𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙮, John Shelby

- 22

- CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO -

- IN WHICH THEY MEET

. . .

WITH LITTLE LEFT over from the fire, the building still not deemed safe, Rory had moved into John's house that evening with only a few items that would be able to make her bedroom appear comfortable. And with the help of Katie, the eldest of the children finding the Miller rather enjoyable to be around, the bed had been made up and any clothes salvaged from the pub had been hung in the wardrobe.

And after that evening, all of the kids wanting stories from the woman before they went to bed, Rory had slipped into a peculiar sleep filled with dreams of living with Amor back home and rushing from horse to horse on the yards at racetracks.

It was safe to say she had awoken feeling just as exhausted as she had been before being in bed, the woman amusing the Shelby inhabitants as she ambled around the house mindlessly, waiting on John so that they could leave for the family meeting only a few doors down the street.

And then eventually, with the kids doing their own thing, the two adults could walk along Watery Lane and enter through the doors of the Betting Den to join the rest of the guests within.

Rory had almost instantly collapsed into one of the desk chairs, head propped up in her hands as she listened to the continuous pacing of John as his shoes came into contact with the wooden panels layering the floor; Finn sat beside her toying with the sleeve of his jacket whilst Arthur unwrapped a bandage from around his hand, and Scudboat and Esme ( who were deemed just as important to the family as Rory was ) situated themselves on the staircase.

"Where the bloody hell is Tommy?" John asked, coming to stop beside Polly, fingers wrapped tightly around his pocket watch.

"He's on his way." The Gray replied, voice dull. It was becoming obvious how aggravated she was slowly growing with the lack of patience the second youngest brother had, not to mention the already underlying issues of his lack of enthusiasm for running the Betting Den when everyone else was out.

"Right then," Arthur fiddled with the bandage in the palm of his hands, the man dropping it into his pocket as he suddenly leapt for him chair. "While we're waiting patiently..." He walked around the back of Rory's seat, the girl hardly paying attention until she heard the rattle of glass bottles and felt the desk shudder under the impact of a crate being deposited. "Whiskey."

He picked a bottle up and chucked it across to John, Rory sitting up in her seat to avoid the elbow brushing centimetres past her eye. "Left over from the explosion." He explained as Charlie popped a lid and began pouring two glasses for himself and Curly. "It's good stuff as well."

Rory's eyes scanned the contents laid out on the table, contemplating whether to drink or leave it given the rather early hour. But it seemed she needn't wait long, her mind becoming occupied with other thoughts as John moved round to stand at the head of the table.

"Right." He folded his arms behind his back, glass hitting the desk after he'd swallowed the rest of its contents. "Before Tommy gets here, I think there's a few things we need to straight between the rest of us."

"You think?" Polly hummed, glancing over to her nephew, a mocking tone hidden beneath the depths of annoyance in her voice.

"Yeah." John nodded, gaze moving across the room to look at each individual." Yeah I do... I want to know when did we all take a vote on this expansion south?"