Mary swallowed a lump and rubbed her arms together as the chilly wind blew over her. Her green eyes looked in the distance, admiring the beautiful sunset. She woke up with a heartache that lingered until sunset, leaving her perplexed, as there was no apparent reason for her to feel this way. Tommy Shelby was home, after all. He came back and was deeply involved in their little family life. He was giving her his utmost attention in the midst of a hectic couple of months. The brown-haired woman put her hand against her chest and squeezed the fabric between her fingers. Today was a familiar day... And the more she racked her brain to find the answer to her question, the stronger her heartache became. It was a familiar day, so why did she feel melancholic? It suddenly dawned on her. Today was her wedding day to her ex-husband, Carter.
She could see herself, frail and heavily pregnant, scared yet hopeful because she was about to marry a man who claimed he loved her. What did she know about love when she was still a child? She was too young to realize that marrying a man twice her age under these circumstances was wrong. She was too young to realize that this man was using her. He was preying on her youth and innocence. He was using her good heart and naivety. A pervert who married a 15-year-old girl he defiled and impregnated when she was just 14. A pervert who doubled as a liar because he pretended he was disabled and unable to work, when the whole time he was just a lazy man. A pervert, a liar, but also a coward who didn't go to war on a false excuse. He didn't tell her about his gang affiliation and the money he owed them. He even ran away from both the delivery and the funeral of the child they had. How come the memory came back to her after all these years? She dutifully snuffed out any memory she had of her dead husband. How miserable her life was before she met Tom. How miserable she was!
She grew up thinking she was forsaken by God! How could she not, when the nurses kept repeating nobody wanted her? Her father died at the hands of God. Her mother was the very one who left her at the orphanage, and the nurses? OH, they had to wash the "black" off of her skin. Mary knew that if Tommy knew about these old racist hags at the time, he would have punished them. He would have found a way to protect her from their whips and psychological torture. He would have protected her! Her heart sank in her chest, and she wished she had never gotten married to Carter. She wished she never had to suffer at the hands of that man and instead spent more time by Tom's side. A blink, and suddenly, a couple of tears just ran down her cheek. It snapped her out of her thoughts, and she took a deep breath. She endured, but she came on top of it. Today, her husband was dead, and all the pain he brought her was behind her. Today, she was safe and loved. Tommy wasn't a man of many words, but he showed his genuine affection with actions. She knew he loved her even if he had never directly said those words. She knew, and that was what truly mattered. Mary smiled through the tears and rubbed her arms together.
Life was better now that Tom was in her life.
Life was better because Tom was in her life.
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