Heart of Gold | B. Gold ✓

23 | I am Fawnie Shelby

Fawnie knew he'd be there and luckily she had shown up during his practice time. "Bonnie!" She shouted over the men's grunting and groans of pain, gaining the young man's attention immediately. Bonnie smiled at Fawn and waved her over toward the ring. "Tommy wants you to help me with something, doesn't like me goin' off on my own and all." The fib was partially true, Thomas didn't want Fawn roaming Birmingham alone but he wasn't aware of Fawn's new obsession.

Finding out who the woman was plagued Fawn's mind. She tried everything, old newspapers, bloody magazines, checking the books for anything on what she tried to guess as that date despite the business not being that big back then... and nothing... that is until Fawnie realized there was a London postage stamp pressed onto the back.

It looked to have been ripped off partially but Fawn could make out Queen Victoria's face anywhere — well, not anywhere, but Fawnie knew what the stamps looked like due to having read the letters that Sylvia Taylor sent to Tommy. 

Figuring that out felt like a huge win and Fawnie just had to get some help, so she prayed that Bonnie would be willing to act both as her protection and partner in crime.

"I've got ten more minutes of boxin', then I'm all yours, Ms. Shelby."

Fawn's heart fluttered upon hearing Bon say he was all hers but being called Ms. Shelby was much easier to focus on, "What did I say about Ms. Shelby, Bon?" His cheeks turned pink as he apologized, "I'll just wait here, good luck!"

Strangely enough, Fawn enjoyed watching Bonnie and the other lads fight. For some reason, the other men seemed to stay as far away from her as they could, she found it odd but was secretly thankful no one bothered her. Maybe it was the Peaky Cap she held in her hands or the fact that she dressed more masculine.

The youngest Shelby sported a pair of high-waisted tweed trousers with suspenders holding them up, a matching grey tweed suit coat, her Peaky Blinder cap, and her hair pulled into a bun at the base of her neck. Along with her Tommy Shelby Esque outfit, she had a gun holster beneath the jacket which held her silver handgun.

She intended to look like a feminine man so as to not be immediately recognized, even if with her dark hair from the lack of sunlight and her blue eyes giving anyone who knows the Shelby's a clue as to who she is. But the Italians knew her as the youngest sister and apparently, they didn't know what Finn looked like, so Fawnie took the opportunity to save her own arse.

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The pair walked toward the marketplace, Fawnie preferred crowded places these days. It felt easier to blend in with the crowd instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. "So what's Tommy asked of me, then?" Bonnie's hands were stuck into his pockets, instead of his white tank top, he too sported a neat suit.

If anyone were to glance at them, it looked as though two lads were having a conversation and just happened to be Peaky Blinders.

"Well, he's asked me to find someone, a woman. She's from London, only we don't know anything about her, just what she looks like."

Bonnie's eyebrows crinkled as they stopped in front of a stall, the woman was selling jewelry and a necklace caught Fawnie's eye. "Sounds like a big job for just the two of us."

Fawnie shrugged as she pointed to the necklace she liked, "I'm quite capable of doing most of the heavy lifting, I'm just not comfortable being alone due to... well, everything." She looked at the necklace with a fond look, "How much?"

"Fifteen pounds, Miss." The woman gave Fawn what seemed to be a sheepish smile, probably due to the steep pricing but the Shelby girl paid it no mind.

Instead, she showed the necklace to Bonnie. An aquamarine-colored gemstone sat inside the circular silver head. "Looks an awful lot like your eyes, don't you think?" Fawn tilted her head to the side before she nodded at him and told the woman that she'd take it.

"Thank you, have a wonderful day you two." Bonnie tipped his hat at the woman as Fawnie pocketed the velvet bag with the necklace in it.

"So, we've just got to figure out where the woman could be now and then start from there."

"And how do you reckon we do that?" He asked and Fawnie smirked.

"You seem to forget that I am Fawnie Shelby, Mr. Gold." She smirked before continuing, "I've got all of Birmingham on my payroll." She didn't flaunt her status very often, but Fawnie knew she'd have to bribe a few people here and there in order to find the woman before the big fight.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

I know it seems each chapter ends with a thank you note for another milestone, but seriously, thank you lot so much for over 17k reads on Heart of Gold... it truly means so much... that Fawnie's story is being read... when I first began writing this, it was a completely different concept than it is now. And I'm honestly so glad because it's become probably one of my best works in my opinion. There are obviously some flukes here and there, but writing in the past and in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY as an American teenage girl has been so interesting and fun! I've learned so much about England and the pound currency in the last eight months... thank you!