Candy [THOMAS SHELBY]

Chapter Twelve

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Ada had finally came out of the basement she was staying in and was currently with Polly and Josephine in the house on Watery Lane, the older two women cooing over the baby.

"You're much better with him than I am." Ada said, watching as her aunt settled the baby.

"He settles quicker with me because he can't smell the milk." Polly reassured the young mother, "You look tired. Let's put him down."

"Mine were terrors for the tit. Both of them." Polly spoke quietly, "Well, you never knew my children, did you?"

"No, I was a child myself then."

"Vaguely, it was so long ago." Josephine spoke up when Polly looked at her. "You never talk about them."

"Never had reason to. My heart breaks even when I think about them." Polly slowly wandered around the room, "But today, I do have reason to. Sit down Ada."

Ada took a seat next to Josephine, with Polly sitting across from them.

"They were three and five years old. Sally was three, Michael was five. Well..two weeks away from being six. It was Sunday morning. While I was at church, 'You're not forgiven.' This pinch-faced bitch said to me, 'You're not forgiven.' You see, some sheets I washed and hung on the line had the name of a hotel on them. They'd been stolen in a robbery, and they said some porter at the hotel had been coshed. And a woman from round here told the police about the sheets - jealous, you see, of the new sheets. And when the police came, they found a spirit still for making a few drops of gin. And for that they took my children from me.

And they never told me where they took them." Polly struggled to speak, tearing up at the thought of her children,

"And they did it cos they could. And cos I was weak. But they will never take your baby away from you. Do you know why? Cos Tommy wouldn't let them. Cos Tommy won't let them walk all over us. Now it is Tommy who has given strength and power to this family. Cos he knows you have to be as bad as them above in order to survive. I'm telling you this cos I want you to forgive him."

"How can I? When my Freddie is rotting in jail because of him." Ada was stubborn against her aunts words.

"There's something about today that you need to know." Polly's graze was strong as she looked at the young women who were sitting opposite her.

Tommy had called a family meeting, one that included Josephine, so Polly and Josephine left Ada in the main house and went to the betting den, taking their places as Tommy stood up front.

"Right. I've got you all here today because this is the day that we replace Billy Kimber. This is the day we become respectable. The day we join the official National Association of RaceCourse Bookmakers." Tommy smiled proudly, "But first we do the dirty work. We've all known this days been coming, I just haven't told anybody the date."

Tommy turned around to face the blackboard, "We're going to the Worcester races. The track opens at one, we'll get there at two." He turned back around, facing the crowd,

"Now, Kimber thinks we're going there to help him fight the Lee brothers. But thanks to the efforts of our John, and his lovely new wife Esme, the Lees are now our kin. I interrupted those efforts this morning and er-" Tommy paused, letting everyone laugh, "But I can assure you all, John's making great sacrifices for the cause of peace.

"Yeah. All right" John grumbled out, not amused.

"So it'll be us and the Lees against Kimber's boys. We take them out but leave the bookies. I expect a swift victory which will send a signal all the way to London, that we believe in letting legitimate businesses run peacefully."