The Sweetest of Hearts.1| T.S

•Tommy always has a plan.

XXXI. Tommy always has a plan.

Maude found Polly in the living room of the house, sitting with a handkerchief in hand as she fought hard to keep her tears back. The older woman was distraught. She had barely gotten her son back and now they had taken him away again. She truly believed Michael did a bad thing because he had been around the family for too long now. Already he had become too much like the Shelby brothers.

"Pol, I'm going to get Michael out of jail, do you hear me?" She insisted as she crouched down in front of Polly, placing a comforting hand on her knee. "I will get them both out." She assured as she gave Polly a determined look before getting onto her feet. "Let me drive you home." She insisted.

She took Tommy's car and drove Polly and Finn home, staying with the woman for a while before leaving again to go to her office to make a few calls to the family lawyers. She went between seeing Polly and talking to the lawyers for hours, and on the third day of the two men being locked up, Maude got somewhere with the lawyers.

She was stressed and frustrated, so much so that she hadn't taken note of the changes she faced. She had barely even given a second thought that she was late and slowly getting sick throughout the day. She got winded and irritated, but she wrote it all off as being stressed. But Maude quickly picked up on the pieces she was missing.

On the third morning, Maude was having tea with Anna in the kitchen of her home. They were silent for a while, both lost in their own thoughts before Anna decided to speak up. "How's Polly doing?" She asked as she glanced at Maude with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Not good," Maude replied truthfully as she sighed softly while shaking her head. She took a few sips of her tea before speaking again. "I've been talking with the lawyers, they're not sure how soon we'll get the two out." She muttered as she sat back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other.

"But there's a chance they'll get out, right?" Anna asked, her eyes hopeful as she raised her eyebrows once again.

"Yes," Maude confirmed with a nod of her head. "They're Shelby's, they can only be kept in there for so long." She explained with a shake of her head. "But so long can still be a very long time if we don't pull the right strings." She added as another heavy sigh slipped from her lips. She finished her tea, pulling a grimace as she felt a nauseating knot form in her stomach. "I have to go check on Polly. She wasn't home last night." She said as she got up to her feet, pressing a soothing hand to her stomach.

Anna eyed her with eyebrows tightly knit together. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked with concern.

"Yeah, just feeling a little off," Maude replied with a nod of her head and a dismissive wave of her hand, saying her goodbye before walking out of the house, leaving Anna in the kitchen.

She made the drive back to Polly's house, finding the older woman in the living room, sitting in her tub in front of the fireplace, smoking a cigarette as she blankly stared ahead of her, the soapy water and Polly's red skin indicating she had been harshly scrubbing away at herself.

"Pol?" She called out softly to the woman, eyebrows furrowed as she walked into the room. " Where have you been?" She asked as she put her purse down on one of the tables against the wall before sitting down on the armrest of Polly's vintage couch.

"Went to the Spotted Dog in Digbeth." Polly slightly slurred as she looked over at Maude. "A glass or two of rum."

Maude's eyebrows furrowed as she looked over at Polly, her eyebrows deeply furrowing. "Was it one glass or two?" She asked before raising her eyebrows as her head tilted to the side.