswald Mosley."
"Yeah," Tommy said and moved his hand out as Mosley offered his. Tommy shook it strongly, the motion intense and deliberate. "I know who you are."
"My constituency does border yours and I have to say, Mr Shelby, you have come to my attention," he said, a smile on his face that caused Elizabeth to feel chills in her spine. Tommy must have felt the same as he moved his hand to take hold of his wife's gripping it tightly as he nodded at Mosley and offered no more words, other than an okay and then pulled his wife away as she managed a parting smile.
"What was that about?" she asked Tommy as they walked back down the corridors.
"Nothin'," Tommy said to her. "He's just a man I don't want to be involved with."
"He…I don't think I trust him," Elizabeth mused.
"Yer a good judge of character," Tommy mumbled to her. "I'm stayin' away, Liz. I don't trust him either. I don't know why yet, but I get a feelin' I might find out."
….
A/N: Do let me know what you think!
