Dottie sits between Micheal and Polly at a long table. She leans back, seeing Arthur check his pocket watch beside a blonde woman.
"Tommy had us all in the kitchens earlier," Micheal says under his breath to Dottie.
She turns her head towards Micheal, leaning her ear in.
"He's adamant on no fighting, and no snow," Micheal adds. He then hesitates, "he said to watch you. He said you may be going through stuff. Mentally, you know."
Shaking her head, Dottie replies. "No, I'm fine. Now what the fuck is Arthur doing? He's sitting there huffing and puffing. Look!"
Micheal leans his head back, seeing Arthur grunt about something. Arthur checks back at his watch as the blonde woman speaks. Her voice rich, sophisticated. Far from what the Shelby's accents hold.
"You're the best man, Arthur. Go and find them," she instructs.
Dottie raises her eyebrows, expecting Arthur to grunt back with an argument, however he nods, clearing his throat and standing up. As he walks past Dottie, Dottie grabs his sleeve, yanking him down to her lips.
"He's upstairs with Grace," she mutters, "knock first, yeah?"
Arthur nods, "alright, thanks cousin."
Cousin? Dottie thinks as she releases his sleeve. Cousin. When has he ever called her cousin? Just cousin? Baby cousin, sure. But just cousin?
Dottie watches as Arthur struts out the door, past where Ada is talking politics to a man in a red uniform and past where John is cackling at another soldier.
Lizzie, a close friend, of Tommy's, looks around the table, as Polly begins to pour some wine in to a glass. She looks at Polly, sitting on the other side of Polly.
Lizzie bows her head, talking quietly and quickly to Polly. "Polly, I told you he was looking over. He's coming. He bloody is."
Polly looks up briefly. Her face slightly drops. "Fuck. Wrong one."
Dottie watches as Polly glances at a dark haired man. The same dark haired man Dottie caught staring at Polly earlier on.
A man from Grace's side of the family stands up, he makes his way over to where the three Gray's are sitting.
"What do vou mean wrong one? How many are there?" Lizzie hisses, trying to contain her smile.
Lizzie smirks at Polly as Dottie narrows her eyes, she moves closer to her mum as the man approaches Polly.
"Two giving me the eye. I like the other one. He looks harmless." Polly replies almost in a disappointed tone. She looks back at the dark haired man, Lizzie follows her sight before Polly pulls away her eyes.
"It must be that bloody lipstick Tommy brought you back from New York." Lizzie replies simply.
A tall man comes to Polly's chair and bows slightly. He has a stiff posture, and beefy eyes. He ignores Dottie and Lizzie.
"Madam, I couldn't help noticing you are unaccompanied. I also am alone. May I join you?" He asks in a thick Eastern European accent.
Lizzie and Polly stifle.
Dottie frowns, not really sure on why they are laughing. Micheal taps her arm but she elbows the air, a clear sign to leave her alone.
Lizzie with a smirk turns to the man. "Actually we are now issuing vouchers for Polly's time. Ten shillings an hour."
Dottie's stomach churns. She remembers seeing a man in her dreams last night. One with beady eyes, only she took it as Reggie.
The man frowns slight, but he bows again and sits down. He smiles at Lizzie and offers his hand.
"Anton Kaledin. Military attache. Enchanted to meet you."
Polly and Lizzie shared an amused smile before Lizzie offers her hand to Kaledin.
"Lizzie Stark. Shelby Company Deputy Treasurer."
Kaledin now turns his laser beady eyes gleaming in to Polly and takes off his spectacles.
"And you are the groom's sister?"
"No, I'm his aunt. Polly."
"Ah."
Polly raises an eyebrow. She has her back turned to Dottie, as if shielding her. Kaledin looks back across the room toward Ada.
"So the Bolshevik is his sister."
Polly's eyebrow drops, her glare now settling on him.
"How do you know she's a Bolshevik?" She asks, her voice razor sharp.
He turns his gaze on Polly. "I heard her talking. She makes no secret of it. She preaches it."
Kaledin produces his silver cigarette case out of his breast pocket and offers Polly a thin cigarette. Polly eyes him as she takes one.
"And what about Thomas?"
"What about him?"
Kaledin plucks a candle from its stands he lifts it up to his cigarette. "Is he a communist?"
Polly takes a light from the candle. The pool of candlelight draws them both in. Polly and Kaledin both light their cigarettes.
"No. He's lots of other things though. Where are you from?" Polly asks, eyeing him up.
He glances across the room at Ada before he answers. "I am a refugee."
"From where?"
"Russia."
The word 'Russia' hits like a dropped glass. Dottie can see it. Polly's back tenses.
"In the past few months Thomas has developed some business interests with Russia. I see he has confided in you." Kaledin says, almost in a snug manner.
Polly past him and looks to the head of the table. Tommy is still absent. Kaledin follows her sight before looking back at Polly.
"You need his permission to even speak to me?"
Polly leans forward into the candlelight. Her voice low and threatening as she speaks in a slightly soft and condescending voice.
"My senior position within the Shelby company means I don't often ask permission from anyone. To do anything. So perhaps you will just tell me why the fuck you're talking Russian business on Tommy's wedding day."
Russian business. Dottie feels like screaming as the doors open. Tommy and Grace step in to the room, and everyone irrupts in to claps and cheers. Kaledin moves away from Polly, as if nothing every happened.
Tommy and Grace take a seat at the head of the table, followed by Arthur beside the blonde woman. Lizzie looks at Polly, as Grace looks at Dottie. Grace's she's dart at Kaledin, as if she knows. All Dottie does is nod.
—
Arthur's speech was chaotic, and not in a good way. Tommy had to step in with a toast, and now Arthur awkwardly stands in the ballroom away from the dancing with a blonde. Dottie joins them, tapping him on his shoulder and leaning in to him. He smiles, wrapping his arm around Dottie to hold her up, the smell of alcohol hits him hard as she opens her mouth.
"You're speech... was real good, Arthur," she slurs, leaning most of her body weight on to him. "Yeah, real good."
The blonde forced a smile on to her lips. "He spoke from the heart."
Dottie turns her head, "oh, I'm sorry. We haven't been introduced, I'm Dottie. You must be..."
"Linda, Arthur's wife."
Dottie's smile falls, she looks at Arthur, "you're married?"
Arthur nods, swallowing his saliva. "It was a small wedding, Dots. It was only with family."
Dottie's eyes grow wide. "I'm family."
Arthur looks at her, seeing the same toddler who use to tilt her head when her voice cracked. The same toddler who use to stick her tongue out. The same toddler who use to cry in Polly's arms when everything got a bit too much.
Arthur pulls down his collar, "I know you are, Dots, but erm... I didn't want to stress you out, you know? None of us did."
Dottie shakes her head, "you're telling me I missed your wedding?"
Arthur nods slowly, "but it's alright, Dots, isn't it, Linda? It wasn't very big, we all did was celebrate in the Garrison, did we? Mhm."
"No one told me," Dottie croaks out, still staring at Arthur. She wipes her hand, "why didn't you tell me?"
"Micheal told me you would be home when you're ready. I didn't want to cause you to come home when you're still ill."
Dottie blinks. She turns to Linda. "Welcome to the family, Linda. You've probably heard of me. I'm the mental cousin."
With that said, she turns around, pulling herself out of Arthur's grip to find Micheal. She walks away quickly, grabbing a flute of champagne from a table and downing it in one sip. She ignores the look Ada gives her from across the room, and quickly escapes from the ballroom before Ada can speak to her.
Dottie finds Micheal in a secluded room with Isiah and a young brunette girl. The three are sitting around a coffee table, with Micheal and Isiah on a chair and the young girl kneeling on the floor. Dottie barges through the door, she snickers when she sees the trio.
"Don't tell me you're getting a blowjob," Dottie comments, closing the door and frowning when Micheal presses a cigarette to his lips.
"I'm not getting a blowjob, Dottie," Micheal confirms making Dottie raise her eyebrows.
Isiah leans back in the chair, a cigarette between his fingers and his eyes travelling over Dottie. He smirks cockily as Dottie places her hand on her hip.
"Who's this?" She asks, looking down at the girl.
The girl smiles, "I'm Charlotte."
"Hello, Charlotte." Dottie replies in almost a sickly nice voice. She struts over to the trio. "What are you guys doing in here? Why aren't you..." she covers her mouth to quietly burp. "Shit sorry about that."
She sways before dropping herself on the sofa behind Charlotte.
"I was told there would be snow," Charlotte says, looking at Dottie.
Dottie raises an eyebrow, "do you call it snow or Tokyo?"
"I didn't realise there was two names for it," Charlotte responds, looking at the drunken girl.
"There's two names for everything," Dottie replies simply. She moves herself to sit on the edge of the sofa before fishing out something from her bra. She throws a small bag on to the table.
"Go nuts, Lottie."
Charlotte looks at hands, muttering something.
Rolling her eyes, Dottie grasps hold of Charlotte's chin, lifting her eyes up to meet her own. "What was that?"
Charlotte stares at Dottie, almost admiring the young woman. "Ive never done it before."
"So you've come to Birmingham, for a dirty old night, eh?"
Charlotte doesn't answer whilst Dottie smirks. She lets go off Charlotte's chin and falls to her knees, she extends her hand to Isiah.
"Your cap," she instructs.
Isiah is quick to give her his flat cap, watching silently as she tears the baker from the back of the cap. She throws the cap back at him before releasing the powder on to the table. Using the blade, she quickly separates a small amount of powder before lining it up. She leans back against the chair, looking at Charlotte.
"Go on, Lottie. Cut the snow."
"Aren't you going to have some?" Charlotte asks, totally unaware of the two peaky boys staring at them.
Dottie grins, tilting her head slightly as she separates some more white powder. She lines it up in front of her, throwing the blade on to the table before bending her head down to the powder. She holds one nostril as she snorts the powder, pulling her head up when the line is gone. She tilts her head back, looking at the ceiling and swallowing her saliva. She moves her eyes when she hears Charlotte snorting, watching the young girl.
Within an hour or two, there was a mess of powder lingering on the coffee table. The girls had moved off of the floor, totally high and drunk, especially in Dottie's case. In any normal day she would have had a go at Micheal for revealing the cocaine bags in his suit pocket, however after the days she's had it's come as a release, now as she leans against Isiah she feels like she can finally breath. Isiah smokes behind her, his head buzzing from the cocaine. He lifts the cigarette to her lips, letting her inhale as his free hand strokes her leg.
"You're stunning," he says to her, whispering in to her ear, his nails trailing up and down her exposed leg.
"Oh I am, am I?" Dottie asks, pulling the cigarette away from her mouth. "Hmm?"
Isiah nods, "mhm. I wanted to make a move, but he stopped me."
"Who did?"
"Reggie," Isiah mentions.
Dottie's stomach churns, however she forced a smirk on to her face, leaning her lips towards his.
"I killed him. I gutted him from the inside."
Isiah, his pupils wide, leans his head towards her. "Oh yeah?"
"I'm a free woman. Why don't you make a move now?"
Isiah grins, crashing his lips on Dottie's. When he pulls away, he excuses himself and Dottie, pulling her in to the first bedroom they find. When the door is shut, Isiah pushes her in to the wood, his hands wrapping around her hips as her hands fly up to his neck. He kisses her aggressively, pulling on her lips and moving down to her neck.
When he bites down on her skin, she lets out a whimper.
He hoists her up against the door, hitching her skirt up and pulling down his trousers.
"Are you ready for this?" He mutters, staring up at her.
She nods, taking hold of his face and kissing him.