Baker's Gonna Bake

Chapter 43

Two days later, Alfie had all but had enough. If the cunts didn't release him soon he felt as though he could top himself as he was finding it more restrictive than the damn solitary prison he had just been in.
That bossy britches nurse was getting on his every last nerve and she seemed to shut him up whenever she could by administering enough pain relief to tranquillise a horse. Maybe she could see that he was hung like one, he thought to himself and chuckled.
He actually chuckled in the midst of everything that was going on and that's how he knew he had definitely gone absolutely stark raving mad and needed to leave.
It hurt his chest every time he thought of Cora, of wether she had heard about his clearance of crime and reputation, and of the investigation into her father. He hoped her father wouldn't do anything rash if he was alive and kicking, like taking Cora away, or hurting her in some way to get at him.
Normally he would send Bennet to find her, or at least get word to her and enlighten him on everything he couldn't figure out in his confinement but that was all gone now.
He had a visit from Rimington, one of his drivers, who told him the Bakery was still alive but sleeping, and not torched. He could have sent the man out for his information like he would once have sent Bennet but if there was a lesson Alfie had learnt from all this it was he would never again allow another person's life to be taken because of his own stupidity. Well not anyone who didn't deserve it, innit? So he told him to go home to his wife and not to worry about any of it.
The police came to him too, and stayed for half a day. They said he was clear of all charges brought and that John Limbert seemed to be the guilty party and the letter was in fact proof. The body of Nancy Smith helped the police piece together even more evidence as the gun used was the same for her as was used on Rosa too and the weapon was still missing. As was Limbert.
They had raided all of his businesses and addresses and questioned his entire family and it all pieced together that he was guilty with multiple motives for setting Alfie up. Then there was the letter from the bakery which listed multiple numbers of Limberts crimes and gave leads of proof for allsorts across the entire length of the city. He was a wanted man on borrowed time but yet no one had seen head nor tail of him.

The reason for this became clear when Alfie got a visit to his bedside from Thomas Shelby the very next day.

"Tommy" Alfie nodded when he came in and sat down. He wasn't even bothered that he had brought Arthur with him who usually pissed him the hell off whenever he came into his company.
He couldn't really be bothered with tit-for-tat anymore, for what was the point?

"Alfie" Tommy said with a somber look.
"We've tidied up" he said taking off his flat cap and resting it on his knee.

"How so?" Alfie said his lips pressed into a hard line. He wished people would say what they meant. His brain was foggy with morphine and it was taking him a sight longer to work out people's riddles.

"Limbert. His associates and ...Cora.
One of your brothers has the bakery til you're back on your feet. And we're taking good care of the racecourse" he explained. "Docks are free, Sabini's after 'em but we have him stalled for now."

Alfie's eyes darted back and forth between the two men, waiting for further speech but none came.
He sighed wearily. "Start from the beginning mate. I don't have a bastard clue about any of this any more."

Half an hour later in a conversation of hushed pauses as the nurse pottered in and out, Tommy had explained the majority of the situation to Alfie.
He told him that Cora had shot her father and that they had disposed of the body afterwards and told police of a staged kidnapping.
They explained while Alfie listened, that Limberts man had escaped but they had tracked him down and disposed of him in similar ways.
It took Alfie more than a few moments to register the fact that Cora had used a weapon and actually killed her flesh and blood to save his life. Tommy and then the nurse had to prevent him from leaving the hospital to find her that very moment and in the end only the pain when he moved prevented that.

When he was calm again and the nurse had left, they went on to explain Cora was with her mother in the country and that she was being well looked after, guarded and given money. They said they would leave Alfie up to sorting Limbert's financial affairs and giving Cora and her family what they were due once he was out but in the meantime they realised her welfare was his main concern and assured him over and over that they had it covered.
Alfie devised they were probably more capable to protect her than he had been so far and with the threat of her father now gone it was safe to assume she was physically safe. He wanted to see her more than anything though and asked Tommy if she was coping alright.

"A sight better than you'd imagine Alfie yeah, she's a tough cookie" he said as he shook his head.
"My Grace has had a few words, explained about this kind of life we lead, she seems to understand" he grumbled.

Alfie was disgusted in himself regardless, She should never have had to go through that, he should have got rid of Limbert through other means when he was inside and instead had greedily waited so that he could have the pleasure himself. That mistake had nearly cost him his own life, had already cost him Bennet's life and he could be assured poor Coras life would never be the same again. He expected she would hate him, blame and curse him and never want to see him again, but still he sent Tommy with a message to ask her. If he could see her just the once, then he would leave her alone forever if that was her wish, just once and then he could tell her how he was sorry with his whole heart and how the chance to love her had been the greatest experience of his sorry life.
He didn't deserve her forgiveness but he still wanted to beg for it. The love of an innocent woman had changed his whole perspective on the world, and he wanted to thank her for that even if he had been better off and blissfully ignorant before her, for he had also been empty.

"So il see you when I'm out of this shithole next week then mate yeah? and you tell Cora I need to speak with her, that I need her to come and see me here, can you do that for me Tommy? I owe you lad and once I'm out of here you'll get what you deserve."

Tommy and Arthur tipped their hats in Alfie's direction.

"Consider it done Mr Solomons" they both said in unison before going to leave.

"Oh and one more thing before you go lads" Alfie called after them.

"I don't know which brother you've got in my bakery, but you better go in there right now and get rid of him, because my rum supply will be gone before fucking dusk."

The men laughed as they left and Alfie didn't because he was deadly serious.

"Fucking ridiculous" he mumbled.

*

He was sleeping when she put her head around the doorframe two hours or so later.
He looked peaceful despite the array of bandages that poked from the tip of the nightgown he was wearing. His chest was rising and falling like it should be, and she could hear the low grumble of a snore that made her smile lovingly at him.
Devoid of a shave, his beard was longer and more wiry than it had been since she had known him, and without his hair product he looked wild and unkept, like his spirit was and so it all suited him very well.

Cora tiptoed in and held the door so it didn't slam behind her, she really didn't want him to lose sleep from her disturbance. She left the stems of heather in ribbon, taken from Richmond hill and placed them on his bedside table, before leaving the room again undetected, her hand instinctively going to her rounded tum as she walked in the direction of the bottom floor, for her second appointment with the midwife.