Cruel To Be Kind - Peaky Blinders Fanfiction

Part 40 - There Was A Woman

"Elsie?" A hand was shaking my shoulder, rocking me slightly as I snuggled deeper into the blankets. "Ellie."

"Hmm," I mumbled, blinking roughly as the dark figure in front of me knocked my shoulder again. The more I blinked, the more Maeve's figure became clear. She was holding a candle and held her spare hand to her lips, shushing me as I felt something move next to me. "Meave?"

"Shh, you'll wake the little ones," she gestured to Jacob, who had been snuggled into my back. I tucked my pillow next to him as I pulled myself out of the bed, staring at her confused. It was still dark outside, I could feel it and see it in the room. "Mr Shelby wishes to speak to you."

Mr Shelby? Who was she talking about?

"What?" I grumbled, rubbing my eyes and trying to blink myself awake. What was the time anyway?

"Mr Shelby wishes to speak with you." She was looking confused now as if she had gotten the name wrong, but she couldn't have. It wasn't a last name you'd get wrong.

"Oh." I slipped on the dressing gown she held in her hand and stumbled into the slippers by the bed as she led the way to the phone.

We passed down the hall, down the stairs, through the kitchen and into a snug little room that held a couple of sofas and a desk. James was sitting at the desk muttering into the phone when we arrived. He looked up, mumbled something to Tommy and rose, holding the phone out to me.

"Hello?" I whispered through a yawn, dropping down into the chair as I watched James close the door behind him.

"You've been asleep," Tommy stated and I could hear a tinge of annoyance as he set something down on his desk heavily.

"And you woke me up," I clarified, a smile tugging on my lips as I pictured him rolling his eyes.

"You were meant to call me as soon as you got there."

"We were a bit busy. Jacob got sick after eating too much and Finn fell down the stairs. I've had all of five minutes to myself and that was when I was in the bathroom crying because Michael threw a chair trying to hit Kyle and it ended up hitting me instead," I told him, rubbing my leg where the chair slammed into me.

"Are you alright?" It was nice to hear the concern in his voice, it showed a bit of those feelings he locked up inside. "You should have left them here, the little fuckers." I laughed at his insult towards the boys, holding my hand over my mouth as I yawned.

"It's been a long day, they'll settle down tomorrow," I said, leaning back in the chair and closing my eyes. I knew that none of the older Shelby men would be able to handle Finn or John's boys, not after the day they had. It seemed travelling long distances turned them into little shits.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Checking out the horses, seeing which ones I can send over first. I'd rather be with the more challenging horses and leave the calm ones for Grandpappy to deal with." I paused as I thought about the cow and sheep that were getting moved into the neighbouring fields. "We're to move the sheep into the neighbouring field, the man bought them to add to his flock. There's another man coming on Wednesday to get the few cows here too and then everything should be ready to close down the farm."

"You sound like you're about to tell me we'll have new guests when you return," he said, obviously knowing what was going to happen.

"There's only four of them, Tommy, and two fo them are women. I can't leave my family here to suffer while I have the means to help out."

"Where are you going to put them?"

"THey're not horses or toys, Tommy. They're people." I was annoyed with him now. He'd woken me up when he knew nothing bad had happened and now he was being a dick. "They can stay at the estate until I find them somewhere to live."