The Angel of Small Heath

Season 2

****

Dark clouds hung low in the sky as the Peaky Blinders stood before the mouth of the grave. The atmosphere was gloomy as they mourned the death of there friend. He was a husband, a father, and a friend. Freddie Thorne would be deeply missed.

Tommy stood strong, his eyes staring blankly at the coffin holding his childhood best-friend. The past two years had been hard but the pair had slowly regained what friendship they had before the war. Aurora and Ada being the instigators. But now he was gone, peristalsis had taken him too quickly for Aurora to come up with a solution.

Clearing his throat Tommy stepped forward, leaving Aurora's side for the moment. "I promised my friend, Freddy Thorne, that I'd say a few words over his grave if he should pass before me. I made this promise before he became my brother-in- law, when we were in France fighting for the king"

"Amen" Arthur muttered, his voice carried by the wind.

"And in the end, it wasn't war that took Freddy. Pestilence took him. Freddy passed on his soul and spirit to a new generation before he was cruelly taken". Tommy finished watching as the coffin was slowly lowered down into the dirt.

"Tom?.." Aurora called out softly her hand grabbing his hand in reassurance. She was always there when he needed her most.

"I know" he sighed, turning to kiss his wife lovingly. Tom was a man ahead of his time, he doted on his wife in public and private. Nothing would stop him from treating his woman like a queen.

"I have to go talk to Ada, I'll meet you by the car. Try and reign in our lot" he chuckled watching the triplets help out there youngest, Harry.

"Of course, I think their with Pol" Aurora smiled releasing her hold on him. She watched as he made his way towards the newly adorned widow. Dressed in black the two Shelby siblings moved away from the crowd, from the look on Ada's face Aurora knew the conversation wasn't going to go well. Ada wasn't going to return to Small Heath in the foreseeable future, she had settled in London.

"We thought now Freddie's gone you might move back to Birmingham" Tommy began walking in unison through the graveyard. His children's innocent laugh ringing through the air as Aurora tried to catch them.

"God do you know how funny it is that you've got chauffeurs in uniform?" Ada snarked, looking over her shoulder at the men in question.

"Just for the occasion, Ada" Tommy sighed, it was clear that Freddie's thoughts had infiltrated her mind before his passing.

"Do you know how unfair it is that you've got four Bugattis and half the country is starving?"

"So now they've made you ashamed of us?" he huffed, "you forget the work and charity my wife has done for years, the lives she saved. Kept you fed along with the rest of Small Heath when us boys were away fighting, kept you with clothes on your back and in school" he ranted trying to keep the anger out of his voice. Aurora deserved the recognition for her daily contribution to ease the burden on families, her generosity was something even he couldn't fathom.

"Well sometimes when I think of how I used to be, it makes me embarrassed" Ada began turning to face her older brother. A man who's ambition was beyond measure.

 Before they could continue Pol interrupted her voice breaking Ada's confession.

"Karl's with his cousins. I caught them trying to pinch flowers off a grave. Aurora has Harry, he was the only one she manged to catch" Pol smirked still amused at kids escape of capture. "Ada, are you coming home?"

"I'm going home" she agreed thinking of the apartment Freddie had bought when they first moved to London.

"It's alright, Pol. We make Ada embarrassed"