devil's backbone 🗝 tommy shelby

chapter 34

n// unedited asf but i hope y'all enjoy anyways!!  love u all<33

Having a gangster for a husband was not for the weak.

Sybil learned this quite quickly, before she and Tommy had even been a couple.  As soon as she was thrust into the world of the Shelby family, she knew what she was getting into.  She thought that she had seen it all with the guns, Billy Kimber, the barmaid, and the Irish copper, but this?  This was uncharted territory for her.

A lot of being the wife of someone like Thomas Shelby was reliant on having true faith in the man you married.  Knowing that no matter what, they were doing what they had to do, and would come home to you.  Knowing and believing wholeheartedly that they were always two steps ahead of any enemy that could be lurking in the shadows.  Trusting the men that they trusted, resigning to the fact that you will never have the nice, quiet life... Sybil did this well.

She knew Tommy.  She trusted Tommy.  She believed in Tommy.  She had the faith, she had everything.

But it never got any easier.

She couldn't help the pacing she did in the betting shoppe as Polly smoked her usual cigarette, thinking of everything that could possibly be happening to the man she loved at that very second.  She couldn't help the way her mind raced and the thoughts that ran through her head.  There was nothing she could have done to prevent the knot in her stomach from growing bigger and bigger with every passing hour.

In fact, there was nothing she could do, except what all gangster's wives did.

She had faith.

"Polly, Billie," John called out, interrupting both of their activities.  "Did he say who did it?"

Another part of being a gangster's wife that people don't warn you about: keeping secrets, and having secrets being kept from you.

Sybil knew that Tommy knew who did it, but he didn't tell her.  She knew that he knew most things, but chose to keep her in the dark.  It was safer that way, and they both knew it.  Tommy simply told her everything that she might need to know, and nothing more than that. 

It was safe to say, he learned his lesson from Grace.

"He's gone to the Black Lion." Polly explained. 

"On his own?" John asked, clearly shocked.

There was another thing about being a gangster's wife and the whole faith thing: you had to back him up when no one else did.

"Tommy does everything on his own." Billie spoke up, trying to keep her composure.

"Should I go to the Black Lion?"

"What?" Polly asked over the noise.

"Should I there and see him?" John repeated, following the women out of the smaller room and into the hallway.

"No!" Billie interjected.  "The last thing he needs right now is a wild card in his plan.  I'm sorry, John."

"Alright, well, where the fuck is Arthur?"

"Protecting the Garrison's whiskey from the police." Polly answered, stepping into the conference room.

"For fucks sake," John muttered, closing the doors behind them before he faced the women.  "Polly, Billie, it feels a little to me like things are getting out of hand."