Lottie threw her cigarette to the floor, looking at Polly who leaned against the car. Her eyes shifted to Micheal who walked out, hat on his head.
Polly looked over her shoulder.
"Micheal" Lottie greeted, opening her arms. He nervously accepted her hug, holding the back of her coat tightly. "You okay?" she said. "Yeah" he whispered.
She pulled away from him, stepping aside.
"Hello mum" he said, smiling. "This is Gina" he said, pointing a the blonde girl who walked to them. "Gina Gray"
Lottie sent her a soft smile. "Captain married us on board" he said as Gina held his arm. "She's my wife, mum, at least look at her"
"Tommy said to ask you to tell me the truth" Polly took her sunglasses off.
"We've been travelling for 15 days, Mrs Gray" Gina spoke. "Maybe we could talk about this another time?" she asked. "Yes, let's go home and we can talk" Micheal agreed.
"You have no home until you tell me the truth" Polly stepped forward.
"Here?" he asked. "Yeah"
They watched as Arthur walked out of the telephone box. "Micheal" he shouted. "Hello, love" he looked at Gina. "Welcome to Birmingham, eh"
Micheal stared at him coldly.
"Micheal," Polly said. "Okay" he nodded, "our ship docked at Belfast, i was then taken off the ship by two men"
"At gun point" Gina added. "I'm speaking to my son" Polly hissed. "Oh my god" Lottie whispered. "Fuck you" Micheal said. "Fuck out too, Arthur, this is my fucking wife" he shouted. "I bring her home to this," he scoffed.
"Come on Gina"
"Well where are you going now, eh?" Arthur stopped him. "Introduce me at least"
"Arthur leave him" Lottie warned. "Excuse me" Gina scoffed, stepping away from Arthur.
"Look at this" Micheal whispered. "Look at this, this is it, Gina. This is my fucking people. Do you want to know the truth Arthur? Do you want to know the truth mum?" he asked.
"I did not betray my fucking family!" he shouted. "Now, mum, I want to go home"
"I've booked you a suite at the Midland hotel"
"Was that Tommys orders then, was it? See the Midland Hotel is Tommys little kingdom, where all the porters keep an eye, where all the telephone exchange girls are reporting on my calls"
"Yeah, well, why don't you think of it like, er, quarantine" Arthur suggested. "We treat you like a fucking dog, hm, a smelly one, stinking one. Until we know you're clean, hm?"
"Fuck you Arthur"
"Stand aside, Arthur"
"No, Pol"
Micheal walked back to Gina. "Come on, baby, forget about it" she held his arms. Lottie stepped to them as Arthur spoke to Polly.
"You can stay at my house for a while, still got spare rooms. No need for the midland hotel, nobody listens to calls in my house, nobody keeps an eye" she whispered, offering them a cigarette.
"Go and phone Tommy" Polly said. Micheal looked over. "Tell him, Polly says Michaels telling the truth"
"It's all right, forget about it" Gina repeated. "Nice coat"Arthur hummed, walking to the telephone box.
"What are you, like a camel, right?"
"Oh, welcome to the family, Gina Gray" Polly mocked.
-
"Isiah" Lottie shouted as she walked into the house, the maid taking both hers and Gina's coat. "In the office, Miss" she told her.
"Welcome home, Micheal" Florence nodded, pushing her hair behind her ears.
"Isiah" She shouted again.
He soon appeared at the door closest. "Micheal?" he asked. "Hello, Isiah" Micheal greeted.
"Isiah, this is Gina, Micheal's wife, they'll be staying with us for a while, that's alright isn't it?" she asked, holding his arm. He nodded. "Nice to meet you, Gina" he said.
"Drinks?" he offered. "How's Theo, and Rory?" she asked. "Theo started burning up again, Aurora has been with her teacher"
Lottie nodded "I'll go up and see him soon" she said, walking away "You can have the bedroom on the right of the guest bathroom, you remember where that is, don't you?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I do"
"Good. I'll have the staff in the kitchen to prepare some food , i'm gathering you'll be hungry from travelling" she sighed.
Gina smiled at Micheal, liking his cousin.
"I apologise about my Aunt, Gina. She's a bit of a cow" Florence laughed, sitting down in the front room.
Gina smirked, crossing her legs. "Oh, you can agree, we don't care" Florence shrugged, looking up at Isiah who had returned with a bottle of Champagne.
"So, Ada's pregnant" She leaned forward, pouring them a glass. "Again?" Micheal asked. She hummed.
"If you don't mind me asking" Micheal began. "What's up with Theo?" he asked.
Lottie took a breath. "He's been sick for a few weeks now, temperature, coughing. Doctors don't know what the issue is. We've had to reach out to Tommy for help" she sighed, pouring a glass.
-
Arthur and Tommy walked into the Garrison. "Are you armed?" Polly asked. "Yeah"
"Will you please consider putting your weapons behind the bar, in case feelings behind to run high" she suggested. "Behind me own bar, yeah?" Arthur asked, pulling his gun and emptying the bullets onto the floor.
"I prefer it there"
"Thomas"
He signed, placing his gun onto the bar. "I had a dream about a black cat last night, Pol" he said. "A black cat dream means that there is a traitor close by. It was you who taught me that" he raised his brows.
"Black cat can mean lots of things. It can mean you're hurting yourself, betraying yourself" she told him. "Are you seeing things, Thomas?"
"Yes i am, yes i am very clearly" he lit a cigarette. "Coming from every fucking direction"
A car approached outside. Polly sighed, going to the door and unlocking it.
Micheal and Gina walked in along side Lottie.
"Speak of the devils" Arthur whispered.
"Tommy" Micheal said. "I'd like to introduce you to my wife" he said. Gina stood tall. "I'd also like to, er, say something."
"Sit down Micheal"
"I betrayed you" he said. "Micheal" Polly scolded. "But only in my heart. There was a time in America, when there was a lot of money on that bank, and i wondered i could leave, move to California, someone said. i should invest in picture" he said. "Hollywood"
Arthur scoffed.
"But Gina stopped me" he looked back at her. "Gina said that-"
"I told you to sit down, Micheal" Tommy hissed.
He looked around, pulling a chair. "Now tell me, what happened on that ship in Belfast harbour" Tommy said.
"On the journey back from New York, we got married. But we needed to find a witness, a purser, he was from Belfast. We got friendly."
"What happened when the ship docked?"
"This purser had friends who ran a whiskey distillery in County Tyrone. They wanted a way of getting there stuff into America so i said 'okay invite them aboard' when they came in, i realised they didn't make whiskey. They were scottish, from Glasgow, couldn't understand a fucking word they were saying"
"They started swearing, so i asked Gina to leave. That was when they started talking about you, Tom. They said that Tommy Shelby was a spent force, that politics had got to him, that he was spent int the head"
"That now was a good time to move in and did i want to be a part of it. I knew about the money we lost in america, they said that you were going to blame me, that you had a bullet with my name on it"
"What did you say, Micheal?"
"I didn't have time to say anything. Coppers came on board. Well i thought they were coppers, they were-"
"They were IRA" Tommy finished his sentence. "Exactly" Micheal agreed.
Silence.
"And the first men from Glasgow?" Tom asked. "The IRA commander said the men from Glasgow, were called Billy Boys"
"Fucking Billy boys" Arthur whispered.
"I don't know who the fuck Billy boys are" Micheal spoke. "They run every man in every coal mine, every shipyard east of Glasgow, ties with Belfast, UVF, Protestant Razor gang" Arthur said. "They also dabble in Politics. You know, muscle for fascist rallies"
"But you did no deal, Micheal. You didn't even know who they were" Polly said.
"I was too busy looking forward to giving you the good news" he said. Gina pushed herself off the wall. "The reason Gina and I got married on the ship was because Gina is pregnant"
Lottie's lips parted, turning into a smile. "You're going to be a grandmother"
Polly looked at him coldly, then at Tommy.
"Okay, Micheal, i believe you, welcome home" Tommy said. "Congratulations, just remember your unborn child has witnessed what you said"
"Thomas" Polly said. "Tommy" Lottie warned.
"And it will be born accordingly" he continued. Micheal pushed the table forward, standing. "You fuck"
"Where the fuck are you going" Arthur grabbed him. "Tommy that's enough" she said.
"Are you fucking mad?" Arthur asked Micheal. "You are free to fucking leave, Micheal"
"You fucking bastard" he hissed at Tommy.
"But you're not free, Micheal, are you?" Tommy asked. "You lost this company a lot of money"
"I told you to sell, but you held on and now i want you to pay me back what you owe me. There is work you can do there are risks you can take. We were close before, now i want you closer still"
Micheal bit his lip. "Micheal, honey" Gina said, holding his shoulder. "Look at your cousin, he's in trouble, hm, he needs you. Come on, let's go" she said.