Give my heart. | Thomas Shelby [english]

/5/ Coppers all over town

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1919, Birmingham

Margaret Shore had a gift. At least that was what she liked to call it. Other people would simply say that she was the average old woman with frequent sleeping problems.

For Margaret however, those problems were signs that something was about to happen and she would try to convince everyone she met of that – including her children.

Leonora and Leander would have called themselves quite open for supernatural gifts or happenings, but even they sometimes ran out of patience when it came to their mother and her foreseeing 'gift'.

Especially since they all slept in the same room and their mother kept them up as well when she couldn't find sleep.

It's been over a week since Nora had talked – or rather fought – with Thomas Shelby and although her mind constantly replayed the conversation in her head and she thought herself to be in the right, sometimes she couldn't keep herself from staring longingly towards the city where he was.

Well, where he usually was.

Word got around that the infamous Shelby brothers had left town for some days.

Some were relieved to know that they weren't going to cross their path for a while, others hid inside their homes because they were scared something would happen now that the Shelbys, their blackmailers and protectors all in one, were not there.

"Nora, could you please go into the city and buy me some fresh vegetables?"

Nora sighed in annoyance while peeling the next potatoes a tad more aggressively than necessary. She sat on the steps of their caravan, peeling potatoes with a knife and throwing them in a basket next to her.

"I'm busy, Mum."

"You can continue with that later. I need those vegetables."

Aunora scoffed and turned her head to look up to her mother who stood behind her.

She supported herself with the doorframe. Her cane wasn't anywhere near – Margaret hated that thing.

"Are you sure it's that important or is this another attempt to get me into that town?"

The guilt-ridden expression on her face was answer enough.

"You know I've not been sleeping well, Leonora."

"Oh, I know, believe me." She continued to peel the potatoes. "Perhaps it's because Eddie ran away again. Brenda is truly heartbroken."

"I don't sleep badly just because a dog's run away!" Margaret exclaimed. "Something bad is about to happen, I know it and you need to find out what it is."

"Why me?"

"Either you go into town right now, or you can sleep outside tonight, Miss!"

Then, she hobbled down the stairs and left towards another caravan.

Nora looked after her in bewilderment. She had no intention to sleep outside tonight, but she also knew that her mother didn't joke about that.

Yes, there had been some shooting today coming out of the city which could be heard at the outskirts but that surely wasn't something unusual. Maybe some people tried to gain control now that Thomas was out of town but once he'd be back everything would go back to normal.

Throwing a half-peeled potato and the knife into the basket she stood up. She put it inside the caravan, took her purse and then went to leave their camp without saying goodbye to anyone.