7th May 1919, Small Heath Birmingham
Tommy was pacing up and down the kitchen, about an hour earlier John had brought Libby home in tears and nobody was telling him what was wrong. John was furious and Thomas could see that, he could also see the bruise starting to form across John's knuckles but still John couldn't get his words out properly to tell him what had happened.
Polly had taken Libby upstairs with James to calm her down and get her in bed but neither of them had returned yet.
Arthur had come home about twenty minutes ago claiming to have seen John and some other Peaky Blinders about to go through Robert Clark's door which confused Tommy even more as last time he checked Robert was a valued member of the Blinders and his son was Lewis who James and Libby were good friends with.
Tommy's head was spinning and yet everyone had neglected to tell him anything.
"She's alright now, dad," James said as he came walking down the stairs into the kitchen.
"What the bloody hell happened for her to be in that state in the first place?" Thomas shouted, losing his temper because nobody had told him anything.
"She wouldn't tell us anything and well as you know John wasn't much help," James took a deep breath before continuing. He was wondering how he'd pulled the short straw of telling his dad about Lewis, it always seemed to be him but he wouldn't dare disobey Polly Grey. "From what she told us Isaiah and Lewis got into a fight and she thought Isaiah had killed him but he only did it because Lewis tried to hurt Libby."
"Lewis Clark?" Tommy asked, finally starting to piece together what must have happened.
"Yeah, I think so," James replied.
"Tell Pol I'll be back soon." And with that Thomas had left again and James was left with the responsibility of delivering back news to a very scary person.
"Why is it always me?" James moaned.
"Why is, what always you?" Poll asked, coming up behind James.
"Pol, you gave me a fright," James exclaimed.
"Where is Thomas?"
"He left."
"Where did he go?"
"What is this, twenty questions?" James replied, earning him a slap around the back of his head from Polly. "Ah, okay, okay, I'm sorry. But I don't know where he went, he just stormed off."
"Can that man not just stay up for once?" Polly asked, fed up with the drama happening within the family over the past few months.
It was now Polly's turn to pace around the kitchen wondering what was happening. "Where have you two been?" She screamed as John and Tommy came through the backdoor of 13 Watery Lane.
"Well, I was dealing with business when Thomas thought he knew best and interrupted me." John ranted to Polly, who was less than amused.
"John you nearly killed Robert Clack and his son in front of his wife and two daughters, you were like a maniac, worse than Arthur as well," Tommy shouted back.
"Yeah well if you weren't too busy gallivanting round Small Heath looking for Freddie fucking Thorne, starting a war with the Lee's and licking Kimber's arse then maybe you would have more time for your kids and know what was happening, like the fact that Lewis tried to rape Libby and that's why she had a panic attack." John was shaking and if looks could kill he Thomas would be 6-foot under.
"What?" Tommy asked in disbelief, "You said you didn't know why she had a panic attack."
"I didn't until I heard that Lewis was bragging about how much power he has over Libs and how she's terrified of him." John was a bit more calm now but still wasn't satisfied with how neglectful Tommy was being of his kids.
They hadn't known them long but John had managed to become quite close with them both despite the fact that he had four of his own children to look after by himself and yet he had still made more of an effort to get to know his niece and nephew then their own father had.
"Do you even know anything about them, Tommy?" John quizzed.
"Of course I do, John, they are my kids." Tommy snapped back.
"Really?" John said with his eyebrows raised, "Okay then, what's Libby's favourite drink?" John was met with silence so he asked another question. "Or what football team does James support?" Yet again he was met with silence.
"Okay, then what's Libby's toy dog called?" John asked.
"That's a trick question, she doesn't have one," Tommy spoke for the first time in a while.
"Actually she does, he's called Patch and it is like a spotted dog and James' football team is Newcastle United and Libby's favourite drink is Lemonade and her favourite food is rabbit stew but she only likes it when it's cooked the gypies way on an open fire with iron pots and she used to eat it with a family of types that used to travel to Newcastle once a year around her birthday. So I'll ask you again Tommy, do you even know your own kids?" John had left Tommy speechless and for the first time in his life, Tommy silently admitted he was defeated and for the first time ever John was actually right.
"Do you know what James said to me the first time we saw them?" John asked.
"He said that he was so thankful that he and his sister finally had a family, that if we didn't come when we did then they would have gone off the rails even more and they might not be together anymore. Tommy, them upstairs kids wanted a family.
They wanted some to love them the way they always deserved and the only thing you have done is use them like fancy ornaments you can show off that can be replaced and that's not fair. It's not fair on Libby and it's not fair on James." John then stormed out of the kitchen and went home to his kids. He just hoped that this would make it through Tommy's thick skull and not just travel out the other ear.
A/N:
And that concludes this chapter. I hope you like it.
Finally, someone called Tommy out on his bullshit but did he deserve John being that harsh?
Sorry, this chapter is a bit late but I haven't been well this week but Mondays chapter should be out as usual.