𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔
𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐦
Adeline stood alone in the museum, admiring the artwork around her. At the start of this mission she was told that Grace would handle Inspector Campbell but here she was, waiting for him to turn up.
She nervously looked over her shoulder when hearing heavy footsteps.
"We meet at last— Princess." He said quietly. Adeline swallowed hard and nodded her head at him lightly. "I believe i've been sent here in replacement for Grace. She couldn't make it." Adeline informed him.
She was not aware anybody would be to find out who she really was. Especially not him.
He hummed in agreement. "He's obviously not stupid," Campbell began, referring to Tommy. "All we found was stolen tobacco and whiskey."
"Which you left in place?" Adeline furrowed her brows together.
"Of course. I would never endanger you.." the pair moved across the room. "You're doing well, Adeline." He placed his arm around hers and she stiffened under his touch. "I've been working on Arthur, he's easier." She gritted through her teeth.
"And Thomas?"
"Yes." Was all she said. There was no way she was going to expose the situation they had in the church. A part of her was screaming for her to keep quiet.
"Less intelligent?"
"Yes." She guessed, unsure what he meant.
"Is that a word you'd use for Thomas?" Campbell followed her. "It's your word." Adeline retorted. "He had promoted me— he wants me to be his book keeper and secretary." There she went. She exposed the church situation to a certain extent.
"A cutthroat gangster with a secretary— who is our princess might I add?" He muttered.
"You are not to mention such things." Adeline hissed at him.
"The pretensions of these hoodlums are quite breathtaking are they not?" Campbell ignored her. Adeline spun on her heels and began walking, "yes, quite breathtaking." She mocked with a sigh.
Once again he follows her.
"He's obviously fallen quite heavily for you." He accused. Adeline quirked up an eyebrow. "You do not get to try and make me apart of your plan like you are doing with Grace. I stick to the plan and instructions i've been given. This is a one off— next time you'll meet with Grace." She said sternly.
"I just hope you remember who you're dealing with here."
Adeline scoffed. "I hope you remember who you're talking to." She snapped back. Campbell pursed his lips together and looked down for a moment.
-
Adeline stood wiping tables and looked up when Tommy placed his empty glass down. "Get another glass," he instructed with a pleasant look on his face.
She did so and watched him pour whiskey into both. "Can you make a toast?" Tommy asked, staring at her softly. Adeline grinned. "I can make a million toasts— may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you're dead." Adeline grinned, clicking her glass against his. "What are we celebrating?" She asked as he swallowed the contents of the glass.
"A contract of employment." He handed her a piece of paper.
"Book keeper, Shelby Brothers Limited," Adeline read out. "Don't like that word...limited." Tommy sighed. "To be respectable you have to be limited." She reminded him.
"That's what worries me." Tommy grumbled.
She took a breath and looked over to the side. "Grace had the phone put in. It's in the back." Tommy hummed and looked at her. "If we knew someone else who had a phone we could call them." He joked.
"And since we're celebrating I had this delivered." She pulled out a bottle of champagne.
Tommy stopped lighting his cigarette and just looked at her, tilting her head slightly. "Come sit, Adeline." He sighed, departing from the bar and pulling a chair at a table.
She hesitated slightly but nodded. Tommy reached into his coat pocket and looked at a book in his hand. "I got you something."
Adeline tried to stop the smile that had began forming on her lips but couldn't. "What for?" She asked. Tommy shrugged. "Just because— i suppose." He said, sliding it across the table to her.
She looked down and her eyes scanned over the front of it. A book of poetry. Her smile grew wider and she carefully took it in her hands, the pads of her thumbs tracing the gold imprinted letters. "You remembered?"
"I remembered." He nodded once.
"Thank you, Thomas— really that's kind of you." She said genuinely. Tommy shook his head. "Let's say it's a gift for your new employment." He suggested.
Adeline couldn't stop smiling but finally placed it down, looking back at him. "Did you get Grace one of these too?" She joked.
"Grace doesn't work for me." He said plainly.
"So what's so special about me? Why did you choose me and not her?" Adeline asked curiously. Tommy thought for a moment. "Because i've never met someone like you before." He said.
The way he spoke was as if he rehearsed everything in his head beforehand. He spoke gently to her which was different to how he'd speak to his brothers. His eyes would soften when she appeared behind the bar or in the snug to give him drinks. He felt that a different side of him would come out in her presence. A side to him that he hid away after the war.
Tommy leaned forward and used his hand to cup her face, the other moving her hair behind her ears. Adeline looked at him in the eye nervously.
"You— Adeline, you don't do things like you're debating if it's the right choice or not. I like that about you." He admitted. Adeline's lips parted and she was hardly listening to him.
Her hand reached up to the side of his neck and she leaned in, closing her eyes and kissing him gently. She pulled away and Tommy looked at her for a moment before leaning in once more. The kiss was filled with lust and desire as Tommy held her close to him. It was more aggressive than the last kiss that they shared.
Each kiss grew more aggressive than the previous and Adeline's hands gripped onto his shoulders. Tommy placed his hands either side of her neck as their lips moved in sync.
After a few moments, they both pulled away but kept their faces close. "And let's say that's my thanks to you for employing me." She whispered, still holding onto him.
Tommy let out a breathy laugh. "Let's." He agreed.
-
Tommy walked Adeline along Watery Lane, standing beside the road with a cigarette perched between his lips. He stopped for a moment and Adeline frowned, stopping with him.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
Tommy shook his head. "No— no nothings wrong. Do you like horses, Adeline?" Tommy questioned. She almost laughed at him. "I love horses yes."
"Come with me," he said, placing a hand on her lower back and crossing her over the road and taking her through the back way of Watery Lane.
"Where are we going?" She asked with a soft laugh. Tommy grinned at her and nodded forward, "just come on." He urged. To say she was confused would be an understatement. The pair ended up at his uncle's stables and Adeline looked around. "Go on." He opened the stable door and let her go inside.
A small gasp escaped her lips. "He's beautiful." She whispered, looking at the dark brown stallion that stood peacefully. "Is he yours?"
Thomas nodded simply. "He hasn't got a name yet. How about you name him?"
She thought for a moment and ran a hand across the animal. "Apollo." She spoke. Tommy hummed and stepped closer. "Apollo it is then." He agreed. He watched her look at the beautiful horse in awe, not knowing that it completely reminded her of the little comfort she had back at home.
"I have a horse." She finally spoke. "He's called River."
"River, eh?" Tommy nodded.
"He's a black stallion. Fast rider too." She continued. She went to speak again but passed, her lips parted ever so slightly. "My son liked to ride horses
too— loved it actually. If he wasn't reading you'd find him out on his horse."
Tommy leaned against the wood and allowed her to talk. Ever since finding out what had happened to her son, he felt major sympathy toward her. Tommy felt as though it was his job to distract her from the terrible incident.
"Sorry, I shouldn't be burdening you with these things. My apologises, Mr Shelby." Adeline apologised quickly as embarrassment washed over her.
Tommy shook his head. "No apology needed." He said plainly.
-
It had been days since Thomas had took Adeline to the stables and she was, once again, working the late shift in the Garrison. The only people inside were the three eldest Shelby brothers who seemed to be celebrating.
"I should go—" John slurred, "I should go. It's me wedding night." He grumbled. Adeline laughed at him quietly and collected the empty glasses on their table.
"No. You don't want to be among women when there's a baby coming, have another." Arthur urged.
Adeline filled a glass with beer and handed it to him. "Will her husband take the same advice and stay away?" She asked, mentioning the mysterious man she was yet to meet but had heard from Grace the trouble he and Thomas shared.
"Nah— no, Freddie will be there. Nothing will keep him away." John's words blended together and it was almost impossible to make out what he was saying. "Tommy said it's alright for him to be there." He added, his Birmingham accent particularly strong.
"Isn't that right, Tommy?!"
"That's right. I'm all heart tonight." Tommy joked upon entering the snug and sitting down. His two brothers wheezed with laughter and Adeline walked out.
"You know what John boy—" Arthur pointed, "I think it's that lovely barmaid, that pretty barmaid that's just walked out that has made our brother go all soft." Arthur teased.
"Drinks to that!" John agreed, raising his glass. Tommy shook his head with a smile. "Addy! Our lovely Addy!" He shouted, throwing his head back.
Arthur wrapped an arm around his young brother and laughed loudly. "She's a gooden, she is!" He agreed.
Adeline could hear them as the snug door was wide open. She smiled to herself and leaned to hands on the bar. None of this felt right. The fact she had grown close to Thomas but all of it was a game — except it wasn't. Not to her. She actually enjoyed being around the so called devil. And if this was a game, she had found something worth playing for.
After a while, Tommy joined Adeline at the bar and left his two brothers singing loudly in the back room. She wiped the counters and occasionally caught a glance of him drinking from his whiskey glass.
"Don't you think you've had enough?" She joked, watching him fill the glass once more. Tommy scoffed jokingly and stared into it. "How much is too much, eh?"
"Let me walk you home tonight. We have kept ya out late— can't be letting you walk home alone now can we?" He offered. Adeline shrugged. "Would you not want to get back to your sister?" She asked. Tommy sighed. "She'll do without me— Ada hates my guts."
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you—"
Suddenly the door flung open and Polly stood there with a furious look on her face. "It's a boy." She said. Tommy turned and a pleasant smile made its way to his lips but soon disappeared when she ran at him.
"But the police came and took his father away!" She shouted. John and Arthur were quick to get to her before she killed Thomas. "Don't look at me like that you liar!" Polly shouted. Her voice bounced off the walls making everyone fall silent.
Polly spat at Tommy's feet and shoved her nephew's hands off her before storming out. Adeline let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and stared at the three brothers.
John shook his head at Tommy and began walking away. Arthur just stood there for a moment as if he didn't know what had happened. Tommy stared at the door that Polly had walked out, a confused expression on his face.
"Is she telling the truth— did you tell the police about where Freddie would be tonight?" Adeline finally spoke, breaking the silence. Thomas' mouth parted but no words came out. The only noise was the sound of Arthur's shoes against the wood as he finally departed from the two.
"Tell me you didn't get Freddie taken away from his baby." Adeline dropped her shoulders in disbelief and placed the cloth she'd been holding onto the bar.
Tommy didn't look at her. "I didn't." He said quietly.
She let out a sigh and shook her head, walking to grab her coat from the rack and shrugging it onto her shoulders. "I'll see you tomorrow— Thomas. I'm working the late shift again." She said spitefully, not letting him get a single word in before leaving the same way Polly had.
She didn't sympathise for him whatsoever because she was unsure to believe him or not. To take a parent away from their child was cruel. And Adeline understood that more than anybody. If what Polly had said was indeed true, Adeline felt she no longer felt safe around the Shelby man. Especially if he could commit such an act and have no remorse. But if what Polly had said was not true, Adeline would simply let it go.
Adeline felt she was hardly involved in the so called mission her father had set her up to. She was just some sort of place holder to make Grace seem less out of place. All Adeline had to do, realistically, was stand there and look pretty. Grace handled Campbell, Adeline was given the job of getting close to the Shelby man.
Which she had done easily over the few months she'd been in Small Heath.
But never did she ever expect to go into this mission and have kissed the man she was trying to get in trouble. And she also didn't expect to find herself sitting on the floor of a pub after watching the same man she had began falling for beat a man to the point he wasn't recognisable.
But Adeline wasn't a god, she definitely couldn't predict the future.......
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