CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Disaster Strikes
SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED WHILE THOMAS AND TABITHA WERE AWAY AT PENELOPE AND ELIJAH'S WEDDING.
Thomas' felt right about something bad happening while him and his wife were away. He woke up and felt like something was wrong, like the time he first watched Grace's eyes on Tabitha's. Just like that, he was right, but didn't want Tabitha to feel bad for pulling him away when an unexpected tragedy struck.
It had happened right as Penelope and Elijah had their first kiss as husband and wife, as everyone clapped and cheered. Thomas and Tabitha were smiling until his stomach dropped, knowing something was wrong. Arthur got on a horse and rode it all the way to the Hearn Family village to give them the news. Tabitha covered her mouth from the news while Thomas was speechless, in disbelief.
Freddie Thorne was infected with the Spanish Influenza those last couple days, and he didn't make it. He died, leaving behind a sad wife Ada and their son Karl. Tabitha wasn't able to understand how her sister in-law was feeling. Ada lost her husband, and Karl lost his father.
Freddie wasn't a fan of Thomas or most of the Peaky Blinders, but he liked Tabitha due to her kindness and innocence away from the family she was married into. He knew that out of everyone, that the gypsy woman would've made a good man out of Thomas. Everyone loved Tabitha, she just had a vibe around her that made them smile. Freddie and Tabitha even considered themselves friends after the times Tabitha came to London to visit him, Ada, and little Karl.
Thomas planned most of Freddie's funeral, gathering the family and Freddie's commie friends. There were several cars and chauffeurs since the Peaky Blinders were earning a lot more money than they did before. Thomas got Freddie one of the most beautiful caskets and a good tombstone, as well as a good place to be buried. Tabitha attended the funeral, standing right at Thomas' side, wearing a peaky cap he got her a couple months after she killed Kimber.
Freddie's funeral took place on a dark and gloomy afternoon, and everyone dressed in black. A grieving widow, Ada wore a black, birdcage veil, while her son was dressed in a nice suit. Thomas was about to say a couple of words of Freddie's grave, a promise Thomas made if he passed first.
"I promised my friend Freddie Thorne, that I'd say a few words over his grave if so he should pass before me. I made this promise before he became me brother in-law. When we were fighting for the king," Thomas started, allowing Tabitha to wrap her arm around his.
"Amen," Arthur said.
"And in the end it wasn't was that took Freddie. Pestilence took him. But Freddie passed on his soul and spirit to a new generation before he was cruelly taken."
It was all Thomas wanted to say, but he wasn't the only one who promised Freddie to speak at his funeral. There was another he wanted to speak, as well as sing. When Thomas finished, he looked down at Tabitha, who last go of of his arm and stepped up.
"I didn't know Freddie long enough like all of you, he was still a friend of mine. He was very kind to me, and always said how much he loved hearing me sing at the Garrison," Tabitha started. "I went to see Freddie not long before he passed, and he asked if I could sing at his funeral, as his last dying request."
Everyone was silent, their eyes still in Tabitha's as a voice like silk left her lips. She sung the first song she sung in Garrison all those years ago, right around the start of her and Thomas' marriage. When Harry and Grace got her to stand on a chair and sing to the locals.
Well I've been out walking
I don't do that much talking these days
These days
The lyrics made Thomas think back to the day she first sung that song. How beautiful she looked, standing up on the chair, so much life in gold, brown eyes, the waves in her light brown hair. That was the first time he felt butterflies in his stomach looking at her.
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
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
Ada had tears strolling down her cheeks, with Polly comforting as they listened to the lyrics. John held his wife Esme with their youngest children in his arms. Arthur was drinking from a bottle of gin beside young Finn, who had grown a lot more.
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
The end of the song closed out the funeral, as the clouds grew darker and showed signs of rain. Tabitha and Thomas walked with Ada away from the cemetery, pulling the second youngest Shelby away from everyone else. Thomas thought that since Freddie died, that Ada and little should've moved back to Birmingham. He was gonna ask her herself, but Tabitha and Polly believed they should ask her.
"We thought, now Freddie's gone, you might come home," Thomas said.
Tabitha gently slapped her husband's chest, getting onto him from bringing it up after they just buried Freddie.
"God, do you know how funny it is that you've got chauffeurs in uniform?" Ada asked, avoiding the topic.
"It's just for the occasion, Ada," Thomas answered.
"Do you know how unfair off is that you've got four Bugattis when the country's starving?"
"So now they've made you ashamed of us?"
"Tommy..." Tabitha whispered with a warning to stop as they stopped walking. She gave him the look, which made all the Shelby brothers shudder.
"Sometimes when I think how I used to be, it makes me embarrassed," Ada continued, ignoring her sister in-law.
Polly showed up at the right time, making her way towards the three. Tabitha sighed on the inside when she came to save the day, tired of the tension between the siblings.
"Karl is with his cousins. I caught 'em trying to pinch flowers off a grave," Polly said, softly smiling, easing the tension.
"Ada. Are you coming home?" Tabitha asked sweetly.
"I'm going home," Ada answered.
"It's all right, Pol, Tab. We make Ada embarrassed," Thomas said as it began to rain.
"Thomas..." Tabitha whispered. She only called him Thomas when she wanted him to stop something.
"That's not what I said," Ada replied.
"There's another reason we want you home," Thomas started, wrapping his arm around Tabitha's waist. "We're planning an expansion. I'm taking premises in London..."
"Tommy, it's a funeral, business can wait," said Polly, trying to stop the conversation.
"Pol's right, let's talk about this elsewhere," Tabitha agreed.
"If Ada was weeping then I'd stop, but she's not," Thomas replied to both women. Then he looked at Ada again. "The expansion means it's going to be dangerous to be a Shelby in London for a while."
"Yeah, well I'm not a Shelby anymore. And I'm not a Thorne either. I'm free," was Ada's response.
"Ada..." Tabitha said with a sad expression. "Will at least consider it? For me?"
Ada frowned in response, Tabitha and Polly being the only ones in the family she got along with.
"I've got to get Karl home," Ada said softly.
She then walked back to the cemetery, leaving Thomas with two angry women. Tabitha and Polly both have him the look, crossing their arms.
"I told you. Let me and Tabitha do it," Polly said.
"It's all right," Thomas assured. "I'll have some men watch her house till the danger passes."
" 'Till the danger passes?' " Tabitha questioned with a scoff. "That'll be the bloody day."
That's when a man on a motorcycle came in, passing along a message. Thomas began walking in their direction, Tabitha following after him. Something has happened over at the Garrison during the funeral. Thomas and Tabitha's got in one of the cars and a chauffeur drove them back into town. Polly went back to the house with the rest of the family. Tabitha covered her mouth in shock when she looked at the Garrison. The glass windows were broken and there was rubble inside.
Thomas got out of the car to talk to a copper on his payroll, helping Tabitha out. His hand rested on Tabitha's back as the approached the destroyed Garrison. The gypsy woman tried to hold back her tears as the copper walked beside Thomas.
"It happened at exactly 7:00 a.m.," the copper said as Polly began checking the other side. "Nobody saw anything. Our patrols were not in the area. Mr Shelby, you got any idea who might have done it?"
"I'd say it was something to do with gas," Thomas replied, not looking at the copper. His hand moved from Tabitha's back to her waist, then pulled out some money for the copper. "Just been fitted."
Tabitha then decided to leave Thomas' hold and began walking towards the Garrison doors with Thomas behind her.
"Er, Mrs Shelby, the structure is not yet decided safe," the copper said.
That didn't stop Tabitha from slowly entering, the debris crunching under her feet.
"Mrs Shelby!"
Tabitha lowered herself to the floor, catching sight of something green and square on the floor. Then she got back up and looked at it closely and walked out to face her husband and the copper, holding it. It was confetti.
"What did you find, Tab?" Thomas asked.
"This is all over the place," Tabitha answered, holding up the green confetti. Then she walked over to Thomas and handed it to him. "Confetti."
Thomas then looked up and nodded his head at the copper, "you can go."
The copper left, and Tabitha turned around to looked at the destroyed pub. Tears formed in Tabitha's eyes just looking at it.
"Who?" Tabitha asked, her voice soft. "Who did this to us?"
Thomas wished to give her an answer, because he hated seeing the most beautiful woman in the world cry.