hope || michael gray

- FOUR -

—

it had been a couple of days since the sabini attack on tommy, and in that time matilda had been made the unofficial manager of the business, taking it upon herself to answer even more of the endless messages and calls the business received than she usually did in place of tommy.

there had also been news that ada had a run in with the sabini men, and was still refusing to come back to birmingham.

in the little time matilda had, she had visited tommy once with the business update that he insisted on.

when she went that evening for her visit, she was met with the sight of tommy shelby sitting up, groaning as he tried to wrap his coat around him.

"what are you doing?" she asked him, standing at the door staring at the man.

"tilly, come here and grab my sleeve please. need to get to charlie's, campbell's just visited." he said as he continued to struggle with the sleeve.

"right. how the fuck did you think you were gonna do that by yourself?" the girl said as she walked towards him, helping him with his coat.

"d'you drive here?" he asked her.

"yeah - used your car." she said as she started packing up his things from the table. finn and her had taken tommy's car the previous summer, and had nearly both been shot when they returned. both argue it was worth it for teaching matilda to drive though.

"you crash it, i'll make sure you never set foot in small heath again."

"we both know that's just not realistic, is it thomas."

he chuckled quietly.

tommy sat in the passenger seat of his car, staring straight ahead. some sort of plan was being formed in his brain, matilda guessed.

they pulled up next to the gates of charlie's place.

"when will we next see you then?" matilda questioned as he slowly got out the car, wincing in pain every few seconds.

"don't know. couple of days. keep everything sorted at the office for me."

"okay. don't do anything stupid tommy."

she watched as the man limped over to the gates, and she started the engine, disappearing into the night towards her house on watery lane.

—

it was the day tommy returned from london, and everyone was in the betting den waiting for polly to return. it was her birthday, and tommy had decided to come back for the occasion.

the door opened and everyone began to clap as polly entered.

"what the bloody hell is going on?" she said, looking round the room with a confused expression on her face.

"didn't want to miss your birthday pol." tommy said as he walked towards his aunt.

"happy birthday pol." matilda called to the woman from her place between john and finn. the woman looked over at her and a rare smile appeared on her face as she looked at the girl.