Shelby Brothers Ballerina

Chapter 1

July 1919

Thomas Shelby roamed into the house on Watery Lane taking his grey, flat cap off and closing the door behind him. He had just been to a Chinese witch to grant his horse look to win the race. Well it was more of a ploy to get people to bet on Meaghan boy because if people knew that a spell had been placed on him ,to make him win the race, people would surely come flocking to bet on the beautiful horse.

Opening the door to the kitchen, he came round the corner to see Finn watching the entry way to the betting shop with a cigarette in his hand. Finn quickly tried throwing it into the fire noticing his older brother had just come in.

"Finn?" Tommy asked, walking in Finns direction, whilst Finn was pretending to fan the flames of the open fire. "You know Kasia would ball her eyes out if she saw you with one of those things in yer' 'and."

Dodging what Tommy was saying, Finn turned round in the wooden chair he was sitting on to face his brother, "Arthur's mad as hell." Tom sighed picking up the cigarette Finn had tried to throw earlier. Chucking it into the fire and crouching down next to Finn to get to his height.

"What does a ten-year-old know about hell,eh?" He said, slapping fin on the head softly with his cap.

"I'm eleven Sunday." Finn clapped back. Tommy chuckled. Walking over to some dark green, velvet curtains. Pushing the curtains aside to reveal a set of double doors. Opening them both at the same time.

A racket then ensued as you could hear the chatter of the men inside. You could hear the clatter of coins against the tables of the betting shop as John was at the chalkboard at the front of the room, his loud Birmingham accent being heard along with the scrape of the chalk as he took down bets. Tommy wandered more into the room conversing with some of the men inside.

When he saw Tommy, John rushed down the small amount of steps from the chalkboard to Tommy calling his name. He showed Tommy the books happily as all the bets were on Meaghan boy. Tommy clapped John on the back while commending him for the good work.

"Where's Kasia? Thought she'd be with Finn in the kitchen. She's usually done with practice now isn't she?" Tommy asked, wondering where the women he so wanted to see was.

"Yeah, she's out with Ada, they went to the movies. They just went a couple minutes ago, you just missed 'em." John told Tommy, he knew that Tom had just as much an infatuation with her as he did, as well as Arthur. She brightened it their days, knowing that she would always be there when they where in need of a cheer up after a hard days work. Kasia didn't even have to do anything and they instantly felt better. She was in their thoughts first thing in the morning and their last thought when they went to sleep.

"Tommy! Tommy!" Arthur interrupted their conversation wanting to have a word with Tommy. "Get in here now!"

Arthur was angry at Tommy. Since he came back from the war he'd changed, he could see it gradually happen while they were in the battlefield. He was no longer the bright, bubbly boy they all used to know: he was now cold and calculating. It seemed like he didn't have a single ounce of time for the normal things in life, which to be fair to him, he didn't. The only person that would make him happy was Kasia. You could see it in his eyes when she walked into the room, or hear it in his voice when he spoke to her. She made them all soft hearted.

Arthur walked back into his office, not waiting on Tommy to sit down at his desk. Tommy came in right behind him, closing the door, making all of the noise from outside disappear.

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"So how's it going with Freddie?" Questioned Kasia, giggling with Ada and paying no attention to the picture playing in front of them. She was happy for Ada, she had met Freddie a couple of times and he seemed like a nice guy.

"Oh, it's going great Kasia, he makes me so happy!" Ada exclaimed with a loving look in her eyes as she talked about her love. "Anyone in your life Kasia?"

"Since you asked me yesterday, nobody has suddenly popped into my life!" Kasia said, chuckling at Ada.

"Come on, you need to find someone, you've been here ages. What about one of my older brothers? They all fancy you, I mean how could they not." Ada commented. She wanted her best friend to see how her brothers felt about her, but she just brushed it off: not believing that the three attractive, slightly rich Shelby brothers had a thing for her.

"Don't be daft Ada." Kasia said shortly, wanting Ada to drop the topic. That sat in a comfortable silence for a couple of minutes watching the movie.

"Can I let you know something?" Ada cut the silence short. Quickly saying what she had on her mind before Kasia could get a word in. "I think that I'm pregnant."

Kasia was awestuck at what she said, needing a second to gather her thoughts before replying. "Is that a good or bad thing? You know I'll support you if you want the baby or not. I'm always here for you."

Ada's eyes got teary as she listened to Kasia speak, glad that she had a friend who supported her whatever happened.

"I don't know whether I'm pregnant or not, but I'm a couple of weeks late. I haven't told anyone except you." Ada said.

"No one but me? You know Pol has got an eye for this stuff right? What if the boys found out?" Kasia asked, concerned for her friend and her boyfriend if the boys found out.

"I know Aunt Pol will know soon. But if the boys found out, they'd cut him." Ada said, slightly wincing as she said what would happen to Freddie. Kasia just hugged Ada, Ada hugging back. Whatever happens they'd get through it.

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Tommy walked into The Garrison, taking his cap off. He looked around and saw Freddy Thorne sitting at a table with a couple other men. He took a seat at the bar, as Harry walked over to him with a bottle of whisky in his hands.

"On the house, Mr.Shelby." Harry said smiling, taking the cork out the top. Even though Harry said it was free, Tom still put the money for the bottle down on the counter. He glanced at Freddy again, this time catching his eye. He turned back to the bar,but only a couple seconds later, he heard the clatter of shoes against the wooden floor: he knew it was Freddy.

Freddy ordered a drink when he came up to the bar, where the two sat in silence for a second before Freddy walked over to Tommy. Gliding his hand over the coins Tommy had placed down, he moved one from on top of the other moving it closer to him. Tom just scoffed at the audacity of the man beside him.

The men conversed back and forth. It wasn't a necessarily civil conversation. Until Danny Whiz-Bang came charging through The Garrison doors, throwing countless table over and making the other men in the pub – except Tom and Freddie – move away from the mentally-ill man. They managed to wrestle Danny to the floor reminding him they're not in France anymore: that the war was over.

The physical war, at least. The mental war was one that was never going to end for all the men that went to war. Seeing their comrades and friends die on the battlefield or almost dying themselves. The sounds of the bombs, gunshots and men shouting and screaming where sounds no one could ever forget.

They sent Whiz-Bang back to his house to be with his wife and clear his head.

"Mr.Shelby, you have to do something about him." Suggested Harry, not happy his pub had just been wreck, but he also didn't want to piss off the head of the Shelby family.

"Damn right, Harry." Freddie butt in. "You pay the Peaky Blinders a lot of money for protection. You're the law round here now Tommy, aren't you?" He said walking closer to Tommy, who had sat back down in his seat and was finishing his whiskey off. "Maybe you should put a bullet in Danny Whiz-Bang's head like they do with mad horses." Freddie suggested. "Maybe you'll have to put a bullet in my head someday, too."

Tommy just shook his head as he put his cap back on and walked towards the door: ignoring Freddie. "Bring the bill to the Peaky Blinders." Tommy said, pointing to Harry, with his arm already pulling on the door to go out. "We'll take care of it." He spoke as he walked out the door.

A/N: 1531 words. This is slightly shorter than the other chapters. If you see any grammar or punctuation errors I've missed please tell me. Or if you have any constructive criticism don't be afraid to tell me, I want to make this story enjoyable.