THAILIANA WILKINSON
The clock had only just struck half past eight in the morning when Thailiana Wilkinson walked out of her house, her sister close behind. They'd been invited a couple days before to meet with Polly Gray at the Shelby house when the two older women had met out on the street, the same morning Thailiana had woken up in the arms of Thomas Shelby.
The brunette pulled her coat tighter around her body, the cold air of the morning hitting her suddenly in comparison to the warmth of the fireplace in her home. The two Wilkinson girls made their way to their destination, pushing past people in the busy streets of Small Heath, Birmingham.
Jade knocked on the door happily, waiting for an answer. The Shelby aunt opened the door, pulling on her own coat before stepping out of the house.
"We're going to see Ada."
"Why? Is she alright?" Thailiana asked, quickly realising how long it had been since she'd seen the new mother. "Oh! How is the baby doing? I hope he's well."
"They're both fine, I just have a favour to ask her." Polly rolled her eyes, a faint smile on her face. "I'll end up mad if she doesn't come home to see her brothers soon."
"I think she made a great choice!" The small ginger beside them grinned, eyes wandering between the two women. "I mean, kicking out all the men in her life? She's brilliant."
Her older sister let out a surprised laugh at her words, quite proud that she'd caught on to the many women-empowering stories she'd told her.
"That's enough, Jade, you don't even have any men in your life to worry about."
"I don't need a man in my life to know that they're dickheads." Jade retorted, daring the brunettes in front of her to tell her otherwise.
All Thailiana could do was laugh and nod along, grabbing her sibling's arm and pulling her towards her. "There's no denying that."
——
The three girls entered Ada Shelby's flat, shrugging off their coats as they were welcomed by the warmth of her home. The oldest Wilkinson wrapped her arms around the girl, squeezing her tightly.
"How have you been?" Ada exclaimed, hugging her back with the same amount of excitement. "First of all, update me on the Tommy life."
"Piss off." The brunette giggled childishly, pushing away the mother. "I'm not here to gossip about your brother, Ada."
"They had sex!" Jade said before rushing out of her sister's reach, joining Polly who was holding Karl while watching the scene go down.
"First of all, fuck off!" She gasped as she put her middle finger up at the young ginger.
"Language, both of you." Polly scolded them, holding in an amused laugh. "There's a child here."
"There's two, actually." The brunette mumbled before pulling her tongue out at her sibling.
Ada interrupted their banter session, smiling softly at her aunt and her son. "You're much better with him than I am."
"He settles quicker with me because he can't smell the milk." The eldest of the four explained, leaning down to put Karl in his basket. "You look tired. Let's put him down."
All of them gathered around the basket, glancing down on the baby peacefully lying inside it.
"Mine were terrors for the tit." Polly admitted, smiling at the memory. "Both of them. Well, you never knew my children, did you?"
The two Wilkinson girls stayed quiet, obviously not having known her children. They didn't even know she'd had any before, leaving them with curious questions dancing around their heads. Thailiana pulled on her sister's arm, taking her to sit on the sofa while the other two continued their personal chat.
The Shelby women soon joined them, Polly beginning her story. "They were three and five years old, Sally was three and Michael was five, well- two weeks away from being six. It was Sunday morning, while I was at church, "you're not forgiven", this pinch-faced bitch said to me, "you're not forgiven"." She paused a few seconds before continuing, "You see, some sheets I washed and hung on the line had the name of a hotel on them. They'd been stolen in a robbery and they said sone porter at the hotel had been coshed, and a woman from round here told the police I had the sheets. Jealous, you see, of the new sheets."
"And when the police came, they found a spirit still for making a few drops of gin. And for that," Tears welled in the woman's eyes as she recalled the day everything had been taken from her. "They took my children from me, and they never told me where they took them. They did it because they could, because I was weak. But, they'll never take your baby away from you, do you know why?"
She glanced between the three girls who were staring at her with admiration for her strength, with sadness, with pity. She focused her attention on Thailiana, knowing that the brunette had guessed why, waiting for her to finish the sentence. Polly was smart, she'd brought the Wilkinson girls because she knew they would back up her hopes of taking Ada home.
"Because Tommy wouldn't let them." Thailiana nodded, understanding where the woman was going.
"Because Tommy won't let them walk all over us." The Shelby aunt added, "Now it is Tommy that has brought strength and power to this family. Cause he knows you have to be as bad as them above in order to survive. I'm telling you this, because I want you to forgive him."
"How can I?" Ada interrupted, almost disgusted by the idea of forgiving her brother. "When my Freddie is rotting in jail because of him."
"There's something about today that you need to know."
They stared at Polly in confusion and Thailiana glanced at the date in the diary spread on the table, eyes widening as she remembered. Shit. She stood, rushing to grab her coat, pulling it on.
"Well, come on, then!" She turned to her friends and sister, waving them to hurry up.
"Where are we going?" Ada asked as she grabbed Karl from his basket.
"To stop your brother from getting himself killed."
——
Thailiana, Jade, Polly and Esme walked into the room already full of men dressed in suits and peaked caps. They left Ada in the backroom with her son, having gone over their whole process plan for the meeting. The two Wilkinson girls felt slightly out of place, not knowing if they should really be present for a Shelby meeting. Polly insisted they'd be alright and their presence would probably please more than it'd bother.
"Right, I've got you all here today because this is the day we replace Billy Kimber." Thomas spoke, stood in front of every body else, glancing around the room. His eyes fell on his favourite brunette, whom he hadn't seen since they'd woken up in the same bed, and he almost forgot his next words. "This is the day we become respectable, the day we join the official National Association of Race Course Bookmakers. But first," He raised his hand, cigarette in between his fingers. "We do the dirty work. We've all known this day's been coming, I just haven't told anybody the date."
Thailiana held back a scoff as she raised her eyebrows, an amused smile forming on her face. She knew he could tell by the way his gaze settled on her, telling her to be quiet.
"We're going to the Worcester races." He turned towards the blackboard on the wall, going on with his speech. "The track opens at one, we'll get there at two. Now, Kimber thinks we're going there to help him to fight the Lee brothers."
"But thanks to the efforts of our John, and his lovely new wife Esme, the Lees are now our kin." Thailiana almost awed at the loving stare exchanged between the two newlyweds. "I interrupted those efforts this morning and uh- I can assure you all, John is making great sacrifices for the cause of peace."
Everyone laughed at his comment, John dismissing it as he jokingly glared at his brother. Finn had turned to Jade, asking her what it meant and the small ginger ruffled his hair, shrugging her shoulders at the child.
"So, it'll be us and the Lees against Kimber's boys. We take them out but leave the bookies, I expect a swift victory which will send a signal all the way to London, that we believe in letting legitimate businesses run peacefully." Tommy continued, returning to his serious stare and voice.
"And what about Kimber himself?" John asked, making the brunette Wilkinson stand straighter as she waited for an answer.
"I'll deal with Kimber. Any other questions?"
A small silence took place before Polly put her hand up, indicating that she had a question. "Yes."
She glanced towards Thailiana, who nodded and made her way to the doors at the back of the room. Everybody stared at her, waiting to hear what the women had to say.
"Does anybody object if I bring a newcomer to the meeting?" The Shelby aunt asked, waving her hand at her new friend as a way to tell her to open the door. The brunette did as told, smiling at Ada through the ajar door before opening it wide enough for her to come through. "I'd like to introduce the newest member of the Shelby clan."
Ada entered the room with a nervous smile on her face, her son in her arms. The Peaky Blinders clapped and her older brothers looked happy to see her and her newborn baby.
"Welcome home, Ada."
Thailiana stood beside Polly, her hand resting on her back that she gently rubbed as a way to say you did it.
"We named him Karl, after Karl Marx."
"Karl bloody Marx! Let me get a look at him." Arthur exclaimed happily, making his way towards his nephew and sister. "Hey, look, he looks just like me." He held up the child to his face and grinned.
"That's his arse that looks like you, Arthur." John chuckled, happy to see his family again.
"He's alright, he's a Shelby."
"Well, Ada?" Thomas spoke, staring at his only sister. "Am I forgiven?"
"If what Aunt Polly says is true, you are."
"It's true." He nodded, smiling as the young Shelby made her way to him to wrap her arms around him.
"Thank you, Tommy."
Thailiana waited until she'd let go of him and gone to find her son before joining Thomas' side.
"Morning, Mister Shelby." She teased, a smile on her lips as she stared up at the man. "You seem cheerful today."
"I have a reason to be, do I not?" He raised his eyebrows as he stared down at the pretty brunette.
"So, you're saying you don't have a reason to be happy every day?" The woman pouted, gesturing to herself with her hands. "You have me, sir, you should be happier than any other man alive."
"Piss off." He rolled his eyes at her, biting back a smile. He bent down, leaning closer to her lips without touching them nevertheless. "I can think of a way you could make me the happiest man alive."
The brunette felt her cheeks heat up at the words before tutting the man, lifting her hand up to tap his cheek with her index finger. "If you're alive by the end of the day, I'll think about it. But for now, Thomas, I believe you have better things to do."
"It was worth a shot." Tommy shrugged before pressing a kiss to her forehead, his hand falling on her waist. "I'll see you later, love. You'll be at the Garrison, yeah?"
She returned the favour, lifting herself onto her toes so she could reach her lips to his cheek. She nodded at the question, glancing at the time as her eyes widened. "I'm supposed to be there now, bloody hell."
"It's alright, I'm sure your boss'll let it slip, eh Arthur?"
Turning on her heels, Thailiana grinned shyly at the eldest Shelby brother who rolled his eyes at the girl. "I'm not there either, am I?"
She laughed at his words before waving at the two siblings along with their aunt, who she'd asked to keep an eye on her sister. She left the Shelby household with a smile on her face as she made her way to her favourite pub, not realising the awful events that would take place in the lane she walked in a few hours later.
——
yall ever seen a slower updater than me? i haven't😃 anyways, i haven't proofread this at all but i hope you enjoy it! good night, good morning or good day to you all:)