011, WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER PRETEND TO BE ME .
BOTH the Shelby and the Jordan clans had united in the snug of the Garrison pub, under the strict instructions of none other than John Shelby himself. So, here they all were, gathered and awaiting for the big news John had that he planned to tell his family. Eddie was determined to be the first there, and so he had dragged Will, Tilly and, a rather grumpy, Katherine out of their family home to the Garrison in the late morning. Reluctantly, the Jordan woman downed her first glass of whisky that day, before leaning against the wall beside the window.
Since unveiling her feelings toward her best friend to herself, Katherine had made it her mission to steer clear of Tommy at all costs. After everything they had been through together, as best friends, Katherine didn't want to ruin that, in fear of her world crashing down around her. Tommy meant so much to her, whether she was in love with him or not, and she didn't want to lose her best friend over some stupid unreciprocated love. So, she had opted to actively avoid him. Which, was easier said than done when all Tommy wanted was to protect her.
Bar Polly and Tommy, the others had been sat and stood around waiting for the aunt and nephew to arrive for at least fifteen minutes, so John could finally tell his family the news he had been itching to tell since he first sat the Jordan's waiting for him, when he arrived with Arthur. Finally, the doors to the snug swung open, and in strutted Polly, with Tommy strolling in closely behind his Aunt. His eyes instantly latched onto the brunette across the room from him. Katherine looked away. Polly sent her a knowing look. Katherine rolled her dark eyes.
"All right, John. There's only one man — no." Tommy began, shaking his head as he declined a drunk from Arthur, sat his arm draped around Tilly's shoulders. Arthur shrugged, keeping the alcoholic drink for himself. Tommy continued talking to John, "— There's only one man guarding the house. What's troubling you?"
"Right. Polly, you know what it's been like — since Martha died." John finally spoke, after clearing his throat. Upon the topic of John's late wife being brought up, Katherine's face softened as she glanced toward John, with her arms still crossed over her chest and her back still leant against the wall next to the window. The subject of Martha and the circumstances surrounding her death still stung John greatly, Katherine knew, he'd confided in her about it many times. Polly nodded with sympathy to her nephew and placed her hand on top of his.
"God takes the best first."
Polly nodded at her nephew. Katherine pressed her full lips together, into a weak, empathetic smile. Tilly gently nudged John's foot with her own, all three women showing silent signs of support for the third Shelby brother. John nodded at each of them, before continuing.
"Truth is, my kids have been running bloody rings around me. Running barefoot with the dogs until all hours." John continued. Katherine understood, she'd help tend to John's four children as much as she could, whenever she could, but with her role in the business it was trickier than she had initially thought it to be. And, though she loved John's children just as much as she would if they were her own, they weren't her own and, harsh as it sounded, she nor Tilly could always be there to look after the children twenty-four seven. They had lives.
"Pol give him ten bob for some shoes. Is that it, John?" Tommy butted in. Will snorted in amusement and looked down to his lap, whilst his cigarette smouldered between his middle and index finger. Katherine scoffed bitterly at Tommy, and shot Will a warning look. Her brother fell silent.
"Tommy, we'd be better to do this without you." Katherine snapped at her best friend, quickly. Tommy looked over to her, his icy eyes capturing her own in his gaze. The two best friends stared at one another from across opposite ends of the room, intensely. Tommy couldn't quite believe Katherine had been so quick to snap at him in such a way. Katherine could, and as much as it hurt her to talk to him in such a way, it had to be done. She had to keep her distance. Katherine turned back to John, "Now, what's your point?"
"What the kids need is a mother. . . So, that's why I'm getting married." John announced. Katherine's eyebrows shot up, all of a sudden, in surprise, whilst she shared a look with her brother's, and then Tilly. Even Eddie seemed to have no idea of John's plan. Eddie turned to John.
"Does this poor girl know you're going to marry her, or are you just gonna spring it on her all of a sudden?" Eddie chipped in, as he finally spoke up for the first time since Tommy and Polly had both arrived. Tilly turned to her younger brother and shot him a warning look with her light blue eyes, silently telling him to shut up. Katherine adjusted her posture, still leaning against the wall. She didn't feel too good about this. Something was about to kick off, and Katherine could feel it. Tommy looked over to his best friend.
"I've already proposed and she said yes." John continued. For the first time, Katherine shared a look with Tommy that wasn't full of complete faux malice. The two best friends knew what the other was thinking. Tommy struck a match and put it to the end of the cigarette between his teeth.
"I think there's a shell about to land and go bang."
"It's er. . ." John paused, as he took a gulp of his beer. Katherine looked away from Tommy and down to John, dark eyes watching him expectedly. John met Katherine's gaze. She quirked an arched eye brow. "It's Lizzie Stark."
Arthur burst into a fit of laughter, closely followed by the rest of the family. Will snorted in amusement so hard that he choked on his cigarette smoke, coughing and spluttering whilst still chuckling amusedly. Eddie sniggered amusedly at his best friend from over the rim of his glass of whiskey, and even Tilly and Polly were giggling to themselves, Tilly leaning into Arthur's side, as his shoulders were heaving up and down as he laughed. John desperately looked to Katherine, but to no avail whatsoever, because even the brunette, youngest Jordan woman was smirking in amusement at John's revelation.
"John. . . Lizzie Stark, is a strong woman. . . and I'm sure she provides a fine service for her customers." Polly said, between giggles. Tilly clamped a hand over her mouth and tried not to burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, like Arthur. Katherine's smirk widened, and she even snorted amusedly.
"I won't hear the word. Understand? Do not use that word!" John snapped at the family, his shoulders tensing. Katherine heard Tommy sigh, and she glanced up from John and to her best friend. His icy blue eyes stared straight back at her, and she bit the inside of her cheek to hide her smirk. John couldn't marry Lizzie Stark. As much as Lizzie was a nice enough woman, she knew she was, Lizzie was also a prostitute. Katherine hardly believed Lizzie would give that kind of money up for John, no matter how much she claimed to love him.
"What word is that, John?" Tommy taunted his brother. The dark haired, Jordan woman's smirk fell from her face — Suddenly it wasn't funny anymore. John's shoulders tensed, and his jaw clenched. Katherine raised an eyebrow upwards, aiming it toward Tommy, warningly, and silently telling her best friend to back off.
"You know what word that is." John bit back, without hesitation as his blue eyes flared at the table in front of them. Suddenly the room was thick with tension, and the joke wasn't funny anymore. Will had also since calmed down, silencing his laughing-coughing hybrid, although there was still an amused smile that played on his lips. Katherine's eyes narrowed, as she glanced to Arthur, who was still laughing to himself, with his arm wrapped around Tilly's shoulders, holding onto the smaller blonde to stay sat up straight. Eddie, too, was also still chuckling to himself, drinking whiskey.
"Everybody bloody knows!" Arthur exclaimed, between laughs. Katherine rolled her dark eyes, as she watched John grow more and more angry. There was an argument brewing, she could sense it. She silently warned Tommy not to push it any further. He simply looked away from her, pretending he hadn't noticed.
"Whore? That word? . . . Or prostitute? How about that one?" Tommy then asked, purposely trying to antagonise his brother. Eddie had stopped laughing now. Katherine sighed, shaking her head at Tommy. John slammed his hands on the table — He'd had enough. Katherine rolled her eyes. . . Well, here we fucking go, then.
"Right! I want it known, if anyone calls her a whore again, I will push the barrel of my revolver down their throats, and blow the word back down into their hearts!" John snapped, aggravation lacing his tone. Katherine sighed and bit her tongue, quite literally. All men did was think with their heads, and not the heads on their shoulders. It never failed to amaze her how, as soon as a woman was involved, any man's thoughts seemed to be driven by the blood below his waist. And, her boys were no different, either. John had just proven that.
"Men and their cocks never cease to amaze me." Polly finally spoke, throwing her arms in the air, exasperatedly. John glared at his Aunt, but quickly backed off when Polly raised a challenging eyebrow at him. Katherine sighed, finally pushing her back off of the war. John looked at her.
"John, Lizzie Stark never did a days work vertical —" The dark haired Jordan woman began, but was quickly cut off by John, who stared at her with wide eyes that were tinged with anger. He thought of all people at least Katherine would've been the tiniest bit understanding toward him.
"— She's changed!" He cut her off, snapping up at Katherine. She raised an eyebrow, with her arms still crossed over her chest. Katherine couldn't quite remember the last time John had snapped at her like that, but she knew it hadn't been for a while. Upon the challenging look that Katherine threw him, John stood up, but his face softened. He didn't mean to snap at her like that, but he was angry and she just didn't get it. John sighed, and began to speak again, this time in a slightly calmer tone, "All right? People change. . . Like with religion."
"Lizzie Stark's got religion, eh?" Will said, with raised eyebrows, watching as he tapped his cigarette into the ashtray, before bringing it to his lips again, whilst simultaneously looking over to John. John scowled at the older man, shaking his head as he tried desperately to reason with his family.
"No! No. . . She doesn't have religion. But — but she loves me." John said. Katherine listened silently, as she nudged Will's foot with her own, when he made a noise of faux surprise, whilst slowly turning away from John and back to his drink. Eddie let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest; even he couldn't quite believe what John was about to let himself into. John turned around to face Tommy, "Now listen, Tommy. I won't do it without your blessing. But of all the people in the world, I want you to see it. . . as brave."
"Oh, it's brave all right." Arthur added, eyeing his glass of whiskey as he spoke. Katherine looked over to him with a sharp, warning look etched across her face. Arthur's eyes didn't leave his drink to spare a glance in Katherine's direction, before he downed the whiskey in one gulp.
"Brave is going where no man has gone before. . . And with Lizzie Stark, John, that's really not what you'll be doing." Tilly said, an amused smile on her face, trying not to burst into laughter again. Arthur cracked up at this, practically doubling over as he belly laughed at what the blonde had said. Polly snickered from the opposite side of the table, and Will cracked yet another amused smile, at his sister's words. Tommy glanced to the side, toward Tilly, and Katherine saw an amusement glint in his eye. John ignored Tilly, continuing trying to win Tommy over.
"Listen, Tommy. Welcome her to the family. As someone who's had a hard life. All right? because I need someone. The kids need someone." John said, and there was such a sense of sincerity in his voice that even Katherine felt partly guilty for judging John and Lizzie so quickly.
"Tommy! We've been done over!" An out-of-breath little Finn Shelby exclaimed, as he threw open the door to the snug. Both Katherine and Tommy snapped their eyes toward one another, and the room suddenly became even thicker with tension. Will sighed in irritation. Arthur had stopped laughing now.
Katherine grabbed her coat from the back of one of the spare chairs, and had begun to rush out of the door, grabbing ahold of the youngest Shelby by the hand, Tommy hot on her trail. Arthur was the last to leave the snug, with Tilly, as he shouted.
"What?"
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EVERYONE, bar little Finn, who had been sent away by his eldest brother once they had reached the betting den, was stood around the messy excuse that was Watery Lane den, with a black and blue Scudboat, who had been the only man at the house at the time of the attack. Tilly stood with her hands on her hips between Arthur and Eddie, and Will had a cigarette smouldering between his teeth by John. Katherine began picking up numerous knocked over chairs, as a poor attempt to clean up the mess that the attack had behind them. She sighed.
"Jesus Christ!" Eddie sighed, with a hint of irritated venom lacing his tone, as he kicked a pile of paperwork that had been carelessly thrown on the door. Katherine paused her attempt of tidying up up, glancing toward her older brother and let out a heavy exhale through her nose.
"What the bloody hell happened here?" Arthur growled from beneath his moustache, turning to look at Scudboat, who was sat idly on a chair in the middle of the betting den with one hand pressed over his injured eye, his hands trembling. With a another slight pause, Katherine glanced upwards.
"The Lee's." Scudboat began, and instantly Katherine sighed and rolled her eyes, her hands on her hips. Glancing to Tommy, the brunette, and youngest, Jordan woman quirked an eyebrow, but his back was to her and he didn't see her. Scudboat continued, "All of 'em. Cousins, nephews, even their bastards. . ."
"They've taken anything they can lay their hands on." Polly added, as she returned to the others. Tilly, who had previously been stood with her arms wrapped around herself, pushed her body off of a pillar and made her way toward Scudboat, easing his hand away from his battered and bruised eye to inspect the wound. Katherine heard Eddie whistle in a low tone when he saw the injury Scudboat sported, turning away as he smoked his cigarette. Tommy was slowly making his way back toward them, as Polly added (the sheer irritation in her tone evident), "Four cash boxes!"
"They left these." Tommy said, as he finally faces Katherine, who was picking up a knocked over chair from the floor, a pair of wire cutters in his hand. The brunette furrowed her eyebrows. Tilly looked over to Tommy from her space, crouched before Scudboat and his battered, black eye.
"Wire cutters? Why would they leave that?" Tilly asked, as she voiced the confusion that all three of the women in the room simultaneously felt. Suddenly, as Katherine was clearing up scattered papers, the room grew thick with tension. Eddie turned on his heel to look at his brother, and Will looked up from his pocket watch to meet his younger brother's gaze. Katherine paused momentarily, glancing around the room in confusion, before she slowly leant down to pick up another knocked over chair. John froze the archway of the den, and Arthur tensed in panic. Tilly slowly looked around.
"Nobody move." Arthur said, lowly. Tilly looked up to him, a look of expectancy on her face. Katherine continued to lift the chair upright. Arthur hand shot out, "Drop the fucking chair, and don't move, Kat."
Katherine dropped the chair with a thud and held her hands up in defence.
"I think our friends are playing the game." Tommy finally said, with a nod, and giving next-to-no clarification to the women in the room. Will inhaled deeply and straightened his posture, looking around the room with his dark eyes. Tilly squirmed in discomfort, and even Katherine felt the need to stop, and fall still. She slowly turned to John; the fear on his face was indescribable, it was a fear that Katherine could never imagine feeling in her wildest dreams. Even the usually wild and brash Arthur had fallen deadly still, and that unnerved Katherine immensely. Polly sighed.
"What game?" The older woman snapped, as she marched past Katherine, behind Eddie and toward the office beside John. Will's head perked up at the sudden movement from Polly. Tommy swallowed thickly. John's hand shot out to his Aunt, and Katherine turned her head quickly to watch him do so.
"Aunt Pol. Don't. . . touch anything." John said, with similar, indescribable fear lacing the tone of his voice. Polly slowed her pace to a stop, as she looked toward her nephew with furrowed brows. Tommy turned his head to look at Will, who pushed his back off of the wall carefully.
"Erasmus Lee was in France." Tommy said. Eddie tapped excess cigarette ash onto the floor, as he shared a grim look with his older brother. Realisation seemed to wash over Scudboat, as he slowly began to rise from his seat, eyes growing as wide as saucers with the fear that soon replaced his realisation. Tilly, with furrowed eyebrows, hastily followed Scudboat's actions, standing up straight from her crouching position. Will placed a hand over his mouth and scratched his jaw nervously. Katherine stood, still without a clue of what was going on, and blissfully unaware to the threateningly hostile danger.
"Shit!"
"When we have up ground to the Germans, we'd leave behind booby traps, set up with wires." Tommy began to explain. He made swift eye contact with Katherine at this point; his icy eyes gazing intensely into her dark brown ones from across the room. Katherine turned her head to the side slightly, as she listened to Tommy recall incidents from the rarely spoken of War. She didn't know what was happening, but that gut-wrenching nervousness she felt was enough to tell her that, whatever it was, it wasn't good. "We'd leave wire cutters as part of the joke."
"Somewhere. . . in here," Will began, as he removed his hand from in front of his mouth. He tutted, his dark eyes fixated on the wooden floor. "There's a hand grenade."
"Holy Jesus." Polly whispered, as she looked around in sudden fear. Katherine swallowed thickly as she look to Tommy, desperately.
". . . Attached to a wire." Eddie added to his brother's sudden revelation. Tilly stumbled back into Arthur in fear, frozen, and he took ahold of her shoulders and held her tightly. Eddie turned to look at Katherine, and sent her a grave look. "Don't move any chairs, or open any doors."
"No." Tommy shook his head. Arthur, John, Will and Eddie all paused slowly looking around the room for a wire, treading carefully as the woman stayed frozen still. Katherine looked over to Tommy, tearing her gaze from a fearful Polly, who had slowly turned around to face them. "Boys, no. It's not in here. If it was in here it would've blown by now. Kat's been moving chairs, and cleaning up — It would've blown by now. It was my name on that bullet Erasmus sent. He set up a trap, all right. But he's set it up just for me."
Falling into a tense silence — the type of silence that was so thick one could cut it with a knife, the type of silence that made one feel like they were suffocating — Katherine could see the cogs turning in everyone's minds, as they tried to figure out where the hand grenade was. Katherine, too, was taking her brain, as she began to mentally list everywhere the grenade could've been. And then, after a moment silence, Katherine spoke up, her brown eyes still fixed on the floor.
"The car." She mumbled. Her eyes snapped up to meet Tommy's. "Your fucking car!"
It dawned on Tommy that as soon as the words had tumbled from Katherine's mouth that that was exactly where the hand grenade would've been; the place that would've gotten Tommy, on his own, unsuspected and vulnerable. Without missing a beat, Tommy had set off, rushing toward the doors to the betting den, past Arthur and Tilly, Scudboat, Will and Eddie, past Polly. He grabbed ahold of Katherine by the hand and dragged her along with him, past John and out of the door. Katherine stumbled as she tried to match Tommy's quick pace, initially, but soon adapted to match.
The pair made their way out into the smog-ridden streets of Small Heath, heading toward Tommy's parked car. A horrible feeling suddenly rose in Katherine, punching her in the stomach. They rounded a corner, and Katherine suddenly stopped. Because there was little Finn in the drivers seat of Tommy's car.
"Finn." She breathed out, shakily, as she felt Tommy drag her closer to the car. Finn smiled at the two of them, when Katherine caught his attention. The innocence radiating off of the eleven year old made Katherine want to burst into tears. "Finn, love, stay exactly where you are."
"I was pretending I was you, Tommy." Finn smiled. Katherine felt her stomach dropped as she watched the car rock slightly, as the young boy kicked his legs to-and-fro in the driver's seat. She couldn't — wouldn't believe this was happening right now. So much for finding the perfect place to place a hand grenade to catch Tommy off-guard, vulnerable. All Katherine could think of right now was, if this all went wrong (as she feared it might), Erasmus Lee would have the blood of an eleven year old Shelby on his hands. And so God help him.
"Which door did you open to come in, Finn?" Tommy asked his younger brother. Finn shrugged and sent a cheeky smile to the pair. Slowly, Tommy raised one of his hands up and out to Finn, whilst the other still firmly gripped Katherine's so tightly.
"I didn't. I climbed in."
A lump rose in Katherine's throat, and she felt tears begin to prick her eyes, poking at her tear ducts, threatening to fall down her cheeks as she held in the urge to suddenly let out a choked sob, and alarm Finn. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him into running out of the car, flinging open a car door and then the worst would be upon them. Tommy glanced back to Katherine, briefly, squeezing her hand slightly, before he turned back to oblivious Finn, completely unaware to the fact he could've been blown up any second.
"Finn, I want you to climb out exactly the same way you climbed in, okay?" Tommy slowly said. Finn, believing this was all a game, shuffled to the opposite side of the car and flung open the door, jumping out. Katherine's stomach dropped as she broke away from Tommy, panicking.
"NO! NO! FINN!"
Katherine raced toward the younger boy and picked him up, his legs swinging around her as she held him close to her, her hand grabbing the back of his head whilst the other gripped onto his torso. Tommy leapt forward to grab ahold of the hand grenade on the floor of the car, and began to run toward the street. Katherine was breathing heavily, as she watched Tommy throw the grenade and call out to the workers and lowly-stated Peaky Boys, before rushing back toward Katherine and Finn. The men ducked out of the way of the grenade.
"CLEAR!"
As the grenade blew up, Tommy took ahold of Katherine by the waist and shielded her and Finn from the blast. She screamed in freight as the grenade went off, hugging Finn closer to her as she felt Tommy's cheek press against her own. As soon as he was sure the explosion was finished, Tommy slowly let go of the pair, and Katherine dropped Finn from her arms, still hugging him close to her. Finn gripped Katherine's shirt with his fists, cheek pressed against her stomach. Tommy crouched before Finn,
"And that's why you should never pretend to be me."
[ word count, 4, 200 ! ]