MOTHERHOOD WAS SOMETHING THAT OFTEN CROSSED HER MIND, every minute and every day that passed, she'd consider every possible outcome if she were to become one. Would she be a great mother like Thomas had told her? She was afraid—afraid that she's not capable of feeling things she wasn't capable of before, afraid that she's not capable of loving her child to her full extent...afraid that she would turn out just like Alejandra. A sliver of envy flickered across Mercedes' eyes as she talked to the mother who was carrying her own babe. She forced a smile and shrugged off the dreadful emotion she was feeling and went on her job.
Mercy flipped back the signage hanging on the glass door after seeing the mother and her son off, it was past 12 noon and the entire resident of Primrose Hill could probably hear the loud growling of her stomach from hunger. Her eyes narrowed at the huge window as she noticed a van halting right in front of the clinic, soon two men wearing peaked hats climbed out of it.
"Isn't that your man?" Olivia whispered behind her back, making her jump out of her skin, "Jesus! You scared me!" Mercy yelled and grabbed her chest, it was then followed by her laugh. Arthur and Thomas approached the door, the Peaky Blinders' leader wore his usual expression, but as soon as their gazes met, his face lit up.
Arthur pushed open the door and looked over at the woman next to Mercy. "What are y'all doing here?" Mercy immediately asked and stepped aside, crossing her arms over her chest, the corner of her red-stained lips curled upwards.
"We're going to buy a horse, and you're coming with us," Thomas answered, towering over his woman before leaning down to kiss her on the lips. "Where?" she asked as he pulled away, but before Thomas could answer, Mercy spoke once more, "I can't leave the clinic, Thomas..."
"Well, Ms. Not-Interested is here, ain't she? She a grown woman, ya could leave 'er alone here for a few hours," Arthur chimed in as his gaze fell at Olivia, Mercy looked back at the brunette with a barely perceptible distressed look on her face, her mouth opened and closed, trying to force words out of her throat.
Olivia ignored Arthur's remark and grinned at Mercy, "Go on, love. I'm alright here, it's not such a busy day today," the brunette nodded and squeezed Mercy's arm softly. "Are you sure?" Mercy asked, scratching the back of her nape. She kind of feel embarrassed that she'd leave the clinic to Olivia all alone even if she was the boss in terms of hierarchical structure. The Bell woman reassured her that it was fine, and she finally gave in after that.
As luck would have it, she wore a decent dress from a designer named Jean Patou to work, it was one of the gifts Thomas had sent to her a few weeks ago. By the time she got out of the office, Thomas was patiently waiting for her to come out. Mercy made her way to the back of the van to greet the other blinders, "What's crackin', Charlie?" she smiled at the middle-aged man to which he returned with a nod and a low grunt.
"Hey, Mercy!"
"Hi, Ms. de Silva."
Finn and Isaiah greeted in unison as they peeped their heads out of the van, "Oh, y'all here too?" she exclaimed and they both flashed her a smug, proud grin as if showing off that Thomas had finally let them join the adult affairs like this one. Curly waved his hand at Mercy, making her wave back to him and that's when she noticed that Michael was sitting on the far end of the vehicle.
"Oooh, looking fresh, Mikey," Mercy nodded as if she approved of his today's suit, which appeared to be a handed-down but still looked good on him. "Hey...Mercy," her name sounded so strange in his mouth that he had to clear his throat after greeting her. Thomas held his cigar between his lips as he waited for her to finish.
After she was satisfied, she walked back to the front of the van, where John gave his seat up in the passenger for Mercy. "Afternoon, John," she greeted as he hopped down.
"Afternoon, girlie. Ya look nice," he complimented with a smirk before turning his back on them to get inside the van. "I know!" Mercy shouted, holding her hand out to Thomas as he helped her climb in the seat.
As their ride began, she sat in silence and held Thomas' hand close to her, casually caressing his knuckles. "Why'd ya bring me too?" the de Silva woman asked, watching the buildings in the side slowly turn to trees and fields. "Cause I missed you," Thomas responded, clutching her hand before bringing it to his lips.
Mercy rolled her eyes jokingly, "You and your smooth tongue."
"Want me to show ya what this tongue can do?" Thomas said with a lopsided smile as his hypnotic gaze shifted momentarily from her eyes down to her lips. Mercy's head jerked up and her jaw dropped at her lover's outburst of profanity.
She slapped his left thigh with a playful scowl, "Your momma would be rolling in her grave if she heard this!" Thomas snorted, catching her hand as he intertwined it with his. It felt nice. An hour and a half had passed when the vehicle made a hissing sound, Thomas cursed under his breath and stopped the van.
"What happened?" she wondered aloud, her gaze drawn to the gray smoke billowing from the engine as it spiraled toward the sky. "It's overheating," he simply stated. "Come down for a while," Thomas added, opening the door for him and Mercy.
"She's heating up, Curly," Thomas said as soon as they walked to the back of the van, "Take a look," he added and without any hesitation, Curly climbed out of the van. John and Charlie also jumped down, said he'd take a piss. From Michael's brown satchel bag, he took out sandwiches wrapped in a bundle.
"She made loads," he said before handing one out to Arthur, "D'ya want one?" Michael added, Thomas and Mercy exchanged meaningful glances with one question in mind: Did just Polly fucking Gray made fucking sandwiches for her son?
"What the bloody hell is that?" the eldest Shelby asked in a flat tone, brows furrowed as he eyed the snack. "Sandwiches," Michael answered, "Ham, I think. And we've got shrimp paste, too," Arthur gawked at Michael like he did something unbelievable—well it was really fucking unbelievable for the great Polly Gray to make sandwiches.
John grinned as he moved closer to them, "There's tea, but we'll have to take turns 'cause there's only one cup," the middle Shelby grabbed the bottle and smirked at Thomas, flaunting tea at his face.
"What?" Michael asked in confusion as he noticed the glances the people around him sharing, "Sandwiches?" Arthur asked once more in disbelief but a grin was slowly dancing on his lips. Mercy climbed in the van and sat next to the Gray lad, "You're Godsend, love, I'm fucking famished! Tell your mom I love her," she said and picked up the bread before munching into it.
"Polly made bloody sandwiches?" Arthur said, almost not believing his own eyes, making his brothers snickered at his comment. "What's this, teddy bear's fucking picnic?" Charlie asked, looking around.
Michael felt somehow embarrassed and glanced at Mercy, who's now relentlessly focused on the sandwich, "Don't mind them, eat up, come on," the woman said to him as she caught his eyes, Thomas cleared his throat, "Alright, we will drink the tea and we will eat the sandwiches, and then we will drive on. All right?"
Soon enough, all of them were grabbing a bite of the sandwich Polly made with love, except for Thomas. Mercy took another sandwich and tried to hand it over to him but he declined, all it took was her raised eyebrow, and Thomas eventually caved in. The de Silva woman took the bottle from Arthur's hand and sipped tea, "Ah, what would Polly make next time? Fucking trifle?" she blurted out, making all of them laugh.
The second they were finished, the ride to the auction house had resumed. It took another hour when the van finally come to a halt in front of a large building, "Alright, lads and lady, this is a respectable event and we'll all behave accordingly. No weapons, no drinking," he said as they ascended the stairs while Mercy's hand was clung to his arm.
"When the horse comes up, I'll do the bidding. I've already registered my interest with the auctioneer, so he knows to expect my bids," Thomas added, informing everyone of today's plans. Curly asked questions that sounded bizarre to Mercy's ears, and Thomas' answers made it more even harder to understand. One thing she understood was Curly's intuition about something wasn't right, it was a strange thing to say...because she certainly felt the same way.
All of them settled at a spot where they could see all of the horses coming in and out of the auction house, "A'right, Tommy. This is her," Charlie muttered, making Mercy stare at the gray, beautiful horse right below her.
"Hermosa..." she whispered under her breath, Thomas smiled at her comment and wrapped his hand around her waist. The bidding began the moment the horse was paced around the area, Thomas was the only bidder not until a man across the house bid for a thousand and hundred guineas, causing all of them to look in their direction.
Mercy held her head high as she stared at the short-haired woman who kept glancing at her man. Look all you want, love. You can look but you can't touch... The bidding continues, the amount increasing every time the auctioneer speaks. At last, Thomas Shelby had won the quarter-Arab filly.
"Sold to Mister..."
"Thomas Shelby," he declared to the crowd, pulling Mercy closer to his body before giving the short-haired woman another glance and turned on their heels. "Two thousand guineas? Oh, seven hells, Polly would go bonkers on you, Thomas," Mercy said as they left the area.
"Aye, she would but this horse is going to be our passport to the Epsom Derby. She'd understand," answered Thomas, "I'll be getting the documents, stay here with the lads," he added, placing a kiss on her temple before turning around to face the blinders.
"Keep an eye on her," Thomas tapped Arthur's shoulder and headed to the auctioneer's office. "Now, where the fuck is the bloody washroom? My bladder would burst," Mercy asked them, gaze drifting all over the second floor of the auction house.
"We'll come with ya, I wanna piss too," Isaiah scratched his cheek and walked ahead of her. She followed the lad, while Finn and Michael were behind her, "How'd you coax your mom to let you come here?" Mercy nudged the Gray lad on his right arm.
"She didn't want to at first but she just changed her mind, yeah," Michael answered, "And she made me fuckin sandwiches, it's good though," he added, flashing a smile that reached his eyes.
Finn sneered at him before adjusting his cap, "One time I asked her for a sandwich all I got was a bloody whack on the head."
"Well, ya always give her a headache, sounds fair ta me that she gives ya one as well," Isaiah chimed in, making the three of them cackle. He then stopped in front of the two doors leading to the washroom. "Go ahead, Ms. de Silva, we'd watch the door," the Jesus lad added, Mercy nodded and did her business inside.
Shortly afterward, they were all done and went back to the place where the others had been left. The four of them noticed that the two Shelby brothers were waiting just outside, Mercy's brows furrowed and her lips formed a thin line as she heard Arthur speak, "Tommy! We've got to get back to the caravans! The chickens are hungry!"
With a raised eyebrow and crossed arms over her chest, she cut in the middle of the two brothers, "Thomas," Mercy spoke in a calm manner but loud enough for him to hear it, Thomas snapped his head towards her direction as soon as he heard her voice calling out for him. May Carleton also casts a brief look to the raven-haired woman who looked glorious in her simple outfit, and the way she carried herself was worthy of respect.
"Ya smell that, Arth?" John asked, grinning like a fool.
"Oh yes, that smells like fuckin lover's quarrel," the eldest Shelby snorted, Thomas quickly ended the conversation with the considered horse trainer and walked straight to Mercy, his hand snaked around her waist, "Come on now," he said and guided her back to the ground floor of the auction house.
The following events flashed right in front of her like a bolt of lightning, all she knew was that she grabbed the three young lads by their arms and tried to cover them using her body as gunshots rang throughout the empty hall. "Down!" she heard someone yelled, her body quivering as the loud noises shuffled a thousand thoughts and memories through her brain.
"Hey, hey, Mercy!" Finn exhaled frantically, the three of them now covering and protecting her after the final gunshot echoed. Arthur was beating senselessly of the hitman while his brothers and uncle tried to stop him. Mercy's knees were glued to the sandy floors of the hall, her mind spiraling out of control.
And every fucking thing was red again in her eyes.
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