If I Can't Have you

(40) Funeral

The priest stands beside the coffin Freddie is laying in, reading chapters about the afterlife from the bible. Tommy was struggling not to scoff as he spoke, Freddie was Jewish, why was the bible being read? Why was it a priest in charge of the burial?

He listened to the man's monotonous drawl as he looks down at his book, then at the crowd that was divided in half. One side the Peaky Blinders, the other side the Communist Party of Great Britain and Ada with Karl in her arms.

"Give him peace, amen."

"Tommy," Jemima coughs beneath her breath when he stays silent.

"He's not Christian," Tommy whispers defiantly, as the priest gestures in his direction for him to speak.

He steps forwards, clearing his throat, "I promised my friend, Freddie Thorne, that I'd sat a few words over his grave if he should pass before me. I made this promise before he became my brother-in-law when we were in France, fighting for the King."

"In the end it wasn't the war that took Freddie. Pestilence took him. But Freddie passed on his soul and his spirit to a new generation before he was cruelly taken."

He steps back, not needing to look down in order to find Jemimas hand waiting for his as they watch the casket get lowered, "shalom, Fred," he whispers.

He felt a small hand clutch onto his from the other side, and glances down to see Arlo. He wasn't as small as he was, but in comparison to other 12 year olds he'd seen, the boy hadn't quite started growing yet.

-

"We'll look after him, I promise, Ada," Finn states, looking at his sister, "I'm 14, and they're twelve. We're the ideal babysitters."

"I wouldn't say ideal," Ada says, placing Karl on the ground, the two year old eagerly bouncing over to his uncle, "but okay."

"I can't believe he's almost 3," Jemima says, as the two women take a seat on a nearby bench.

"Neither, it's gone by so fast," Ada sighs, "is Tommy alright?"

"I think he will be, he's struggling to get his head around it," Jemima tells her, "are you alright?"

"I think I will be, going back to the house may be difficult, but it's my home now, it's Karl's home," Ada replies.

"Ada," Tommy says, greeting her with a nod.

"Thomas," Ada responds.

"We thought, now that Freddie is gone, you might come back to Birmingham," Tommy states.

Ada glances around, "do you know how weird it is that you've got chauffeurs in uniform now?"

"It's just for the occasion, Ada," Tommy replies.

"Do you know how unfair it is that you've got four Bugattis whilst half the country is starving?"

"So, now they've made you ashamed of us, eh?" Tommy speaks.

"Sometimes when I think of how I used to be, it makes me embarrassed," Ada admits.

"Isla is teaching Karl how to make daisy chains," Polly says, glancing over her shoulder where they were sat on a patch of grass.

"Are you coming home?" Polly asks her niece, hopefully.

"I'm going home," Ada responds.

"It's alright, Pol, we make Ada embarrassed," Tommy says.

"Tommy," Jemima says.

"That's not what I said," Ada sighs.

"There's another reason we want you to come home," Tommy tells her, "we're planning an expansion. I'm taking premises in London."