Now You See Me | Thomas Shelby

five; mothers intuition

Pulling open the door with one small movement, she revealed two women- one she had only ever met briefly. Mabel Shelby and her sister in law, Elizabeth Grey.

"Oh— um, hello Mrs Shelby, um— Mrs Grey..." Polly-Anna spluttered out, eyes seemingly widening with every word.

Elizabeth and Mabel both shared glances towards each other, stifling back little bubbles of laughter. It was clear to them that the girl in front of them was just that- a girl, who had been thrown through the wringer one too many times; yet came out resilient.

Remarkably resilient.

Had anyone else been in her situation, they would've thrown their lives to the gutter, taken up a street corner, but not her. She used her talents to her advantage, even if it meant working back breaking hours.

"Oh- uh, shit, I mean.." she forced herself to stop talking for a moment, recollecting her scattered thoughts, "please! Come in, make yourself at home."

Elizabeth was quite happy to see the girl stumble over her words and to swear in front of her elders. She wasn't fake like others she had come into contact with over the years, in fact- she was almost identical in everything but looks to her when she was younger.

"Amber-Jack, Johns outside if you want to go off to find things." Mabel called out to the youngest sat at the table.

That girl was up and out of her seat quicker than anyone could've ripped a plaster off of their own arm. Picking up an empty and clean jam jar, as well as another for John, Amber was out of the door with no push from anyone else. Her only goodbye was a half hearted wave when three quarters of her body was already out of the door.

"She'd take off in the air if she was any quicker." Mabel mentioned in passing, taking the once occupied seat, still warm from Ambers previous residence.

Truth be told, Polly-Anna had always allowed Amber to be as free-spirited as she pleased, fearing that repressing her in anyway would cause conflict. They needed each other, not to survive but for comfort- and where they could not find comfort in each other, they'd have to seek it elsewhere. They were sisters, thick as thieves (once upon a time, actual yet accidental thieves), ready to face the world with whatever it dared to chew out and spit in their face... but both were incomplete without the other.

Polly-Anna couldn't do half as much as her little sister could, and sometimes she felt like she used her little sister as a crutch, not that she ever found time to complain about it though.

"If this is about your new dress, I haven't quite finished the embroidery on it, but it's almost good to go... I think if I could have a—"

The older Polly cut the younger one off, raising a hand to silence her.

Polly-Anna's head tilted in confusion. Eyebrows furrowing to further show it, too. Mabel placed a hand on the girls hand, thumb running against her skin softly. Somehow, that was exactly what she needed to calm the whirlwind that was brewing inside of her, but it did nothing to ease her mind of the questions.

"We're not here to scold you, Anna. We wanted to know if we could help in any way?" Polly replied, answering one question that sparked a million new ones.

Help? In what way? They had already done far more than she had expected anyone else to. Their word of mouth had gotten Polly-Anna Wallace in the minds of every working class woman across the whole of Small Heath, and maybe even Birmingham too. Hell, if she received a letter from as far south as London or as far north as Newcastle, she would probably cry and try to pay those two women as much as she could afford.

They didn't need to spend anymore time or money on her, they had already exceeded what was expected of them.

"Um..."

"Anything, big or small, to help you whilst your at your other job?"

She thought about it for a moment, resting her head in the palms of her hands. Maybe if she had someone to mind Amber when things got hectic would be nice— or someone who could dye the threads, or even dry them out... none of those were necessarily labour intensive and— Polly-Anna glanced back up at the women who were staring at her intensely.

"I— there's three, maybe four little things that would be a real help...?"

Asking for help was the last thing she wanted to do, it almost made her skin crawl. Feeling like she was a burden on anyone else but herself was a weird phobia of hers, as was failure- but those two sometimes fell hand in hand, without help, failure would ensure and she really didn't want to fail.

"We're here to help you, my darling, even if that's with sorting out your hair— good Lord, when was the last time you ran a brush through it?" Polly, the elder, joked, giving the youngest a little, gentle push.

Polly was trying her best to make Anna feel comfortable and it was working, she was like Thomas in that sense. Her presence was ever so calming, but her voice held so much conviction within it, it was almost an opposite.

"Sometimes I run out of certain coloured thread, but I can't always watch the cooker and finish a dress at the same time.
Amber loves finding things that dye the threads too- so that's sorted, I'm sure John'll be bringing back some marvellous little things—" Polly-Anna paused, exhaling softly, "drying them takes a while but I usually do it overnight..."

Mabel already had an idea of the next thing that the young girl was going to ask for help with.

Amber-Jack.

Amber, just as much as Polly-Anna, needed a proper maternal figure in their lives, and both Mabel and Polly had agreed long before they decided to sit with at the table. A guiding hand wasn't so bad, it was what some people needed. Thomas wouldn't admit it, but he needed Polly-Anna's help with confidence and she did just that.

"We'll look after Amber from time to time too." Mabel replied, not giving the girl chance to even ask. "Plus, John'll love having his friend around more often!"

It was true, every night that Amber had spent with John, she'd come home and explain their adventures- in great detail, too. From almost being pushed into the Cut by a bigger boy, to being chased by said bigger boy all the way to the fields past Charlie's Yard.

"My- my step-mum isn't... well?" Polly-Anna broke the silence after a little while, hand gripping hold of the her seat.

Telling an adult something so personal and life-changing was dangerous. She hated doing it. In fact, she had never told a single soul outside of her two neighbours at the age of seven and a half.

"The doctors said it was about her mind, but maybe if you could, um, talk to her every now and then? I don't know what she'd be interested in talking about, or listening to."

Polly and Mabel shared yet another look, but this was different from the first and the second.

Neither of them had expected something so mature to come from her mouth, but they knew they would've expected it once it had happened. An almost fourteen year old had put her whole life on hold for her little sister to have a better experience growing up. Polly could only dream of her Michael to be as mature and loving as Polly-Anna, and Mabel knew with the right nurturing techniques, Ada could be similar to her too.

"And I'll give you half off of this new dress too- since I've asked so much of you both already."

Polly shook her head, she wouldn't be paying a penny less than what she thought this dress was worth. Two pounds and a crown, a whole pound and half crown more than what Polly-Anna had originally stated, but she had seen her work up close. It was worth as much as she could give, and they were well made!

"Oh, don't be silly, my dear and please do stop with the formalities, call me Aunt Pol."

Polly-Anna had never had an aunt before, it was strange. But it rolled off of the tongue so perfectly.

"And stick with Mabel for me, my love. Mrs Shelby is her mother, anyway." Mabel joked, causing the largest smile to ever grace Polly-Anna's lips to form.

Maybe these women would be just what she needed in her life.