In which a girl attempts to outrun her past only to catch the attention of the ruthless leader of the Peaky Blinders.
or
In which the arrival of the new brown-haired barmaid at the Garrison should have been the canary in the coal mine for the trou...
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Elena
"You need to sit up straighter" Tommy hollered from behind her.
Elena adjusted her posture in the saddle as she attempted to listen to his words.
"I said straighten, not to stiffen up" he coached again as Elena flipped him off from over her shoulder. It had been a less busy afternoon so she had moved around some meetings and dragged Tommy to the pastures just outside of Small Heath. Over the last two years, Tommy had been helping Elena get more comfortable on horseback. Because she grew up in the city and had such a controlling father, she hadn't ridden a horse until she came to Birmingham. Tommy, however, had proven to be quite the perfectionistic teacher, and even though in the last two years she had advanced a lot, he always had something to add about her form.
"Not all of us can be the perfect rider" she added looking back at Tommy comfortably riding behind her. Every time he was on horseback he had such a lightness in his eyes. While she enjoyed being around the horses, she really ensured they had time to come here for him. He needed a stress valve for all the pressure he was under.
"You could be if you ever listened to my advice" He laughed a smile on his face as he sped up his horse to ride next to her.
"Not likely" She smiled back. Taking in a big deep breath of the clean country air she felt some of her own stress ease as they continued their ride through the rolling hills.
"How was seeing Michael?" She asked following a few moments of peaceful silence. Tommy had managed to track down Polly's son yesterday and had gone to see him this morning. They had decided to wait to tell Polly until they knew how Michael reacted.
"I recognized him instantly. I tried to get through to him but his adoptive mother didn't even want him looking at me," he said with a big sigh.
"Do you think he will seek us out?" she asked. Any person would be fortunate to have Polly as a mother.
"I'm not sure, we can only wait," he said a hint of sadness in his voice. The pair rounded the bend to see the stables in the distance.
"What are you going to tell Polly?" she asked quietly.
"The truth. That he has to come to her first" Tommy said. That conversation was not going to go well, if Polly knew Michael was out there she was going to want to track him down. But Tommy was right, Michael had to choose for himself what to do or he would push away anyone who tried to come to him before he was ready.
"It'll sort itself out," she said shooting him a smile. He only nodded back clearly getting pulled deep into his thoughts.
"Well I got good news and bad news for you," she said interrupting the silence wanting to get him out of the negative thought spiral no doubt going on in his head.
