𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐓𝐨 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤
-𝟎𝟐𝟎-

Marriage was a beautiful thing. It was something that Valerie Black had dreamt of ever since being a little girl. She had already done it once and now she had done it again. To a Shelby man. Again.

And a lesson that John Shelby had learnt was that he would always go back to Black.

Valerie Black was the first girl to make him feel like a man. She made him feel seen in the mad world he lived in. Time was constantly moving until he was with her. When he was with her, everything came to a standstill. His mind would calm and the thoughts would slow.

And she had given him something he had always wanted: a child.

Though he didn't know the child was his for a few years, he did now. And he loved that little girl so dearly. He loved her as if he had always known she was his.

And now it was the wedding of Grace and Tommy.

Valerie had found it within herself to put the business between herself and Grace in the past. It still hurt her whenever she thought of it. But Valerie was not the type to hold a grudge. People come and go far too quickly to be holding grudges.

Tomorrow was not always guaranteed for everybody.

Valerie had learnt that the hard way.

"Do I look like a princess, daddy?" A now five-year-old Francesca smiled widely at John as he held her on his hip in front of one of the many large mirror's in Arrow House. John couldn't help but smile. "You look like the most beautiful princess I have ever seen." He said as she played with the hem of her pink dress.

Tommy had suggested that Francesca was a flower girl. Grace agreed with no argument and little Francesca walked down the aisle before Grace, carelessly throwing flower petals onto the red carpet and earning chuckles from the majority of people there.

Francesca's hair was dark like her mother's and she shared the same, big and dark eyes as Valerie but the freckles and smile of John. And the Shelby attitude, of course.

"I'll get you a crown for Christmas, eh? How about that?" John asked as they turned to return to the crowd of people gathered in one of the rooms. Francesca was quick to nod, clapping her hands together. John chuckled and walked through with her.

"Mr Shelby.." A voice stopped him.

John turned to see Valerie stood with an older woman who seemed to be a friend of Polly's. "I was just speaking with your lovely wife," she complimented, "and.. oh!" She gasped, "this must be your daughter!" She fussed, in complete awe at the young one's beauty.

John had a proud look on his face. "It is. Say hello Francesca."

Francesca waved to the woman lightly, not growing shy like she once used to.

The woman tutted and smiled at the girl before turning back to Valerie. "Well, it was lovely meeting you. You too, Mr Shelby." The woman nodded.

"And yourself." John responded just before she could fully walk away. Valerie raised her eyebrows and sighed. "It seems that the Shelby name brings friends too, hm?" She joked, fixing a piece of Francesca's hair that had fallen out of place.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" She asked the girl.

Frances nodded and played with her hands. "Daddy said i'm the most beautiful princess he has ever seen!" She said with excitement.

Valerie hummed and tilted her head slightly. "Did he? Well, that's very kind of him, isn't it?" She grinned. John held back his laugh and put his daughter on her feet. "Go and play with your cousin, go on." He urged her toward Karl.

Valerie picked her drink up from the table and lifted it to her lips.

"When is it time for food? I'm bloody starving." He huffed. Valerie almost choked on her champagne. "You act like you have never been fed, John Shelby." She said with a slight laugh.

John scowled at her and looked to see if he could spot Tommy anywhere.

"I'm gonna kill him, Val." John grew frustrated and she couldn't help but laugh whilst smacking his arm. "He's your brother. Have some respect on his wedding day." She scolded.

-

Valerie prepared herself for John to come up with another one of his god awful jokes. And he did. "Oi, Vincent- what do you call a horse with a prick half way up its back?" He waited for an answer as he pointed at the cavalry man opposite him.

No answer. A simple shrug.

"A cavalry horse!" John blurted out, earning a wonky smile and hesitant laugh from the man. John gently patted Valerie's arm. "He gets it! See, he gets it!" He raved on. Valerie just shook her head at his pathetic excuse for a joke and looked over to Arthur and his new wife, Linda.

"You're the best man, Arthur. Go and find them." She encouraged.

Valerie raised a brow and decided not to listen in any further. She could hear Ada speaking politics with a man beside her and Polly discussing... or, gossiping, with Lizzie about one of the many men that sat across from them.

The sound of Arthur's chair pushing against the floor made Valerie cringe.

"Fuck it.." he whispered, buttoning up his jacket and leaving the table to go and find Tommy.

"Where's Fran?" John asked Valerie after finishing his conversation. She glanced over her shoulder to see the girl peacefully sat with Karl, playing with horse figurines that Karl had decided to share with her. She nodded toward their daughter and John looked. "Polly reckons she's got the face of a movie star," He said referring to Francesca.

Valerie nodded. "She's a pretty little girl."

"Looks like her mother," John teased with a cheeky smile on his lips. Valerie grinned and shook her head. "Behave yourself." She said.

"I am behaving," John winked, catching her by surprise and kissing her cheek. Valerie rolled her eyes and looked back to Francesca. John did the same. "She'll do it, Val. I know she will. She will be in the spotlight when she's older. I can bloody feel it."

Valerie enjoyed his optimism.

"She'll break the cycle of the Shelby family." John said with certainty. "The first Shelby to make it out of Birmingham." He spoke. Valerie nodded. "I like that idea."

-

Arthur's speech didn't go as he had expected it to. Valerie felt awful for him. Thomas made an embarrassment of the older Shelby's attempt at being sincere and practically forced him to shut up.

But now, she was wandering the endless halls of Arrow House in attempts to find John. Half the men seemed to have disappeared again and she was getting sick of it. "Isiah," she stopped the boy by grabbing his arm. "Yeah?" he gave her a once over and prevented himself from smirking. "Where's John?"

Isiah shrugged. "I'm wondering the same thing, sweetheart." He hummed.

Valerie rolled her eyes and let go of him, venturing to the back of the house and, not so much to her surprise she found a crowd gathered. Shouting could be heard as well as cheering. "Move-" she shoved through to see John fighting, shirtless, against some other man. With a roll of her eyes she crossed her arms and shook her head. "At a bloody wedding.." she whispered.

"You wanna place a bet?" Johnny asked her from behind.

She scowled at him. "Yes. I bet that my husband will shit himself when he finds that I am stood here watching this happen." She said sarcastically. Johnny laughed and walked away to ask others for their bets.

John was winning, of course. It was one of his few talents. He had a good punch on him.

When he finally knocked the man down, cheers erupted and he threw his arms up into the air with a satisfied expression. Valerie cleared her throat and he slowly turned. "Ah.." he winced.

"You are such a child." She scolded him.

John followed her away from the crowd and took his shirt from the fence he had left it on. "It's just some harmless fun, love." He retorted. She rolled her eyes again and forced him inside. "Finn's racing on a horse next."

"Seriously? That poor lad is going to break a bone." She huffed. John laughed to himself and folded down his collar. "Where's Fran?"

"Playing with Karl, I hope." She sighed, realising she shouldn't have left the girl inside incase she wandered off. John continued to follow after his wife as they began searching for Francesca.

But, she wasn't playing with Karl. Karl was with Ada and Francesca wasn't where they had left her. "I don't see her." John said with confusion. Valerie hummed. "Neither do I." She began walking to ask Polly and Ada if they had seen her but they answered with a shake of their head. John asked Arthur. He answered with a confused no.

Valerie slipped out into the hall and peered into any room that held people. "Excuse me, do you know where Thomas is?" She asked a woman who nodded toward one of the doors.

It led to another hallway. Valerie pushed the door open and walked down the dimly lit hall, hearing the light mutters of Tommy at the end. She couldn't see him but she could certainly hear him. As she turned the corner a breath of relief escaped her mouth when seeing Francesca being held by Tommy as she pointed up at some of the paintings.

"Jesus fuck, Tommy." Valerie sighed. "I thought she had wandered off somewhere."

Tommy shook his head. "Nope. She just asked to see the paintings." He said. They stood before the painting of Francesca when she was younger that had been hung not too long ago.

Valerie didn't know about this. But her heart was warmed by the gesture.

"Isn't that lovely?" She spoke to the girl. "Uncle Tommy says that's his favourite in the whole house," she said with excitement. "Oh, well you have the attention of everyone tonight don't you, love?" Valerie teased, admiring the painting on the wall.

"There you are—" John appeared, out of breath. "Almost fucking had a heart attack then, Tom."

"Language." Valerie scolded.

"Sorry.." John mumbled, hands on his hips. "When did ya get that done?" He pointed up. Tommy hummed in thinking. "A year ago." He said. John nodded and raised his brows. Francesca reached for John and Tommy handed her over. "You two enjoying yourselves?" Tommy asked with a sigh.

"We are." Valerie answered. "But are you?"

Tommy thought for a moment. "Arthur's speech was a handful. There's been some argument about Grace's family and their uniform—"

"You said no uniform's Tom." John complained lightly. Valerie shook her head. "Well, despite the uniform, despite Arthur's speech, it's your wedding. Enjoy yourself." She said to him. "It's alright— he'll probably get married again, eh?" John teased his brother and Tommy tried his best not to laugh. "Alright, John." He huffed.

"You should be with your wife, Tommy. I'm sure she'd love some help on guiding these conversations she is being dragged in to." Valerie hummed in a soft way and patted his arm.

"Yeah well, this life isn't for everyone." He sighed.

©-shelbysecret-
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Authors Note:
-  Short chapter to start off Volume 3.
-I love Tommy and Francesca but I love John and Francesca more.
-I didn't proof read this chapter

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