Letters // [thomas shelby / peaky blinders]

205

"Georgia? Darling? I have a letter from Thomas." Polly says from the other side of the door and I turn over, looking at the door. "I'm only giving it to you if you come out here and have a bath and eat something." She says and I storm out of bed.

"He's my husband, Polly." I say my voice weak but mean as I speak for the first time in three days.

"He agreed to my idea." She says, holding up a different letter and I instantly recognize his handwriting.

"Fine." I nod.

"Good. Now go have a bath. I'll put the gramophone on." She says and I follow her instructions, drawing myself a bath and relaxing, and she comes in, and sits with me, listening to the music.

Polly and I are very close, and I'm surprised that we've not been together when bathing like this before. Ada and I do it all the time, especially before we go out. We drink while she takes a bath.

"I've got some soup cooking downstairs. We're going to go for a walk. Get Katie from nursery. You need fresh air."

"Whatever Tommy's agreed to." I nod.

"That's got to stop. You're not going through life doing whatever it is Thomas Shelby says is okay. Before he left you were a strong willed individual, but now you're a shell of a woman. I know you, Georgia Napoleone, and I know that if Thomas heard about this behavior, how you're only doing things that he's agreed to, he wouldn't be happy with you, because that's not the Georgia he loves." She says and I nod.

"You're right." A tear slips down my face. "But I've never had a life without him. We've been together since we were in school, Pol. He's such a big part of me and he's gone. And who knows for how long or if he'll ever come back."

"We don't know for how long. Which is why we have to stay strong. Put on a brave face. He could come back at any time. We've got to stay strong for that reason." She says, and I nod. "Now, do you want help washing your hair?"

-

Going for a walk helped. Polly and I walked arm-in-arm through by the canal and it helped me clear my head. Get back to who I used to be. Get back to being Georgia fucking Napoleone, as Arthur would only ever say my name.

"Here you are." Polly hands me the envelope as we sit down to eat dinner.

"Thanks, Pol. For everything."

"It's not a problem dear." She says and I leave the envelope on the table as I sit and eat my soup, soaking up broth with bread and listening to Martha and Ada tell us about their days.

"I've got the washing. You've got a letter to read." Polly says as I go to clean up.

"Thanks, Pol." I say and go up to my room, wrapping myself in a blanket and preparing myself. I open the envelope and see that there's two pieces of paper, and pull them out, unfolding them.

"Georgia,

Polly told me you were feeling blue, so I thought I'd send you something blue that you've always loved. (look at the other paper now)."

I do as he says, looking at the other paper, and seeing a drawing of his eyes, and tears well in mine. The drawing has no color, and I'm not sure I could replicate the one I miss so much, but my God, who ever drew this go them down perfectly.

"I hope you like what I forced Arthur to draw.

And I'm sure now you're thinking 'What the fuck? Arthur can draw?' And yes he can. He used to only draw horses, but now he can also draw eyes.

I know that it's hard that I'm away, but whenever you're upset I'm the one that knows how to make you feel better. A fucking drawing of my eyes. And I want you to look at that drawing and say in that shitty impression of me that you do that you're not going to throw yourself a pity party anymore and then repeat it back like we're talking. You're going to be that amazing woman that I fell in love with. You're going to be Georgia fucking Napoleone, as Arthur says.

I love you endlessly, and I never want you to forget it, my dear.

Tommy."

A tear falls from my eye as I look at the drawing.

"I'll stop throwing myself a pity party, Tom." I say, my voice thick from crying. "I'm Georgia fucking Napoleone, and I'm strong as fuck."

"Yes, you are!" Ada says with a smile, coming into my room. "You're crying. Come on. What did we say about crying?"

"That I need to fucking stop." I say with a laugh. "Look what he wrote." I say, holding out the paper and she reads it.

"Oh." She pouts. "That's lovely." She hugs me. "Arthur drew that?" She asks, getting sight of the drawing. "Fucks sake, that's impressive. Pol! Come in here!"

"What?" She asks.

"Look what Arthur drew."

"My days. It's like Thomas Shelby is here." She says with a small shake of her head, a smirk forming on her lips. "If only it was colored in. I know you're a sucker for those blue eyes."

"That I am." I nod. "It's why I'm a fucking sucker for anything Ada says to me." I say and bump my shoulder with hers.

"Look at that. Went from crying her eyes out to making a joke. We're making progress today." Polly kisses the top of my head. "Now, you two should get some rest. You're going back to work tomorrow." She points at me and I nod.

I've missed work.

"The girl you hired is confused as ever." Ada says and I grimace.

"The girl I hired is probably thinking that I'm fucking mental." I say with a shake of my head. "Hired her then basically told her to fuck off and then didn't show up for a week?" I say with a shake of my head. "Mental."

"Alright, you need a cuddle tonight." Ada says. "I'll be back shortly. Get ready for bed." She says and I laugh. "I'm being serious. I hope you've changed these sheets since Tommy left."

"All but his pillow. Still smells like him, but I'll use that one."

"Good night, my dears." Polly says before leaving the room, poking her head back in a moment later. "It's only half six. What are you two taking about?"

"That's a good question to be fair, should I go down to the Garrison and snag a bottle of something and we can drink that?" Ada asks and Polly and I exchange a look.

"Sounds quite nice."

"I'd like to be included in that, if you don't mind." Martha says.

"Of course!" I say with a smile. "It's a Shelby lady drinking night."