Staring at the wagon her brother lay dead in made her wish things had gone a lot differently. Maybe if Tommy hasn't messed with the Italian's there would a slight chance that John would still be here and the Shelby's would all be together again.

Freya held onto a letter tightly, she thought maybe if she held the letter tighter it wouldn't be true and John would sit up and laugh at her for crying once again but that wasn't the case no matter how hard she stared at his body she knew he wasn't coming back. She crammed the letter in between the wood on the pyre and kept her hand on the wood.

She felt a hand on her arm, gentle and reassuring, caused her to turn. Lottie and Ada smiled sadly at her. "Are you alright?" Ada asked.

"No but what's done is done, he's gone and he's not coming back," Freya replied as Ada pulled her into a hug.

"I know," Ada whispered, holding her sister tightly.

"Do you reckon he's gone to heaven or hell?" Freya asked.

"He went straight to hell," Ada joked before saying. "No, I'm sure he's gone to heaven."

"With Martha, mum and Freddie?" Freya questioned again.

Ada nodded, "Yeah, he'll be a peace with them."

Freya and Lottie both knew Ada had experienced grief before, they all had. Lottie lost her dad to the war then her mum due to a broken heart, leaving an eight year old Lottie to Polly and the Shelby's to look after. Freya had lost her mum but hadn't been able to understand it fully due to her only being young and then her sister in law, Martha. Ada had lost her husband in 1921 due to the pestilence, leaving her a widow and their son fatherless. Both girls had liked Freddie and both attended Ada and Freddie's wedding along with Rory and he always gave them sweets which was the way to get Freya to like you instantly.

"Why couldn't it have been Tommy? The one who caused all this in the first place?" Freya asked not meaning it.

Ada sighed, "Because God takes the best first." She rubbed Freya and Lottie's arms, "He's not in pain anymore. He's watching over us, now."

Freya and Lottie both nodded. "I know, he's probably laughing at Freya for crying again," Lottie joked earning a slap on the arm from the blonde and a chuckle from Ada. "There's no probably about it he most definitely is," Freya replied.

Ada kissed the top of her, "You're like me and mum in that sense, at least you have a heart."

Tommy's voice called out to them, instructing them to rejoin the family for the service, and once they had done so, the girls made their way to the back of the crowd, where nobody could see them crying.

Rory, Eve and Lilian approached them before Tommy began speaking. Freya's eyes met Rory's who gave her a small smile. "We didn't know if you'd come or not," Arthur cleared his throat, his eyes moving between the three of them.

"He's my dad, of course I was going to show up," Rory replied.

"He was like my dad and I didn't get to say goodbye," Eve replied, avoiding his eyes.

Freya watched the girls place their letters in the cracks of the wagon. She watched Finn walk over to Eve and wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into his chest. Rory and Lilian made their way over to the back near the blonde girl. They wiped away the tears as quickly as they came, listening to Tommy's eulogy only half-heartedly. Freya was thinking of John, her big brother, the one who had once scared her when she was being nosy that she nearly fell out of Tommy's bedroom window so he had to run to grab her ankles so she didn't fall out.

Isaiah had appeared by Freya's side having Rory hugging his side. "Have you been to see Michael?" she asked not tearing her eyes away from Tommy.

"No, not yet. Are you going to come with me?" he asked.

She nodded, "At some point, yeah."

"How you doing?" he asked.

"Well, I watched my brother die and my cousin get shot, Isaiah how do you think I'm doing? I'll give you a clue, it's not very fucking good," she replied.

He nodded, "Was a bit of stupid question."

"You think?" she asked sarcastically.

"You know, I hate seeing you like this," Isaiah admitted.

"What? Sad? Angry? Emotional?" she asked listed off things he could reply.

"Yeah."

"Well, get used to it because my guess is they'll go for me next because you know I'm the weak link," she replied.

"Weak link? Frey I watched you cut a boy with Finn's cap because he called Lottie a bitch and a whore because she wouldn't sleep with him," Isaiah scoffed.

Freya laughed, "Yeah I forgot about that."

"How? The boy didn't stop going on about it until Arthur threatened him," Isaiah pointed out.

"This is how John wanted to go, on the smoke," Tommy began.

"The truth is, we died together once before. Arthur, me, Danny Whizzbang, Freddie Thorne, Jeremiah... and John. We were cut off from the retreat, no bullets left, waiting for the Prussian cavalry to come and to finish us off. While we waited, Jeremiah said we should sing the Bleak Midwinter', but we were spared, the enemy never came. We all agreed that everything after that was extra. And when our time came, we'd all remember."

"You remember that the god spared you, but what did you do with that extra time that he gave you, ey Thomas?" Polly questioned.

"Pol, please not now," Rory snapped and her aunt looked at her with an apologetic look.

Lilian watched the wagon set alight with smoke rising, looking over at Rory and Freya and then Lottie who was standing on her other side and then to Eve. Every single one of them were all looking down with tears in streaming down her face. The bright flames made everything real, John was dead. Freya and Lottie had lost a brother and Rory and Eve had lost their dad.

It was only a matter of seconds before the wagon was completely engulfed and a gun shot was fired, panic firing from everybody's mouths as Lilian watched Isaiah drag Rory and Freya down with him as Ada clutched onto Lilian and Lottie's arms taking her down with her with her hand on Finn's back who was shielding Evelyn. While they were lying in the grass, they heard another gun fire and squeezed their eyes closed, Freya reaching for Rory and Lottie's hands.

"Do not return fire! I repeat, do not return fire!" Tommy shouted as Rory and Freya's heads snapped to him.

"Stand down! The men doing the firing are on our side," Tommy shouted, the men who had loaded their guns becoming at ease before another shot sounded, making the girls flinch, the memories of Christmas Day coming back. Freya let out a scoff.

"I took the trouble, of getting an invitation to Aberama Gold," Tommy informed them.

"Oh fuck, now it's begun," Johnny dogs could be heard.

"You put it out in the open on purpose," Polly spoke in realisation. "You used John's funeral fire as a fucking beacon," Pollys voice became louder as the anger risen.

Polly Gray was horrified at her nephew's disrespect for his own brother, Freya was disappointed and Rory was disgusted but she expected nothing less from him.

"We were never in any danger Polly," Arthur reassured her, having not reacted as severely to the gunfire as everyone else, instead watching everyone panic with a bemused expression on his face.

"Never in any danger? Never in any fucking danger are you having a laugh? Wherever he is we're all in fucking danger. You set a trap. You used my dad's funeral as fucking bait," Rory shouted getting in Tommy's face, slapping his chest.

"Rory," Arthur spoke, pulling her away from the man and back over to Freya.

"Why do you find this funny? It's not funny, Arthur, he used us as bait to provoke the war we have against them!" Freya stated staring at her oldest brother in disbelief.

"I don't find it funny, Frey," Arthur disagreed.

"You set a trap!" Polly accused, standing up and glaring at Tommy as she marched up to him.

"Finn!" Tommy shouted, ignoring his aunt. "Finn! Go to the yard and light the fires."

"The girls are right, you set up a trap and used us as bait!" Polly seethed.

"Who's dead?" Polly questioned.

"Our enemies," Tommy replied calmly.

"Who's dead?" Polly repeated, her voice low.

"You wanna know, Pol?" Tommy asked rhetorically. "Two fucking local no good Italians heard about the vendetta, tried to make a fucking name for themselves. That's who."

As the two adults were arguing no one noticed either of Freya or Rory appear in front of Tommy, they stared at him in confusion, disgust, disbelief and disappointment as there was no shame or guilt on Tommy's face while Polly glared at him.

"We got word to them, about the funeral," Arthur explained. "The where, the when. Told them where to stand for the best shot."

"And Aberama Gold will do the rest. That's the language of vendetta, they take 1 of ours, we take two of theirs," Tommy spoke.

"You used your own brother's funeral," Polly's voice low and laced with poison. "You put your little sister and niece in danger, the two you swore to protect and to shield them from this word but yet once again they're right in the middle of the danger. When did we vote on this, Tommy?"

Rory had let her anger get the best of her once again, "My dad is dead! He's dead! He's not coming back! This, today, was the last chance we had to say goodbye to him and you had to get the vendetta involved. You just don't know when to stop. Do you know what? You are sick in the head and I'm glad, I'm so fucking glad I'm getting out soon."

Arthur grabbed her arms to pull her away once more, "It's alright, Rory. It's alright."

She let out a dry laugh. "No, Arthur it's not alright. None of this is alright. My dad, your brother is dead all because of him. It's all his fault. Does that not hurt you? Knowing your brother, your own flesh and blood is responsible for your other brother's death? Does his death mean anything to you? or do you just not care because you're too far up Tommy's backside to give a fuck? Your brother is dead, not coming back. Your own brother and yet neither of you could give him a decent fucking funeral so no Arthur it's not alright, none of this will ever alright, unless my dad can rise from the dead none of this will ever be alright," she screamed at him and finished by slapping Tommy around the face.

"You are sick bastard and I don't ever want to speak to you again," she spat and walked away.

"Now look what you've fucking done, John was her dad, like he was Evelyn's but that means absolutely nothing to you because you're a cold hearted man," Pol spat at him watching her niece walk away with Evelyn and Lilian rushing after her.

"Curly," Tommy called out, ignoring his aunt once again. "Get a boat ready to take the bodies to the city. And another boat, for anyone... for anyone who wants no more part in this. 'Cause this is how it's gonna be, Polly!"

"You know Tommy, there's times like this, the things you do such as this that sometimes make me wonder if we, more specifically and importantly you actually descend from the devil's bloodline," Freya stated, glaring at him.

"I'm not staying for this, Arthur," Linda spoke up, making Freya look back at her. "I'm going home."

"Oh yeah?" Arthur said, holding out the key to his old house. "Home's fifty seven, Watery Lane. You go there, lock the doors, you wait for me."

Linda ignored him and walked away and Freya remembered why she didn't like the woman even from the moment Arthur introduced them to her, Freya had a hatred towards her. She was too stuck-up and made a move to embarrass Arthur in front of their family by ignoring his instructions and it pissed Freya off beyond belief. She hated when people made fun of her siblings, Lottie included, and meant she would defend them until her last breath.