Take Me Home

Chapter One

The air smelled of smoke and burning rubber, the smell most would pinch their noses and run away from. The bleakly factory town was nothing like home. The old cobblestone streets run parallel to the wooden buildings towering over each other like monsters looming over a child in bed in the middle of the night. Smoke billed along the ground like a child clinging its mother as I turned onto the street where my father had done some business with a man who helped win the war.

Home wasn't wandering down dark corners, not knowing who or what might been waiting for you. Home wasn't you clutching the collar of your coat as you walked past a bobbie not knowing if he was on a different payroll than the rest of them. Father had warned me to trust no one except myself when I came over to Birmingham. Myself and Thomas Shelby.

"He's the only good man you can really trust in those parts Vera."

Small Heath was dirty. The dirty air filled the dirty streets which was walked on by the dirty people with smut covered faces. Father told me the hard working people of Small Heath were the classic "there's more than meets the eye", but as I walked on the sidewalk of this dirty factory town I couldn't help but think if I had made the worst mistake of my life stepping in for my father on his own accord. My father had taken over the Kentucky Derby when I was born, but with Thomas Shelby's business growing, my father wanted to expand his ambitions across the waters. I really hope my father is making the right decision.

As I approach the address my father had scribbled down on a scrap piece of paper, I take in a huge breath, ready to finalize whatever contract my father and Mr. Shelby had come up with. Turning the latch on the Shelby Company Limited door rushed in a wave of excitement for me. Finally, my father saw me as more than just his daughter; I was a woman and a businessman, ready to take on the world. Whatever fear or discouragement I felt previously was swallowed down when I stepped into the house turned business. Women running around busily and men shouting filled the opened room. A barred office with an older woman caught my attention. She was pacing back and forth, talking on the phone, and for some reason I felt the need to talk to her. As I walked closer to the woman, the fine lines of age were apparent on her face, but her short brown kept her young. As I stand in the doorway, I clutch my small purse tighter causing my knuckles to bleed white as I waited for the woman to notice me.

"No, that's not what we agreed on," her voice cut through me. The way she spoke carried her confidence, which surged through me, and the way I figure it, she must carry a high position in this business if the Shelby's gave her her own office. "Tommy will deal with you later."

She hung up the phone with force and then her gaze was cast upon me, knocking out the confidence she just gave me.

"May I help you?" she asks, and for once I can't find the words.

"I, um, I'm here to see Mr. Shelby," I croak out as I look down at my shuffling feet.

"Which one?"

"'Cuse me?" My brow quirks up. Father only told me about one Shelby.

"Which one?" she asks again, "there's three of them. John and Arthur do the dirty work of the company and then there Tommy..."

"Mr. Thomas. I'm here on my father's behalf," I say, looking up at the woman who is now standing in front of me. She smiles sweetly.

"Oh, you're Daniel Martin's daughter. I'm Polly Gray" she points to the back office that faces everything. "Tommy's in there."

I nod and walk past the tables which men are gathered around, writing their bets on pieces of paper. I eye each office I pass; men and women filling each one, but one, the last one on the left before I reach Mr. Thomas's office, was occupied by a young man, not much older than me. Smoke billowed around him as he took in a drag of his cigarette. His blue eyes caught sight of my green ones, and something in the pit of my stomach was pressured. I felt my heart beating out of its cavity as I swallowed down whatever I could. My chest and hands shook against my will when he gave me a devilish grin, not long before his mouth dropped open, screwing his eyes shut as he slammed the palm of his hand on the mahogany desk. I had to remind myself to breathe as I turned my attention to the office door in front of me. I knocked lightly on the stained glass, waiting for Mr. Shelby to answer. A girlish giggle vibrated from the office I was just peering into.

"Come in," a deep voice croaked. I turn the knob on the door not knowing what the future of my father's business held or why in the hell was I drawn to a devil that I could not touch.