Mary had made her request, with a little bit of apprehension in her voice, but she still made it. She requested for Tommy Shelby to attend the family holidays. He usually attended them until Grace's death. He did it once and then stopped doing it altogether. Ada took over. She decided to organize the holidays so the children would actually have a little bit of joy and whimsy in their lives. Mary joined and helped her in her endeavor but it became quite obvious that Tommy's absence was heavily felt by his son and by Mary. Ada noticed how upset it made the young woman, so she pulled her aside and talked some sense into her skull. "Go talk to my brother and demand that he attends these holidays. It's for your sake and Charlie's. If he refuses, tell him that my husband would have attended if he was alive and he shouldn't compete with a dead man. he shouldn't be told to be there for his son at all." And the sentence was enough to convince Mary it was time to speak out.
She anticipated his reaction and imagined that he would not make it a struggle but he didn't do it. instead, he agreed to be there on Christmas Eve so he could celebrate the holidays with his son and his woman. It took the young woman aback as she didn't expect him to agree without even putting up a fight. Yet, as was typical for Tommy Shelby, he didn't say much either. He simply contemplated her for a long time, his blue eyes searching her soul as if to answer questions he had in his head. He didn't say much and didn't allow her to properly explain her reasoning. That frustrated the nurse who furrowed her brows and put both hands on the table.
"That's it? You're not going to ask me why all of a sudden I am making this request?"
"Why would I? You want me to spend some time with me son and you, then that's what I'm going to do."
" You can be exhausting when you want to, Tom!" She exclaimed and then bit the tip of her thumb.- "I wanted to say that you've been quite absent these past months. I get that part of it was because of your business..... and part of it was because you need your time outside, alone. It's just become more frequent. You're outside more than you're here with us and ultimately, your son is growing up without a father and I am.... getting older without my man. It is as if we're a house of two instead of a house of three." -She pointed out "It seems as if you don't want to see us. Is that it, Tom? Are we boring you?"
He could tell she was nervous by how she was playing with her fingers and Tommy blinked several times at her words. How on Earth did she draw this conclusion? How could she think that she was boring and he wanted to escape his family when all he wanted was to have a family? He didn't reply to her as he was looking for the right words to say and she didn't add anything to her claims, because she knew he was searching for an answer. He could see how exhausted she was, the dark circles under her eyes betrayed her tiredness and the way she kept biting at her thumb indicated that she was anxiously awaiting his reply. what could he say to her that could bring some relief?
"Mary! You're making a tempest out of a glass of water. I'm not bored by you or my son. My mind has indeed been... focused elsewhere but that doesn't mean you're not every day on my mind. I will make up to you both by being there for the holidays."
"I....... Uf! I suppose that you want this conversation to be done now that you've told me you would attend the holiday celebrations? Do you think it's that easy? That I just have to nod in agreement and everything would be alright? Tom! I!!!" She sighed deeply and ran her hand on her face. "I.." She chewed at her bottom lip, deciding that it wasn't worth screaming about. He would listen and would lock himself into his infamous silences. "Just make sure that you see our boy more often. I promised him that his father actually wanted to spend time with him, so don't make me lie to Charlie."
He ended up grabbing her hand and kept it in both of his larger hands. Mary gasped and then looked at his face, confused about what he wanted to do. Tom then stood up and walked behind her. He then wrapped his arms around her frame, keeping both arms and hands against her chest. He was, in a way, giving Mary a hug from behind, and that made the woman tear up. She leaned her head against his and without saying a word, relied on him. She needed to be reassured and he was doing just that, a hug, one of many he should have given her by now.
One of many he intended to give her.
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