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 Eleven: A Day of Peace.
"They were meant to be home by now," Ada whispered staring at the Christmas tree that sat in the corner of the living room, she had not been able to hide her disappointment all day that her brothers were not home from war. A small part of her had imagined that they would arrive that morning, walking through the front door of the family home to surprise them with smiles on their faces and acting like they hadn't been gone for months now.
Whenever she had heard a noise outside, she had looked towards the front door to see if it was her brothers returning; however, every time she had been disappointed as there was still no sign of them. Her words were greeted with silence and Ada did not have to look to know that her words had been agreed with; she was not the only one that disliked the fact that they were not home.
Rosemary did not look up from the shirt that she was mending, she wished with all her heart that Thomas was here, and she hated that the war was dragging on. Everyday there was more news of men dying in France and there seemed to be no end in sight for the fighting that they had been promised would end by Christmas. Clearing her throat, Rosemary tried to keep the tears at bay while she worked; she could not believe that things were working out like this.
It had never crossed her mind that she would be expecting her first child while her husband was away fighting in some war; she wanted him home more than anything and she prayed for him every night. It was hard to believe that he had been gone for four months now, it seemed strange that she went home to their empty house and she found it hard every time that she did so.
Polly and Victoria had done their best to support her, both women had reassured her that no matter what happened they would help her even if Thomas wasn't back in time to see their baby born. They had even started work on changing the room that would become the nursery, it was a slow progress but Victoria insisted that it was better to start now than leave it until the last minute.
"Do you think that they will ever come home?" Ada asked softly, she feared that her brothers would never return; her father had abandoned them, and her mother was dead, she did not want to lose anyone else. It kept her awake some nights that there could be a knock at the door at any moment to tell them that one of her brothers would not be coming home; that Martha or Rosemary had lost their husbands and would have to raise their children alone.
"Ada," Polly scolded, she did not want to be thinking of anything like that and she hated that they had no real idea about what was happening in the war; anything that could be details of war was crossed out when the boys sent letters home. It was hard enough to handle everything without fearing that they might never see Arthur, Thomas, or John again because of this retched war.
"I hear your sister is due soon," Polly said changing the subject and looking to Rosemary, it would not be long now before she was an aunt and she was sure that everyone would hear about it. People whispered about Peter enough because of his refusal to go fight in the war; they called him a coward and just last week he had been pelted with vegetables while he walked down the street to the shops. Colleen might have wanted her husband by her side, but she was quickly learning that people were not as understanding of her reasons even Victoria was growing tired of his constant presence around the house.
"She is," Rosemary replied, if she remembered correctly her sister was due the first week of January; she was not sure what would happen when that time came. Not that Colleen would want Rosemary there when she delivered, her younger sister had taken their father's side in the disagreement on Rosemary marrying on Thomas.
Despite things returning to somewhat normal with Victoria and her younger siblings, it was no surprise that Colleen had held steadfast to their father's decision not to speak with her and had refused to acknowledge her sister in anyway. Rosemary was just glad that she did not have to deal with Colleen all the time, Yvette had told her that she was being more demanding and barely did anything around the house to help out.
"He's staring again," John muttered glaring across the trench at Robert, it was hard to believe that they had been here for four months now and nothing seemed to have changed and there was no sign of the war stopping anytime soon. They were meant to be home now, they were meant to be reunited with their families by now and yet they were still here fighting a war that never seemed to end.
Thomas shrugged his shoulders, he had stopped caring what his father-in-law was doing and he was tired of the looks that Robert seemed to offer him whenever they were in the same location. He did his best to stay out of Robert's way, the last thing that he wanted to do was fight with him; the news would only upset Rosemary and used against him in some way that would make him look just as Robert wanted him to do.
"I don't see what his problem is… at least you're here helping with the war effort, what's Peter doing?" John mumbled annoyed, he honestly did not see what the problem was, and it was not like Thomas actively seeking out trouble or was anything like their father. Thomas did his best for his family and had been nothing short of a gentleman when it came to Rosemary; he cared for her and anyone who truly knew him could see it.
Arthur nodded in agreement with what John had said, they were surprised that Thomas was acting so calm when it came to the situation at hand. He guessed that Thomas did not want to give Robert any more reason to dislike him; he was going to be a father in a matter of months and that was scary enough right now. Perhaps staying silent and allowing Robert to see what sort of man he truly was, he would come around eventually and come to accept that Thomas was his son-in-law now.
"It doesn't matter… besides, he can't hate me forever," Thomas replied focusing on the latest letter that he had received from Rosemary, he smiled as she told him about how she had felt their baby move and she had started to set up the nursery. Every part of him wished that he could be there to help her, it was hard to think that there was a big chance that he would miss the birth of his child. It was something that seemed even more probable now that they were here at Christmas, this war was nowhere near ending and there wasn't even an end in sight that any of them could see.
The sound of a commotion snapped Thomas from his thoughts, his hands resting on his gun as his eyes swept the trench; no one dared move as their commanding officer hurried past them to see what was happening.
"What's going on?" John asked sitting up, the sound was coming from no man's land and he was worried that the German's were up to something; he clutched at his weapon praying that this was not the end. Everyone was silent as they listened carefully, no one dared breath fearing what could come next and what it could mean for them; could this be the moment where their lives ended.
Thomas slowly pushed himself up and peeked over the top of the trench, his eyes widening, and he saw what was happening and he felt relief fill him slightly that this was not the end that they had all feared. There was both sides of the war coming into no man's land and there was no fighting; it was odd to see such peace here when the last few months had been so harsh.
Slowly everyone seemed to make their way over into no man's land and greet the men that they had been fighting against; there seemed to be no anger or hatred between the gathering of men as they all greeted one another. Soon there was a game of football, exchanges of food and gifts happening; the dead from both sides were collected, allowing them to be buried properly rather then being left to rot in the open fields.
It was like a peace had fallen over them and the ceasefire was welcomed by all, it was nice not to have to worry about fighting or digging instead they were just men celebrating Christmas. Thomas patted his brothers on the shoulder, today was a good day and it gave him hope that soon they would be able to go home; that this blasted war would be done with.
No one wanted to be here fighting and surely if they could have this day of peace then they would surely be finished with the war soon and they would be able to return home soon and be with their families. That was all any man could hope for, that this war would be done and those that remained would be able to go home to their loved ones that were waiting for them.
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