Chapter Four
Was A Time

"You're supposed to be dead," were the first words to come out of Martha's mouth as soon as the door to the bathroom closed. She was stood by the sink, watching him intently. She was holding onto the sink and Tommy guessed it was the only thing keeping her standing at that point. He took a moment to look at every inch of her, and he noticed that blood had trailed down her leg. He met her gaze once more and felt his heart break as he watched tears threatening to fall from her eyes. Her lip quivered as her breathing was shallow and irrational like she had just completed a long sprint.

He didn't question her at that moment but moved closer to her. She instinctively tried to take a step back but the sink blocked her from moving further away from him.

"Martha, you're going to hyperventilate," Tommy said calmly. "Take five long, deep breaths."

She did what he told her to do, and after a few moments, her breathing returned to normal.

"You're supposed to be dead," she repeated, almost defeated that she had to say it again. Tommy furrowed his brow as he tried to comprehend what she meant. Had she hit her head when she fell? Was she confused?

"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, confusion gnawing at him.

"I received a letter," Martha began. "It told me that you had died in battle."

The tears fell from her eyes then and he watched as they slid down her cheeks and completed their journey downwards.

"How… are you here?" she whispered.

Tommy ran his tongue along his lips as he swallowed the lump in his throat. The raw emotion on her face was too much for him.

"I don't know what your talking about," Tommy whispered. "I don't know nothin' about this letter. But I'm here. I ain't dead."

"This cannot be real… I'm dreaming, obviously," Martha whispered to herself, her hands covering her face as she rubbed roughly at her skin in frustration. "I received a letter from the British Army telling me that you had died. But you're here. You're standing in front of me. This can't be real."

Tommy allowed Martha to vent her frustration out, watching from afar as she tried to grasp onto the situation that the news she had received all those years ago had been false. It all made sense to him now, the look of horror on her face as she met his gaze. She had truly believed she had seen a ghost.

"I need you to answer me this…" Martha stepped forward, a little uneasy on her feet. She held onto the sink. "Did you ever know where I went?"

Tommy shook his head sadly. "No. If I'd known, Martha, the years wouldn't have passed us by like this."

"When I left… I wrote Polly a letter and slipped it under her front door. I told her that I couldn't stay there anymore, that the pain of losing you was too unbearable for me to remain there and try to make a life without you. I just couldn't do it. So I told her that I was going to London… just like we'd planned… and that I would send her another letter in the coming weeks to let her know my address," Martha said, not keeping anything hidden from him. "I sent her the letter and I heard nothing back."

Tommy squeezed his eyes shut. He knew he needed to speak with Aunt Pol about the whole situation. He knew Martha wouldn't lie to him ever. She wasn't that good of a liar, and he knew all the signs that she gave off when she was telling lies.

"I thought you were dead…" Martha said sadly. "But you're here. You're really here."

Tommy nodded and closed the gap between them. He placed his hands on either side of her face, and stroked her cheeks with his calloused thumbs. She fluttered her eyes shut and breathed in deeply as her body began to shake uncontrollably. Tommy grazed his thumb against her bottom lip, gently tracing over the open cut on her lip feeling her wince at his touch. He had dreamt about touching her again many times but to truly touch her and to have her touch him again felt as if it was too good to be true. He felt her take a sharp intake of breath at his touch.

"I'm here, Martha…" Tommy whispered. "I wouldn't have left you. I promised you that before I left, and I'm a man who keeps his promises."

At that moment, Arthur burst through the door looking exasperated. "We have company. They're on their way, Tommy."

Tommy grazed his lips against her forehead before releasing her just as Kimber burst through the door followed by the blonde man. Tommy narrowed his eyes at the man as he went over to Martha and checked her over. He was aware of the hushed conversation between the both of them and he strained his ear to try and hear what was being said but he was unable to understand them. His eyes met Martha's once more, and they kept their gaze upon each other.

Kimber turned to Tommy with a smug, shit eating grin etched upon his face. "I hope you didn't have your wicked way with her in my bathroom, Tommy. Her fiancé isn't best pleased with any of this."

Tommy's expressionless face remained the same but inside his head, he was screaming. He clenched his jaw, holding back the urge to bash Kimber's head against the wall. He turned his attention to the man with Martha at that moment, and observed the way he was checking her over. He was inspecting her lip closely, tracing his fingers across her lip just as he had done but watching from a distance, everything seemed to fall into place. He met Martha's gaze once more before he turned his attention to his brother where he whispered to pull the car around.

It all made sense now. She was another man's lover. She hadn't been his for a long time, and it shouldn't have come as a big surprise to him but underneath it all, it pained him to see. The man obviously cared a lot about her, but there was nothing coming from Martha. She looked at Tommy with more emotion than she did the man she was to marry.

"I'm charging you for my suit, Mister Shelby," Kimber said, to which Tommy redirected his gaze towards him. He ran his tongue along his bottom lip before grazing his teeth on his lip. No one saw it coming, as Tommy's fist hit out in Kimber's direction and collided with the man's face causing him to crumple to the floor, knocked out.

Martha let out a scream at the unexpected movement from Tommy. She stared at him in disbelief that he had done such a thing, but it made her realise that part of Tommy was different. Time changed people, she understood that. But seeing Tommy react the way he did, she understood just how much he had changed.

Tommy moved towards Kimber's unconscious body, and leaned into his ear. "That was for what you did to Martha, ya sick bastard." And with that, he left the bathroom and made his way outside to where Arthur was waiting with the car.

Martha watched him leave, and she had to fight the urge to follow after him. She had noticed that he refused to look at her after seeing Kimber whisper something to him. She knew exactly what it was, and she wished she had told Tommy first. In all honesty, Michael had been far from her mind. She could only focus on the one person she believed to have been dead for years but in fact had been living in the one place she had run away from.

"You are bleeding all over your dress," Michael commented. Martha turned her attention from the door onto him. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I want to go home," Martha said, her voice hoarse. "I want to go home now."

Michael nodded, and reached for Martha's hand except she didn't acknowledge it. She walked in front of him, making her way out of the Kimber's house with Michael following closely behind her.

As she made her way outside, she hoped that Tommy would be waiting outside for her. Except when the cold night air enveloped her, she noticed that he was gone without a trace as if he had been a figment of her imagination.