Only Time Will Tell - A Peaky Blinders Story

Chapter 14 - Heart of stone

After sorting all the money out in the betting shop, Cass is beyond tired. She ends up falling to sleep at her desk whilst Tommy looks over the books on the other side of the room, silently nursing his bottle of whiskey.

However, she is jolted awake by a glass smashing against the wall followed by yelling. She quickly stands in a panic, worried that she's still in France and that she's under attack. She stumbles backwards with a gasp, causing Tommy and Polly to look at her with concern. "Sorry, sorry. I'll just, erm..." Cass then says when she realises there's no threat. She starts to leave the room but is stopped. "Wait, Cass. I want you here for this." Polly says sternly, bringing her niece into the conversation.

"Billy Kimber is there for the taking." Tommy says, as if ignoring the incident. "Says who? Tommy and his parliament of one?" Polly retorts, rolling her eyes. "Polly..." Cass starts to defend her brother, only to be cut off. "I ran this business for 5 years!" Pol then yells. "Yeah whilst I was away fighting, remember? Whilst me, Cass, Arthur, and John were putting our lives on the line for our country. Where we learned things such as, you need to strike when your enemy is weak." Tommy says sternly, reminding his aunt of the horrors they all faced.

"I thought you came here to talk about family business, anyway." He then says, standing from his seat and moving to lean against the fireplace with Cass. "I'll deal with it." Polly says, shrugging the argument off. "Pol, if it's about Ada you should tell us." Cass says gently, an unrecognisable look in her eyes. "Well, Tommy's too busy taking over the whole world." Polly says bitterly, sighing when Cass's eyes change to pleading ones.

The siblings watch as Polly digs through her bag for something, pulling out a letter. "Ada wants Freddie to get this letter. She wants him to know she's having his baby." She then says, looking at the envelope in her hands. "He deserves an opportunity to do the right thing." She adds, placing the letter on the table in front of them. "She wants us to give him a chance." Cass says, understanding the reasoning behind it.

Tommy slowly leans forwards and picks up the letter to inspect it. "For a woman who's had a hard life with men, you're still full of romance, ey Pol?" he says lowly. "What do you two think Freddie sees in our Ada?" he then says, waving the letter around and raising his voice slightly. "That's Freddie's business." Polly quickly replies with a shrug of the shoulders. "No." Tom says sternly. "I'll tell you what he sees. He sees machine guns, and rifles, and ammunition, and some glorious revolution." He then lists patronizingly. Cass doesn't know whether she wants to roll her eyes or nod in agreement. She has to admit that Tommy might have a point.

"What is you don't like about Freddie? You used be thick as thieves." Polly says in an attempt to calm her nephew down. Tommy just shakes his head and looks down at the letter. "She'll have no life with a man on the run." He says quietly, almost as if he's sad. "If you can't see that, you can't see much." He then says, changing his tone completely.

Cass watches in shock as Tommy lifts the lid to the fire and drops the letter in to burn. Polly's face is filled with anger as she grabs the fire poker and swings it as if she's going to hit them both. Tommy doesn't flinch, but notices how Cassie does when their aunt throws the metal rod back on the floor. "Damn them for what they did to you in France!" Polly yells, tears brimming her eyes, before storming out.

Cass sighs and once again relaxes on the fireplace with her brother. "You know, I get where Ada and Polly are coming from." She says calmly. "They're blinded by false hope." Tommy replies. "Can't you at least try to understand? What if that was you? Wouldn't you want to know?" Cass then says with a slight twinge of annoyance laced in her voice. "It will do no good to Ada if she brings a baby into this world alone. She needs to learn from her mistakes." Her brother then says cruelly. "She's not a kid anymore, Tommy. If all of this is a mistake, then she can handle it. You might be right about Freddie, but on the off chance that you're not do you really want to keep that child from its father?" Cass then says, practically begging Tommy to understand. "I'll get it sorted." Tommy simply says before walking out of the room, ignoring the look of angry shock on his sister's face.