It was that time of year when the annual fair returned to Birmingham, the Shelby brothers had a tradition where they go every year but currently they were standing outside as Tommy yelled at his younger brother who had lost the keys to the family car as someone had stolen it seeing as it wasn't parked where he had left it, " how can you be so stupid..." he trailed off when she sound of a horn was heard causing Maddie to pull up barely just missing hitting them as Emily went slightly forward, " every time I let you drive I swear I'm never letting you do it again" Emily commented making Maddie let out a laugh at her sister.

"You stole our car!" John exclaimed in disbelief storming over to the two girls only for Maddie to shrug her shoulders, " don't be so dramatic. I borrowed it and returned it without a scratch" Maddie threw him the keys as John, Arthur and Tommy shared a look watching the blonde walk around the car opening the back door pulling something out only to see a white pony, " you stole a pony?" Tommy questioned with an amused smile on his lips.

"No" Maddie exclaimed with an offended look on her face, " I bought her for the girls. Lizzie and Peyton have not stopped about talking wanting a horse since you took them to the stables. Isn't she beautiful?" John bent down to stroke the pony only for it to try and bite him making the two sisters laugh loudly, " Yeah, she kind of has a thing for biting people on the butt. We better get going I left the girls with Mary" Emily and Maddie walked away from the Shelby brothers and headed towards their house walking into the living room where Peyton and Elizabeth were playing together.

"Hi, girls. Look at what I got" Maddie spoke up making the twins turn their heads only to squeal in awe at the sight of pony immediately fussing over it as the blonde turned to Mary with a small smile, " thank you for looking after them" Mary shook her head in response and assured her, " Oh, don't worry about it. I'm happy to do it anytime. I better get going before my husband starts looking for me" Maddie nodded her head in understanding thanking the women again as she walked her to the door before walking back to the living room, " so what do you think?"

"She's so pretty. I love her" Peyton spoke wrapping her arms around the horse as Lizzie wrapped her arms around her mother's legs, " Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Maddie ran her fingers through her daughter's hair as Emily smiled at the twins watching the twins fuss over the pony, " have you thought about a name?" Peyton and Lizzie looked at one another before turning their attention back to their mother and aunt, " Yes. Princess"

"That's an awesome name" Maddie smiled looking down at her daughter, " you know the pony can't stay here so I spoke to Charlie who owns the stables and he agreed it's okay she stays there. He'll take good care of her and you can visit her whenever you want okay?" Peyton huffed but nodded her head in agreement knowing that her aunt Emily had told her a house isn't a place for a horse they belong outside in the stables, " okay" Lizzie nodded her head in agreement with her sister when the sound of the door suddenly slammed opened making the twins immediately run to their mother in fear.

Maddie wrapped her arms around her daughters only for her eyes to widened at the sight of two coppers escorted by a man wearing a trench coat, "Excuse me? What the hell do you think your doing" the blonde exclaimed narrowing her eyes at the men in front of her making the inspector Campbell raise his eyebrows at the Irish women in front of him holding her children close her to her to protect them. "Sorry, Miss... I'm inspector Campbell and we're searching everyone's houses with permission from Arthur Shelby. We're looking for stolen guns."

Emily started shouting at the coppers who was trashing up her house as Maddie eyes narrowed harshly at the inspector, "Well, you won't find any guns here. We have children here so if you wouldn't mind can you stop your men from trashing up my sisters house? it would be really appreciated, your scaring my daughters" Maddie said with a fake smile on her face as she glared hatefully at the men who had made a complete mess of the house.

"My apologies. Come on boys we won't find anything here." Inspector Campbell ordered as the two coppers left the house, " if you do find anything about the missing guns please don't hesitate to contact me" Maddie sent him a fake smile waiting until the inspector and the two coppers left as Emily locked the door behind them causing Maddie to sigh crouching down beside her daughters, " you girls, okay?" Lizzie and Peyton launched themselves at their mother holding onto her tightly frightened at what just had happened.

❀❀❀❀

It was late at night, Maddie was sat by the piano playing some cords as Peyton and Lizzie was sat ontop of it listening to their mothers voice with smiles on their face, "My knuckles were bruised like violets, sucker punching walls, cursed you as I sleep-talked. Spineless in my tomb of silence, tore your banners down, took the battle underground and maybe it was ego swinging, maybe it was her, flashes of the battle come back to me in a blur"

She stopped playing the chords when a knock on the door was heard making her frown in confusion making her way over to the door only for her frown to deepen at the sight of John Shelby, " John? What are you doing here? Emily not here she left a while ago" John smirked as he leaned against the doorway, " I'm not here for Emily, Gorgeous. We're having a bonfire burning pictures of the King. You coming?" Maddie raised her brows with a knowing look on her face, " was this your idea or one of your brothers? Bonfires aren't really my thing?"

John chuckled in amusement at the twins peaking around their mother's leg to stare up at him, "'come on, it'll be fun and your girls can play with my kids and Finn" Lizzie and Peyton looked up at Maddie with a pleading look on their faces, " please Mommy. Please can we go" Maddie sighed in defeat as she nodded her head causing the two girls to squeal loudly wrapping their arms around their mother before Maddie grabbed their coats before leaving the house.

Maddie held Peyton and Lizzie hands as she walked down the street with John towards where the bonfire would be. The streets were already crowded with people as they started throwing pictures of the king into the fire, "Alright, Finn lad?"Scudboat grinned down at the youngest Shelby brother who smiled up at the man and greeted him, "Alright, Scud." John groaned with a look of annoyance on his face smacking his brother on the back of his head, "Ow!" Finn yelped as John glared down at his little brother making Maddie chuckle in amusement with a  shake her head.

" where the hell have you been?" John curiously questioned only for Finn to sigh in response and explained, " I went to the garrisons. I got a picture of the king" Finn then ran off with Peyton and Lizzie as Maddie watched them from afar making sure to keep an eye on them when John spoke up glancing towards the blonde next to him, "Brothers I tell you there a pain in the ass. So Maddie how come you moved to Birmingham then?"

" i was in a pretty bad relationship and I wanted a new start. I didn't want to move my daughters back to Ireland but then my sister invited me to come live with her until I can get on my feet" Maddie informed with a shrug on her shoulders only for a frown to appear on his face as he asked, " how come Emily never mentioned you before?" Maddie shrugged her shoulder in response, " we didn't really have a good relationship until after our mom died. We put our differences aside it would what our mom would of wanted and the fact that we only have each other"

Maddie continued making small talk with John when her eyes looked around before her gaze locked onto Tommy who was standing on the other side of the bonfire speaking with a journalist making her raise her brows with a curious look but as soon as his eyes connected with hers she didn't look away from him as she wasn't scared of him like most people were it was probably why he was so interested in her as she wasn't like most girls around here.

Tommy wanted to know everything about her even if she did have two children most men would of already ran for the hills but there was a pull drawing her to him and he would do anything to get what he wanted and what he wanted was Maddie. He took a drag of his cigarette before walking over to the blonde girl as John made his way over to his oldest brother as it was clear that his brother had a crush on the new girl even though she made it clear she wasn't interested in starting any kind of relationship with anyone she was too focused on getting her own place and being there for her daughters.

Maddie placed her hands inside her pockets moving her gaze away from Tommy and staring towards the fire making Tommy face softened at the sight of the girl as he stood beside her so that their shoulders were brushing against each making Maddie send him an confused look when she let out a sigh and decided to break the silence, "I know what you're doing." Tommy had an amused look on his face as he furrowed his brows and resorted, "Please, enlighten me."

"Your Diverting their anger from you, which would hurt your business, to an ideal of someone they can never access or harm. Pissing off the coppers, letting them know who's boss in the process." Maddie spoke with a shrug of her shoulders only for Tommy to send her an impressed look, "Hmmm. You're not like most girls are you Miss Wilson. You've got the brains as well as the beauty. I didn't know you knew my brother John"

Maddie sent him a disbelief look raising her brows at him, " I don't. Not really...he's sleeping with my sister we've spoke briefly but he's a good guy my daughters seem to love him" Tommy smiled softly but it soon disappeared before Maddie noticed, " so how come you moved to Birmingham with your sister" the blonde sighed in annoyance, " i wish everyone would stop asking me that. I met Ryan when I was eighteen we didn't get together until I was nineteen at first he was kind, sweet, everything that I wanted but after I found out I was pregnant he changed into this whole different person I didn't even recognise"

"I'm sorry you don't have to tell me it's none of my business" Tommy muttered with an apologetic look on his face only for Maddie to send him a small smile, " its okay. You're curious I understand I did just appear out of nowhere and you want to know if I'm a threat to you and your family, I'm not. You know i understand a lot of men changed because of the war but Ryan didn't even go something to do with medical reasons but it was just a way to keep me by his side. He was afraid I would leave him after he tried to strangle me"

Maddie had tears in her eyes as she thought about her ex husband, " he promised he would never lay a hand on me again but he lied. I don't know why I stayed with him maybe because i wanted my daughters to be brought up with a mother and father that loves them but it gets to the point where i knew if I didn't leave him he would of killed me. I divorced him and left and the only place I know we could go is to Emily. I know Lizzie and Peyton hate me for leaving Ryan but they're too young to understand what really happened and I would like to keep their innocence for as long as possible"