The party in the horses field slowly came to an end at around four in the evening, and Polly-Anna was ready for a nap. She hadn't felt such exhaustion like this before, not from working gruelling hours at the tailors nor after a week of non-stop babysitting Amber-Jack
Who knew running around, having so much fun in a field with people who meant the world to her would be so tiring?
If it wasn't for the surprise birthday kiss from the one person she had wanted it to be from, she would've probably ran out of energy far before that. Tommy had always had a strange way of showing his feelings, even in the short amount of time the Wallace duo had known the Shelby's. He was sometimes open and honest, smiling or frowning and other times he was a stoic as they came.
He was-- a whirlwind, an enigmatic puzzle she hadn't yet been able to figure out.
"Amber, shoes off!" Polly-Anna shouted before her sister had chance to run through the living room of their incredibly tiny home.
Of course Amber hadn't listened, but thankfully most of the wet mud had come loose on their long walk back to Artillery Square, leaving dry clumps behind instead. That would take far less time to sweep up- tomorrow of course.
Amber still had far too much energy left for what they had all just done, and had she been caged like a little bird, she'd surely be going wild.
Luckily for everyone involved, not a single soul could've ever come close to caging Amber-Jack. Not even the best bird-catcher in the world, she was too much of a free-spirit to be locked down, Polly Gray had often joked that she was more of a gypsy than most of her kin could ever have been.
Polly Gray had been in the Wallace girls life for such a short time, yet it felt like she had been their Aunt Pol from the very beginning.
She was loyal, and funny— and extraordinarily kind to those under her wing. With a son under the age of one and a husband who wandered the canals in search of... something, she remained true to herself. She remained true to the values she had been given from an early age- unlike her brother, if she even considered him that.
Pol, the Shelbys confidant, had become a guardian angel to the girls and her love for them only ever grew.
"Amber, please- just take your damn shoes off!" Polly-Anna raised her voice for the first time that day, and the sound of two distant thuds was Ambers grumpy response to being hollered at.
"Thank you!" Polly-Anna shouted back before taking a seat on the settee.
Something she hadn't done in a long time, was think about how well she had done. For someone who should've been in a workhouse, she survived and fought for what she had- but all of that surviving and fighting was a tiresome job.
Her mind slowly began to drift to the second eldest Shelby and how his silly smile always brightened her day... or how his eyes told a different story to those who knew how to read him.
"Amber, Pol said we've to be down in the square by six, so rest for an hour and get changed into something less grassy." The eldest Wallace called out, her tone calmer than before.
She heard a quiet 'okay' from this distance as a reply and exhaled in an exhausted relief.
Who knew that a first kiss would be so tiring?
As the time passed, and Polly-Anna drifted in and out of a somewhat comfortable nap, she hadn't noticed that Amber had joined her.
With Amber now resting her head in the curve of her side, Polly-Anna stayed in the same position, it wasn't exactly comfortable but it wasn't u comfortable either. Plus - it wasn't that she hadn't felt her sisters arm snake around her side, she had- she just hadn't consciously noticed. Her mind hadn't recognised what had happened but she didn't recoil from the action. Instead she accommodated for the extra body heat and the added weight to her side by slightly sinking into the settee more on one side than the other.
Unbeknownst to the Wallaces', two and a half hours had passed. Arthur had been on the other side of the door for half an hour, contemplating whether or not to open the usually unlocked door, or wait for the girls to come out on their own.
Fuck it, Arthur thought to himself before grabbing hold of the brass handle.
For a little flat, the door handle was far too fancy- but then again, when the Wallace patriarch was still around, he was quite the light-hand.
Arthur definitely wasn't speculating that the door handle was stolen, thieved from the better end of town, but he wouldn't be surprised if it was. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if a few things the Wallace's owned were lightly borrowed and never returned.
Mister Wallace was just that sort of man.
Despite the sound of the front door recoiling off of the wall that it was attached to, the two Wallace girls didn't wake from their impromptu slumber.
What did however startle Polly-Anna awake was the looming sense of a pair of eyes on her. Legend has it that the eyes of spirits would burn theoretical holes to alert their relatives of imminent danger but Polly didn't believe in that. What she did believe in was her sense of fight or flight, it had yet to fail her.
Opening her eyes ever so slightly, Polly-Anna saw the back of a ginger man's head, his slouched stance gave it away who he was.
Not an intruder, just Arthur, Polly-Anna thought to herself whilst untangling herself from her sister. She sat up with ease now that all of her limbs were free, but she remained quiet. Now it was her time to observe a Shelby in an unnatural habitat.
In the time it took for Amber-Jack to pull herself out of her own comfortable sleep, Arthur had wandered from the living room and into the kitchen. They both knew this from the clattering of their cups against one another, and then the slowly building whistle of the kettle.
Creeping almost silently up behind him, Polly-Anna gave Amber-Jack a slight nod of her head before Amber shoved Arthur lightly.
The sound that he made was worth it the wait.
"Fuck me- Jesus fuck— you couldda killed me!"
Hysterical laughter of each girl wildly overpowered the swears of the red headed male, who's face had began to tinge pink out of embarrassment but it didn't take long before he started to laugh himself.
"What are you doing here, anyway? We've got time yet."
Amber-Jack nudged her sister, a finger pointing towards the clock that was nailed into the wall. They did not have time left, they were out by two whole hours.
Polly-Anna's face drained of all colour, which caused -Arthur to stifle a laugh behind a cupped hand.
Her body moved on instinct - running from the living room to her shared room. She didn't have time to fix her hair, or to freshen up- she barely had time to put on her own shoes before helping out her sister, but as she returned to the kitchen with cheeks burning red, Amber-Jack was sat on the table- both of her shoes were now firmly on her feet.
"You're a saint, Arf-" the words left her in a breathless whoosh, the back of one hand resting on her forehead like most mothers did once they took dinner out of the oven.
"C'mon Wallace times two, can't make them wait no longer. Polly knew you'd be late as shit, so she asked Fergal if we could change times."
Polly Grey, the Gypsy extraordinaire.
"That woman is a godsend."
The journey to the Garrison was quick, Arthur carried Amber-Jack for most of it and Anna walked briskly beside him. To onlookers, they looked like a young couple and their daughter- but most knew of the Shelby's hatred of being tied down so it wasn't something that was kept on their mind for very long.
Quite a lot of the city knew of Thomas' like for the Wallace girl, too. As well as Johns liking for the youngest too.
"They won't be angry, will they?"
Arthur shook his head, causing Amber to wiggle on his back- which then caused the duo to laugh about it too. Arthur had been one of the surprises that had come from the Shelby family. With his exterior, people would often think that he was a ruffian, but he was sweet and caring- tender and loving.
"Pol, it's your bastard birthday! They can't be angry at you for having a... big nap." Arthur confirmed, gently pushing the girl to speed up a little bit, the door wasn't going to move if she didn't pull it open.
The anticipation was beginning to eat away at Arthur and the idea of pulling it open for her did cross his mind but he knew she had to do it for herself, it was just a door and she would be reminded of that the minute she opened it.
It wasn't so much the door that she was afraid of, but more so the people (person) that were behind it.
She knew as soon as Thomas kissed her, she should've said something but Polly-Anna didn't exactly think at that moment, her brain had quickly turned into pink mush that had no capacity to turn on and think of anything... but the kiss.
"Like a plaster." Polly-Anna mumbled to herself quietly, hearing it being echoed by both Amber and Arthur before ripping the door open.
Cheers, streamers, screeches (from baby Michael), bounced around the four walls of the pub as the inhabitants saw the girl of the hour.
The music box, that had been dragged from Watery Lane, was playing the latest diamond disc record, with a song she hadn't heard of before but was enjoying nonetheless.
Time passed, at least an hour, as people mindlessly chatted and gifts were handed to the young birthday girl, and as little wrapped boxes dropped into her lap she couldn't help but feel incredibly loved by everyone around her.
It was the first year she had remembered that was truly all about her, and not about bills or her stepmother or work.
"You all didn't need to—"
Polly-Anna was cut off by the older Polly with a raise of her hand, the rest of the words getting caught and subsequently swallowed as the elder began to speak.
"Don't you worry about a thing, dear, this day is to celebrate a wonderful tailor and a wonderful girl, turning into a woman isn't an easy job and yet here you are! Magnificent-" Polly leaned in closer to whisper the last little bit into her ear. "Even Tommy thinks so."
She knew, she had to, Polly-Anna thought to herself, watching as the older woman's twinkle in her eye didn't begin to dull like she had expected it to.
It was strange how a woman knew so much but she remembered something her father always said.
"Then there greys, they're a gypsy extraordinaire. Nothing gets passed them."
It was true, eerily so, even for a man who said the gypsys in Small Heath weren't worth his time, he sure did know a lot about Polly Grey all those years ago.
"Welcome to the Shelby family, Pol, you're one of us now." Mabel Shelby whispered into her ear, placing a delicate kiss to the crown of her head whilst John slid a plate of cake in front of her.
This family was one she'd never forget, even if things became awkward or tense.
They were... magnificently extraordinary.