Laura
It was around five in the afternoon when there was a knock at the door, which I answered why would I not? The smiling face that was there, when I opened the door, was the reason why not.
“Hello Laura,” he said, as he pushed the door wide and stepped in.
“Get out! You’re not…” I stopped when he raised his hand ready to slap me.
Two of his friends, who I had ‘entertained’ before, followed him in and shut the door.
“Bring her,” he said. “Okay, sit her in there, while I have a look around.”
I was pushed roughly into the lounge and sat between the two on the couch, both of whom started to rub my legs and make lewd comments referring to other times I had met them. They pushed my hands away when I tried to stop them, making me sit when I tried to stand. A few minutes later he walked back into the lounge.
“Nice place your darling brother has. Two bedrooms, one each or is my little slut sleeping with her brother?”
“What do you want?”
“I’m taking my little slut back and Terrific Tommy is going to watch. Now, why don’t you call him and tell him to hurry home?”
“What do you mean take her back?”
“You are coming back to Scotland with me, to be my good little wife, just like before.”
“No, no I’m not.” This earned me another threatened slap.
“You’re calling Tommy and giving him the hurry up or we’ll start fucking up his nice little house.”
While he said this, he sat in Tommy’s chair, he obviously saw something in my reaction.
“Oh, interesting. His chair, I see. How about we start with this?” He pulled out a knife and started to slash at the leather.
His friends started laughing but where silenced, while I was calling Tommy. It went to voicemail, so I sent a text and after no response, I was made to call his office number. I was told he was in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed, even though I said it was urgent. I was made to call every five minutes and all the time his friends were groping and fondling me. I started to cry at one point and had my head pulled back roughly by my hair and was told, in no uncertain terms, to stop or be sorry. This was when my phone rang, but they were too busy trying to stop me crying and it eventually stopped, followed by a text from Tommy.
A few minutes later it rang again and I answered, “Oh god, Tommy, where have you been? Please hurry.”
“What’s wrong Laura?” Tommy asked.
“Just hurry.” The phone was snatched from me and turned off.
“So now we wait, Tremendous Tommy will be home soon and you’ll explain that you made a mistake and have agreed to come back to your husband and stop all this divorce silliness.”
“He won’t let you, he won’t believe me.”
“I’m sure we can persuade him.”
His friends pulled out knives too and started to run them along my legs.
“Just be careful, lads, you don’t want to be damaging my wife now do you?”
Tommy must have driven like a bat out of hell because on a clear run it was usually an hour and a bit drive from his office. Less than an hour later I heard his key in the lock. I was gripped by the shoulders and told to be quiet.
“Laura, Laura!” I heard Tommy calling.
As he appeared in the doorway to the lounge, my ex said, “Well, well, if it isn’t the beloved brother.
“Hello, Tommy, surprise.”
Tommy remained silent. I saw the colour drain from his face as his eyes flicked around the room, from person to person. He locked eyes with me for a second and raised his eyebrow a fraction. I gave him a little nod to let him know I was okay.
“Not talking? Is that any way to treat guests?” Still, he said nothing.
“Okay Tommy, Laura here was telling me how she wants to come back to Scotland, to live up to all she can be as my wife.”
Tommy took a step and I cried out due to the fingers digging into my shoulders, he stopped again.
“Ah, there it is. The big bad brother, the brother that wants to hurt me, but doesn’t want to see his sister hurt.” My ex got very aggressive.
“You will sit and watch and say and do, nothing while we pack my wife’s things or we will hurt you and that would only upset your precious sister! Do you understand?”
All three were now brandishing their knives, to make it obvious what their intention was.
“You’re going to do something I will hate and expect me to watch quietly while you take my sister from me?”
“That’s right.”
“You didn’t think this through very well, did you?”
“What do you mean? Don’t try and get clever!”
“No cleverness, but if you do that, I have nothing left, if I have nothing left, I have nothing to lose.” Tommy paused and looked at all three, one by one, then continued, “Only a fool would underestimate someone with nothing to lose.”
“Don’t try and get fucking smart with me!” He got up and started to stride over to Tommy.
Tommy snorted, my ex and his friends froze, I held my breath.
Tommy
I couldn’t help myself. He was giving it all the big man talk like he was the biggest strongest hard man there was. It was his usual style, people fell for it so often, now, walking across my lounge, I understood why he was so angry. He had a roll of flab around his waist, that hung over his trousers and wobbled as he walked, there was no attempt at tensing or trying to hold himself better. His whole stance was that of a weak pathetic bully, his only power was the fear people had of him. He was angry because he knew I had never been scared of him. He was right that I would do anything to see Laura not get hurt, the most pain I could inflict on her would be letting her go back with him.
“You know what, cunt, no, this isn’t happening, you hurt my sister before, never again, now you fucking deal with me!”
I stepped forward, pushing his hand to the side and kneed him in the groin, elbowing his face, as he stumbled back, tripping over the table, I turned to his friends, who were standing up now. As they stepped forward, Laura stood and nodded to me.
“Fuck, did the cockless wonder, surround himself with pathetic losers because real men wouldn’t follow that, would they?”
I saw the anger in their faces, as they reacted to this, I stepped forward and punched one in the solar plexus, spinning and backhanding the other. I heard a yelp behind me and turned to see Laura stamping on the same hand I had at our parents’ funeral. As I turned my attention back to his friends the police walked in, telling me to freeze.
I spun on them, “About fucking time, I want these three individuals arrested, for breaking and entering, holding someone against their will, assault and attempted assault.”
“Now, now sir, calm down.”
“Maybe when these three are in handcuffs! Laura, come with me.”
I took her to her upstairs to wash our face and hands to refresh us and calm down a little. When we returned the three had been arrested. It was a long night with making statements, dealing with the medical reports, waiting for the other files to be pulled up and everything connected. Eventually, it was all pieced together and we both wanted to press for everything we could. Other than in court, it was the last we saw or heard from her ex.
The hospital wanted to keep Laura in overnight for observation due to bruising on her shoulders and a possible shock, so I slept in the chair next to her bed, holding her hand. The next day while waiting for the doctor to do his rounds, I went to see my boss. Arriving around mid-morning, my boss tried to reprimand me for the way I had spoken to the receptionist until I told him what had happened.
“Learn, that’s all I’ll ask. If someone says it’s urgent, let them make the call. By the way, if you don’t want my notice, I need some concessions. I need time today to go get Laura and when she has work, I will be going with her, if we are against a deadline, I will work remotely, other times she can come to work with me.”
Once he understood the nature and frequency of Laura’s work, he was happy to give me some space and time. We also decided that it would be an idea to move to a new house. With the money from our parents’ house, along with our pooled resources, we could get somewhere decent and set up a couple of small trust funds. We ended up buying a four-bed, fifteen years old, detached house, in a cul-de-sac, on the more expensive side of town.
The day of the move couldn’t come quick enough, but it was upon us before we knew it. The lorry was packed and I closed the door on the house that had been lived in during our troubles, this was our fresh start. We were lucky with the weather, dry and warm, but not excessively hot. When we pulled up there were a couple of people chatting in one of the driveways, but other than that it was quiet.
“Hi, Luke Evans and this is John Murphy,” said the man offering me his hand.
“Laura and Tommy Shelby,” I replied shaking their hands.
“Welcome to the cul-de-sac,” said John, “can we help you unload?”
They were really helpful and along with the movers, we were done in no time. John offered us all a beer and disappeared back to his house, saying that we needed cold beer. I noticed him limping and asked Luke if he was okay.
“An old war wound,” he told me.
It was good to meet friendly people and ones that knew not to overstay their welcome. After a beer, John and Luke said their goodbyes, knowing we still had a lot to do.
Laura
After his attack on Tommy and me, my divorce was granted without further delay and one of the partners of Egil and Egil supported us through the criminal action that was brought against him and the role we had in his prosecution. The also raised restraining orders against my ex and all his family and associates. I had no intention of keeping my married name after my divorce. I had set up my website and new photography business in my maiden name and as soon as we were granted the decree absolute, I started notifying the various agencies of the change.
Of course, the change of address was a sensible idea and I agreed to it, that didn’t stop me being over the moon when Tommy suggested putting all our money together to buy somewhere for both of us. It had been nearly a year since the day on the beach and I still wonder how he tolerated what I put him through and the repercussions it had on both of us.
“Well here we are,” he said as we turned the corner into the road.
“Indeed,” Tommy, looked across at me, took my hand and squeezed it.
“A fresh start for us,” he said, emphasising ‘us’.
Tommy stood back and let me open the front door for the first time, then with a laugh, picked me up and carried me through and into our new hallway. I put my arm around his neck and kissed him and got a reaction I wasn’t expecting, he stopped in his tracks, looked at me, and then kissed me. I got ready for it, tensing a little when I saw him leaning in and felt let down when his lips brushed mine and then pushed into my cheek. He gave me a sad smile and put me down.
“Come on, let’s get everything in.”
I got the sticky notes I had prepared and walked around the various rooms, noting which was which. When I went outside, Tommy was talking to two strange men, when he noticed me, he waved me over.
“Laura and Tommy Shelby,” I heard him say, as I got there. Tommy put his arm around my waist when we had finished shaking hands.
I spent the rest of the day with a smile on my face. I caught myself grinning like a fool at times, whistling tunes I hadn’t since I was a teenager. When Tommy had introduced us, it was accurate, but there was something about what he didn’t say, that made me feel warm inside, compounded by his arm around my waist. After everything I had been through, that last thing I wanted was someone acting like I was a possession, Tommy’s arm was more like, ‘she’s under my protection, don’t mess’.
Once the lorry and car were empty, the removal people left and Tommy suggested beer, despite what he might have said, he would not invite people into our house and not offer them refreshments. John countered with cold beer and disappeared returning with a six-pack. Luke just had a glass of water and they both left after a single drink, with profuse thanks and promises to invite them back when we had settled in.
It was about an hour later and we were starting to flag when there was a knock at the door that made me start. Tommy saw and smiled a gentle, warm smile, reassuring me and with a kiss on the cheek, he went to see who it was. I heard him talking and could tell he was coming back to the kitchen.
“Laura, this is Tina, Luke’s wife,” Tommy said.
I turned and saw a beautiful, petite, woman about ten years older than me, follow him into the kitchen. She had a slow cooker in her hand and a broad smile on her face. For some reason, I wanted to scream at her to get out and that Tommy was mine, I then had the urge to throw up.
“Shit!” was all I could say, before running out of the kitchen with my hand over my mouth.
I heard some talking behind me then, “Laura?” as Tommy came after me.
When he found me talking to the great white telephone, he held my hair back as he stroked my head, being patient and kind, as he always was when it came to me.
“I’m sorry Tommy, I don’t know what came over me.” I really didn’t, I had no idea where those feelings had come from. I had never been like that with anyone.
“It’s okay, it’s been a long stressful day. Tina knocking like that must have brought back some shit. So long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters.”
“I will be, go see her, I’ll be out in a minute.”
I got myself straight and joined them. Tina had seen us unloading and put together what she called a cowboy stew and when Luke confirmed he had seen meat in our frozen food, she had the good grace to blush, she dished up a couple of portions for us. Tommy excused himself to get some of the grime of the day off him, leaving us to chat.
“Sweetie, are you okay?” were the first words out of Tina’s mouth, as she put her hand on my forearm.
