Chapter 115

He was half surprised that she was actually waiting in the stable - and even more surprised that she was waiting where he had left her, with her nose in the corner. He supposed that obedience was another way Lily's influence was showing itself over Katie.

He grabbed a crate from where some were stacked against the wall, announcing, "Right, your turn."

It was almost more to resolve himself to the task than to tell her anything - she knew what he was there for, she knew what she'd been waiting for, she knew what she'd undoubtedly just heard Lily get.

He set the crate down and ordered, "C'mere," as he sat himself down on it.

He looked over and met her eye where she was watching him from the corner, turned to see him but not moving. Fair enough, Lily had softened her, but she wasn't quite without fight or resistance yet.

He raised an eyebrow and told her, "Don't make me come get you Katie, it'll be worse for you."

The words seemed to have some effect, not making her spring to life quite, but making her begin to move - slowly, like a wind up toy that was running out of steam, small, clunky steps, like she was forgetting even as she took one how to make her other leg move and take the next.

He reached out as soon as he could and dragged her the rest of the way to him, tugging her over his knee with the same pull.

He settled her, adjusting her a little further along so he had a clear target and reminded her, "When we're around horses, you do as you're told, you hear me Katie?"

He didn't get any answer, so he tutted, presuming she was doing her usual of gritting her teeth and refusing to give him anything (how many times had Polly told her she made things worse for herself by not just apologising, but she never seemed to learn!) raised his hand and began the bloody task of trying to knock some sense into the kid.

"You promised me," he reminded her, "You promised you were being truthful that you would be very, very good and then the minute my back gets turned you're in putting yourselves in danger, being reckless around an animal who could cave your heads in with one flick of his foot!"

Yeah, it was information he would keep from Lily - but it was the level of information he figured Katie might need to make her understand. She might have softened a little but she was still the boundary pusher, and her pushing needed to be pushed back far harder upon than Lily's did to keep her from trying again.

"We had near enough this same conversation that bloody time you two went wandering down The Cut. When. Are. You. Going. To. Learn?" he demanded, smacking her on every syllable, hoping to drive the point home before he went on, "Well, you'd better learn this time because if I ever have to turn you up again for endangering yourself Katie, I'll make sure you don't sit for a month of Sundays."

He was surprised to realise then that she was crying - not wailing out loud like Lily had done, a more introverted type of crying, as if she was trying not to let it be known she was crying. Like she was trained in not letting people know her emotions. But she was crying. Far earlier than usual.

He lifted her dress - to a protest of "No, no, Uncle Tommy, no!" - and continued on, her legs kicking furiously, drumming the air as he took it up a notch. Her crying went up a notch too, less contained, more properly crying out. Getting it out her system better, he imagined. He nodded to himself, satisfied with the reaction. It was no bad thing, as far as he was concerned, if she was actually upset to be in her current position - and upset enough not to be determinedly stoic over it.

"You learning your lesson?" he asked, getting no answer, just more wails.

He wasn't sure if she couldn't hear him properly or if she was just too busy crying to form a coherent answer so he went on for a bit before repeating himself - to still no response.

He reckoned she was too busy in her own head now to hear him, too consumed with her own grief and so he gave up bothering trying to make a point, barely tapping her now in place of the proper smacks he'd been giving her - but she didn't change her wailing. No, she'd reached where he'd wanted her to get to, he didn't need to do anymore. Not that she even realised at first that he'd stopped.

He waited for her cries to simmer down a little, rubbing her back, before eventually, when she'd turned her volume down enough that he reckoned he might actually reach her ears, he told her, "Right, that's you done, up you get."

She sort of pushed then fell back and he slid his hand under her stomach to help her up, not quite sure why this particular spanking had seemed to get through to her more than any other, but not wanting to question it either. She jumped about before him, her hands on her rear end, rubbing frantically, before hurtling herself at him so hard she winded him.

He froze, not having expected her to be looking for a hold, then came to his senses and put his arms around her, hugging her tight to him, savouring the opportunity to do so.

"You're alright Katie, that's you had your spanking - so you cry it out and we move on, eh?" he said as soothingly as he could into her ear, kissing the top of her unruly hair.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, "Was my idea."

As if he hadn't known that.

"Aye well, Lily makes her own decisions," he reminded her, "We've said that before."

"Will Rosie really not let her come back?" she asked, taking her face out of his chest to look up at him, her mouth twisted at the idea.

So that was what was bothering her so much, he realised. She probably wasn't any sorrier than usual for her own part in the debacle, but she was feeling for it that she might have spoiled things for Lily.

A spanking was 'just the cost of having fun' as Katie had famously told Lily once. That was how she saw it - a price to be paid, a ledger to be made even. But the idea of Rosie stopping Lily from ever coming back - that hadn't been in her head as a possibility.

But it was a possibility, that was the thing. Rosie would have her own consequences to decide on - for Lily and for him. His toes curled a little at the idea.

"I don't know Katie," he sighed, figuring there was no point denying the truth - and maybe if he could get it into her head that other kids might not simply get spanked and move on like she did, it might make her mind her actions more. But still, he didn't want her wallowing too much so he went on, rubbing her back a little, "There's been consequences for you, and they're done. What Rosie'll have to say about Lily is another story."

"'Snot fair," she returned.

"Life's not fair, eh?" he replied, his heart breaking suddenly for his little hard headed niece, more concerned it seemed with Lily's consequences than her own smarting rear end. He ran a hand across her face, wiping her tears away, wishing he could wipe it all away. Maybe Rosie's consequences would make Katie mind, and half of him was alright with that idea. But he was sure he preferred his own methods - a good spanking, delivered without too much delay, a good bout of tears and apologies from the offender and then moving on - was in its own way kinder.

"But the thing for you is Katie, that's you done," he told her, hoping to make it penetrate, "I don't want you thinking about it anymore, alright? You've paid your price and that's the slate wiped clean, alright? All you need to remember is to behave yourself, you hear?"

She nodded, though he could still see doubt tattooed across her face. She didn't trust him like Lily did, not that blind, childlike way that meant his words were the be all and end all. It would have been a lot easier if she had done.

He stayed with her, not moving until she had calmed down - which took longer than usual, he thought - and had pulled her clothing back into its rightful place, her concern finally leaving Lily enough to realise her own state.

"We head back out?" he asked her, not wanting to presume…

She shrugged and wiped her face with her sleeve, though he'd wiped the worst of it away himself.

He could see her cheeks colouring a little, no doubt at the idea of having to go out with Lily and Uncle Charlie knowing what had happened in the stable. It didn't seem to occur to her that the same thing had just happened to Lily before he'd come in to see to her - no, she was in her own head now.

"Katie, girl, you listen to me, eh?" he told her, pulling her to him, "You misbehaved, you got your spanking - both of you. That's what happens to kids who are disobedient, eh? You've paid the price and we'll move on now, nothing to be ashamed of, alright?"

She still didn't look like she believed him, but she nodded, so he said, "Alright then," and stood up, putting an arm around her shoulders to steer her, his heart thudding a little as she pressed against him in response to it. She started squirming when they reached his Uncle though, as if she wanted to hide behind him rather than walk beside him.

"Ah, c'mon now Katie love," Uncle Charlie said, reading the signs accurately, "Chin up - you're far from the first one to be turned up and reddened in this yard and you sure as shit won't be the last."

She responded by glowering up at him and Tommy snorted, glad to see a little of her fight return.

"That's more like it, eh?" he said, ruffling her untidy hair, his heart lightening at the mutinous look she was still giving his Uncle, even if it was one he'd usually be telling her to get wiped off her face before he wiped it off for her. "Right, let's give Uncle Charlie and poor bloody Porridge some peace, eh? Get you two back to Watery Lane."

"If they're in a fit state to walk," his uncle laughed, also seemingly amused by Katie's glare.

He figured it was a nice opportunity to remind them all that he only dished out discipline as he'd received it, lit a cigarette and said, "Ah, I made the walk back just fine plenty of times after catching it here."

He saw the two girls blinking up at him - and he knew they probably couldn't quite believe it that he'd ever been their size. His Uncle had used the same tactic on him as a boy, reddened him when he'd needed it then consoled him with a similar memory from his own childhood. And back then Tommy hadn't been quite able to reconcile the ideas, but he had understood the message - that his Uncle was giving him fairness as he had been given it, that he knew what it was he was putting Tommy through, and that he'd be able to survive it, even when it hadn't necessarily felt like it at the time.

Katie tossed her head and muttered a petulant, "Goodbye Uncle Charlie," when forced to, but Lily had her arms firmly around him and didn't seem to want to leave.

His Uncle squeezed her gently and patted her head, saying, "Right my little chicken, you try and be good so you can come back, eh? Curly'll be heartbroken otherwise if he gets back and I say you've been banned."

Tommy looked down at her, the warning his Uncle had given reminding him too painfully of the fact he had to take her back to her sister and offer his explanations of the whole sordid ordeal, huffed through his nostrils and admitted, "We'll just need to wait and see what our Rosie has to say about it."

"She's a woman, she'll have plenty to say," his Uncle grinned, winking at him over the child's head, "But she's as reasonable a one as I've ever met, I reckon the lot of you behave yourselves and she'll find it in her to forgive you sooner or later."

Tommy wasn't sure he was convinced. Rosie had said she'd be waiting at home for them, waiting to hear how it had all gone. He pictured her sitting with her pile of mending, her woman's work, the task she'd assigned herself to make sure they were all suitably attired for the winter. Taking care of them all. Like he'd failed to do. He could picture well the way she'd look over the pile of mending, take one look at Lily, see the dried blood on her top, assess the whole situation and then turn her burning eyes on him, reduce him to dust with a look.

His heart nearly stopped when they were walking home and faced with her well before they reached Watery Lane - his grip on the girls' hands tightening for a second as she walked out of the butcher's shop with a basket on her arm, their dinner in it. More care taking.

She saw them too and smiled over at them, calling across the street as she came over to them, "That was nice timing, I'll walk you back the rest of the way. How was it?"

Tommy swallowed and met her eyes, imagining his face was betraying his shame just fine when he watched the smile vanish from her face. He looked in Lily's direction, not quite sure how to go about putting it into words.

"What. Happened?" Rosie asked in a tone that bubbled with contained anger, a tone that made his toes curl.

He felt a bit of a coward as he tried to defend himself, "After they had their ride and had been sent to go play and leave the horse alone, these two decided to sneak back into the stable the minute Uncle Charlie and I had our backs turned and climb up on Porridge - who tossed Lily right back off."

Aye, damn right he was making sure she knew it had been done when he'd thought they were somewhere else. And yes, he was making damn sure she knew his Uncle Charlie had been there too and that the kids had been sneaky enough to get around two of them.

And yes, he was going to make them admit their guilt ahead of him admitting his. Because she was far more likely to be lenient on them, so, "That about sum it up you two?" he said, looking down at the bab and his niece, raising an eyebrow.

Lily put her fingers in her mouth and nodded and Katie did too - nodded, that was. Far more reluctantly and without the fingers in her mouth.

He held his breath as he watched storms ignite in Rosie's golden eyes.

"What have you been told?" she snapped.

He let the breath go, almost a little ashamed of himself for the relief of it when he realised she was angry with the kids. Oh, he was sure he'd be read the riot act himself once they were alone, but at least she seemed willing to acknowledge here and now their own part in it.

She crouched down, discarded the basket and grabbed Lily's arm, pulling the fingers from her mouth, pulling her forward, out of his grasp and holding her, shaking her a little for emphasis as she answered her own question, "You do as you're told - at all times, but especially in the yard. It's too dangerous - between the water and the animals and the machines - you just wait til I get you home little miss! How dare you? Do you know how much damage you could have done? Do you realise you could have been hurt? Do you realise how upset Uncle Charlie would have been if you'd got hurt at his yard? You are going to be the sorriest little girl in the world when I'm through with you!"

He realised, as she let her tirade flow, that perhaps, in his own concern for how angry she would be with him, he might have left Lily a little unprotected, his mind assuming her smallness would protect her. But the bab was in a full flow of tears again and even Katie's mouth was open and her face wary and shocked and nervous - he imagined she hadn't thought Rosie, who was always the calm, reasonable one, capable of such anger,

He cleared his throat and stepped up, "It's been dealt with - they've each had a spanking for their nonsense."

"Is that right?" Rosie replied, her eyebrow raised as if suddenly she was the one who didn't trust him to be an efficient enforcer of discipline, as if it wasn't her whose methods of punishment were usually linked to withholding cake!

"Though I did say it would be up to you if she got to go riding again or not," he added, keen she'd know he'd left space for her too, that he'd given her her due respect in her place as the bab's older sister.

She gave a curt nod, stood up and folded her arms, "Well, I'll have to think about that."

"Rosie!" Lily wailed, her voice full of sorrow and heartbreak at the notion.

"Don't you Rosie me!" the redhead snapped.

"Rosie," Katie spoke up, her voice shaking a little, "It wasn't Lily's fault. Was my idea."

"Was it now?" Rosie asked, her voice suddenly softened several notches - not that it was back to normal, or indeed soft in any real way, but softened certainly from the way she'd been addressing her sister.

Katie nodded and Rosie looked to him. He knew what she was asking, with those big, flashing eyes. Had he let Katie wallow in that, or, worse, had he been the one to point it out? Had he gone against what she'd advised after that nonsense with the cut?

No. He hadn't.

"And she's been minded that she might have her ideas but that Lily makes up her own mind about whether to go along with them or not," he told her.

She had had it reinforced that she wasn't to get too caught up in the guilt of taking responsibility. Not yet. Not at that age.

"Exactly," Rosie nodded.

She pulled concerned eyes off of Katie and looked to him, her eyes creasing a little, telling him she was still worried that Katie had brought it up herself if she'd been told already not to assume too much guilt. He nodded, confirming his understanding. They'd work on it. They'd mind the kid that she was only a kid, that her actions had consequences but that she had to accept ramifications without taking overmuch on herself. Ironically, it was the opposite of what he was trying to make Finn do. Rosie glanced to Lily and back to him, asking about that. He rolled his lips, almost sympathetic, telling Rosie he thought she'd been punished enough.

She gave a small eye roll, not entirely convinced, then looked to the kids and proclaimed, "Right, well I hope you both got a damn good spanking, one you'll bloody well remember."

"Oh I think it was good enough," he confirmed.

They had better have been good enough. He wasn't having a repeat of any of it.

"Nothing good about it," Katie muttered, probably thinking she was speaking to the ground, but saying it loud enough that they all heard.

"Oh there is, madam, trust me," Rosie said, raising an eyebrow.

Katie looked half enraged and half confused by the response.

"It's the behaviour that usually comes after it for a little while," Rosie told them, mirth in her eyes that she tried to cover by rolling them,"But this better not just be good behaviour for a while - if I decide you can continue to ride I don't ever want to hear even a whisper of another incident where you're not doing as you're told."

So she wasn't closing the door forever, not shutting, locking it and throwing away the key like he'd thought she might. His heart thudded hopefully in his chest. She'd take her time, probably keep Lily away for a few weeks, make her worry, but he reckoned the bab would be back riding with him again.

Lily put her arms around Rosie's waist and cried into her, "Please Rosie? Please?"

"I'll need to think about it."

"I'll be good - won't go on him when I'm not meant to," Lily sniffed.

"I see getting yourself bloodied hasn't put you off anyway," Rosie sighed, her hand going to the back of Lily's head and patting it.

Aye, she'd be back riding soon enough.

He squeezed Katie's hand and was about to let his face convey his pleasure - but then he caught Rosie's eye and decided not to risk looking too happy, lest he find Lily might be off the hook but he wasn't.

"Uncle Charlie and me both had a look at it, was just a bump and a bleed and it stopped as quick as it started. She was more preoccupied with her backside than she was her nose," he told her, trying to convey that whatever elation she might have caught him displaying for half a second there was hard won, after he'd done the responsible adulting.

Rosie snorted, as if she didn't trust men's judgement of these things, then slid her hand down into Lily's, "Let's get the pair of you home then."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lily was sent to change and ordered to bring her bloodied top down to Rosie, who set to rinsing it, scrubbing soap into it, then setting it to soak in the tub, whilst the bab and Katie were sent to go play.

"Don't we have to go to the wash house with you?" Katie asked, looking at the tub.

"Maybe, if I can't get this out here - but whilst I'm trying here you two go play since the rain hasn't set in yet. Might be your last chance to take the pram out, eh?" Rosie returned, eyeing them over her work.

He lit a cigarette and sat, waiting for the two of them to go, figuring she was clearing them out so she could chastise him, the same way she'd cleared the others out when Lily was in trouble. He gritted his teeth, girding his loins for it.

Rosie held the door for the kids to wheel the pram out, watched them for a second, then shut it properly, making sure it had clicked into place.

"Tommy," she sighed, coming over to stand by him.

Tommy was a hopeful sign, preferable to Thomas.

But still, he didn't expect what she said next, which was, "I'm sorry."

He sucked in a breath and looked at her, his brows meeting - he wasn't sure if it was some sort of trap, if she was planning to end the sentence with "I'm sorry you're incapable, I'm sorry I ever trusted you, I'm sorry you're a useless piece of shit." But it didn't come.

"You're sorry about what?" he prompted, wishing she'd just get into it.

The sooner she started on him, the sooner it would end.

She glanced down at his lap, then to him and said, "May I?"

He slid his chair back, making room, and she sat down, laying her head on his shoulder, one of her hands going to his shirt buttons, fiddling with them.

"I ripped it to have something to put to Lily's nose," he explained when she reached the bottom and fingered the frayed edge.

She didn't reply, just nodded.

He waited - inhaled, exhaled, flicked his ash then put his cigarette back in the side of his mouth, frowning as he asked her, "Is this quiet you trying to lull me into a false sense of security?"

She lifted her head up and gave him a wide eyed look, "About what?"

"Was expecting you to chew me up and spit me out, letting that happen on my watch…"

She shook her head, concerned eyes raking his face for a moment before she straightened up and lifted her hand to his cheek, "Tommy, no, I trust you with her, you know that. Or, you should…"

"I don't know if I trust me with her now," he told her, his stomach turning a little.

"Oh Tommy," she sighed, brushing her thumb across his cheek, her touch gentle and soft, like velvet, "We can't watch her all the time, kids need space to grow if they're going to learn to function as independent adults. She's out the back now and she could fall and crack her head open and there'd be no one at fault. Obviously we need to make sure she's being sensible - not climbing up on the roof and what not, but hopefully she's learned her lesson on that, same as she'll have learned her lesson today on pushing the horse before it's ready, eh?"

He didn't say anything, not quite trusting himself to, he just nodded.

Her head went back to his shoulder and he squeezed her waist, the two of them sitting in silence for a few moments, him smoking his cigarette to regain some control before he cleared his throat and prompted, "So what were you saying sorry for - you never answered?"

"For not coming with you," she replied, "I thought they'd behave themselves, but I should have come. I could have left the mending for through the week."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed, the lump that had been forming in his throat gone, banished by the indignance he felt that she should feel she ought to have changed her plans. It wouldn't have made any difference if she had done, so he went on - "Besides, Uncle Charlie was there, it's not as if I was outnumbered."

"Doesn't that make you feeling like you can't trust yourself with her even more ridiculous then Tommy?" she asked softly, "You're not blaming Charlie."

He flicked his cigarette ash, "No, s'pose I'm not."

"Tell me what happened, the whole of it."

He sighed, reached forward and stubbed out his cigarette, then sat back and obliged her, giving her a blow by blow - how the riding itself had gone, how they had helped brush the horse down alright and how he'd had to pull Katie back off at that point.

He began to say how he should have known then, should have just turned her up and reddened her right then, but Rosie put her hand over his mouth to silence him and said, "Just tell me what happened, Tommy. For one thing, you can't change it now so there's no point in this kind of talk. For another, if it's worth anything, I'm glad you didn't overreact in that moment."

He frowned deeply at her and she put her hands up, "I know, I know - it might have stopped what happened, I know where you're coming from. But what happened might also not have happened anyway and if it hadn't, you'd be glad you hadn't spoiled your day with that, wouldn't you? I know you don't like doing it."

"I'd prefer if they just behaved themselves," he grunted.

She wriggled on his lap a little, looking mischievous for a second, "And what about me? Is it better when I just behave myself?"

He smirked, sliding his hand up her thigh to squeeze at her own backside, "Well getting a chance to look at your lovely arse is always welcome, my love - though I can do that when you're a good girl too, can't I?"

She returned the smirk, then reached forward and kissed him, pressing her breasts to his chest, arching her back to push her arse further into his groping hand.

She began to shift, as if she was going to turn to straddle him - when the back door opened and Finn came in, making Rosie shoot up off his lap as if struck by lightning.

"What do you want?" he growled.

Finn looked at him, wide eyed, "Just came in to ask when dinner would be ready."

"A few hours yet love," Rosie returned, her own voice much calmer than his.

"Can I go up the park then?"

"I suppose so, but make sure you're back here in time," Tommy said, trying not to scowl too much - it was hardly the kid's fault, he'd grudgingly admit.

Finn turned to go, breathless, "Thanks Tommy."

"And Finn?" Tommy shouted, making the kid freeze in the act of opening the back door, "You enjoy it - cause you're working for me tomorrow, you got it?"

He waited a moment for Finn to respond, wondering if there'd be any arguments. But he got none, Finn just nodded.

"Good lad - off you go then."

"Where were we?" he asked Rosie with a raised eyebrow after the kid had run off.

She jiggled the handle of the door, making sure it was shut properly, then went to the tub, lifting Lily's top out of it and wringing it, holding it up to get a look at it, frowning at the blood that hadn't yet lifted. Avoiding his eye, he reckoned.

"You were telling me what happened at the yard," she told him, kneeling down and picking up her soap and beginning to vicariously rub the stain again.

"Rosie," he groaned.

"Thomas," she said, sitting back on her heels and finally looking up at him, "Anyone could come along, as you well know."

"Bloody Finn."

"Just as well it was Finn," she grinned.

He shook his head, went in for a fresh cigarette and licked his lips before lighting it, inhaling and continuing through to the sorry end of the tale, when they'd left, been walking home and met her.

"I know she needed taught a lesson and I would have given her a spanking myself for what happened today," Rosie said, her eyes concentrating on her washing, "But I don't know if I'm all that pleased at you turning her up when she'd just had her nose bloodied."

"Well I didn't feel it would be fair to turn Katie up there and not her too," he frowned.

She sighed and nodded, "I see. I suppose I understand that."

"I think Katie's eyes nearly fell out her head when she realised you could be that angry, you know," he told her, sitting back in the chair and looking at her in amusement, "She's never seen you like that before. Reckons I'm the mad one. Or did, at least."

Rosie snorted and returned his amused smile for a second before going quiet, her eyes focussing off into the middle distance, her mind at work. He watched her thinking for a minute, the firelight behind her turning her hair into a glowing, fiery red halo, before his curiosity made him ask, "Penny for them?"

She blinked up at him, back in the room, then wrung out the top, stood up and lay it across the back of the nearest chair, pulling it closer to the flames to dry it, keeping her own counsel a minute longer before she said, picking her words carefully…

"Did Katie seem to like the horse and the riding alright?"

"Alright enough she wanted back on it after I'd told her she was done," he returned, "Why?"

"Well, I was thinking - this wedding. John and Esme…"

"Uhuh?" he asked, cautious, not sure that she wasn't about to go off on one about it.

She obviously caught his tone and she sighed, "Look, Tommy… I don't agree, in principal, with it. But I've spent enough time with her and her family now to know that," she paused, exhaled loudly, then continued, a little defeatedly, "That you were right. That she'll marry who she's forced to, and, in a lot of ways, John could be the best option for her. He's kind and he has a good heart, John."

Tommy nodded.

"I still don't think that makes it right, just so you know," she rushed, ensuring she'd get that point across, "I think she should have more of her own say than she does. But I can also understand that there's a difference between how things should be and how things are - and I have the sense to know that sometimes if you can work to get the best outcome you can within the way things are, that that sometimes has to be enough in the meantime, whilst the bigger changes, the changes in the systems themselves, are being pushed for."

He imagined she was thinking of her work then and not the systems of the Romani way of life, because no challenges to the system that defined Esme Lee's prospects were underfoot as far as he was aware. But he didn't reckon pointing that out was wise, so he nodded again, keeping his mouth shut.

"Well, with that in mind - I just want this to go as well as it can go. And I do wish you'd get on with telling John and introducing them but - well… I had been thinking about John a lot. And then, on Sunday, when they were here and afterwards - you remember we were talking about how John needs to be a father, not a friend?"

He nodded.

"You said you think things'll be better when Esme comes."

"You should you thought I was right."

"Yes," she nodded, "I did. And I do, because if nothing else John will have some sort of inbuilt support system. But do you remember when Lily and I first came here?"

"A year ago, almost to the day."

She paused and they exchanged warm, knowing smiles, both of them scarcely able to believe it had been a year, that they had found themselves, found home, within a year.

"Yes, well," she picked back up again, crossing to the sideboard, lifting potatoes out of her basket, finding a knife for peeling them with and bringing them over to the table to begin her work, "You remember how Lily had that adjustment period for a few months, the tantrums and the screaming and crying - just that big emotional upheaval whilst she processed the way her life had rearranged coming out in the only way it could for a baby…"

Tommy nodded, smiling at the softness of how she approached the child and her emotions, a softness he'd never been afforded growing up. One he thought he'd learned a little from, even if the kids did all still think he was the moaniest of the adults next to Pol. Lily had softened Katie, but Rosie had softened him - and the fact he hadn't turned Katie up and reddened her with no discussion about it when he'd caught her climbing up on the horse when he'd told them to brush it down was as much testament to that as Katie's throwing herself into his arms after the spanking he had given her was.

"There'll be an adjustment period for John's lot too. And it won't be maybe quite as bad in some ways, they're not having their environment changed quite so much - but it's a new person suddenly very much in their space, Tommy. And they might - they might feel guilty to the memory of their mother…"

"I don't reckon so," Tommy frowned, shaking his head, "The twins and Katie won't even remember Martha I don't reckon. George might have some memories, but they won't be clear-"

"I reckon you're underestimating there," Rosie cut across him, shooting him a raised eyebrowed look before going back to her chopping, "But even if there are no memories, there's the idea of who their mother was. For kids it's about the name, the role, as much as the person. You know what Lily's like with wanting to be able to have someone she calls Daddy. She knows I look after her, same as you do, and I think for me it probably muddles it a little that I'm her sister - and she knows lots of people get looked after by brothers or sisters. But she wants to be able to call you her Daddy, even though it would make no difference to what you do for her, because in her head that makes you…" she sighed and waved her knife about, searching the air for the right words, "I don't know, Tommy. The word, the title - it signifies something. And in the same way, I think asking those kids to accept Esme as their new mother will also signify something. And I'm not sure that something will go down too smoothly."

"Well we'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it," he said, his stomach sinking as he processed what she was saying, realising that - unfortunately - she might be bloody well right. She had a habit of being right. Probably all that time spent in that library. "What's that to do with Katie liking the riding or not though? I'm not bribing her into being good in exchange for getting to ride."

"Of course you're not," Rosie returned, looking confused, "Apart from anything else Thomas, when it comes to whatever those issues might be between John and Esme and those kids, you're going to need to keep your nose out and let them find their own order. They'll not be needing you interfering."

Thomas it was again, then.

He snorted, "No one in this family gets by without my interfering."

"This will need to - their marriage, their home, cannot be resting on you as its foundation Thomas," Rosie said sharply, "It's not fair on anyone involved. Not you and certainly not them."

Two Thomases.

"So why are you bring it up then?" he asked impatiently, waving his hand, "If not as a carrot to dangle."

"Well it is as a carrot to dangle, in a way," she said, "Just you won't be dangling it."

"Oh?"

"Look - you said they were moaning about hardly having any time on Porridge?"

"Uhuh?"

"So I imagine the sneaking back in was prompted by them not feeling satisfied with how much riding they got to do? Which surely then must mean Katie was quite keen on it, aye?"

"Aye, I suppose that's fair," he said, inclining his head.

"Well, Esme's a good rider, Tommy. If Katie liked the riding, maybe Esme could teach her, like you teach Lily. I think maybe giving them time together, one on one, is a good idea. And I think Esme having something to teach her is an easy way to give them things to talk about during that time, so that even if the social conversation is stilted, things have to flow between them even if it's only to talk about riding things."

Back to Tommy, thankfully. He clicked his tongue, considering, before conceding, "It's not a bad idea."

Rosie rolled her eyes, "Thank you."

"Enough sarcasm, little miss, or I'll be getting that look at your arse I mentioned earlier," he told her.

She looked at him with wickedly glinting eyes but shook her head, "Don't you be taking little miss for us, Tommy. I need something I can scold that child with that won't just put me in mind of things you say to me when you're going all I'm Thomas Shelby on me."

"I'm always Thomas Shelby," he grinned.

She shook her head, "You know what I mean."

"Alright," he nodded, holding her gaze for a moment to show her he meant it - that he'd respect her request, then going on, "How do you know Esme's a good rider?"

She froze for a second, then, her eyes on her work, her voice a little higher, "She told me. Said she was born riding, slept in a manger when she was a baby."

He knew from her tone that there was something he wasn't being told.

"Well, I'm not prepared to invest in a horse for her to be teaching Katie on based on what she's told you. I'll need more evidence than that."

"I've seen her riding Tommy, she's very good."

"Seen her?"

"Yes, at the camp."

"Sweetheart, with the best will in the world, you're hardly the best judge of riders, are you? Given you don't care to get too close to horses, eh?"

She put her knife down and straightened up, giving him a hard, cold look across the table, her hands going in fists to her hips, "Alright Thomas Shelby - it was going to be a surprise but since you're being a great pig about it - Esme's been teaching me to ride. And yes, I was a little unsure of horses, but she's been very patient with me and that's how I know she's a good teacher. And I'm insulted you think I'd suggest she taught Katie on the basis of what I'd heard without being given evidence of it myself."

Tommy grinned and stood up, coming around the table, taking her waist and spinning her around to face him, pulling her to him.

"A surprise was it?" he asked.

"Yes," she told him, her hands still at her hips, her chin jerked up, still determined to be annoyed with him.

"A surprise for me?"

"Who else?"

"Show me what a wild Gypsey Queen you can be, my little loli phabai? Hmm?" he asked, pressing his mouth hard to hers before she could even attempt to answer, staying there, until he felt her melt to him a little, a little moan escaping her when one of his hands journeyed south to find her arse, whilst the other kept her waist encircled.

"Queen Rosalie Shelby astride her steed," he murmured once they had broken apart.

Her face was flushed and she smiled at him, with slightly hazy eyes, the annoyance banished.

"Even if her King is a pig, eh?"

"A great, pig-headed baboon, brute, bat, bastard," she replied, smiling, "But aye, my pig headed baboon, brute, bat, bastard."

Thank you as always for reading along!