Next of kin//peaky blinders

Chapter two

Annabelle sat quietly in the car staring at the buildings which soon turned into trees as they passed her by, her hair blowing in the wind. They had sat in comfortable silence for the start of the drive but Annabelle was getting curious now. "Where are we going?" She asked turning to look at Thomas as he drove the car. "Your mother told me you like horses."he replied seemingly changing the subject.

"Yeah I love them. When I was younger and my mum had to go to work she would leave me with our old neighbour. The old lady who used to watch me was married to a man who used to ride horses in the race-" "a jockey?" "Yeah! Yeah that thing. Anyway she would always take me down to the races to watch the horses and I got to meet a few of them afterwards, I loved it" she smiled at the memory feeling happiness buzz through her veins.

Thomas smiled at the way she lit up talking about horses and the old neighbours. "Well I don't know what your mother told you about my family and the business we do but we run a betting shop for the horse races" "really?" She asked raising an eyebrow. "Hmm we put horse's forward to race" "you fix the races?" She chuckled looking at him questioningly and she watched his face fall as he stammered to try and think of an explanation. "Relax, I'm 14 not stupid"

she watched him visibly relax before glancing at her again "yeah, but it makes good money" Annabelle laughed at that shaking her head. "I'm sure it does" "Anyway we need to buy a new horse for this next racing season so I thought that you might want to help me pick" he watched as Annabelle's face lit up with pure excitement and joy. "You're takin' the fucking piss!" She exclaimed with her jaw slack and he laughed at that. "Thought you might like that idea" "oh I'm so excited now." "Good, it'll make all this travelling worth it" he commented causing her to giggle, a grin on her face from ear to ear.

Silence settled among them for a moment, Annabelle's prior nerves and confusion swapped with a wave of excitement. But Thomas had a question on his mind that had been eating away at him "you don't hate me do you?" He asked suddenly causing her to laugh more. "Why would I hate you?" "Because I abandoned you" "you didn't know I existed that's not your fault is it?" He stayed silent so she continued "you're not who I'd thought you'd be" "what did you think?" "Well you hear stories here and there. But those are just stories. I didn't want them to cloud my judgment"

She watched his face contort into an unreadable expression before he spoke carefully "what kind of stories?" "It doesn't matter" "why not?" "Because none of them are true" Thomas took his eyes off the road and looked at his daughter who was offering him a warm smile locking her icy blue eyes with his own. Before he could say anything she broke their gaze and stared back out at the scenery a head of her.

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As they pulled up into the small village and the streets were full of people. Bustling with business. The towns streets were packed with stalls upon stalls of different things to buy but more notably about a hundred different horses.

"How did you find out about this place?" She asked as she stepped out of the car, her eyes wide with awe. "In my line of business you always know someone who knows a place"

As the pair walked through the town streets Annabelle looked at all the different stalls that had a range of things from handmade jewellery to sculpted pots and plates. Annabelle also took note of all the people staring at Thomas and how conversation would quieten or cease completely as they slowly walked past. She noted all the stares and the people who would avoid his gaze but Thomas seemed totally custom to it.

Annabelle also heard some whispers about her "who is that with Mr Shelby" "why does he have a young girl with him" "do you think that girls lost?" All sorts of things. All the eyes on her and people talking about her in hushed tones caused her anxiety to pick up and she slowly started to become uncomfortable. But she tried to push that aside and enjoy herself.

She stopped to gaze at a stall that had lots of hand made necklaces and bracelets, Incense, tarot cards and some small crystals. She originally stopped when she spotted a small necklace with a symbol on it she recognised as her mother had a very similar necklace.

When Thomas realised the girl was no longer walking beside him he looked back and saw her examining the small artefact. "You see something you like?" He peering over her shoulder. "My mum has a necklace just like this one. She used to wear it all the time." A small chuckle escaped his lips as he took the small pendant in his fingers. "You don't say?" "I never knew why she stopped wearing it, I thought that she might have lost it but I found it in her jewellery box a while ago"

His smile faltered ever so slightly as he looked down at the girl in front of him. "I bought your mother that necklace" "you did?" "Hmmm that's a gypsy symbol. It means blessings. I used to think of your mother as my blessing so I deemed it a fitting gift" Annabelle glanced at him with a small smile. "Sounds too romantic for my liking" she joked causing him to smile back. "I was young and in love. What can I say" he shrugged, placing the necklace down before continuing walking a head.

"What happened between you and my mum anyway? She's never mention you before, ever" Thomas fell silent scanning the different horses a head of him, them now leaving the market part of the village. "Did you know you are part gypsy" he stated seemingly changing the subject. "That's not answering my question but no I didn't. What does that mean?" "That means there is an entirely different part of your culture you don't know about" "well you'll have to teach me then" she mused and he nodded at her walking over to a man who had an all black stallion by the bridal, so people could walk past and if they were interested inspect the horse.

"Mr Shelby, nice to see you again" the man smiled, happy to see the him unlike most people they had passed. "And you Bobby" "who's this you've brought with you? One of your nieces or something?" He asked turning his gaze to Annabelle. The girl froze slightly not knowing what she was meant to say to the question but before she had much time to worry Thomas cut in. "no this is my daughter, Annabelle" the man's eyes widened as a smile formed on his face "oh wow! It's an honour to meet you" she anxiously gave a sheepish smile in reply, avoiding eye contact with him and scratched the back of her neck awkwardly.

Noticing the girl's anxiety level's heightened Thomas reached his arm out, wrapping it around her shoulder and pulling her into his side while giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze. The action, though not much, was enough for Annabelle's shoulders to lose some of their tension and for her to stop scratching her neck. "I take it you want to 'ave a look at me stallion for the races?" "You are the best in the business" Thomas shrugged and Annabelle watched Bobbys confidence shot up after that compliment.

"Am I allowed to pat him?" She whispered more to Thomas but Bobby heard her " 'course you can" Thomas let go of the girl though she didn't really want him to and she slowly walked towards the horse who was more that happy to allow the girl to run her hands down it's neck. Annabelle smiled as she stroked the animal, she really did love horses.

She heard Thomas and Bobby discussing the horse but she couldn't really make out what they were saying. Out of the corner of her eye she spyed a beautiful mare tied up to a car behind the stables they were. It was a beautiful Knabstrupper mare that was barely visible but Annabelle found herself instantly drawn to the creature.

"What about that one?" She asked pointing to the hidden horse and both men turned to look. "Oh she's not for sale Darlin', gorgeous horse and I would sell her but she hates people" Annabelle almost took that as a challenge. "Horses are very spiritual creatures" she stated walking over to the mare. "Maybe the people she's met just haven't been good people"

Annabelle reached out her hand and gingerly stroked the horses nose. The creature let out a snort of excitement, leaning into her touch and brushing her face against the girl. Annabelle giggled as the horse continued to lean into her touch and Thomas smiled. "She won't let me anywhere near her" Bobby laughed as he watched the duo. "How much for the horses?" Thomas asked, observing his daughter "for both?" The other man asked and he got a hum in reply.

"The stallion would be 200 but for you I'll go 150" "and for the mare?" "You can have her, she obviously likes her" Bobby chuckled nodding towards the girl "since you've been buying from me for so long. Think of it as a gift for being my number one customer" Thomas shook his head a smirk on his face. "If you don't mind me asking Mr Shelby, since when did you have a daughter?" He asked glancing at the man beside him who had his hands shoved in his pockets. "since Always" the man didn't ask anything else .