Beautiful War {Peaky Blinders}

05.

She looked back at herself and noticed her eyes had started to brighten up, the pain of losing her dearly beloved brother becoming easier to handle as time went on. Victoria had hoped that there would come a day where she looked into the mirror and be happy. Genuinely happy.

Clearing her throat, she pulled her coat on over her shoulders before walking down the stairs slowly, holding tightly onto the banister for assistance. She came to the final few steps and when she had looked up she had noticed that Tommy, Polly and Ada had been watching her make her entrance.

She gave them all a smile, her eyes stopped when they met Tommy's. "How do I look?" Victoria asked, a deep part of her craved his approval. Tommy lightly shook his head before nodding back towards the stairs, "get back upstairs and get changed. You can't go out dressed like that..."

Hearing his words stung and knocked the air out of her lungs, but she hid her disappointment and turned around to go back upstairs. Tommy had waited till she walked a few steps away before he grabbed her hand and turned her back to face the trio again. "I was joking, you've always looked beautiful and I doubt there will ever come a day that you don't." Victoria lightly slapped his chest and smiled, "you silly man, you had me fooled again!"

Tommy smiled as he glanced at all three ladies individually. "Now I have already seen the lady in the dress shop and I have seen to the cost of everything that yous will require for this weekend." The ladies all nodding as they listened to what he had to say.

Victoria looked up at him, quickly glancing down at the suit that he wore. "Are you wanting me to get a certain coloured dress so that it matches your suit?" Tommy adverted his gaze down to meet hers and nodded. "I'm going to be wearing dark blue suit, so it would be grand if you could find a dress that you like that matched." She mentally took a note of his request, "blue it is."

Tommy smiled as he watched the three ladies walk out of the door towards the car. "Enjoy yourself, darling." He called out giving them all a light wave, earning a light chuckle from Victoria. She climbed into the front seat of the car and glanced over at Arthur in the driver seat, "thank you for driving us."

"It's my pleasure, I had arranged to meet someone while I was in town anyway, might as well make myself useful and drop you ladies off while I'm at it." Arthur chuckled as he brought the car to life, driving out of the end of the street.

While they drove, Victoria remained silent and kept her eyes on the window as she observed her surroundings. "Are you any good with numbers then V?" Arthur asked, eventually breaking the silence. She turned to look at him to give him her attention and nodded. "I've always been pretty good with numbers, top of my math class in school. Why do you ask?"

He glanced over at her for a moment before looking back at the road. "Well I was wondering if you could come into the pub to make sure that my numbers in the books are correct?" Victoria smiled, nodding her head. "Of course Arthur, I'd be delighted. I shall come over tomorrow and take a look for you, not a problem." She replied before turning her gaze back to the buildings that passed them by.

After a few short minutes, the car pulled up outside of a shop that had a beautiful front, many royal and magnificent dresses stood in the window on show. The trio of ladies thanked Arthur for driving them before stepping out of the car, wide smiles plastered on their faces as they stepped inside the shop, a bell ringing out as the door opened. The dresses that hung around the store were like those Victoria had always dreamt about, never had she imagined that she would ever get the chance to wear a one.

When the bell ran out, a plump lady that wore a navy blue pinafore dress appeared from behind a curtain. "You ladies look marvellous, is there anything I can do to help you?" She asked softly. Polly stepped forward and smiled, "myself and Ada already have our eyes set on dresses that we have seen before but we just need to get them fitted. So we shall go first while Victoria picks out a dress for herself."