1898
Sarah Crawford was born and bred in Small Heath, she had lived opposite the Shelby family her whole life and her older brother Cain was best friends with the oldest Shelby son; Arthur. The Crawford family was very complicated, her mother Eleanor was cold and resentful, and she encouraged her husband to punish Sarah and her brother with violence, as well as emotionally hurting them. Dennis Crawford, her father, had his civil moments but spent most of his time drunk, abusive and gambling, although he did keep a steady job as a butcher at the local market.
Sarah and her brother were very close, but he spent most of his time with the Shelby brothers causing trouble. Sarah didn't have much interaction with the Shelbys except when her brother had to look after her, but the year of 1898 changed everything.
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Sarah had been dumped on her brother again whilst her parents were out, she wanted nothing more than to be at home reading but instead, her brother had dragged her out with him and his friends down to the cut, where they often mucked about. Instead of messing about with them, she decided to dangle her feet into the water and pretend that she was someone else.
Arthur had pulled Tommy into a headlock as he and Cain teased him about his shyness towards Sarah. Most of Tommy's siblings were boys, and therefore he didn't have a lot of interaction with girls, and Sarah was very standoffish, "Go on Tom! Say Hello! She won't bite!"
"I'm not so sure about that, Arthur." Cain laughed as Tommy flushed bright red.
"I'm not scared of her! She's tiny!" Tommy said about Sarah, they were the same age, but Sarah seemed to look a lot younger.
"Alright, push her in the cut," Cain said winking at Arthur knowing that Tommy would never dare to. Cain was wrong, Tommy had, had enough of being teased by them and so marched over to the girl, once he hovered behind her, Cain's eyes widened as he realised that Tommy was about to go through with it. Unfortunately, Tommy was unaware that Sarah had quite quick reflexes, so the moment she realised somebody was behind her, she jumped up and swung her fist straight into Tommy's face. Cain nor Arthur knew what to do as they saw the blood stream down Tommy's face, the shock on both of the children's faces was clear to their older brothers, however, Cain and Arthur had different reactions. Arthur found it hilarious that his brother had been punched by a young girl, but Cain could see the flash of pain across his sister's face as she held her hand tightly, he also knew there would be hell to pay if their mother found out that she'd been putting their family in a bad light, "Sarah!" He scolded, making Sarah jump, "Home now!" Cain said as he marched over and dragged her home, she started crying once they got inside, she'd broken her hand.
"Fuck sake, Sarah! Mum's going to kill us."
"My hand hurts!"
"Obviously you punched a kid full force in the face!" He snapped as he dragged her into the kitchen and put some ice on her knuckles.
They both froze in place when they heard someone enter the kitchen
"You better be fucking kidding me!" Their dad shouted at them from the doorway,
"Dad-"
"It was my fault." Cain cut in.
Dennis looked between the two of them before walking over to his son and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, "Your fault? How's that boy? You punch the Shelby lad?"
"No, but-"
"You make her punch him?"
"No, but-"
"Sarah! You get round there and apologise!" He shouted as he let go of his son.
"He started it!"
"I don't care! I don't need the earache from your mother! Strap your bloody hand up and fix it!" He screamed before storming out the house, presumably going to the Garrison.
Cain raised his eyebrows and wrapped up his sister's hand before giving her an 'I told you so look'.
Sarah rolled her eyes before leaving the house.
•••••
"What happened to your nose?!" His mother exclaimed,
"He got punched by a little girl." Arthur chimed in, almost jumping with excitement.
"That's not what happened!" Tommy snapped at him
his mother ignored both boys and continued "What little girl?"
"Cain's little sister." Arthur piped up
"What the little Crawford girl?" Polly asked amused with him
"Yeah, that's the one! It was so funny!"
"She took me by surprise OK! Trust me she'll regret it." Tommy grumbled
Sarah's hand was all bandaged when she bumped into Thomas Shelby, later on, that day, in the street
"Oy! You!"
"Me? What about me?"
"Who do you think you are punching me in the face? I'm a fucking Shelby!"
Sarah scoffed at him, "I was on my way to apologise, but actually you owe me an apology!"
"You think so?!"
"Yes! Look at my hand!"
He opened his mouth to argue but instead burst out laughing that the girl broke her hand punching him in the face. Sarah crossed her arms in a huff at him. He tried to make a straight face as he spoke,
"Do you like horses?"
She frowned in confusion but nodded anyway "Good come with me."
He pulled her along with him to Charlie Strong's Yard where his uncle kept horses "Uncle Charlie, meet Sarah Crawford."
The older man nodded at her and leant out his hand to shake hers
"Crawford, eh? Dennis's daughter?"
"Uh yeah." She said quietly, feeling embarrassed about her father's reputation.
Noticing her reaction Tommy changed the subject, "Uncle Charlie, I told Sarah here, that we have horses."
Charlie smiled at the young man's chivalry and showed her around the yard. Ever since then the two became inseparable.
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Another love
FanfictionSarah Crawford had lived opposite the Shelby family her whole life and had grown up with them, she had fallen in love with Tommy but once the war came everything changed.
