Kimber's Daughter - Tommy Shelby x Reader Fan Fic

Chapter 29

Grace smirked when she saw me. "And here I was ready to send a search party for you."

We couldn't speak openly in the pub, already littered with patrons at this early hour of the morning, but there was no mistaking the threat in her words or eyes. I was a liability. She knew it. Why she'd kept her cover for this long, knowing I could blow the lid at any moment, I wasn't sure.

"I'll have a whiskey," I told her.

She poured. "How similar you and Tommy are."

I set my mouth into a thin line. I didn't want to think about Tommy, not while I was still so cross with him. But it seemed he was everywhere in Small Heath. There was no escaping Tommy Shelby.

When the bell of the door rang, announcing a new entrant, it was none other than Ada herself. She considered me darkly for a moment.

"Come on then," she sighed. "Private room."

Under Grace's hawklike glare, I picked up my drink and followed Ada, back to the same room where Tommy had taken me all those weeks ago. It felt like a lifetime already.

"How are you doing?" I asked Ada.

"I'd be a lot better if Freddie could come out of hiding," she sniffed. "Not that your father's helping."

I frowned. "My father?"

She gave me a pointed stare. "He was here, just last night. Threatened to blow up the pub. His men are still prowling the streets now, I expect." She paused for a moment, taking in my reaction of numb shock. "You didn't know?" she added gently.

"He hasn't hurt anyone, has he?" I whispered.

"Nobody's died." But Ada's mouth twisted. "I suppose that's why my brothers have you locked up, or whisked away to the other end of the country. They must be worried you'll tell him everything you've learnt."

"Are you worried?" I asked her.

Ada sighed. "I really couldn't give a shit. I've got enough going on without Thomas and his fucking guns or any other drama."

"So I heard." I leaned in to Ada. "What are you going to do?"

"Why should I tell you? So you can take it right back to my brothers?"

I could tell Ada's words had come out harsher than she intended. She bit her lip, wearing a steely expression I recognised well — holding back tears.

"I won't say anything to them," I told her gently. "You have my word."

"I just... I can't even wish I'd chosen a man less all wrong for me. Because then he wouldn't be Freddie." Ada wiped her eyes. "Does that make sense?"

I finished my drink, thankful for the gentle hum it gave me, taking the edge off my own anguish. "More sense than you know."

Ada released a bitter laugh. "Don't be so melancholy. Tommy would give you the world, if you asked for it."

"Our situations are more similar than you think," I reminded her. "My father wants to kill him."

"And Tommy wants to kill Freddie. Perhaps we'd be better if they all finished each other off," Ada sighed. "We could mourn and move on with our lives in peace."

"It wouldn't be peace at all though, would it?"

"No," she agreed. "It wouldn't."

"You'll be alright," I told Ada, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "You're made of tough stuff."

Ada nodded. Then her eyes lit up, looking more hopeful than I'd seen her all day. "Would you do something for me?"

"What?" I asked cautiously.

"Would you talk to Tommy? You're the only one he might actually listen to. If you tell him to back off, to leave me and Freddie be... we might have a chance at happiness here. I know Freddie would do the right thing. I know he would, if Tommy wasn't so aggressive."

I hesitated. "I don't know, Ada. I'm not sure Tommy will listen to me."

Ada rolled her eyes. "Of course he will. And besides." Her expression turned suddenly coy, and just a little embarrassed. "We're women. We have ways of making them agree to anything, do we not?"

I became suddenly shy, but decided against pointing out that such a mindset was how she'd ended up in her condition. "It's not like that," I said quickly.

"Please," Ada dismissed. "You could cut the tension between you two with a knife."

"Awfully observant, aren't you?"

"It's a gift and a curse." Rain began to fall outside, sprinkling against the window at first, then coming in thick lashes. "So you'll talk to him?"

I couldn't refuse her pleading eyes. "Fine," I conceded. "But don't get your hopes up. I still don't know if he'll listen."

"Thank you." Ada's lips twitched into a small smile. "I owe you one."

"I'll be sure to cash in."

"Well, looks like you've been summoned," Ada said darkly, gesturing to the inside of the pub.

"Won't you come back to the house?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I need to be with Freddie. For now."

"I understand."

"You'd best go. I'd rather John didn't see me in here."

"So it's John that came. I'll be glad to give him a piece of my mind," I muttered darkly.

Ada laughed. "John's probably the best of us all. And that's really saying something."

"You're not wrong." I rested a hand on the door. "See you around, Ada."

I left the private booth and came face to face with John Shelby himself. About time.

"You have some explaining to do," I growled.