Trigger warning - mentions of physical abuse in this chapter.

Chapter 53

After Monday's drama the rest of the week was fairly quiet - though he expected, following Monaghan Boy's loss, Billy Kimber and his men to arrive at any opportunity. Most likely Kimber would wait till the weekend, turn up at The Garrison - somewhere public, where they would be seen.

Every day Tommy told Rosie it was just business, that inviting Grace to the races meant nothing to him, that he'd have invited her if she were a man because it was entirely about getting control over the information that Campbell was being fed. It got various reactions.

On Tuesday he was ignored.

On Wednesday it was an angry, "Don't pretend for a minute you don't know that the implications of asking a man along wouldn't be the same as they are asking her!"

Thursday brought, "Maybe you should concentrate more on controlling things nearer to home Thomas," and he had used every inch of willpower not to respond in a way that would inflame her, merely saying, "I'm trying, Rosie, I'm trying," which had gotten a snort and, "Try harder." He hadn't replied to that.

Friday brought another round of feigned deafness.

He was surprised on Saturday to find her in the house, expecting her to have been at the tobacco shop.

"Last Saturdays of the month I'm not working," she told him when he said so.

"That's good," he nodded. He was pleased she had either negotiated it herself or been offered it, either way it was an improvement.

She made a 'hmm' noise in response and got on with breakfast.

"What you up to today Rosie girl - apart from feeding me?" John asked, following his nose into the kitchen and grinning over at her.

"Feeding you is a full time job John Shelby," Rosie grinned back.

"Hear that Tom? We should have someone on the payroll on the days she's not here."

"Or you could learn to feed yourself," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"I can feed myself, just not as well as this one can," John said, going over to her and stealing a sausage straight from the pan, putting it in his mouth to shake the heat out of his fingers as Rosie tsked and jabbed him with the tongs.

"How do you know that's even cooked through and safe to eat?" Tommy asked pointedly.

John removed the sausage from his mouth and waved it at Rosie like a teacher with a pointer, "She'd have stopped me if it wasn't, Rosie wouldn't let me get ill."

"How would I manage without my practically live in court jester?"

"Exactly," John nodded triumphantly.

Tommy rolled his eyes and found a spot on the wall to look at in absence of the day's paper being within reach for him to pretend to read.

"Seriously though, day off, what you up to?" John asked through a mouthful meat.

"Studying," she replied, prodding at the food still in the pan, turning the bacon over, "The leaver's cert exam is in three weeks and then I am free forever."

"Never did my leaver's cert, just went off to war," John replied lightly.

"I imagine I'm getting the easier option."

"Don't know so much - I got a free uniform and a salary for going to war, don't reckon the leaver's cert would have got me anything. Is Ada doing it too?"

"Ada's still at Polly's, she's been off sick. Besides, she's not sixteen till next year," Tommy interjected.

He still hadn't told his brothers anything. He still didn't know quite how to tell them.

Rosie plated up a breakfast and put it down to him, catching his eye as she did so. She didn't say anything and he was grateful she wasn't saying anything in the wider sense. She was keeping her mouth shut, letting him stick to the story that Ada wasn't well and was staying at Polly's.

"She's really sick then, that's been a while," John said, screwing his face up.

Tommy was saved from answering by Rosie putting John's plate in front of him and distracting his brother. Arthur appeared too, led in by the smell of frying and Lily and Finn soon dragged themselves from their beds to the kitchen, the increased bodies moving the conversation on in new directions and away from Ada or the leaver's cert, to Tommy's relief.

He busied himself in his office most of the morning - looking through the schedules for the BSA factory, knowing the strikes had thrown things off and trying to figure out if anything coming off the production line was worth stealing, weighing up what he'd be most likely to find buyers for against what would fetch the best prices. Rosie had spread her books over the kitchen table and shut the doors over to try and get herself some peace and quiet to study in, meaning they didn't see one another again until she opened them and stuck her head into the shop, shouting down to John that she had made soup if he wanted some.

"Any for me?" Arthur asked.

"Any for anyone who wants some, I think I made too much," she replied.

Tommy was the last to arrive through, finding all of his brothers and his aunt present and crowded into the kitchen, Lily sitting on Arthur's knee to eat her own soup.

He lent against the wall and smoked back to back cigarettes, not eating anything, his eyes on Rosie - who had lent herself against the sideboard and also wasn't eating. She must have felt his stare because she turned her eyes on him briefly, but she didn't linger.

He lingered though, staying until Finn and Lily had both gone back outside to play in the sunshine, waiting until Arthur had gone back into the shop until he slid into an empty chair and asked if John, who was on his second helping of the soup, had left any for anyone else.

"There's plenty, he's doing me the favour by eating it."

"Don't encourage him, he's bad enough without it," Polly said with a roll of her eyes.

"You haven't eaten any yourself," Tommy pointed out, watching her as she ladled it into a bowl for him.

"I ate before you came through," she replied, "You want tea?"

He raised an eyebrow, not believing her, but nodded to the offer of tea and didn't question her further. She had told him before she didn't sleep well when she went to bed with things hanging over her - and things were still hanging over them. He wondered if it affected her appetite too. He certainly had no appetite, he never had had the greatest of appetites (for food anyway), but the excuse that meals gave him to be around her was a welcome one.

He finished the soup and lit a cigarette in an effort to extend the time he could spend with her, listening to Polly and Rosie discussing the planned cutting of Rosie's hair, taking Lily into town for some summer clothes, the potential of Rosie investing in any summer clothes for herself ("I'll wait and see if I feel too hot at any point, if not I don't see the point," was the answer there) and then slightly veering off to discuss the new ruling Campbell had put in place making it illegal for communists to gather in groups of more than three, presumably an attempt to stop rallies and therefore stop the rallying for strikes that had been going on.

"Don't reckon it'll make much difference," was Rosie's opinion, "The only way to stop the striking is to listen to the workers and compromise somewhere with them - the talk won't stop happening just because they can't be caught gathering more than three of them at a time."

"I reckon you're right," Polly nodded grimly.

"And it's not like they're in isolated groups of three, three people will discuss something then go off and each discuss it within another group of three and so on - if they even abide by the groups of three thing in the first place," Rosie went on, "I mean, if a group of five men are drinking in a pub can the police break them up if four of them are known commies? Even if they're just in the pub for a drink and not talking politics?"

"I don't know," Polly answered, frowning as she thought.

Tommy exhaled and flicked the end of his cigarette, saying, "I reckon he will - social occasion or not, no more than three commies in a group and that's that."

"Can I get more soup?" John chimed.

"That should empty the pot out," Rosie nodded, taking his bowl from him and going over to the range.

Polly snorted, "Need something to keep your mouth busy since you never read a paper and don't know anything about what's going on?"

"Just hungry Aunt Pol."

"How in holy hell can you still be hungry John Shelby? I swear to god there's something not right with your insides - you should be fat enough to join a circus with the amount you eat!"

"All that exercise I do - running the streets around here now that Tommy's settled down and domesticated himself. Someone's got to keep on top of it."

"Not like you don't have four kids of your own you could be staying in and domesticating yourself with," Rosie said as she placed the refilled bowl down, casting a flinty eye down at his younger brother.

"Oh Rosie!" John moaned, catching the back of her blouse as she turned away and pulling her back to him so he could wrap his arms around her and lay his head on her stomach, mooning his eyes up at her, "Don't you go being mean to me, I need one friend around here when this lot are ganging up on me."

"Oh don't be a flatterer," she replied sarcastically rolling her eyes, "You just need a cook and don't think I don't know it."

"One of them would be great, aye, any chance you could teach one of your friends and they could move in with me?"

She snorted, "Lizzie not cook?"

"Not as good as you, the kids are always asking when they can come here for dinner or when you'll come over to make them something," John replied, before adding, "And it's not like that with Lizzie, I've told you that."

"Aye, aye, whatever you say," she said, smirking on one side of her mouth and going over to the sink, dumping the empty pot in the soapy water she had heated to take their bowls as they finished them.

Tommy refilled his tea cup, nursing the brew and lighting another cigarette, finding nothing to say and deciding he'd go back to work once he was done - the empty soup pot meant John would have no excuse to stay either after he finished his latest helping and it would let Rosie get back to her studying.

John slurped down his third bowl of Rosie's vegetable soup in record time, lifting it and drinking from it-

"Like a bloody animal," Polly said, reaching out and smacking the back of his head.

Tommy puffed on his cigarette and lifted an eyebrow when he caught his brother's eye as John put the freshly emptied bowl back on the table.

"Rosie says it's healthy," he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and grinning, unperturbed by his aunt's admonition.

"You're not excused for having no table manners just because what you're eating is healthy," Polly replied, rolling her eyes, "And you're still a greedy pig."

"Rosie says I was helping her out, it emptied the pot for her," John shrugged, "Didn't you Rosie girl?"

"I did," Rosie confirmed from the basin where she was scrubbing at the pot in question, shooting a fond smile over her shoulder at his younger brother, one that made him instantly jealous.

He knew it was ridiculous. But it was what it was, ridiculous or not, it was what he felt.

He bit back the comment that jumped to his mind about how Rosie should just make less in the first place and directed the ire that had created the retort at himself. What was that about? He wanted things to be normal between the two of them, wanted her to throw an easy smile over her shoulder at him. He wanted things to be good again. But his comment wouldn't have helped anything. It would have made him feel better for a second, when she stopped smiling because at least then she wouldn't have been smiling at all and it felt in that moment like that might have been easier to bear than to see her smile at someone who wasn't him. But the self loathing that would have come after it, when he realised he'd robbed her of her smile, that wouldn't have been easier to bear at all. He knew that. But the instinct had still kicked in, reared its head.

He wondered if that was what happened to Ada too, like Polly had said. The lashing out. But Ada's tempter was quicker than his and her self control less developed and so she didn't make the jump to being able to stop herself. He'd called her spiteful. But if her processes were what his had just been… It didn't seem spiteful, it just seemed like self preservation, like perfectly reasonable defence. He wondered too if, because she couldn't stop it, Ada did end up going through the self-loathing he had narrowly just avoided. He supposed it depended who was the one who got snapped at in the first place.

And the thing was, none of them were any good at saying sorry. Except John. Which was probably partly why Rosie liked John the best of his brothers. Not that she'd ever said it and they bickered the most of all of them, but he didn't miss the glow in her when John complimented her cooking, which he did often, or the special smile she reserved for the moments when John told her she'd made him much more bearable to be around. "That Tommy, never a civil word from him until you came to stay Rosie girl," John would say and she'd glance at Tommy then grin at John. And Tommy would roll his eyes in response, whilst John would grin widely in return. John was easy. John apologised when he overstepped. To the people in the family at least. But the rest of them didn't. Tommy certainly didn't. And Ada didn't either - she was good at shrieking her apologies once she realised she was over the line and facing a sore arse for her trouble, but short of a self preservation apology before her punishment or a hard won one after, she didn't apologise. He wondered if part of his sister wanted to apologise to Rosie. Fat chance of it now. Marrying a fucking communist.

"It was good soup," Tommy said suddenly, slightly unexpectedly, even to himself, as if his vocal chords had somehow produced the sound separately to him thinking of it, his mind taken with thoughts of Ada and Freddie and Rosie and the whole damn situation.

Though, in regards to the whole damn situation, complimenting her cooking seemed to work for John.

There was a pause before, "Glad you liked it," issued from her mouth, though she didn't turn to flash him any smiles, just continued scrubbing the pot.

He shoved his cigarette in his mouth before he said anything else.

There was quiet whilst Rosie shook off the soap suds and put the cloth she'd been using down on the side with a wet thump. She tucked the large soup pot under her arm, resting it on her hip and headed out the back door to rinse it off at the pump.

The sound of it clattering off the ground made John jump in his chair, though the pot's clanging was quickly eclipsed by Rosie's voice demanding, "Lillian Jackson! What in holy hell do you think you're playing at? How did you get up there? You just wait till I get my hands on you!"

John cocked an eyebrow and grinned at Tommy, who put his cigarette down and stood to peer out of the window to see if he could see exactly what Lillian Jackson was playing at. The lace curtain prevented him from managing it and he went to the open door, not responding to John's, "She sounds just like our bloody mother, d'you reckon women are just born with those phrases in them?"

Rosie had stopped a few paces out of the door, the pot on the ground, staring up at the roof of the outhouse where he saw, his stomach swooping as he did so, Lily standing and staring back down at them.

"You get down here this minute Lily! Oh I'm going to make you so sorry you ever thought about doing something as stupid as climbing up there! In fact - no!" Rosie was speaking quickly, a stream of consciousness, waving her hands around, "You stay where you are, I'll get Tommy!"

"Tommy's here," he said, feeling something in him flutter at the fact that, presented with a situation where Lily was in danger, it was him Rosie had automatically thought to go for.

He reached out to rub her lower back lightly on his way by and she turned to him, meeting his eye, hers wide and worried, her concern for the baby overtaking her intention of being distant with him.

"Don't you worry, I'll get her," he assured her quietly, lifting his hand, which she hadn't pushed off herself, as he headed down towards the outhouse.

He stopped by the wall, standing back enough that he could meet Lily's eyes. He raised an eyebrow at her and she responded by lifting her fingers to her mouth.

"You come sit on the edge on the roof here," he said, indicating the spot in front of him.

She stared at him then shook her head. He couldn't deny that he was slightly taken aback by her blatant refusal to do as he'd bid. He watched her eyes travel to her sister as she sucked on her fingers.

"You think you're going to stay there forever?" he asked her, understanding her unwillingness to come down simply to be met by a displeased authority figure whose reach she was currently out of.

She moved her eyes to him but didn't answer.

"Lily, you sit down here so I can lift you. I'll come up there and get you if I have to," he warned her, "But if I do I'll be bringing you back down with a smacked backside for not doing as you're told before I even get you back to your sister."

There was a pause in which she seemed like she was going to force him to follow through on it so he moved to grasp the top window ledge to hoist himself up - the same way he was sure she had managed and, Christ, it was a miracle she had managed and hadn't fallen down and cracked her head open in the process. If Rosie hadn't already promised that she was going to make the child regret her climbing he'd have given her such a thorough spanking himself that it'd be fifty years before she'd think about taking her feet off the ground without her backside tingling to remind her of the consequences.

As if realising that there was no hope of escaping the consequences she was facing, Lily moved to sit where he had indicated before and he gave her a disapproving look before grasping her legs and using them to hoist her over his shoulder.

As soon as he began walking back towards the house she began to batter her fists into him, demanding, "Put me down Thomas!"

He stopped in his tracks and grabbed the back of her dress, yanking her over to face him.

"Thomas?" he repeated, eyebrow raised.

He watched her fight between her instinct to appease him and the want to stand her ground and, upon reaching her decision, her little mouth settled in a small line before she nodded defiantly, "Yes! Thomas!"

Well he might take it from his aunt or her sister, but that was the extent of who he'd be Thomas'd by.

"Right then," he nodded and tossed her over his left arm.

Realising what she'd gotten herself into she wriggled and shouted, "No! Tommy -Tommy, let me down."

"Tommy again is it?" he snorted, bringing his right hand down on her rear.

"Yes! I'm sorry - Tommy I'm sorry!"

"I'd have thought a little girl who'd already earned a spanking with her silly climbing might have had the sense not to give out an attitude," he mused, swatting away, "Obviously I was mistaken."

"Tommy, Tommy I'm sorry - I'm not giving attitude!" she shrieked, stumbling over the t's in attitude.

"I should hope not," he said, pulling her round to meet his eyes again, his stern and hers watery, meeting his only for a second before moving to land somewhere around his chest.

He shook his head, "I'm only restraining myself from wearing you out properly because your sister already owes you a sore backside - but if you ever speak to me in that tone of voice again Lily you'll be eating your dinner standing up, y'hear?"

She nodded, still not meeting his eye, her lower lip trembling a little.

"Alright," he said, softening his voice slightly and putting her on the ground, turning her to her sister, "Off you go."

She looked to her sister, and to John, who had appeared in the doorway to see what was going on, moved her hands slowly to her backside and then stepped back, pressing into his legs and looking up at him.

"Go on Lily," he told her, bending his knee a little to nudge into her back, "You were big enough to climb up there so you're big enough to take the consequences."

"Don't want consequences," she mumbled, still looking up at him.

He fought not to smile and crouched down behind her to give her a small push to get her moving, telling her, "Tough."

"Lillian Jackson, get over here - right now!" Rosie snapped, pointing at the ground in front of her.

Lily dragged her feet but went after giving him one last baleful look over her shoulder.

Rosie squatted down and gripped her sister around the waist, shaking her slightly as she demanded, "What on earth did you think you were doing going up there? Did you even think about how dangerous that was? You are in so much trouble!"

"Rosie, it's not fair!" Lily protested, shaking her head, "Katie goes up all the time!"

"I don't care what Katie does-" Rosie started saying.

I care about what you do - that would have been the end of the sentence, and Tommy half wondered if John was right and women were just born with those bloody phrases locked somewhere inside of them, ready to emerge when they became mothers.

It would have been the end of the sentence if John hadn't cut her off, demanding, "My Katie? Is my Katie climbing up there? And how often - what do you mean by all the time?"

Tommy watched Lily's head swivel to his brother, whose own face had suddenly lost its characteristically easy expression.

One of her hands moved off of her backside to go to her mouth, but Rosie caught it and held it firmly, "Nope - no fingers in your mouth Lily. You answer the question."

Lily looked between the two expectant adults and then shook her head.

"So Katie's not up there and you just fibbed to me?" Rosie asked, raising an eyebrow.

He saw Lily freeze under her sister's gaze and then the child let out a moan and jumped up and down on the spot as if distressed saying, "I'm not telling on her!"

"Lily, does Katie climb up there - yes or no?" John asked, his voice unusually stern.

Lily didn't answer and Tommy came around to stand beside Rosie, saying "Lily - if the next thing that comes out of you isn't the god's honest truth I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap - so answer me - has Katie been up there, same as you were?"

She stared up at him for a moment then nodded very slowly.

There was part of him, he couldn't deny, that liked the camaraderie that had made Lily decline to tell on his niece - and there was a bigger part of him that liked that she could be intimidated into telling him the truth with the threat of a bar of soap in her mouth.

"Right," John nodded and set off apace down towards his own back door.

It wasn't often that John came down on any of his kids, god knew for all anyone could say he had been soft with Ada and was a bit soft with Lily, Tommy disciplined more often than John did. He reckoned Katie was probably in for a right shock - thinking on it, he didn't really remember John ever doing anything more than giving her the odd swat or threat. It was generally left to Polly to keep John's kids in line. Though he was quietly confident that his aunt had in it hand, he was glad even John was taking them climbing up on the outhouse seriously, it was a low enough building that it would seem easy to climb but it was high enough that kids falling off it could come to serious harm.

Rosie finished expelling another stream of demands with regards to what Lily thought she'd been playing at climbing up there, had she thought at all and what had possessed her, before she picked up the pot from where she had dropped it and said, "Right - you - in that house this minute."

Lily walked slowly into the kitchen, which Polly had had the tact to vacate, followed by Rosie and him bringing up the rear, pulling the door shut behind them.

"I cannot believe you climbed up there and didn't consider how dangerous it was Lily, I'm so disappointed in you!" Rosie said, shaking her head angrily at the child once they were inside.

Tommy was coming to the realisation that Rosie was a labourer of the point. As soon as he knew that the kids knew what they had done wrong he preferred to get on with meating out the punishment and moving on. Whilst Rosie's main punishment had been up til now had been taking away cakes (and he hoped it was up til now, because he was going to give Lily a damn good spanking himself if she didn't) he reckoned most of them would rather have been dealt with his way - she had already repeated her shock and disbelief enough and he didn't see the need to do it again, he was sure even a six year old had grasped the point by now.

"I am going to make you such a sorry little girl that you'll never climb anything again! Why didn't you think?!" Rosie continued her tirade, taking the pot from under her arm and throwing it down hard on the table.

He watched the colour drain from her face when Lily's hands went quickly over her head in a flinching movement as she threw the pot.

"Lily," she said, her voice suddenly ashen - colourless and bleak, "Did you - did you think I was going to hit you with that pot?"

The two sisters stared at each other for a beat before Lily said, "Well, Molly hit you with one once."

"Oh god," Rosie said, taking a step in the child's direction and sitting swiftly on the floor, her arms reaching out, "Oh my darling, come here."

Lily slowly released her hold on her head and went, unsure, to her sister, who folded her into her arms. Tommy's mind reeled - Rosie had never been spanked by her mother, she'd told him that, but apparently she'd been hit with a bloody pot.

"Lily, sweetheart," Rosie said, her voice gentle, though cracking slightly as though she would cry at any moment, "Do you remember what happened after Molly hit me with that pot?"

"Lots of blood," Lily mumbled, her arms around Rosie's neck.

Rosie kissed her hair, "I know - I know there was lots of blood, but after that? I got rid of her Lily, didn't I? Do you remember? I told her to get out."

Lily didn't answer and Tommy frowned as he turned her statement over. She had got rid of their mother. He had thought - or he had been told, it was what the word on the street had been - that their mother had left them. And he'd said that to Rosie too, and she'd never said otherwise.

"Lily, listen to me," Rosie was saying, rubbing the baby's back as she crossed her own legs and sat Lily down in them, so the two of them were facing into one another, "I got rid of her so that she wouldn't do the same thing to you when she got into a temper. I wasn't ever going to let you be hurt like that, do you understand? No one is ever going to treat you like that, not while I'm here. Do you understand?"

She broke off the second time she asked, her eyes searching Lily's face - waiting for an answer, which came in the form of a small nod.

"Good. Good," she repeated the word, more forcefully, "So do you understand that I got rid of her so she wouldn't do those awful things to you Lily? And do you understand that I certainly didn't put a stop to her so that anyone else, including me, could do them instead?"

Lily blinked up at her and he knew she didn't entirely understand the wording of what Rosie had said, but she understood the sentiment.

"Lily, I love you," Rosie said, breathing deeply, seeming to realise she needed to simplify herself, "You are the most important thing to me, in the whole world. And no one is ever going to hit you with a pot, I promise you, alright?"

"Ok," Lily said, nodding trustingly up at her sister.

"Come here," Rosie said, gathering her up again, closing the small gap that had been between them as Lily sat on her sister's legs, "No one is going to hurt you like that Lily - not ever, alright?"

Lily began to cry into Rosie's neck, though he figured it was just crying from being generally overwhelmed by the afternoon's events more than it was from what Rosie had said. Still, if he'd been a different type of man - a different person - he might have cried. He couldn't believe that their mother had drawn blood from her, and, from the sounds of it, it hadn't been a one off. Rosie had 'got rid of her' so that she wouldn't do the same 'awful things' to Lily as had obviously been done to her when their mother 'got into a temper.' Just what kind of temper had Molly had?

His own mother had beat him once in his life. Just once. With a frying pan - which had hurt enough on his body without trying to imagine what being bludgeoned with a soup pot must have been like. He figured now that that was maybe where Rosie's crooked nose came from. He'd thrown his own arms over his head when his mother had come for him, just like Lily had done in the same bloody kitchen a few minutes before, but even in her true rage his mother hadn't gone near his head. And she certainly hadn't drawn any blood. It was only ever his father's punches that drew blood.

He stayed quiet, mulling the new information over in his head as Lily cried herself out and Rosie held her, her own face buried into Lily's head so he couldn't see if there were tears coming from her too - though he certainly suspected there to be.

Eventually Lily settled, and Rosie sat back, appraising her, reaching out to swipe away the tears from her face.

"Lily, I love you - you know that don't you?" Rosie said, which elicited a nod from the younger sister, "Good. Now I'm still really cross with you for climbing up on the outhouse, alright? I'm cross because you gave me such a fright when I saw you up there. It frightened me to think about what could happen if you fell - you could get seriously hurt from falling from up there, do you understand?"

Lily bit her lip but nodded again.

"I'm angry that you didn't think about what could happen, Lily. Climbing up there was dangerous and there are certain things I trust you to be sensible about, I shouldn't have to tell you not to climb up a building - you should know not to."

The climber ducked her eyes and slid her fingers into her mouth, asking through them, "Am I getting a spanking?"

Rosie sighed and ran a hand through her tangled hair. He could see her conundrum and he knew fine well that she wasn't going to dish out a spanking then and there - even as much as he felt the child still thoroughly deserved one. Still, he'd keep his thoughts to himself, she evidently didn't have it in her at the moment.

"No," Rosie said, once Lily had met her eyes, "Not today. You got smacked on Monday when you shouldn't have - so we'll call it even on that. But you're going to go to bed and stay there for the rest of the day until I come get you for dinner and then you're going straight back."

"Rosie, no!" Lily said, screwing her face up, "I don't want to go to bed. I'm not tired."

"It's a punishment Lily, it's not about what you want to do," her sister replied.

"I'll be bored!"

"Good - you can lie there and be bored and think about how boring it would be if you fell off the roof and broke your leg and had to stay in bed for months on end while it healed. And you wouldn't even be coming down for meals, you'd just be lying there all day every day."

"Rosie, Rosie please - I won't climb again."

He could see the strain on Rosie's face as Lily pleaded and decided to interject, hoping that giving her some respite would help, "Lily - Katie's probably in the middle of getting a spanking right now and I imagine she'd be only too pleased to trade it in for being sent to bed, so I suggest you consider yourself lucky and get yourself up the stairs before I run out of patience."

"Tommy - Tommy, no!" Lily exclaimed, stamping her foot.

Children were maddeningly quick - Rosie was still clearly wrung out from the pot episode, but Lily had already moved on and was clearly ready to throw a tantrum over being sent to bed.

"Do you want a spanking Lily?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Would rather a spanking and go back out than go to bed!" was her reply, her lower lip jutting out.

He crouched down to meet her at her level and beckoned her over to him, taking her wrists in his hands and holding her firmly in front of him as he said, "Right, let's get one thing straight Lily - your sister has decided you've to go to bed for the rest of the day because of your climbing so that's happening whether you like it or not. That decision has been made. So you can start being a good girl and you can do as you've been told and get up to bed or you can argue and have a tantrum and I can turn you over my knee and give you a spanking for being disobedient before I put you in bed, that decision is yours, but either way you're going to bed, am I clear?"

She struggled to pull herself from his grip, pouting at him - clearly displeased with her options.

"Tommy - don't want to go to bed," she eventually said, shuffling her feet and biting her lip.

Her tone had changed enough to suggest she didn't want to argue enough to earn herself a spanking, but she still wasn't quite ready to go without a fight.

He glanced to where Rosie was still sitting on the kitchen floor, looking over at them and listening but not saying anything, her face still betraying her turmoil, more than he reckoned she realised it did. He needed to get Lily safely out of the way so Rosie could process whatever she needed to, whatever it was that she wasn't letting out whilst the baby was present.

He threw an arm around Lily's waist and stood up, lifting her easily with him.

"Tommmmmmmy!" she wailed in protest.

He ignored her, having reached the limit of what he was prepared to make Rosie endure, and strode from the room and through to the busy shop, taking care to close the door over behind him, giving Rosie her privacy.

"Where's John?" Polly asked, her eyes taking in the wriggling child in his own arms as he passed her.

"Gone home to give Katie a good reddening," he replied, not stopping in his tracks to head up the stairs - Lily beginning to struggle harder at his answer, probably trying to work out if she was in for a reddening of her own or not.

Once in her bedroom he shut the door and put her down in a heap on the ground. She stayed in it, looking up at him with her big blue eyes and not moving.

He raised an eyebrow, "Lily, this isn't the behaviour I expect from my best girl."

She seemed to be about to cry again at that so he sat down next to her and pulled her to him, hoping her defiance was done with.

"Tommy - not want to go - to go to bed," she wailed, not crying and also not not crying.

"Then you shouldn't have gone climbing," he replied, not letting his irritation come through in his voice, "Now go get your nightdress on, eh? Be a good girl."

She seemed to have run out of her will to fight because she sighed into him then went to the chest and pulled out her sleepwear.

"You need to go away while I change," she told him.

He raised an eyebrow, "I need to go away?"

"Rosie says can't get changed or have a bath when men are in the room," she told him.

He was well aware of Rosie's modesty - but he wasn't entirely convinced that Lily shared it and that this wasn't merely a ploy to get him out of the way so she could play with her dolls or something, anything that didn't involve her getting into bed.

"Alright, I'll be outside - but if you're not in bed wearing that nightdress when I come back in I'll be getting a good look at your bare backside when I put it over my knee, you hear?"

She nodded, widening her eyes and biting her lip at his stern expression - and when he reentered the room a few minutes later she had done as he'd told her and got into bed.

"That's more like it," he nodded and sat down on the side of the bed, "Now - your sister told you why you've been sent to bed, eh?"

She nodded glumly.

"So tell me why?"

"I climbed up the outhouse," she sighed.

"And why was that naughty?"

"Dangerous."

"Uhuh - you could hurt yourself."

She nodded again.

"Alright - well you stay here - I mean it Lily, if I hear one toe out of bed I'll make sure you're lying on your stomach when I put you back in it."

She nodded again and wriggled down under the cover, showing her willingness.

He smiled and stroked her hair, "Good girl. I'll see you at dinner."

"Tommy," she called out just as he opened the door.

He turned to look at her, keeping his face neutral - unsure whether she was going to apologise or argue.

"Love you," she said, slightly uncertainly, after they'd stared at one another for a while.

"I love you too," he told her, bringing a smile to her face, which he returned before he left the room, closing the door behind him.

He stood for a minute, listening to hear if she would move once she thought him gone, but no sound came.

Satisfied that she was returning to her usual bidableness, he reflected on her need to seek reassurance of his affections for her. He had noticed it before, that she required a lot of reassurance after she'd been told off, but other than noticing it as a personality trait, he hadn't thought much on it. He wondered now if it was something to do with their mother's temper, violent enough that Rosie had 'gotten rid of her' over it. He needed to get to the truth of that, to know what had actually happened there. Needed to try and figure out the ways in which it had affected both Jackson sisters.

As always, thank you for reading and reviewing and messaging me, I massively appreciate it! xx