The Priest's Daughter ||Peaky Blinders||

25.0

Isla walks through the halls of the hospital behind.

"She's right in here." The nurse hands her a mask and Isla looks at her. "Please. It's necessary." Isla reluctantly takes the mask and puts it on before going into Ruby's room.

"Isla." Lizzie says. "You didn't have to come."

"Yes I did." Isla pulls up a chair on the other side of Ruby's bedside. "How is she doing?"

Lizzie looks down.

"They've started the gold treatment." Isla has heard a little about it. Hopefully it works. Lizzie can't lose her daughter and Tommy can't take another loss.

Ruby's eyes slowly open.

"Ruby darling. Looks who's here." Ruby slowly turns her head.

"Isla?" She nods and takes the young girl's hand.

"I'm right here Ruby." She kisses her hand through the mask.

"Are you going to leave me like Daddy did?" Isla's heart breaks at her question.

"No. I'm not going anywhere. Mummy and I will be right here."

Isla and Lizzie spend hours at Ruby's bedside waiting for some sign of a turn around. And they're waiting for Tommy to finish running around God knows where trying to find some sort of alternative Gypsy cure.

Ruby is fading and she doesn't have long. It's clear that the gold treatment isn't working. It might even be killing her faster.

A weak Ruby asks for her father once more but to no avail, he's still not there. Lizzie relays to her daughter that her father loves her and gives her a kiss on behalf of him.

At 5:17 pm, Ruby went to be with the Lord and in the arms of her Aunt Polly.

The sobs that left Lizzie's mouth wrecked Isla's heart. She suggested to stay behind with her, but Lizzie preferred to wait for Tommy alone.

Isla returns home and immediately goes into the nursery to watch her son sleep.

"Love?" William's voice pulls her from her intrusive thoughts. "Your home. Does that mean?"

Isla nods.

"5:17."

Williams sighs deeply and wraps his arms around his wife.

"I can't even blame this on Peaky Blinders business. There's no one to blame. It just... happened."

She sighs.

"It makes me fear for John. It makes me fear to have more children."

"Isla--"

"No William. I am entitled to my fears. I am entitled to fear the same thing happening to us."

"I understand but we can't live in fear. The only thing we can do is love them unconditionally everyday."

Williams turns his wife around and wipes the tears from her eyes and embraces her in his arms.

><

The family walk down the street to Uncle Charlie's yard while the carriage that holds Ruby rides in front of them.

When they get to the yard, little Charlie lays a rose on the caravan and everyone stands in silence.

Isla looks over slightly to see her father holding Arthur up and keeping him from falling to the ground.

Ruby is taken out of the carriage and put in the caravan. Tommy walks up to Arthur and asks him to speak since he is the oldest.

"I'm sorry brother. I can't do it." He declines.

Tommy steps up in front of the caravan.

"We could have afforded a golden carriage." He begins. "She deserved a golden carriage. But we didn't afford ourselves that luxury... because gold doesn't work. That was the last lesson Ruby taught us. This place was her favorite place in the whole world."

He motions to the yard.

"And she used to say 'Dad you never know what will come down the river.' It's true. Ruby's fate came a thousand miles too soon. In her name and in her memory, things will change. And whatever comes down that river from now on, we will make good... we will make peaceful and honest and good, and send it back down the river better than it was. We will do this in her memory. But for now, we will send her on to wherever it is you go. In the hope that if there is a destination... that it's a yard like this. Filled with horses and boats for her to play on."

He turns around to face the caravan. Uncle Charlie comes up behind him with petrol.

"Jeremiah." Tommy calls him over. Jeremiah looks at his son in law to take his place in holding up a broken Arthur. "Jeremiah, you made her laugh. So you should be the one to light the fire."

Lizzie leaves the line and begs to see Ruby one last time.

Tommy leaves the caravan first, then Lizzie, little Charlie and Tommy hug as the caravan erupts into flames.

Lizzie begs Tommy to stay but he leaves and Isiah holds them back.

><

William breathes heavily as he makes love to his wife.

"Right there." She breathes in his ear. "Don't stop."

"I don't plan to." He groans.

The phone rings.

"Fuck." He says. "Leave it. I'm not finished with you yet."

Isla smirks and flips him over on his back as the line continues to ring.

"It could be an emergency."

"If I don't release inside you, that itself will be an emergency."

"Well then what are you waiting for?" William sits up and wraps his arms around his wife, pumping himself into her and her hips swiveling in circles.

He takes one of her nipples in his mouth and Isla throws her head back.

The phone rings again.

"Don't let it distract you." Isla says. "I'm so close."

"Sir." Katherine says on the other side of the door.

"Not now Katherine." William groans.

"Sir, it's an emergency. You both must come quickly."

Isla gets off of her husband.

"No. Please." William pleads. He watches his wife throw on her robe and go to the door. She opens it slightly to hear what Katherine has to say. She whispers so William cannot hear what is being said.

"A—Alright. Tell him we're coming." Isla quickly closes the door. "Get dressed William. Now."

~

William and Isla get out of the car and tears fill her eyes.

"H—how did this happen?" She asks in shock and awe.

"We don't know exactly who did it." Someone answers. "All that was left was this note." Isla reads it and hands it to her husband.

Isla steps forward and watches her club being consumed by fire, crumbling to the ground.

William looks down at the paper in his hand. He crumples it in his fist and tosses it aside.

"Fucking Nazis."