Nora fell to the floor and immediately pulled her knees to her chest, sheltering her stomach as much as possible. Another blow hit her head as she covered her face in her arms.
"What's wrong? Can't fight back?" Mosely goaded. "You're nothing! Just like your people!"
She felt a swift kick to her upper back, that knocked the breath from her lungs. Fists and feet rained down on her as the other men joined Mosely in his assault. She kept her knees tucked as tightly as she could until her consciousness started to leave her. She could feel warm blood pouring from her nose and her back throbbed from the steel toed kicks. She could feel herself slipping in and out and fought to stay awake, not wanting them to win. Her men were at home, with seemingly no knowledge that Mosely and his Scots were there. Or maybe her men were all dead. Either way, Nora was alone… surrounded by her enemies, awaiting darkness to take her.
She thought about the baby inside her and wondered what it would have looked like her and whether it would be an Abigail or a little Alfred… Alfred…. Alfie. Nora wanted her older brother. She wanted to curl onto the sofa next to him and let him tell her stories of the war and of life. But more than anything she wanted to see him hold the child that surely wouldn't survive this attack.
Her arms relaxed as her body began to give into the pain, exposing her face. A man, maybe Mosely, she didn't know anymore, began to hit her face. She closed her eyes before she heard a loud crash and screaming as her men and Anna rushed into the building to save her. The blows to her face and body subsided as the Scottish residents began to fight back against their new attackers.
The fight continued inside the small bakery until Ishmael threw one of the Billy Boys through the large shop window. Men poured out of the broken window, taking the fight to the street. Because there were now more Jews than Scots, Billy Boys began to flee, Jewish men in their wakes. In the distance, Nora heard gunshots.
Jimmy McCavern, Oswald Mosely, and a going Nora were the only ones left in the Bakery.
"All that and they still left you for dead." Mosely laughed as he looked at Nora, laying bloody and bruised on the floor.
Silence fell as footsteps came through the door. The feet walked to stand across from McCavern.
"Sorry, I'm late." Tommy said before he punched McCavern, knocking him to the floor.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Mosely yelled.
"Saving the mother of my child!" Tommy grunted as he punched the staggering McCavern again.
"The what?" Mosely yelled in bewilderment.
Suddenly, Tommy pulled out his gun and shot McCavern in the throat. Jimmy McCavern gargled blood as it spewed from his neck and fell to the floor, bleeding out.
Mosely was so shocked, his feet felt as if they were nailed to the floor. Tommy ran past him, dropping to his knees at Nora's head.
"Nora? Nora, can you hear me?" He pleaded as he lifted her shoulders, leaning her against him in a seated position.
"How….?" Was all she could say as her head leaned to the side with the weight of her attack.
"Look, Nora. Look at the door." Tommy said softly and Nora fought the blood and swelling in her eyes as much as she could to see a broad-shouldered shadow in the doorway.
"Impossible!" Mosely said as he looked at the entrance. "Y-Your dead!"
"Am I?" Alfie responded before he lifted his gun and pulled the trigger, hitting Mosely between the eyes.
Mosely took a step forward before his body fell and Nora lost consciousness.
"Nora? Stay with me, love." She heard her brother's voice plead as she slipped in and out of darkness.
She opened her eyes as she entered the bright room of the hospital entrance. Tommy ran with her in his arms, yelling for a doctor. She looked out the entrance as nurses ran forward with a gurney. She saw her brother standing just outside the door, in the darkened shadow of the car. He gave her a nod, silently telling her to fight, and she closed her eyes.
Nora groaned as she felt the weight of her head against the pillow. She could hear someone shift their weight toward her before she felt their elbows on the bed.
"Nora?" Tommy's voice said gently. "Can you hear me?"
"Mm." Nora grunted. "I-I…I had a dream." She said, as she slowly squinted her eyes open.
"A dream?"
"Mm. My… my brother, he…. Shot Oswald Mosely…" she tried to lean up.
"Easy…. That wasn't a dream."
She leaned back against the pillow he adjusted for her and tried to catch her breath.
She blinked at him, "How bad?" She asked when she saw the worry and pity on his face.
"You're lucky to be alive. Broken bones, bleeding organs, a concussion…"
"That's why my head is fucking heavy." She said weakly with a laugh.
He smiled sympathetically and looked down, knowing what she was going to ask next.
"And the baby?" She said as her heart sank at the realization of the effect her injuries would surely have had on her body.
Tommy met her eyes and grabbed her hand.
TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER….
Alfie sat on his sofa gazing at the sky when he heard a knock on the entrance door. He smiled and turned in his seat as he heard the pitter-patter of little feet barreling toward the sitting room.
"Boo!" a little girl with brown hair and large brown eyes yelled as she jumped theatrically into the room.
"Oh!" Alfie said as he pretended to jump, and the little girl laughed.
"I 'cared you!" She giggled.
"You did! Nearly frightened me right out of my seat." He said as she beamed at him. "Who are you?" He asked.
The little toddler's face went serious. "'S me fiefie! Abigaiw" she said, and she straightened her arms, bringing her shoulders to her ears as if proving she was who she said she was.
"No, don't be silly!" Alfie said as he waved a hand. "My little Abi Girl is just a little thing, you're much too big."
Nora walked in the room with a smile on her face as she listened to their conversation.
"No! It me! I growed. See?" And she smiled a big smile at her uncle.
"Well! So, it is! Look at you! I didn't even recognize you, my precious little Abi. You are so big now!"
Abigail relaxed her shoulders and swung her arms by her sides as she soaked in her uncle's compliments.
"Fiefie?" Alfie repeated unamused to his sister, who immediately began laughing.
"What? She came up with that one on her own." Nora replied feigning innocence.
"I'm sure she did." He replied sardonically. "Come here you!" he said as he picked up the little girl and sat her on his lap. "I have a treat for you." And he reached to the table beside the sofa picked up a sweet.
"LOLLI!" the girl squealed and reached for it.
"Use your manners Abigail. What do you tell Fiefie?" Nora said.
"Fank Ooo" The girl mumbled her mouth full of her sweet.
They laughed and Nora watched adoringly as Alfie held her daughter.
"Oh, you're here too?" Alfie said as Tommy walked in the room and leaned against the doorframe of the entrance.
"I am, yes." Tommy said as he raised his eyebrows and attempted to hide an amused smile.
"Well, how was America then?"
"Still there." Tommy said nonchalantly.
"Mm." Alfie grunted as he stared at Tommy.
"Daddy!" The girl yelled as she removed her sweet from her mouth, "Lolli!" she said as she held it up for her father to see.
"Yeah, where did you get that?" He replied as he bent in front of her.
"Fiefie!" She said as she put a hand on Alfie's chest and patted.
Nora stifled a laugh and Alfie shot her a look.
"Did you thank your Uncle Alfie?" Tommy asked and Alfie looked at Nora and mouthed, 'Uncle Alfie'.
"Mhm!" She said with an overdramatic nod. "Lick!" she ordered enthusiastically as she held out for her father.
"You eat it."
"'s a good lolli! Lick!" The girl insisted, her eyes growing sad.
Tommy grabbed the lolli from her hand and put it in his mouth, removing it before handing it back to her. "It's very good. You eat the rest."
Suddenly the sound of a horn filled the room as a boat on the ocean blew. Abigail's eyes grew wide and her mouth formed a small O in surprise as she heard the sound.
"Do you want to see the ship?" Tommy asked and she nodded and reached for him.
Tommy picked her up and walked onto the balcony, leaving Alfie alone with his sister.
"Are you sure about this?" Nora asked. "She can be quite a lot at times."
"Nora." Alfie said as he turned to his sister. "I have had cancer for years and am living on borrowed time. What good is that time if I can't spend it with the people I love, even if they are a handful."
"I know, but its 10 days….." Nora said skeptically.
"We will be fine. I will fill her full of sweets and take her for walks on the ocean and then when you get back from your honeymoon; she will a little terror and I'll know I have done my duty."
"Oh, lovely." Nora said before she shook her head.
"Are you sure you won't have any trouble from his old wife?"
"First of all, I can handle her if I did. But no. Tommy gave her his blessing for her new marriage in exchange for an arrangement for Ruby and her word that she will not cause unnecessary discord between us. Plus, she is happy, this new man is a doctor and wants to take her to see the world and what not."
"Good."
"Fiefie!" Abigail squealed, "'s a shit!" she said as she pointed to the ocean.
"Ship Abigail, ship. Puh-puh!" Nora corrected, showing her the sound a P makes.
"'S a shi-puh" she said, accentuating the P.
"It is?" He said as he walked onto the balcony and she reached for him.
Tommy walked back into the sitting room and stood by his new wife while Nora watched her daughter pat lovingly on Alfie's shoulders.
"Speaking of ships, we are going to miss ours." Tommy said as he looked at her.
Nora turned to her husband and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you stopped the opium and came out of the mud in your head."
"I'm glad your poured it out." Tommy replied softly and kissed her.
"'Top dat!" Abigail's little voice chastised, and Nora laughed as she looked at the angry little face.
"Did your Fiefie tell you to say that?" Nora said as she ran toward her and began to tickle the girl in her uncle's arms.
"You better be off." Alfie said and Nora kissed her daughter on the cheek.
"You behave and listen to Fiefie, alright?" Nora instructed before she kissed her brother on the cheek. "You know where we are staying, if you need anything-"
"We'll be fine." He said, "Now, fuck off."
"Yeah, fuck off!" Abigail repeated and the men laughed as Nora's mouth dropped open.
"Alfie!" Nora said, giving her brother a stern look.
"Now, Abi. You can't say that word." he said before whispering, "At least not in front of your mum."
Nora rolled her eyes as Tommy put his hand around her waist and led her out the door and to the car. She watched as Alfie put down his niece and she ran toward the beach, him pretending to chase her. Nora smiled, enjoying the peace they had until their next war.