Liana's Dream // Tommy Shelby

14

"What did you tell Tommy?" Polly asks, her ever-knowing eyes casting quickly over us both as she puts on a pot of tea.

I glare at John, daring him to answer.

"Liana's been seeing Bonnie Gold," he blurts out.

My glare darkens even further. What the fuck, John? But he shrugs, as if to say, I panicked.

"Aberama's son?" Polly asks, a frown twitching at her brow.

"Looks like the two of you will be related even more closely soon," John sniggers.

I walk into the kitchen. "Polly, where's the frying pan?"

"Don't go for the bollocks straight away," she tells me, handing over the cast iron. "Work your way down, and make it hurt."

"No!" John yelps, scrambling to his feet. "I'm only joking! Was only a joke!"

"Next time, make it funny!" I tell him, each word punctuated by a sharp whack of the pan on his arms.

"Arthur!" John howls. "Save me, the women have gone mad!"

"Thump him on the head for me," Arthur offers cheerfully, smoothing down his suit as he enters. "You making tea, Pol?"

"No! Not the head, Tommy, tell her!"

I hear Tommy's sharp sigh. "Good morning, Liana."

I lower the frying pan. But I don't trust myself to look at Tommy — not with so many eyes watching us. Not with Polly watching us.

"Good morning, Tommy," I say quietly.

Only silence follows.

He clears his throat. "I'm afraid I need my brother in full possession of his mental faculties today. Tomorrow, you can hit him all you like."

"Why, what are you doing today?" Polly asks, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Working, Pol. You?"

"Raising a bloody baby."

Tommy nods. Pulls a cigarette from his pack. "Arthur?"

Arthur blinks. "We're doing that thing in the warehouse, aren't we?"

Tommy's eyebrows raise. He turns to me, but doesn't meet my gaze. "Liana?"

"Working."

He lights his cigarette. "Horses or fortunes?"

I blink. "I don't work with horses anymore."

"I'm told you do. Charlie's paying you five shillings for your work yesterday."

I stare at him for a moment. "What?"

"Think he wants to offer you regular work. Training, if you're up for it."

"But I have no experience with racehorses," I say. "I ride dressage, and there's no money in that."

"He'll teach you. If you want it."

He looks at me, then. Time seems to stand still.

I say, "I want it."

"Good." He pulls the cigarette from his lips and exhales, before we each turn away, suddenly remembering other people are in the room.  "John, Arthur, let's go."

I try to rush away too, but Polly stops me. "Liana? Would you help me with these dishes?"

Ah, fuck. I have no choice but to gather up plates and mugs, wiping toast crumbs from the countertops.

Polly scrapes shavings from a bar of soap into the sink, then begins to scrub at the plates. "You seem to be getting along with the brothers." She pauses. "Some more than others."

"They're not my brothers," I point out, avoiding her gaze.

"You'd be wise to treat them like they are. Family lasts a lifetime. You'll always have a home, and people within it who care about you. That's too precious a thing to waste. To sacrifice for a single moment, or series of moments, which will all come to an end."

Polly dries her hands, then takes my face within them. "Bonnie Gold's a good boy," she tells me seriously. "With a heart to match his name. And I think he's hoping you'll visit him at the training camp."

I nod. "Alright."

"And the next time you and Tommy want to put on displays like a set of bloody peacocks, choose a more private setting, alright?" She releases me. "I could have done without seeing him eating the face of that poor Italian girl."

I bite my lip between my teeth. But a huge wave of relief washes over me — that's what this is about. She doesn't know what happened last night.

And thank god, or at this rate, I wouldn't put it past her to put me in chains for my 'own good.'

"Promise me you won't let him get his hands on you," Polly says. "That goes for all my nephews, too."

"John's married," I point out.

"Yes, and he's also a man. And as things stand, you're the forbidden fruit. In my opinion, Adam invented the snake and blamed Eve for his own lack of judgement. Women have been scapegoated since the dawn of time."

"I'm not stupid," I tell her. "Whatever you might think."

She softens. "I don't think you're stupid, love. I think you're human. And I'm afraid that's a privilege we don't have in this family. Not a single one of the others is content with this continuing on another generation," she gestures around. "Rustling up money in a frantic rush to pay our debts. Stealing cigarettes. If you're going to aspire to more, you have to be more. More than the world thinks of us, at least."

I understand. This is my home now. It's become my safe place, Tommy especially. If anything happened between us, that would be shattered and ruined. I'd lose that.

"I'll go visit Bonnie," I tell Polly. Bonnie's the only reason any of this happened anyway — but I can't exactly confess that to her.

I can only pray Tommy will be more discreet with secrets than John.