"So you're going then."
Alfie stood in the doorway of the stables, watching as Niamh stroked the nose of the white mare that Tommy had recently purchased for his unborn child. She was cooing to the creature, kissing it gently and Alfie was transported to the day back in Small Heath when they had finally admitted their love for each other. What he would give to hear those words again now.
"Yeah," Alfie nodded, even though she wasn't looking at him. "Just wanted to see you before I left."
The plan was in place. Everyone knew their roles and had already left Arrow House in order to set the wheels in motion. Alfie knew he should have left already; that if his father's men were watching it would raise suspicion for him to stay too much longer, but he couldn't bear to leave the woman he loved without at least saying goodbye to her.
"I won't let him hurt you, you know," Alfie murmured, stepping into the stables, comfortable that all three horses Tommy currently owned were locked in individual stalls where they couldn't get to him.
"Oh Alfie," Niamh turned and let her eyes wander over his form, which looked dejected today and unlike the proud, intimidating figure she had come to recognise. Not to mention that he looked black and blue thanks to the beating that Tommy and Arthur had reluctantly subjected him to. "Look at what they've done to you."
"S' nothin', love," Alfie smiled, grimacing when his split cheek protested in agony. But the pain was soon forgotten when Niamh's lips ghosted over the cut before moving to his split brow and his black eye. "And you know it's part of the plan. Gotta make that old bastard believe that me and your brother are well and truly done for now, aint we?"
"I know but I wish they hadn't had to hurt you, Alfie," she whispered. "It's bad enough that I've already done that enough."
"Love," Alfie tucked his fingers under her chin, lifting her face to look at him, and the softness in his expression chiselled away at any lingering anguish she felt for him after her stern talking to from Polly. "It's me what's sorry. It's me what hurt you."
"No," she shook her head, touching his cheek gently, running her finger across the scar that dissected his beard. "You were trying to protect me. I knew that even before you said it, I was just too… I guess I'm more of a Shelby than I ever thought I was."
"Only just figured that out, darlin'?" he huffed out a laugh. "I am sorry, Niamh. More than I will ever be able to properly explain."
"I know," she nodded, standing up on her tiptoes so that she could press her lips to his.
Alfie's arm was around her, clutching her against him and a hand was in her hair, which was knotted and untamed from her earlier bath. Niamh licked at the seam of Alfie's lips, smiling when he hesitated only briefly in another show of vulnerability that seemed to be only reserved for her.
Tongues dancing and teeth clashing, Alfie allowed Niamh to push him towards the end of the stables, their mouths never breaking apart and their hands wandering, caressing one another through their clothes. The back of Alfie's legs met with a bale of hay and he sunk down onto it, holding Niamh by the waist and wrapping one of his hands once again in her hair as she climbed on top him, kissing him somehow even more fervently than before until they were both pulling apart and gasping for breath.
"I need you, Alfie," Niamh pressed her forehead to his, her chest heaving as she struggled with the emotion over taking her. "Please."
Anyone could have walked in. Tommy could have walked in. But Alfie couldn't deny her. He couldn't stop her hands from undoing his trousers, nor could he stop his hips from lifting slightly as she tugged his trousers down just enough to free his hardened length from its material confine. He stroked himself, spreading the liquid desire leaking from the tip of his cock with his thumb as he watched Niamh stand up and undo her garter belt and shimmy down her underwear. She climbed on top of him with such a hungry look in her eyes that Alfie could have cum the very second she impaled herself on him.
"Fuck," he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and trying his hardest not to think about how tight she felt around him and how the gentle scrape of her teeth against his neck was threatening to turn him into a randy teenage boy who exploded the second a girl even so much as looked at him.
"I love you, Alfie," Niamh whispered, riding Alfie slowly and whimpering when his abdomen brushed against her sensitive bundle of nerves with every movement. She peppered kisses all over his face, breathing him and clutching him anywhere her hands could reach while his own cupped her breasts and toyed with her nipples through the thin material of her dress.
"Love you too," Alfie grunted, capturing her lips again, nipping at them with his teeth before plunging his tongue inside of her mouth at the same time as one of his reached down so his thumb could rub agonisingly slow circles against her swollen clit, propelling her towards a release that came almost out of nowhere.
Thrusting up into her as she clenched around him, Alfie's teeth clamped down on the freckled skin between her shoulder and neck, marking her ferally as he spilled himself inside of her with a groan.
"I'm scared, Alfie," Niamh admitted quietly, pressing her forehead against his neck as his release slid down her thigh and his heart thumped wildly against her own. "What if it goes wrong? What if he somehow knows what we're planning?"
"He won't," Alfie murmured, wrapping his arms around her and running his hand soothingly up and down her back.
"How do you know?"
"I just do," Alfie bent down to kiss the top of her head. "'Cos there's nothin' in the world that's gonna stop me livin' the rest of my life with you, and that's a promise."
… … …
It was close to midnight and Niamh couldn't sleep. The huge household was still and silent aside from the gentle crackle of the fireplace in the sitting room. Lying down on the expensive sofa, Niamh stared into the flames, watching the gentle sway of the golden embers. She heard footsteps approaching and she knew who they belonged to without having to look. When Tommy appeared in her periphery, she did nothing more than lay there when he sat down on the sofa and lifted her feet so that they were resting on his lap.
"He'll be alright, you know," he spoke softly. "We'll all be alright."
"That's what he said too," a hint of a smile played at Niamh's downturned mouth. "You're actually sometimes frighteningly alike."
"That right?" Tommy smirked. "You're still shaken up from your ordeal last night so I'll forgive that comment just this once."
"Shut up," Niamh laughed, kicking him playfully in the stomach and scowling when he grabbed a hold of her foot and threatened to tickle it. "Do it and I'll punch you in the face."
"I don't doubt it," Tommy grinned, remembering all too well how ticklish his youngest sister was.
Eyeing her in the soft firelight, he was struck by a thought that once would have frightened him but now only warmed him. Gone was the young girl who had left Small Heath those months ago and now before him was a woman, who had flourished through marriage and through finally being given some responsibility and freedom from her overbearing family.
There had been times, even as recently as a few weeks ago, when Tommy had wondered if Niamh was truly happy; if her pretence at being happily married to Alfie Solomons was merely that. But he couldn't have been more wrong.
"I heard you two in the stables," he said suddenly, enjoying the blush that spread across Niamh's cheeks. "You didn't sound so shy then, Niamh."
"You're gross," she growled, crossing her arms over her chest and refusing to look at him.
"Everyone has sex; it's not a big deal. I mean, I'd prefer not to hear my baby sister at it, and especially not with Alfie fucking Solomons, but I'll survive," he muttered with a twinkle in his eyes. "What I was getting at was that I'm guessing you two have sorted out your problems now?"
"We have," Niamh confirmed. "It was… Polly put me in my place and made me realise that I was being stupid."
"Yeah, she's good at that, eh?"
"She's been good to us at so many things, hasn't she, Tom?" Niamh sighed. "She's been the mum we needed even when ours was alive and she's been the friend we didn't ever ask for but couldn't live without. I hope when I'm a mum one day I can be like her. I hope I can emulate that way she had about her."
"You mean the way she's able to bring you down with a slap around the ear and a harsh word at the same time as reminding you of just how loved you are?" Tommy smiled.
"Exactly that," Niamh nodded, chewing on her lip briefly before opening her mouth to speak again. "Are you scared, Tom? About being a dad I mean?"
"Not scared," he murmured. "Apprehensive maybe. Grace'll be a good mum though and I want to be a good dad. Least I know for definite I won't be like ours was. "
"You are happy, aren't you? With Grace? You love her and you're happy?"
"Despite the fact that I know most of you don't like her, and despite the fact that she's light and I'm dark, yes," Tommy nodded. "I'm happy."
"Good. That's good. You deserve it, you know. You mightn't think it, but you do." Niamh sat up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before she stood. "Night, Tommy."
She had made it the door way when Tommy called her name quietly. Pausing briefly, she caught the look in his eyes and smiled, knowing what he was conveying without words.
"I love you, too, Tommy," she murmured. "I love all of you."
