Disclaimer: I do not own anything Peaky Blinder related, that belongs to the series creator Steven Knight.

Face Claim for Rosemary Parker: Celina Sinden.

Chapter Five: Becoming a Shelby.

Staring up at her bedroom ceiling, Rosemary tried to ease the pounding of her heart knowing that there was no going back and by this evening she would be Mrs. Rosemary Shelby, the wife of Thomas Shelby. A smile formed on her face at the mere thought, she glanced towards the clock on her bedside table as the sun started to rise allowing light to slowly fill her room.

Gently pushing back, the sheets that covered her, Rosemary climbed from her bed and listened carefully as she moved about her room for any sign of movement in the house. Her father's snoring could be heard from here and she was certain that she would have more than enough time to sneak out of the house before anyone awoke.

Yvette and Ellen shared the room next door, the two of them being closer in age with a little more than a year between them; while Colleen and Peter had the room next to her parents room down the other end of the hallway. The room had originally been the one that Rosemary had shared with her sister until Colleen was married and it was decided that they needed the bigger space than she did.

Rosemary set about getting ready for the day, she washed her face and brushed her hair; she moved as quietly as she could being careful not to make too much noise least, she wake someone and get herself caught. Once she was dressed, Rosemary took one final look around her bedroom doubting that she would be back here that night especially as a married woman.

Her hand shook a little as she opened her door, her eyes squeezing shut as the door creaked a little as she opened it; she paused once the door was open as she listened for any other sounds in the house. Only once she was sure that no one else had woken did Rosemary move out of her bedroom, she was careful to avoid the stairs that she knew made noises as she made her way down the stairs.

Her shoes were waiting for her by the front door in the same place that she had left them the night before, she glanced up the stairs as she moved to put them on in the living room. Stepping into the living room so that she could put on her shoes without fearing that she would be discovered; Rosemary nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of her mother sitting in the dark room.

There seated on the couch was Victoria, an amused look on her face as she watched Rosemary jump in surprise; she would have laughed if not for the sadness that she felt that her eldest daughter felt the need to sneak around like this. Of course, Thomas Shelby had never been what Victoria had desired for her daughter as a husband; she knew the man's father well enough and the trouble that he had left in his wake. A part of her feared that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree in the case of the Shelby boys, but for her daughter's sake she hoped that she was wrong about Thomas Shelby.

"Is this truly what you want?" Victoria asked not wanting to beat around the bush, she stared up from her seat at Rosemary and she hoped that her husband would understand what she was about to do. Robert had always had high hopes for Rosemary since she was their eldest daughter, her marriage would set the tone of her younger sisters and Victoria had always longed to see her marry well.

"Yes," Rosemary breathed, she stared at her mother willing her to understand that she must do this; she would never forgive herself if she did not marry Thomas today. If he died at war and she never got to see him again, she would hate herself for not taking this risk to be with him as his wife. Victoria was silent for a moment, her eyes searching Rosemary's face for a moment before she nodded her head and got to her feet moving to get something from the kitchen. If this was what Rosemary wanted to do then she wasn't going to stop her, she wanted her daughters to be happy in their choices and Victoria would admit that she was often a little over protective of them.

"Well then, I believe that this might be of some use," Victoria mused reappearing from the kitchen, a garment bag in her hands knowing that between her and Mary that they could fix the dress so that it would fit Rosemary. It would be her greatest honour to see her eldest daughter wed in the wedding dress that Victoria had worn on her own wedding day.

Between Mary and Victoria's quick work, they had managed to fashion the dress that Victoria had worn on her wedding day into something a little more fashionable for Rosemary to wear on hers. It had taken them most of the morning and Victoria had wasted no time in making sure that the dress looked perfect for Rosemary, she had even shed a tear when it was finished and she saw Rosemary wear it for the first time.

Polly was most surprised to see Victoria arrive at the church for the wedding, the two women sharing a nod of the head before Polly moved further into the church so that she could inform Thomas of the development. It had been a discussion between the two of them that Rosemary's family should at least make the decision for themselves if they wished to be here for her wedding or not. Polly did not wish to cause further issues with the Parker family, she was all to aware what Robert and Victoria thought of them especially after all the trouble that her brother had caused before he had disappeared.

"Still sure that you wish to become a Shelby?" Mary asked making sure that the dress did not get caught in a puddle as they walked down the street towards the church; she nervously glanced over her shoulder almost expecting Robert to appear out of nowhere. They would not have been the first women to walk towards the church to get married recently, the news tended to spread quickly and that was the last thing they wanted today. Her mother having gone ahead of them to avoid any further whispers spreading about what they had come here to do; a part of her still couldn't believe that her mother was accepting her decision.

"More than sure," Rosemary replied, she was not going to change her mind now and she could not help but feel rather nervous about the fact that she was about to wed. It was hard to believe that soon she would be Rosemary Shelby, she was to be someone's wife and her life would change from the moment that she said I do. Of course, there was the matter of telling her father what she had done but that could wait; right now, she just wanted to focus on marrying Thomas instead of the fight that would come with it. There was no way that her father would take this lightly and Rosemary was more than prepared for what came with that.

Reaching the church entrance, Rosemary paused outside for a moment with Mary and Katherine at her side; she was glad that they were with her today even if Lily had refused to come with them to the church. She did not agree with what Rosemary was about to do but she wanted her friend to be happy; she had even promised to attend the small celebration at the Garrison later with them.

Mary and Katherine offered her reassuring smiles before heading inside to find their places inside of the small church; they were happy for her and they hoped that this was not all going to end in tears. Hesitating for just a moment, Rosemary let her worries slip away as she stepped into the church knowing that there was nothing in the world that would change her mind about this.

Thomas turned when the music started to play, and he could not help but think how beautiful Rosemary looked in her dress; he could not find words to describe how beautiful she was in this moment. He could barely pay attention to the priest as he started to speak, it was hard to believe that if everything went well that when he returned from war; he would spend the rest of his life with Rosemary. It was something that he would hold onto while he was away fighting in the war, it would get him through whatever happened there, and he would find a way to come back to her.

Victoria wiped away the stray tears that fell as she watched her eldest daughter get married, as long as Rosemary was happy that was all that truly mattered to here in the end. The last thing that Victoria wanted was for her daughter to have any regrets, she had no doubts that Rosemary would have regretted not marrying Thomas before he left to fight in the world if she didn't go through with this.

The ceremony was over quickly and neither Thomas nor Rosemary could believe that they were officially married; it was all a bit of a blare and they could not have been happier that they were married. The few that had come to witness them getting married clapped and cheered for the happily couple; the easy part was over now and there were quite a few trials that they would have to get past now.

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