The Plight Of Esmeralda.

Chapter One: ESMERALDAS QUEST.

Newcastle was a sound  escape from Birmingham, slightly smaller and just as grimy but a lot of her mother's kin had settled there & the only thing left of her father & brother were her 2 sisters, one married and one soon to be and an uncle who was pretty much on his last leg, also their good friend Johnny Doggs, that is what was left in Birmingham. Newcastle also had their share of gangsters, her cousins on her mothers side ruled the streets from Scotswood  Road to Wallsend and everywhere in between.   Thomas Orange was her man's cousin and gang leader, her used to say Tommy Shelby was his Brummie counterpart, & laughed when Esmeraldas mother married Aberama Gold. The man has turned Orange to gold he would say, Maximus Gold her paternal uncle  & younger brother of her father who had  relied on him for everything was now drinking more heavily then ever, he had leaned on her father  for  everything in the past, & now was looking to her for support, but he could bugger off, cause she had none, she was numb to it, besides & he was gambling again too, she figured he'd be next to die either from the drink or by someone's hand, bad deals got you killed in the end and even Mr wonderful Tommy Shelby couldn't bail him outta that. There were also her two younger sisters, ones married off & another who found herself a nice fiancé from a decent well established family , there were also some passed lovers of her father who were still in angst & sorrow about her father's passing, one swore she was pregnant and that her dad was the father, what do you want me to do about it she exclaimed, go to fucking Shelby have him sort it out, the woman looked at her with interest, she could see the wheels turning as the woman probably thought she'd hav3 better luck there. Nobody said a word against Thomas Shelby, he was paying off her uncles debts so that was about the only thing in her mind that was anything positive about the man, other than that she wanted to spit in his face. Then came the letter & a PS at the bottom of the page that made her throw her cup of tea against the wall where the  delicate pink and red rose scalloped fine China cup shattered into a million little pieces and she was scalded by the thick creamy sticky liquid. Damn you to hell Thomas Shelby you self assured git. She was going back to small Heath to confront a man who everyone feared but not her, not Esmeralda Gold, she would relish in his demise, but not without caution.

Jesus Mary and Joseph said her aunt Isabel, what are you thinking our Mellie, your mam and dad would roll in their grave if they heard you right now. "I don't care am bloody mad as hell she exclaimed, "; " ay but you have to understand something love  cautioned her aunt, your  father was just as bad as Tommy is and he wouldn't want you do to this, you don't understand that Thomas Shelby is very intelligent, a shrewd business man and although he will understand your pain he will only put up with so much of your antics  until he snaps & you don't want to be on the wrong side of him, he's also an OBE now so he's got the law on his side, even though he's as lawless as they come.  Esmeralda hated hearing this but she knew it was true, she was wondering if she should share her letter with her aunt but decided against it because she knew she'd be advised to let it go and for the life of her she couldn't.

Chapter Two.
LAYING CAUTION TO THE WIND
Esmeralda didn't know if she should ring home or not to let them know she was coming, Louisa lived in a modest house with her husband, her younger sister Josefina made the decision to live outside of Birmingham where they weren't affected as much by the constant rivalry where one of her sister's lived with her husband, her other sister made a good decision to stay outside of Birmingham so they weren't affected by the constant rivalry live on by the constant rivalry between Gypsies, Billy Boys and other, they'll never  be accepted in society even if Shelby thought he'd made it to the top because he was rubbing elbows with the elite he would still be of gypsy blood and never the Twain shall meet. When she did decide to try the line it was engaged so she decided to head to the train station since she was all packed, it was early & she wanted to catch the first morning train from the station so she didn't wake anyone but never the less her aunt was there with a small bag wrapped in burlap. Here petal, a meat pie and tea cake for your journey back. Ahh thanks Aunty Dot she exclaimed and threw her arms around her aunts neck, here take this too she said. It was a photo of her and her mam & nana when they went on a trip to London on her mother's 18th birthday, they were feeding the pigeons at Trafalgar Square, it brought tears to her eyes, she remembered her grandfather saying, if we took a couple of those pigeons back with us we'd have enough food for a fortnight.
thank you again. Now you be careful Esmeralda Jane, you watch yourself with Tommy Shelby, he's not the lad he was before he went to war, he is wounded in more ways then you know. I understand Aunty Isabel but nobody came back from the war the same, nobody. With that final word & another goodbye she headed down to the train station.
I'll ring them and let your sister know, she'll have someone pick u up when you arrive.

When she got off the train she heard a familiar voice call her name, Mellie, Mel he yelled, it was no other than Johnny Doggs, he'd come to give her a lift home!
Johnny was a good man but he too was now doing business with Tommy, she wished he wasn't but knew just like everyone else he needed the money and was willing to do his bidding, She hoped to God nothing happened to Johnny, he too was like an uncle, more than her real uncle.