As the youngest Shelby child and twin to Finn Shelby, Kezia has spent the last 4 of her 10 years locked away for her mental defectiveness.
She returns to Small Heath under the legal guardianship of her brother, Thomas Shelby. Despite knowing she's s...
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CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
"I didn't tell him."
Polly slinked away from her door. "Didn't tell Tommy or your man?"
Ada sighed and closed the door. "Both."
"Them knowing or not knowing has no relevance to what we are drinking." She held up the bottle of wine. "It's vintage."
Ada smiled and followed her aunt onto the couch.
"This...is for us." She poured a glass. "Let's drink to the baby."
Ada took the glass from her. "Polly, do you remember when I was last pregnant? You were gonna take me to Cardiff. I was gonna get rid of it."
"And what about this time?"
Ada looked at her glass. Said nothing. She did not want to give it up. But a quiet voice in the back of her head told her to. That the baby was better off.
"Imagine," Polly cut through the silence, "the father's scared. He runs away. You're left. The baby's black. He's a bastard. And it's Birmingham... But you don't care, because the world has changed. And the baby's eyes are golden. And you're gonna leave her with Aunt Polly every day to look after. Aunt Polly who insisted you call her Elizabeth."
"How do you know it's a 'her'?"
"'Cause I'm Polly Gray.
Ada couldn't wipe the smile from her face. Her heart fluttered. "It's a girl?"
"Golden. To be born in the year 1930, where everything will be changed for the better. She'll be the color of a Hollywood Oscar."
Ada suddenly thought of Kizzie. Then of Tommy. She rolled her eyes and looked away from her aunt. "What will Tommy say?"
"Tommy knows."
The image of Kizzie behind her eyes faltered. Ada wished she could have told Tommy everything she wanted to. "He's also seen that the world's big and round, and says 'So what?'" She shakes her head. "He cannot live this way for much longer, Pol."
Her aunt sat back, her smile still plastered on her face. "He's right, though, Ada. We are flying about the rules now."
"I would have liked for Kizzie to see this new world, I think. Her perspective would have been refreshing."
"Mm," Polly agreed, inhaling her cigarette. "So long as you didn't make her babysit."
Ada giggled alongside her aunt.
"No," she finally said. "Kizzie would have hated that."
