sabrina. peaky blinders

𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒

❤︎

Prologue

The air was oddly warm for an early November morning. It was just after sunrise, Sabrina's favourite time of day, when the golden rays of sunlight trickled over the rooftops like treacle and the birds were surely breaking out into their morning song. There weren't many people out in the streets at five o'clock in the morning; only the odd drunk pulling an all nighter or sometimes the local factory workers heading out for an early shift.
One could almost call the scene peaceful, a single few hours in the day when there wasn't a thick cloud of smoke hanging in the air from the clanging factories of Small Heath and the streets were filled with a serene silence rather than the screeching of a mother or the roaring of a fire.

Today was different though.
Today was the day that her brother and father, along with the Shelby brothers, would finally return from war. It wasn't silent. Her sisters were erupting the kitchen in a cacophony of clashes and clangs as they attempted to make cakes and pies for their return. Even the sun seemed brighter at the though of Andrew and Fred Lewis finally being sat at the dinner table with his family, the horrors of war no longer threateningly hanging over their heads.

Sabrina, however, was worried about one thing and one thing only. Her worry came in the form of a young man with a cheeky smile and pretty, blue eyes.

John Shelby, in Sabrina's eyes, could do no wrong. He was like a saint, his mischievous doings flying straight over her love-stricken heart with ease.

Sabrina dressed herself in her finest dress and placed her golden locket around her neck before wrapping her hair in a delicate twist. She dusted her face with makeup, coating her eyelashes in a thick, black wax and applying a blush lightly to her rounded cheeks.

The Lewis family were in no means poor. Although estranged, their mother had come from a wealthy London family and had been left savings from her parents when they passed. She had married Fred Lewis against their wishes and in doing so cut all financial ties, coming to live in a small terraced house in the middle of Small Heath.

Fred Lewis was a hard working man that wasn't afraid to do the dirty work in order to provide for his family. The fact wasn't exactly hidden either, with his closeness to the Shelby's.

"Sabrina!" Her name was screeched from downstairs and so she hurried down the creaking staircase, skipping to the bustling kitchen. Betty had already managed to ruin a tray of cupcakes and was on her way to burning a loaf of bread.

"You should have told me you were starting to bake before you did so." Sabrina stressed, taking the tray of muffins and placing them on the table before scurrying to remove the bread from the oven.

"This first loaf is for the Smiths, they've been struggling recently." Betty nodded, taking the bread and turning to hand it to Jane, who had already sneakily dug her grummy hands in the cake mixture. "Hands off!" Betty screamed, batting her paws from the bowl and handing her the large loaf of bread wrapped in a towel.

"Now take this to the Smiths. And no snacking!"

Jane hopped off the chair and made her way to the front door, wasting no time in pulling on her coat when leaving the house. Sabrina shook her head and placed the next batch of bread into the oven before setting away on rolling the pastry for the pies.

The two girls worked in mostly silence, the odd word being shared in order for the oldest sister to tell Betty how to do certain things. It was just like a normal Sunday morning, except even busier. Their usual number of batches had tripled due to the return of many men to their families and there was to be a large celebration in the streets.