Adopted By Polly Gray

Chapter 21: Family Meeting

Ada had come home from Polly's and explained everything that happened while she was there and handed Tommy the file. The young Thorne girl was now desperately worried about her aunt, and even though she wanted to leave her family behind, she felt that keeping the file a secret from everyone else wasn't the right thing to do. Polly was a strong, intelligent, courageous woman, but she would sometimes let her emotions lead her in situations. This was one of those times. Ada feared that Polly would regret wanting to get rid of Anna's file sooner than later and she felt it would be safer in Tommy's custody. After briefly discussing everything, Tommy headed out and was greeted by some of his Blinders alerting him to the fact that Campbell and Polly had been seen together earlier that day. They don't know why they were together, but it looked like Polly wasn't interested and seemed tense at times. This raised a red flag in Tommy's mind that Campbell was behind Polly getting the file and why she had been acting so off. He decided to call a family meeting the next morning to discuss everything with his brothers and his aunt.

Polly woke to loud banging coming from her front door the next morning. She had stayed up pretty late into the night drinking her sorrows away, which at the time seemed like the right idea, but now she was regretting her decision. She swung open the door knowing exactly who was behind the commotion.

"What'd you want, Tommy?"

Tommy looked at his aunt who was dressed for the day but definitely looked like she had one hell of a night.

"Grab ya coat, family meeting. Now." He took one final drag off his cigarette before flicking it away from the house into the street.

Polly knew questioning or fighting Tommy on attending was pointless so instead she groaned and grabbed her coat, heading out the door with him.

In the betting den all the men were gathered waiting for the other two important members of the family to arrive. Once they did Polly took off her coat and sat at her usual spot at the table. Tommy stood at the front, as always, ready to start the meeting and command his brothers and men on what to do and inform everyone on what the meeting was about.

"Alright Tom, ya got us all here at the ass crack of dawn. What's it that you want?" His eldest brother asked.

"Arthur, I called you and all the men down 'ere today because it was brought to my attention that Campbell has been starting up trouble with our family again."

John looked at his older brother while leaning back in his wooden chair before sitting upright again, "Oi! What these fucking coppers want now with us?"

"I don't know. Pol, why was Campbell seen with you yesterday?"

Polly had just lit one of her signature black cigarettes and looked like a deer in the headlights when the attention was brought on to her.

"Who said anything 'bout me being around that scum bag yesterday?" She took a long drag off her cigarette and held her composure around the boys.

"Don't try to cover up anything Pol. I have eye witnesses that saw you and Campbell walking to the station yesterday. So it's either you tell us here, or I go down there and question him myself with Arthur and John. Which will it be?"

Polly sat and smoked for a minute and glared at the men in the room noticing how quite a few of them refuse to make eye contact with her. She rolled her eyes at this whole thing. Of course the men would go to her nephew over this and she wouldn't be surprised if Ada possibly said something as well at this point. She was a grown woman who could handle herself. She didn't need ti be treated like a child in this moment.