𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔𝟖

Tommy sat at his desk, flipping through some documents that he was yet to sign. When suddenly, the window was blown in and glass flew everywhere. Tommy was quick to cover his head and  after it happened, he looked at the window with wide eyes.

He rushed down the stairs of his office building and was met with the sight of a car that had exploded, fire engulfing it. Three children lay on the cobble.

That was who he rushed to first. He kneeled beside a young boy and his heart dropped when noticing the lack of movement in his chest. "Fuck," Tommy muttered, checking for a pulse and getting nothing.

He stumbled backward and moved his attention to the little girl who was laying, coughing aggressively. Tommy kneeled to her side and placed his arms under her knees and arm, carrying her over to a woman who had rushed outside.

"Call an ambulance— you're alright," Tommy said, handing the girl over. He then went to see to the other young boy who was still alive.

And after carrying the dead boy away from the scene, it soon dawned on him that it was Ben Younger who had been in that car — the father of Ada's unborn child. Shivers ran up his spine as he remembered the conversation he had with Maeve and how she said to give Ada her love.. how horrible it must be to raise a child alone.

He felt sick. How did Maeve know such a thing was going to happen? Maeve had no knowledge of Ben Younger whatsoever or his business with the family.

But yet she practically predicted his death before it had happened.

The moment Tommy got back inside, he dialled the number to Maeve's home and waited.

Maeve on the other hand let the phone ring for a while but eventually picked it up, waiting for the person on the other end to speak. "How did you know, Maeve?" Tommy's voice cracked, "Ben Younger— he's just died in a car explosion. How did you know?"

Maeve took a breath. "Ben Younger... who is that?"

"The father of Ada's unborn child, Maeve. You told me before i left that it must be horrible to be pregnant with a child whose father was dead. How did you know?"

"I— I don't know, Tom." Maeve stuttered, rummaging through the drawer to pull out the drawings she had created. She got to the one of the car on fire and her mouth went dry.

"You said a car explosion?" She asked. "Yes— what the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Tommy snapped. Maeve was very confused. "Were there children involved?" She confirmed.

"Yes, three." Tommy pinched the bridge of his nose.

Maeve's eyes were wide. "Tommy I drew that.. after you left I saw it so I drew it." She informed him. Tommy lowered his hands from his face and looked up. "You drew it.." he trailed off, "Maeve was there anything else? Any other things— did you see anything else?"

Maeve hesitated slightly. "No.. no nothing else." She lied.

Tommy rubbed his eyes. "Fucking hell.. it's this family— we're cursed. The lot of us." He said before slamming the phone down.

A strange feeling hung over Maeve as she stared down at the image. How had she done such a thing. How had she managed to predict a man's death. All the other drawings, had she predicted something with them too or were they simply just coincidence?

-

Polly sat with the newspaper in her hand, cup of tea in the other. John walked through the kitchen with his head down. "It's in the papers, John." She stated.

He said nothing.

"Birmingham boy found dead in London Club.." she read out. "If anybody knows any information that could help solve this suspected murder, go to the police." She finished.

John sniffed and shrugged. "So what?"

"So what.." Polly scoffed, "so bloody what? So you've got the blood of a man on your hands once more! I thought you washed this business from your clothes years ago!" Polly raised her voice.

"I did— I have!" John snapped. "But this time it wasn't for the sake of the business it was for the sake of my fucking niece, yeah? So get off my back, Pol." John huffed, rubbing a hand against his forehead. "If I go down for it then so fucking be it, yeah? That bastard deserved it. He had it coming."

Polly just shook her head and sipped her tea. "You should go and tell Arthur what you've done. See what he's got to say— oh and Tommy whilst you're at it."

Finn walked through the kitchen and the conversation came to a pause. Finn had a guilty conscience and didn't know how to act. He knew Maeve was alive but they didn't. He was so scared of acting weird that he began acting weird.

"What's up with you?" Polly raised a brow.

"Nothing." Finn said quickly. Polly stared at him and tried to read him. "Look at me, boy." She scolded. Finn shook his head. "I've been cryin' Pol. Stop." Finn excused.

"Oh please— you used to cry loads when you were little. It ain't nothing that I haven't seen before."

"Leave him, Pol." John warned.

Polly scoffed and rolled her eyes.

-

Ada poured both her and Tommy a drink. "Let's sit down, Ada." He cleared his throat."What's happened?" Ada said with slight concern.

"Sit down, eh." he said, sitting at the table. "Ben Younger is dead." he said after a few moments. "Someone put a bomb in his car. I don't know how you felt about him or how bad this is going to hurt but whatever happens just remember you have a a baby inside you."

She sat back. "God.." she whispered. "Anyone you touch, which means anyone i touch, which means anyone any of us touch. He never knew i was pregnant, i hadn't told him. And i didn't love him, but i like him, he was decent and good. And i wasn't going to marry him," she sighed. "The baby was a mistake but that's okay because i didn't ask anything of him. God he didn't deserve us." Ada ranted.

"Well i've spoken to his family they'll take care of the funeral. It will go down as an IRA assassination of a British military officer." Tommy said.

"And what was it really?" she sniffled.

"It was..a consequence of good intentions, my good intentions. I pushed him to report on the fascists i thought it was the right thing to do. And as a result, section D or the branch or intelligence for him killed.."

She scoffed.

"There was a kid, died in the explosion. Ten years old. It's funny..isn't it? How it works." he stood.

"No, Tommy," she said with a shaky voice. "Don't give yourself this excuse." she said. "He was ten years old, if i would've stuck to what i do, he'd still be kicking a ball in the street," he whispered. "Funny isn't it?"

And with that he walked out, leaving Ada with her thoughts. Her eyes landed on the picture that sat above the fireplace of Maeve, Karl and Charles a few christmases ago.

A breath left her mouth and she shook her head. "When will this family ever get a bit of good luck?"

-

Maeve paced the same drawing room that she spent most her time in. She muttered words to herself over and over again as she tried to figure out how she had done what she had done.

But it dawned on her that it was probably just the gypsy within her that had grown significantly since she almost died.. again.

How that was possible, Maeve was unsure. But it had to be the reasoning behind it all. Why else would she be able to do all this? She couldn't call Polly to ask because Polly believed that Maeve was dead. And Maeve had no way of contacting Esme after she went on the road with the Lee family.

Being in that house made Maeve feel lonely. But she somewhat liked it. She didn't like missing one specific person. Isiah Jesus. She found that being in that house alone made her realise how much she did love him, how much she needed him.

And although she made the next move, she got to decide when the truth was revealed, she still begged for it all to be over sooner rather than later.

Arthur should've been informed by now. Finn had called so why hadn't he? Was Tommy keeping her away again? Maeve had many questions running through her head that she wouldn't get answered unless Tommy made his way over to the house. And with the recent event that had occurred she doubted he'd be going to see her.

She sat staring at the candle that had been burning for a while. "Everything happens for a reason," Maeve whispered. Those were some of the words she heard many times when growing up. It was always John or Polly who said them to her.

"Everything happens for a reason," she repeated, playing with her fingers.

-

Isiah stormed through Tommy's office building and found him stood at the end of Lizzie's desk with paperwork in hand. Isiah's eyes were red from lack of sleep and his face was stained with tears.

"This is your doing, Tom!" He called out. "Yours, nobody else's!" His voice cracked and he grabbed Tommy by his collar.

Lizzie stood quickly but Tommy held a hand up to stop her from doing anything. "Isiah." He warned. Isiah stared him in the eye and his lip began quivering. "I loved her, Tom. And you've taken her away again. Do you like hurting us? Me..Arthur, John— god even Finn! Do you enjoy it?" Isiah was shouting now. "Because you just keep doing it!"

Tommy held Isiah's wrists and shook his head. "Isiah stop." He whispered.

Isiah couldn't take it anymore. His knees grew weak and Tommy had to hold him up. Isiah was now sobbing, unable to breath. "You've taken her away." He cried.

Tommy nodded for Lizzie to leave for a moment and he hushed the boy, a hand on the side of his neck. "Listen to me, Isiah. Give everything a few days and the dust will settle. It'll be then you see what has really happened." He promised.

Isiah couldn't say anything. He had no words. None at all. He wanted Maeve. He wanted his Maeve.

"Till the dust settles." Isiah scoffed, shaking his head and pulling away. "That'll be the fucking day!"

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apologies for the short chapter, i wanted to start a new chapter for when i bring Maeve back into everything.