Flowers of Glass

Opium

(AN: Disclaimer my views on abortion or pro-life are not reflected in this piece.)

(Name) sat by the window as she stared at the bullet sized drops of rain pelt against her window. The dark street on the other side of the window was gray, it was ugly. The winter had been bitter both to the city of Birmingham and to her.
She ran her hand over her empty neck where her cross necklace had once hung, he had taken it. She wondered if he still had it...

She still had something that was his...

Her (color)ed eyes drifted to the cigarette burn mark that marked her arm. He had branded her as his.

It had been months since their last encounter. He hadn't come for her - yet. She assumed that like most men, he had probably already forgotten her. The thundering skies made the icy window tremble. The empty streets illuminated by the branching rays of lighting. Tonight wasn't any different from any other day, it was just another sleepless night.

Actually, she had something else that was also his...

The child stirred at night and let out a desperate cry. Turning she approach her some month old babe.

He had given him to her.

(Name)'s affair with Tommy had stretched for months. Their brief relationship had been full of thrills. She could still remember the ecstasy she had when they snuck around the pews and rows of Birmingham's church at night. It was never the same afterward. Every Sunday after (Name) sat uncomfortably in her seat. Reminiscing memories and bite marks of their affair reminded her of her vulgar sinful actions in the House of God.
Despite the discomfort and strange thrill that sitting during Sunday service gave her, she still remained devoted to her religion despite it all.

Thomas had never minded her devotion. He simply observed her with his stoic eyes. His guarded persona kept her company during worship as he smoked.

She hated to admit it, but she missed him.
She missed his lack of manner in church.
She missed the constant cloud of smoke that seemed to hover over him and the terrible scent of whiskey and cigarettes that had become impressed in his luxurious three-piece suits.

Looking down at her child she realized it had been for the best. For everybody best.

Being related or in relations with a Shelby was a dangerous business. This was initially why she had decided to keep whatever it was her and Thomas had under the safe walls of the church.

But now-

She attempted to calm her crying child. The thunderstorm did not aid in easing the child's sleep.

To begin with- What was Tommy supposed to do with a child?

The man had a business to run.

Certainly, he had no time for such primitive things such as a family. Secondly, over the course of their relationship- unfortunately, several patients had come into her father's clinic; most claimed to be victims of the Peaky Blinders' wrath. Few died on her father's surgical table, an infection caught too many of them later costing them their lives.

The violence and death that the gang had spread throughout the city were deemed to be evil. Her father had always called them a plague. A plague that was low enough for not even the street rats to bite into.
(Name) usually bit her tongue at her father's lashes against the Peaky Blinders. It seemed like such a foreign concept to her.
Knowing that Tommy was behind it all didn't lessen the gravity of the situation... The Peaky Blinders had a handful of enemies in the territory. It wouldn't be hard for one or two of them to get wise and try getting to Tommy through her or their child.