"i look inside myself and see my heart is black i see my red door and must have it painted black."
—— The second they reached the derby, the excitement was rippling through their group like electricity. Everyone who was there was well dressed; it looked straight out of a hollywood film. Iris was in a gorgeous silver dress with beaded patterns all over it that just about brushed her knee. It was very risquee, as Tommy had put it, but she told him that times were changing and she quite liked the thought of getting her legs out.
Her and Tommy placed a huge bet on Nom Du Guerre before rushing off to the stables to visit May. Iris was excited to see her; it had been months.
They found May looking worriedly at Grace's Secret as men clamoured around the horse. "She threw a shoe coming out of the box."
Tommy inspected the horse as Iris hugged May briefly before she lit a cigarette. "She looks in fine shape."
"Should we be worried?" Iris asked through a cloud of smoke.
"You should not. You two can go and drink and enjoy the day, I'll find you when the race is done."
Iris smiled. "We might both be busy with some business. So I wanted to check on you beforehand, just in case."
"That's nice. Is it yours?" Tommy asked as he pointed to a red dress hanging up near where they stood. This earned a snort from Iris, he never talked about fashion unless he was at a complete loss of words.
"My mother wore it to the derby in 1895. She was presented to Queen Victoria." This earned an impressed whistle from Iris. "After the race I'll change in the horse box and come and join you with the toffs. What do you say?"
"If you can find us then of course." Iris said with a knowing glance to Tommy. There was no way they would have time to drink with her if their plan went as it was meant to, but they couldn't tell her that.
May nodded. "Okay. Right, go and enjoy your day. I'll be watching from here."
With a quick farewell hug, Iris and Tommy departed the horse box and returned to the bustling atmosphere of the derby. They made towards the betting tent to find John and Arthur; Tommy wanted Iris to stay with them while he went off and tried to locate the Field Marshall. It didn't take long to find them, they always seemed to stick out like sore thumbs amongst rich people, no matter how fine the clothes they wore were. "Boys!"
"Meatball bollocks just walked past." Arthur reported in reference to Sabini.
John hit him in the stomach with the back of his hand. "That's my joke, you fat bastard."
"Fuck off."
"Boys!" Iris interrupted with a laugh. "I'm staying with you for a while, so behave yourselves. " She turned to Thomas with a grave expression on her face. "Are you going to ask Lizzie for her help still?"
He nodded and said before walking off: "She'll do it and I'll be there to interfere before anything happens. Stay safe."
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