CHAPTER TWELVE
Harry found her on the way to the house. There was a cigarette leaning loosely from his lips, a cap balanced against dark hair. It seemed he'd grown up in their time in Birmingham. He didn't seem so young when she looked at him now. That was until he smiled when he saw her, rushing to hang an arm over her shoulder. He looked just like their sister when he smiled, so youthful and innocent, even though he was anything but.
"Adelaide," he exclaimed. "You've had my heart in my throat since the races."
"What do you mean?" She pushed him away playfully, watching as he tripped on his feet but remained steady. "You're the one never in the house."
He shrugged the comment off, not wanting to answer her silent question- where have you been? - and continued on the path toward the flat. "The boys are waiting, seeing you want to talk," he said as she wrapped an arm around his in the way she had once done with their father. "Don't suppose we've done enough talking? I know you've got your plan and it's just about getting it running, but we've been here long enough, Addy."
He stopped at the doorway, halting them from entering. Through the thin walls and open windows, she could hear the sound of laughing, or Robert's deep, prominent voice laced with a joke.
"I want to go home, Adelaide."
"I know. I know," she said, taking his hand so tightly in her own. Harry could only look down at their entwined fingers with a solemn look. She hoped the expression on her face was sympathetic, because Harry wished for something she no longer longed for. "Home will always be there waiting for us, with father, with El. But now, we'll never get a chance like this again. The knowledge of these guns fell into our laps, and so soon will their location. I know it."
Harry let out a sigh but nodded, squeezing their fingers together.
"Let me tell you, Harry. I will find these guns. I will complete our plan, alright. Then there'll be no one able to go against us. Then we'll be back in Newcastle, safer than ever," she said, not voicing what her heart whispered. More powerful than ever. "But let me tell you, brother. My plans won't stop there, they can't. And you can go home, take care of father and sister, or you can come with me, wherever is necessary."
"And where might that be?" Harry said with narrowed eyes. "What plans might take us further than we've already come?"
Adelaide did not miss the way he said us. She placed a hand on her brother's cheek. He looked so young, so like their sister, yet so... desperate, she realised. He wanted to know the plans she now dangled in front of him like bait on a hook, the very plans she had filed away in her own mind and never confirmed until now. Harry was with her.
"When we have those guns, no one will be able to argue against our influence, but that won't be enough to control the south as we do the north," Adelaide said, and he followed blankly, eyes searching her face for a clue. "I'm not too proud to realise we'll need help, at first."
Harry came to a conclusion before she could explain it all. "The Peaky Blinders. You'll hold a truce with them once we have the high ground?" He said, eyebrows furrowed and face cold beneath her touch.
Adelaide smiled, watching the expressions flicker on his face as she knew hers once did. A sense of pride flickered through her. She was teaching him well, it seemed. Harry didn't seem appalled by the suggestion, only thoughtful. Adelaide nodded.
"Let's go see what they have to say."
Arthur Shelby threw an arm over her shoulder, looking far too comfortable for the number of times they'd met. The boys were already deep in their drinks, sharing stories of the war. All the while, Tommy watched her. Adelaide could feel his eyes but dared not look. She prayed that look was not suspicion, and hoped it was something else.
"Good old whiz-bang, reminded me of it the other day," Arthur said, his voice cheering up again after his last sad bought of words. "Said the old boys are taking their medals down the cut and throwing them in, just like our Tommy did."
Danny whiz-bang. The man they'd killed and buried in the city cemetery. She'd seen him once, raging from the doors of the Garrison in a flood of hysterics, the typical sign of shell-shock, as they called it. But if Danny whiz bang is in London, who- or what- is in his grave?
Adelaide dared not hope. She didn't get a second to, before a great, booming voice was interrupting them all.
"It's a boy." Polly Gray's shout echoed through the empty room. It was as painful as a cry, as sharp and angry as a scream.
"Pol? Polly?" Confusion was evident in Tommy's words, his hands held in front of him as the other boys came to grip their aunt's arms, once her wolf rage had been noticed. She reached for him still. "Woah! Woah! Pol!"
"But the police came and took his father away. Don't you dare look at me like that. You liar!"
Words were spat like venom from her lips. Angry tears streamed down her cheeks, carved deep and mournful, as if they'd made the same tracks before. Tommy could do nothing but watch her, realisation slowly dawning on his face as she continued to glare. Polly was accusing him of turning in Freddie Thorne, despite his wife, Tommy's sister, being on the birthing bed.
"You liar," she repeated, eyes like fiery pits. Polly eventually stilled, her shoulders dropping in solemn defeat, and Arthur let her go, John following quickly.
Adelaide continued to watch for his reaction. Tommy was staring widely still, slightly shaken from her shouting, hands still held in front of him in a calming motion. She wondered if he had done it, and what that made of him if he had. Did he think so little of his family, of love? Surely not. But Adelaide was reminded of the fact that she did not know the man who stood in front of her. Not truly.
"Tommy..." she began, voice trailing, not knowing what to say. He had too much to explain, to make up.
"The private room," Tommy said in a voice that was far quieter than normal. It was unsettling. He waited a moment, before looking up, uttering her name slowly, "Adelaide."
For a moment, she waited, until she lead the way into the smaller room, back towards his silent steps. When she could feel his presence looming by the closed door, she finally turned, casting eyes upon a stilled face- now emotionless and revealing nothing compared to the tell-all expressions he'd shown seconds before.
He's innocent in this, Adelaide thought, remembering all she knew of the man. Though it wasn't looking to be such a safe opinion when his own aunt thought otherwise. But as much as he might've been harsh and unforgiving, if there was one thing she'd learned while being in Small Heath, it was that family meant everything to Tommy Shelby. He would not go back on that now. Freddie Thorne was family, whether he liked it or not.
Even if he did do it, it holds no matter to me. This was good for him to trust her. That's what she told herself anyway, when it came to her own intentions.
"You didn't do it, did you?" Adelaide said, levelling her eyes forward to his.
"You believe I didn't do it?"
His hand was on her cheek then, eyes so distrustful yet wanting. She leaned forward, brows furrowed and sure.
"Freddie Thorne is family. You may not like the fact but you cannot change it," Adelaide said, finally out loud. "And from what I know of Thomas Shelby, he doesn't turn his back on family."
Without a seconds notice, Tommy placed his other hand against her neck, and pulled her closer until he was kissing her. It took Adelaide a moment to realise what was happening, before her own hands were snaking towards him, fingers grazing the back of Tommy's neck, sending shivers down his spine. It was surprising- Tommy kissed her like he had no regrets, like he was sure of what he was doing.
Hands were around him, grasping for more, being rewarded when he pushed them backwards, flush against the table of the private room, which was still littered with discarded glasses that Grace had not yet collected. Her hands fell backwards, leaning against the table even as the kiss deepened.
But Adelaide let her hand slip, sending her sliding backwards until she was leaning against elbows to hold her body up, purposefully breaking the kiss. Tommy's hands came to lay either side of her hips, but he could do nothing but stare down at her, waiting for Adelaide's gaze to finally reach his, but she squeezed her eyes shut tighter.
His kiss was still hot against her lips, but she couldn't let it go on. She hated herself. Hated that she'd let it go on for so long, that she'd knowingly fallen into a trap and not fought to get out. Adelaide had wanted this, had craved it in her core, but it should not have happened.
'You've gone soft, Adelaide,' Robert's words were fresh in her mind. What would her brother think? The credibility of her plans would have crumbled, had he found out about her desires. But that was not her only problem...
"Adelaide," he began, but she silenced him but finally opening her eyes.
"Tell me you didn't do the exact thing with Grace the other day," she said, voice barely above a deadly whisper. She had seen them. "At the church."
For once, Thomas Shelby was struck into silence, looking as if she'd slapped him. Adelaide let out a sigh as he pulled away, letting her rose from where she'd fallen against the table.
"That was a mistake, Thomas."
Edited