Power and Lies

Twenty-Two

Power has only one duty - to secure the social welfare of the People.
-Benjamin Disraeli

Freya was browsing the shelves of the local shop, the one she had met Ada at all that time ago. Her fingers traced labels of jars and she smiled into the memories they brought. Already it had been nearly two years her life had been intertwined with the Shelby family, and although rocky at first, she had found herself quite the niche within them. She looked up to confirm she still held onto her shadow- two lower ranked boys in the Blinders, and went back to her glancing. Tommy had been home now for a week and he had come back to work with a tenacity she had not seen in a while. They had not told anyone yet of their engagement, opting instead to hold it a secret until plans had been made. Truthfully she was nervous about how the news would be received. It was no secret of their romantic status, but dating and inviting someone in completely were different. No longer would their be secrets kept from her and she would be part of planning, not just told where to be and when.

"Tommy says family meeting, you've got ten minutes." The voice startled her from her thoughts and she spun to face Finn. He was the youngest, and there was a large part of her that thought he had the talent to be something wonderful. He was able to carry himself quietly, and he possessed the passion of John with the cold calculation of Tommy.

"Is everything okay?" Tommy had not called a family meeting since the months before London. What a disaster that had been. Finn did not give anything away with his expression and Freya sighed before collecting the lower part of her dress off the floor and making her way out into the streets.

The city hummed with activity around her, something that it had not been in a while. Things had become settled since the new Inspector had come about. People felt safer, as though the reach of the Peaky Blinders was smaller and not nearly as powerful. They were fools to believe that. She would be one of them, she realized, if it had not been for the freedom granted her by Tommy. She would likely be getting things to cook for dinner or browsing for a new book. She would still be trapped within her walls and miserable. Now she looked out at the crowds and wondered how many of them were like her from before. How many women were trying to fly around her with their clipped wings?

She was nearly late to the meeting and when she entered the old building everyone had already gathered around the table, their eyes looking towards Tommy who sat at the head. Bruises were still visible on his face, a fact everyone ignored with difficulty.

"There is to be a wedding," Tommy wasted no time in saying and Freya felt her stomach drop. He had not even discussed this with her. She looked at him, hoping he would take the words back. The others spent no time looking back and forth between Tommy and her, their expressions unreadable.

"John boy, I've found you a wife. A good gypsy woman. Now you won't be so alone that you have to stick your dick in the gutters of Birmingham." Freya felt her jaw drop open and she quickly worked to gather herself. When she looked to John his face was ashy, and his eyes vacant.

"Surely you cannot mean to marry him off," Freya started to protest. She stopped when Tommy held up his hand. It was a clear warning not to overstep her boundaries, a habit she was well accustomed to.

"A wedding is a celebration." Tommy continued. "It will be in three days. Suppose you should get ready." He clapped a hand on John's shoulder. Still John did not move. Arthur looked at her with question and she shook her head, confirming to him that she had no idea what was happening. For all the hours they spent in each others arms, Freya knew very little about the inner workings of Tommy's mind.

'I will ask,' she mouthed to Arthur who nodded in return. They all knew better than to fight it right now. Tommy would not stand for it, and it was not a fight they needed. Already they had enough enemies and conflict on the outside, they could not stand up to the pressures of it within the family.

"Well, suppose that is that then," John mumbled and headed towards the door, his feet dragging along the wooden flooring. Nobody stopped him when he opened the door and made his way out. Polly grabbed at Tommy's arm and motioned for him to follow her, something he did with great reluctance and Freya did her best to remain undetected as she crossed through the door to the outside.

John stood there, cigar in his mouth, his back leaned against the brick walls.

"You okay?" Freya asked him, although she knew the answer was no.

"Fine," He snapped back and Freya closed her eyes. This was not him, this was his hurt, she reminded herself. And hurt causes things we do not mean.

"Maybe he will change his mind," She tried to comfort him. He rolled his eyes and stared at her, a scowl playing on his lips. It had been a weak attempt at best. Tommy never changed his mind once he was set upon something.

"If you honestly believe that you're a bigger fool than he is." John sneered.

"You do need help with your children..." He looked at her in a way that stopped her mid-sentence and she stared at the ground, rejection seeping within her.

"You know, when you showed up I thought maybe it would be me and you," John said softly and she looked to him, cautiously hopeful. "I guess this is the payment I get for being an idiot." He threw his cigar on the ground and slammed his foot against it, sending bits of red burning Tabaco across the ground.

"You two," He motioned to her, his eyes starting to brim with tears. "You two fucking deserve each other. You just play with peoples lives like it is nothing. You make people feel things, encourage them, then you take it all away. Monsters, that's what the two of you are." He spit on the ground near Freya's foot and she tried to remember his pain before her own tears came. If she returned inside crying Tommy would unleash hell upon his brother. They did not need that.

"I'm sorry," was all she could manage before John stormed off, throwing his hat on the ground in a rage. Her heart thumped against her ribs as she took a few deep breaths, doing her best to allow the interaction to roll off her shoulders before she ventured back inside.

Arthur was the only one still sitting at the table when she re-entered and she sat down next to him. His fingers wrapped themselves around a drink that he had clearly not brought up to his lips once, and he sighed deeply when she sat.

"He's not taking it well?" Freya shook her head and Arthur nodded. Neither of them thought this was what the family meeting could be about.

"I will try and change his mind tonight."

"Don't bother. He needs their family, wants to try London again. The more men the better the chances. And like it or not, we need them."

"Your mother is Gypsy." It was something Tommy had told her once late at night. "Could they not go by blood?"

"Don't be stupid." Polly came in from the other room, leaving a seething Tommy behind her. "Would you run off and fight because of one person being blood to you?" Freya bit her lip. Polly had a point.

"So what do we do?" She finally asked and Polly stared at her.

"What do we do? We have a wedding." She said before grabbing Arthur's glass and downing the amber liquid.

"We have a bloody wedding."

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