#first time drawing both of them. i have NO clue how to draw mel's arm braces i just made it up as i went LOL

[trans-zag]

i don't think im going to post this one to my main blog but i don't want it to rot in my folders either. so woe waxwitch be upon ye

[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

Field of Poppies Part 8

Summary: After being apart for six years, childhood friends Tommy and Amelia reunite under odd circumstances. Tommy is an outspoken young man and Amelia is pregnant and out on the streets. The bond of family can be unbreakable but it is tested often. Especially when Europe descends into war.

Part 8: Maxwell Thomas Shelby, the newest member of the Shelby family. 

            It happened one unseasonably warm fall day. September 16th, to be exact. Amelia was getting a glass of water from the kitchen, just minding her own business. It wasn’t until she stepped to the side when she noticed a bit of liquid trickling down her leg. At first, she was embarrassed, not sure what was happening. Then it dawned on her that it was most likely the start of what she’d been afraid of for almost nine months.

             “Uh…Pol?”

            Polly was writing carefully in a ledger in her office in the betting shop. “Have a question, love?” She asked, a bit distracted by numbers. It was early in the afternoon and the shop was abuzz with activity. Odds being shouted back and forth, money passing hands, and the sound of chalk on the blackboard. But Amelia had quietly flitted her way to Polly so she wouldn’t call attention to herself.

            “How would I know if my water’s broke?”

            That immediately grabbed Polly’s attention. The woman’s head shot up and she dropped her pen. “Your water broke?”

            “I er, I think so. I don’t know for sure though.” Amelia pulled up the hem of her skirt a bit.

            “Alright, let’s get you upstairs then, just in case.” Polly jumped up and rushed over to the young woman.

            “I-fuck!” Amelia suddenly shouted and doubled over when she felt her first contraction.

            The men in the shop all turned to look at her in confusion.

            Polly knew if anyone had the most sense in the home, it was her. “All of you clear out.” She ordered. “Now.”

            “Pol…” Danny looked a little lost. There was no way Tommy and Arthur would appreciate all of them leaving in the middle of taking bets.

            “I said get the fuck out!” Polly snapped; a bit louder. That was enough to convince them, as they all scattered. But she stopped Danny at the door. “Get Tommy, bring him back here, tell him she’s gone into labor and he needs to get here now.”

            “Yes, ma’am!”

            Polly got Amelia to sit down. “Take some deep breaths.��� She soothed in a calmer voice.

            “Pol, I don’t think I’m ready.” Amelia was suddenly terrified. It was easy enough to say she wasn’t scared when she was just pregnant. But as she was getting ready to give birth, the reality was hard to ignore.

            “Well, that little boy is ready, so you’ll need to be too.”

~~~~~~~~            

            For a moment, Tommy thought Danny was playing a joke on him. But it became clear that Amelia was going into labor. So he ran the entire way back home.

            “Pol? Mel?” He called.

            “In the shop!” Polly yelled back. She was kneeling down next to Amelia, holding her hand and coaching her through her breathing. “Help me bring her upstairs.”

            Tommy froze a bit. Amelia looked panicked as she clutched Polly’s hand and gave little, shallow breaths.

            “Thomas, get your head outta your arse and help me!” His aunt stood up.

            Running on nothing but instinct, he scooped Amelia up into his arms and did his best to carefully bring her upstairs. Mid-way, Amelia let out a groan of pain.

            Tommy didn’t even have the words to comfort her. He had no clue what to say, all he could do was listen to Polly.

            “Go downstairs and get a heap of towels,” Polly instructed as he lay Amelia down on the bed. As Tommy dashed back downstairs, she helped Amelia sit up against the pillows. “As long as you keep breathing, you’ll be okay.” She promised as she helped the expectant mother strip down to her slip to make the delivery easier.

            Amelia had no time to be embarrassed, and she didn’t have a reason to either. Polly was like a mother to her and there wasn’t anyone else she trusted to deliver her child.

            Tommy came back upstairs in the blink of an eye, running purely off of adrenaline.

            “Set them down here.” His aunt instructed. She sat down by Amelia’s feel so she could check the progress of the labor.

            Tommy set the towels on the bed and stood frozen. He could remember the awful screams from the room when his mother was giving birth to Ada and Finn. It was terrifying and even though he was an adult when Finn was born, he was afraid his mother was going to die. It wasn’t the most outlandish thing. He’d heard of mothers who died during childbirth. What would that do to him if Amelia met with the same fate? He felt like his heart was in his throat and he had to push the thought away.

            “Tom…” Amelia reached out to him. Her hand was trembling slightly.

            “You want me to stay?” He asked, moving to take her hand.

            She didn’t even have to answer. Aside from Polly, there wasn’t anyone else there for her. Her parents didn’t care where she was or even if she was okay. The biological father was just as careless.

            “I’ll stay.”

     ~~~~~~~~~~      

            And he did. He didn’t move from his spot the entire time. Even when Polly when to wash a couple of towels or get a drink, he stayed.

            “Remember when Maisie was in foal?” Amelia asked, bringing up the conversation to take her mind off the contractions.

            It had been some time since Tommy had thought about the mare that they both loved so much. She was a paint pony, barely over fourteen hands with a long shaggy mane and a mark on her face that was the shape of a crescent moon. She was the first pony almost all of the Shelbys rode. When Amelia and he were about ten, Maisie gave birth to a beautiful filly they named Maybel.

            It was almost midnight as they crouched in the hay with a lantern in hand. They watched from afar, too curious to look away from the active birth. Charlie stood near, ready to intervene if needed. Amelia would always remember how Maisie tenderly cared for Maybel. Keeping her tiny foal close, and licking her damp coat. She and Tommy nearly stayed up all night so they could see Maybel stand on her wobbly legs for the first time. It seemed so effortless and beautiful. Now that Amelia was in the midst of it, she didn’t think it was as easy as Maisie made it look.

            “Yeah, she was a good horse. We gave her to a farmer out in the country when she got older. He needed a pony to keep his mule company.

            Amelia smiled. “That’s sweet. What about Maybel?”

            “Think we sold her to one of Charlie’s kin. One of their little girls took a liking to her if I can recall correctly.”

            That please Amelia. “Good, they deserved good lives. They were so kind.”

            “All horses do.” Tommy agreed.

            “Even that mean gelding who bit you and threw you off constantly?”

            “Major?” He chuckled. “That bastard made me a better rider.” He recalled when they were a bit older, maybe twelve, around the time he started to fancy his best friend. He took Amelia to the Yard to show off the new horse his uncle got. Tommy was allowed to ride him mainly because Charlie believed that a green horse was a good test for any Traveller boy.

            Major was the tallest horse he’d ridden at that time. He was a stunning creature, muscular and strong with a shiny, chestnut coat. But he was as mean as could be. Charlie said horses weren’t born mean, they were taught. No one knew exactly where Major had learned how to be so mean. They just knew that Charlie had rescued him from slaughter.

            And when Tommy took Amelia to see the gelding for the first time, he made the rookie mistake of turning his back to the beast.

            Amelia didn’t have enough time to warn him. Major stretched out his neck over the stall door and bit Tommy’s arm.

            It was humiliating to be bitten in front of the girl he had a crush on. But he loved the horse no matter how many times Major dumped him, bucked him off, tried to bite him, or pinned his ears back at him. Tommy knew he never would’ve become the rider he was without him.

            “I was scared of him,” Amelia remembered. “Everyone was except for you.”

            “He was just misunderstood.” Tommy shrugged. “He rode beautifully when he behaved.”

            Amelia watched him, her mind drifting away from the contractions she was trying to count. “You should see your eyes when you talk about horses.” She murmured. “You just light up, Tom.”

            His face burned up a little bit. “Well, I dunno.”

            “Maybe you take what you earned from the betting shop and put it into working with horses.” She suggested hopefully. Amelia figured that if she could draw Tommy away from the life of a bookie to someone who worked with horses, she would be doing him a favor. He’d be so much safer.

            “I plan to have horses.” He said. “Once we have it in the budget. We’ll have stables at our house in the countryside. That’s where Max can learn to ride.”

            It sounded so promising, even if it was a stretch to imagine it ever coming true. But Amelia knew that he was deflecting. Getting that house in the countryside would only be the result of getting money from God knows what. She didn’t completely know or understand Tommy’s plan of action, how he anticipated earning so much money. But she knew that no one earned the amount of money he was looking towards through honest means.

            But Amelia couldn’t give it any more thought. Another contraction hit her and she squeezed onto Tommy’s hand. “Getting closer.” She wheezed. “I’m so tired already.”

            “Try to relax best you can, like Pol said.” He soothed gently. “I’m right here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~           

            All in all, it only took about five hours from the time Amelia’s water broke in the betting shop. The sun was just starting to set as Polly helped guide the baby boy into the world.

            The first Tommy heard his son cry was heartbreaking. As the second oldest, he’d almost become deaf to babies crying. It was just a part of life. But when Max cried, it struck him right in the heart. This little bundle was now his responsibility until the day he died. It was something he didn’t take lightly.

            Amelia was exhausted but she let go of Tommy’s hand so she could reach for her baby.

            Polly wrapped up the wailing newborn in a blanket and placed him on Amelia’s breast. “He sounds healthy.”

            “I told you, she’s always right.” Tommy couldn’t help the smile on his face.

            Amelia was in too much awe to acknowledge Polly’s premonition. “Look at him, Tom.”

            Max’s face was all scrunched up as he cried, his little fist pressed up against his mother’s collarbone. He only had wisps of light brown hair but it was too early to tell his eye color.

            “Wow…” Tommy was stunned. He didn’t know what he’d feel when he first saw the child he promised to help raise. He figured it would be some sort of affection, who could look at a baby with malice? But he was taken aback by the devotion he felt immediately upon seeing Max.

            Amelia was completely overwhelmed as she cradled her son close to her chest. When she discovered she was pregnant, she was terrified. Everything about it scared her, her parents’ reactions, the father’s reaction, the reaction of friends. She was worried about how people would perceive her having a child out of wedlock. When she was disowned, she was angry at herself, angry at the man who assaulted her, angry at her parents for taking his side. She didn’t want to be pregnant. She didn’t want to be a mother. There was no way she would be able to care for a newborn. She felt lost and hopeless.

            But there, in Birmingham, holding her son, all of those fears and worries felt foolish. All of a sudden, she was willing to jump through hoops for her son, fight an army single-handedly to keep him safe. She would starve, be penniless, even die if it meant keeping him safe. This tiny little being was suddenly all that mattered to her in the world. And it brought tears to her eyes knowing that he depended on her. That he would look up to her and expect her to be her best. She needed to be her best for him.

            For nearly ten minutes, Amelia silently sobbed as she held Max. She softly whispered her promises to him. Whispered how much she loved him. Whispered how he would never know the struggles she had known.

 ~~~~~~~~~

            A couple of hours after Max was delivered, Amelia was wiped out. She fell asleep as Tommy went downstairs to introduce his son to the rest of the family.

            “Everyone, I’d like to introduce Maxwell Thomas Shelby, the newest addition to the family.” Tommy propped Max up a bit in his arms so everyone could see him.

            His siblings drew close to see their nephew.

            “Healthy looking lad, aye?” Arthur smiled, proud of his brother for stepping up for Amelia’s sake.

            “Now we’ve got two babies in the house?” John grimaced. “We’ll never get any sleep.” The teenager protested. 

            “I think he’s cute,” Ada said. “Is he and Mel gonna stay with us forever?” She asked hopefully.

            “Yeah, Ada, I think they are.” Tommy looked down at Max fondly.

 ~~~~~~~~~          

            Tommy couldn’t sleep and it wasn’t because Max was keeping him up. In fact, the baby was sleeping quite soundly in his cot. He’d cried about an hour earlier and Amelia had nursed him back to sleep. Now both mother and child were fast asleep in the same room. Tommy was sitting next to the cot, his back to the wall. He watched Max through the bars of the crib, watching every breath he took. Tommy wasn’t sure if he was scared by how fragile the newborn seemed to be, or if he was still in a bit of shock. He wondered what this little boy would grow up to be. Would he like horses as much as Tommy did? Would he look up to him?

            It was a bit frightening to look so far into the future and realize all that could potentially happen to any of them. The uncertainty drove Tommy mad. He wanted to give Amelia and Max everything they deserved, he just wished he knew the future so he could know he was going down the right path. He wanted to know that he would uphold his promise.

Permanent Tag: @papa-geralt-of-cirilla @giftofdreams @biba3434 @kimmietea @karmezii @enrapturedbythemoon @vampgirl1997 @tarafaithe

Tag list: @shelbyblinded

Masterpost

PB Masterlist