CHAPTER SEVEN: Sing a Song
THAT NIGHT WAS A SPECIAL NIGHT AT THE GARRISON.
For the first time since before the war, there was singing. It all started when Tabitha walked into the pub that night while Thomas was off doing business with his uncle Charlie. Polly as watching over Finn while Ada was out with Freddie Thorne for the night.
She leaned against the bar, getting to know a little more about Grace, the new, Irish barmaid. Grace we from Galway, where the Hearn clan was originally from until her father Finneas moved the camp to Birmingham. The topic of music came up when Grace said she used to sing back to stop the fighting.
"What was it like? Being over there and seeing that," Grace asked the Romani woman.
"It showed me how much chaos war truly brought," Tabitha replied a a frown. "I've even things I'll never be able to unsee."
"And you use to sing to the wounded soldiers?"
"I did. Haven't really sung since then."
"You should sing for us," Harry said, entering the conversation excited. "It's been a long time since we've had music here."
"I agree, Harry," Grace said, coming out from behind the bar. "Please, Tabitha, will you sing for us?"
"Uhm, well, I don't really know if I-"
"Boys, Tabitha's going to sing for us," Harry spoke up, getting the casuals attentions.
"What? I am. But-"
Grace guided Tabitha in front of the crowd of the pub usuals, pulling out a chair for her to stand up on. Seeing she had no choice, Tabitha got up on the chair, looking down at the crowd. They were silent, waiting for her to sing. She took a soft, but deep breath and her hauntingly beautiful voice began to full their ears.
Well I've been out walking
I don't do that much talking these days
These days
Tabitha was a strong alto, able to hit lower notes more than girls who sing soprano. It made the song she was singing even more beautiful. Grace and Harry were behind the bar, holding their heads up with their right hands. They kept their eyes on Tabitha, listening to her voice.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
For you
And all the times I had the chance to
Quietly, the Garrison doors opened and the Peaky Blinders walked in slowly. They didn't hear the usual ruckus from the men outside, but soon understood, looking at Tabitha standing on a chair. Thomas as amongst the Blinders taking off his cap, staring at his wife, leaning against the pillar as he listened to her sing. Tabitha noticed him, but kept on singing, focusing on the words, and looking down at all the men.
Well I had a lover
I don't think I'll risk another these days
These days
These days I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
But it's just that I have been losing
For so long
These days I sit on cornerstones
Count the time in quarter tones 'till ten
My friend
And now I believe I've come
To see myself again
These days I sit on cornerstones
Count the time in quarter tones 'till ten
My friend
Please don't confront me with my failure
I'm aware of it
Once Tabitha finished, the crowd of usuals clapped and cheered. She got off the chair and quickly curtailed before looking at Thomas as he stared at her. Their stores were interrupted when Harry walked up to Thomas with a smile on Harry's face.
"We haven't had singing in here since the war," Harry commented.
Thomas slowly moved his eyes off Tabitha and glanced at the bartender.
"And why do you think that is, Harry?" Thomas asked, and the room was silent.
"Well, not only is my sister in-law a sight for sore eyes..." John started, walking towards Tabitha. "Her voice is music to the ears."
John wrapped his arm around Tabitha's shoulders as she chuckled from the compliment. Tabitha then joined Thomas by his side as they entered the private sing of the Garrison. Only Shelby family members were allowed to use the snug, their own room to smoke and drink together. Tabitha and Thomas didn't say a word to each other, but continued to gaze at each other as Arthur and John were getting themselves drunk.
After a couple more drinks, Tabitha and the Shelby brothers headed home on Watery Lane. It was a cold night in Small Heath, and when Thomas noticed Tabitha was cold, he pulled off his black coat and gave it to her. She pulled it on and clung to her small body, faintly giving Thomas a thank you. The coat smelled like him, like cigarettes and whiskey, two intoxicating scents she loved.
Arthur and John were behind them, slow and holding onto each other so they didn't stumble and fall. John then went home to his four children, and Thomas helped his drunk brother Arthur into the Shelby home/betting shop. Polly sent the eldest Shelby to bed seeing his state and went to bed herself after her and Thomas exchanged looks again.
Tabitha didn't have chamomile tea that, already tired from her time down at the Garrison. Her and Thomas went to their bedroom and got changed for bed, turning away from each other to get undressed. Sometimes, when Tabitha was faced away, Thomas only glanced at her bare arms and back, seeing the human bite marks on her upper arms.
The marks were from Tabitha, which she inflicted on herself. When the sound of gunshots and dying men filled her ears and it became too much, she bit down on her arms until she calmed down. Of course, that was only when Thomas and the others weren't around to catch her.
"So is it true? What Harry said," Tabitha asked, slipping into her nightgown. "That there hasn't been any singing since the war."
"The Peaky Blinders don't allow singing at the Garrison," was Thomas' only reply.
He was silent for a couple more seconds as they turned around, clothed for bed. Then he parted his lips and mumbled
"You sounded good, back at the Garrison," was what he mumbled.
A soft blush crept on Tabitha's cheeks from the compliment. Thomas rarely have anyone a compliment, so she was quite surprised to hear one come from his lips.
"Thanks," Tabitha said.
A faint smile formed on Tabitha's lips as her and Thomas got in the bed and she got under the covers, Tabitha sleeping on the inside while Thomas slept in the outside just in case something bad happened. Her arms rested over the covers as her eyes went to the ceiling.
Thomas was sitting on his side of the bed, lighting opium like he did every night. Tabitha didn't question the opium, already knowing why he was using it, and didn't blame him. He then got under the covers beside her, inhaling the fumes from the opium.
"That was the first time I've sung since the war," Tabitha said, still looking up at the ceiling. "I was never really a fan of singing before it, but the wounded soldiers and my wounded cousins, who came back from France enjoyed it. Guess it made them forget France for at least a couple minutes, helped me forget about France as well."
"What do you know about France?" Thomas asked.
His voice was cold, emotionless, sinking in the scent from the opium. Tabitha turned on her side, facing away from Thomas as She heard the gunshots and the screams of dying men and horses
"A lot more than you think I do," Tabitha mumbled. "I admit, I won't ever understand what you, Freddie, and Danny went through in those tunnels...but the sisters, mothers, and daughters suffered from the war too. My siblings and I lost a brother, my parents a son."
Thomas and Tabitha said nothing else, both of them falling asleep from the silence. The opium Thomas lit at night always gave him dreams and hallucinations, taking him back to the tunnels with him, Freddie Thorne, and Danny Whizz-Bang. They came across enemy soldiers, fighting them to the death in such a small space.
When he woke up after having the dreams, he heard the shovels on his bedroom wall. The tossing and turning woke up Tabitha most of the time and that night was one of the worst. He kept staring at the wall across the bed, the sounds of shovels growing louder and louder.
"Tommy," Tabitha said softly, partly asleep.
She sat up in the bed, placing her hand on Thomas' shoulder. The shovels suddenly stopped when he heard Tabitha's voice, it was the first time they stopped since he came back from the war. He turned to see the awoken Tabitha, her eyes open as a yawn escaped her lips.
"It's okay, Tommy," she whispered, comforting him. "You're not in the tunnels anymore, you're not in France. Come, sleep."
Thomas didn't respond at first, still looking at wall. A couple seconds later, he nodded, getting back under the covers with Tabitha. She fell back to sleep, not knowing she curled herself up to Thomas to comfort him. It was strange, but Thomas wrapped his arms around Tabitha's waist and got situated before falling back to sleep.
That was the first time they slept that close since their marriage, and Thomas didn't mind it at all.
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Thomas was gone for most of the day that next day, gone before Tabitha even woke up, though that was normal. She spent most of the morning and afternoon watching over Finn and John's four children to make sure none of chopped off an arm or two. Polly came home right after going to the church for a couple hours, taking Finn off Tabitha's hands.
Tabitha spent her afternoon at the Garrison, chatting up Grace, the new barmaid until the early evening. She came home as the sun set and Arthur was still in his office in the betting shop. He was mad, and Tabitha knew why. Monaghan Boy one at the races, thanks to the red lowered trick Thomas had done in the Chinatown of Birmingham.
Tabitha looked through the betting book, and she was allowed to since she mainly worked with John in the shop. Thomas came home a couple minutes after she did, walking into the shop to look at the betting book. He saw Tabitha looking down at it when he entered, her looking up with a faint smile.
"Did he win?" Thomas asked, walking over to look at the book.
"He did," Tabitha said with a nod. Then she noticed the blood on his white shirt and collar. "There's blood on you. What happened?"
"It's nothing to worry about, no one's dead." He explained quickly. "Just from a shell full of sheep's brains."
"Sheep's brains?"
"Where are you?" Arthur yelled, bursting our of his office.
Thomas looked down at the book when Arthur approached him and Tabitha both, slamming down a newspaper.
"It bloody won!" Arthur said to Thomas, all his anger on him. "Monaghan Boy bloody won!"
"Yeah. It won," Thomas replied, him and Tabitha looking up at his brother. "And word will spread. So the next time we do the powder trick, it won't be just the Garrison that'll bet on the horse, it'll be the whole of Small Heath." He started. "And you know what? The horse will win again. And the third time we do it, we'll have the whole of Birmingham betting on it. A thousand quid bet on the magic horse. And that time, when we are ready, the horse will lose. Think about it."
Thomas then loudly closed the book, making Tabitha slightly jump. He walked off into the house, Tabitha following behind him after he motioned her to.
"I get the plan for Monaghan Boy, but there's still Billy Kimber," Tabitha said. "Doesn't he run the races?"
"What do you know about Billy Kimber?" Thomas asked as both of them walked through the kitchen.
"You know who my father is, right?" She asked with a short chuckle.
"Good point."
Polly was at the dining table when Thomas and Tabitha walked in. He sat down the book as Polly out down a bag of shillings they earned that day.
"A bad week," Polly said to Thomas. She then opened the book, slowly flipping the pages. "There was no moon last night, I checked. Did you do the right thing?"
"Yes. I did the right thing," Thomas answered.
Tabitha was confused at what they were talking about, and both Thomas and Polly noticed she was there. She wasn't going to ask questions like she told Thomas the other night, but he decided to finally confide in her about it.
"Fancy a walk?" Thomas asked, turning to Tabitha. "I want to talk to you about something."
Tabitha parted her lips to speak with a faint smile, her voice soft.
"Sure."
*Song in Chapter: These Days by Jackson Browne
*AN: Grace will not be Tommy's second love interest, but just a normal character who grows really close to Tabitha...maybe even more close. So because she isn't a love interest for Tommy, the scene where he invited Grace to the races doesn't happen in this book.