Loving Gwen Baker (Thomas Shelby/Peaky Blinders)

Chapter Sixteen

Gwen planted the marigolds with Polly, the older woman helping her tie back the roses and doing other odd jobs around the house. The strawberry blonde could do a lot more now than she could do, and even Polly noticed the strength returning to the younger woman.

Polly left after a couple of hours to return to the betting shop, leaving Gwen with a cup of tea and her feet up on the sofa.

It was when the Baker's girl stood at her kitchen sink to wash up, when she heard an explosion that rattled her window. Smoke and debris rained down in the road at the front of the house, and Gwen screamed in fright.

She cautiously stepped outside her house when her neighbours did the same, and she peered up and down the road to see what was going on.

"It was a grenade!" She heard someone exclaim.

"It was thrown by Thomas Shelby."

"Those bloody Peaky Blinders!"

Upon hearing Tommy's name being mentioned, Gwen's heart skipped a beat. Leaving her front door open and forgetting about grabbing her shoes, the strawberry blonde ran down the road and towards Watery Lane which was just around the corner beside her neighbours house.

She saw Tommy crouched down in front of his youngest brother - Finn - and Gwen was unaware that she had called out for him until he stood up and turned to face her.

The panic in his eyes still visible.

"Tommy, are you alright?"

He sighed and removed his blinder cap so that he could run his hand through the crop of hair atop his head. He looked down as he did so, and noticed her bare - now dirty - feet. "Where are your shoes?" He asked.

"Oh, I...they're at home." She replied with a small blush, "I heard the grenade and someone mentioned your name and I just...wanted to see if you were alright."

She saw him swallow, his beautiful eyes fixated on her own. "So?" She looked him over, "Are you alright?"

He nodded his head, and she left out a breath of relief that she didn't realise she had been holding.

"Thank god. Okay. I should go home-"

"-Don't walk anywhere else, there's glass about."

He caught her wrist before she could turn away, she could feel her pulse racing underneath his fingertips, and she blushed when their eyes locked.

"I'm going to pick you up, alright?"

She nodded, and tensed up slightly when he placed his left arm around her waist and his right behind her knees. She relaxed once she was safely in his arms.

Tommy carried her into the betting den - sending Finn over to her house to fetch her shoes - before he set her down on a table that hadn't been upended.

"Don't move." He said, "There's glass everywhere. Finn will be back with your shoes shortly."

She nodded, her eyes sweeping across the broken chairs and tables, the scattered glass and shredded betting slips. "What happened?" She pondered aloud.

"It was the Lee family." Tommy said, lighting up a cigarette as he leant against the table beside her.

Gwen didn't ask why. Not only did she know it was none of her business, but she had overheard talk about Kimber and the Lee's. She assumed the attack had something to do with that.

"Was anyone hurt?" She asked.

Tommy looked at her before glancing over his shoulder at the beaten man sitting in the back corner, "Lovelock's a bit shaken. He was here at the time - but no."