Living With Mr Shelby

Chapter Eighteen

I slowly sat up and stretched padding out into the kitchen where my clothes were drying next to the oven, I frowned and noticed it had been lit. I picked out my clothes and yelped when I turned to see Tommy reading the morning paper watching me with amusement.

"Tommy you're usually at work or still asleep." I tried to cover my night dress with my armful of clothes and shuffled out of the room followed by Tommy's low chuckle. I spent the morning doing boring things like cleaning the house and ironing Tommy's shirts, three of which had to be thrown out as they had a rather large amount of blood on them, which meant I would have to go to the Shelby's personal tailor. I rolled my eyes as Finn thundered through the house followed by several younger boys in new Peaky Blinders outfits. After a few minutes John and Esme ran through the house looking for the boys who were now clambering all over the furniture clearly excited at the prospect of assisting their father for the first time.

John led them away once Tommy came in through the side door and told them what they would be doing, Tommy turned to look at me smirking as I looked over the living room wide eyed. I decided then that it didn't matter how old they were the Shelby's would always leave a path of destruction behind them, I pointed a finger at Tommy about to tell him I wasn't cleaning it up but an odd look settled over his face and he began collecting cushions and papers that the three of John's boys had scattered across the room.

"I'm going to have to leave and sort some business in London for a few days, I... will you be ok on your own?" Tommy asked awkwardly his usually calculated tone vanished and for a moment he looked like a nervous boy.

"I won't be alone, the others will be around right?" I asked assuming that he'd be taking Arthur and John but leaving the rest of the Shelby's at home.

"Yes but what about at night, you've never really been alone here at night... Poll always checks in or you wait up all night and most of the time I'm back before you get up in the morning." He was panicking now and I knew this wasn't him worrying about me being alone for a long time. After all Tommy would know the people who would dare hurt me long before they actually got to me seeing as he was always one step ahead of everyone's game. He was asking me to be alone at night, to not find another man and although it hurt that he would think so low of me after the years we'd spent together I understood his fear.

"Try and be a good Blinder." I muttered to him as I hugged him and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek, surprising him but he knew that the kiss was a promise that I would behave myself.

********

Tommy's few days turned into several weeks and I was starting to enjoy the slight expansion of freedom his leaving had given me, something Polly disapproved of but had never said anything to me about. I waved at Charlie as I entered his yard and went to see if Curly needed any help settling in another of Tommy's race horses. This one was a gorgeous palomino with a thick golden coat and glossy white sock patterns on her legs.

"I dunno about this one Lola she walks funny." Curly muttered to me as I came in, I looked over the horse and told Curly to tack her up so I could take her to the field that my own horse, Greyfair, had resided in before Tommy had her sent up to Danny. I knew that I was pushing my luck seeing as Tommy didn't let me go any further from the Garrison unless Curly or Charlie were expecting me so they could send for a group of Blinders to watch over me.

"She needs a good run." I said to him as we started the long trudge in the damp drizzle of rain, it was the sort that looked light but after a few seconds you were soaked. Once we were at the field I mounted her and Curly shouted different directions and turns, making me stop every now and then so he could check on her legs or the way she held her head.

"Something in her foot." Curly mumbled, I lifted the back left leg which had been throwing me off balance and pressed gently on the mare's foot and saw a thick yellow goo dribble from under one of the nails.

"Her shoe wasn't put on properly, she won't be in any races for the next few months, look the nail's rusted." I said with a sigh, not wanting to give Tommy the bad news seeing as he placed a fortune on the old girl, we headed back to the yard and Charlie helped us remove the shoes before leading her inside the stable. We decided to leave her for the day and see how she was in the morning before re-shoeing her. I skipped home ready to use the phone in Tommy's office to tell him the bad news but stopped when I saw Poll at the kitchen table.

"Tommy has rules for a reason." I knew she was talking about going to the fields but instead of being angry she indicated for me to sit opposite her and tell her why I'd broken his rules before passing any judgement on me.

"Will you phone him?" I asked hopefully but received a chuckle and an amused look which told me I would be the one giving Tommy the bad news.

*********************

I was deep in conversation with one of the women that lived near us when the Shelby's returned shouting offers of free nights in London to everyone who was on the books by the end of the night and I watched in disbelief as everyone swarmed into the bookies at an attempt to win the getaway.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow Lola." My friend called as she joined a throng of people who were attempting to fit through the doors.

"They know they can't all go don't they." I looked to my left to see a well-dressed man with an upper class British accent that sounded oddly out of place in Birmingham. He smiled at me and continued looking over the fruit stand we were stood by.

"You're not from around here are you?" I asked slowly, the man shrugged and handed the boy who was working at the stand some money for his food and turned to me with a sly smile.

"Neither are you, compared to the others that live in the city your accent is rather civilized." The man handed me an apple and winked at me before vanishing into the crowded streets, I looked at the apple for a moment wondering who on earth the odd man could have been before sinking my teeth into it, completely unaware that Tommy had been watching the whole exchange from his office.