The Sweetest of Hearts.1| T.S

•A little early this year.

XLIII. A little early this year.

The morning after the big strike, a few of the women in the family, all except Linda and Ada, gathered in the kitchen of the old Shelby house. They waited patiently for the men to finish business in the other room, so they could have a talk with Tommy, all of them feeling empowered by their new friend.

When they felt they had waited long enough, Lizzie went to get Tommy from the living room. "The executive committee of the Union of Bookies and allied trades will see you now, sir." She informed him before closing the door and returning to the kitchen.

When Tommy stepped into the kitchen, smoking a cigarette, his gaze immediately landed on Polly. She was sat back in a chair, her feet propped up on the table, her hands clasped together on her stomach, and a damp cloth covering her eyes. He looked amused, his gaze flicking towards his wife who shook her head with a small smile on her face.

He leaned against the wall and took a drag of his cigarette. "I heard you were giving speeches off the back of a wagon, Pol." He spoke up.

Polly sighed softly. "I can't remember a fucking thing." She spoke softly.

"Well, Moss tells me you were threatening to burn down the town hall." He said as he took another drag of his cigarette, the whole situation now more amusing to him than it was last night.

"Oh, Tommy, we were having a laugh." Polly insisted as she took the cloth off her eyes, turning towards Tommy even though her eyes still remained closed. "You know, actually, the crowd around me was bigger than the crowd around Jessie Eden." She said as she turned to the rest of the women with a proud smile.

"Who's Jessie Eden?" Tommy questioned his aunt as his eyebrows furrowed.

"She's too soft," Polly muttered, barely registering Tommy's question through her hazy mind. "You're not gonna break the capitalist system talking about separate lavatories for women." She huffed as she shook her head and got up from her chair, pacing around the kitchen.

"Who is Jessie Eden?" Tommy repeated his question as his eyes drifted towards his wife, quirking an eyebrow at her.

"She's our new best friend." She replied with a shrug of her shoulder and a smile on her face, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "Shop steward at the Lucas factory." She informed him.

"A woman shop steward, I've heard of her." He muttered as he nodded his head.

"There is a leaflet here if you want to take a look, Tommy," Anna spoke up as she handed him one of the hundreds of leaflets she had taken to pass around town.

Tommy looked through the leaflet for a second before looking between the women. "So, a separate lavatory? Is that it? Is that what you want?" He questioned and the women either rolled their eyes at him or huffed. "I don't know what you want." He said as she put the leaflet down. "You have to tell me what it is that you want and then I'll know."

Esme approached him, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood in front of him. "Actually, we want to know about the robbery you're planning. Not the factory robbery. The other one." She demanded and Maude's face fell, sharing a look with Polly, while Anna and Lizzie shared a confused look with each other. "The one you're not telling the women about." Esme insisted, unaware that Polly and Maude did in fact know of both robberies.

"John has a big mouth," Tommy muttered as his eyebrows furrowed and his gaze flicked toward his wife.

" No," Esme replied. "Arthur's got a big mouth. Arthur told Linda, Linda told me." She informed him

"Maude?" Tommy questioned as his gaze remained on his wife, wondering if she knew of Esme's motive for this meeting or the fact that Linda and Esme know of the robbery. Women talked, and they all liked his wife so they all talked to her.