SUMMARY . . . Lily Bennett was what people could describe as a little naive. Polly always tells her that it's that doe-eyed face of hers she so usually wears as she dances dreamily through the large messes of bustling men all vying for the foolish needs of wishing to lay down their money at the helms of the Shelby forefront. Martha used to tell her that it was those silly polite pleasantries she would sprout off to the harshest of criminals and thugs alike as she glided past their desks with soft sweet smiles.
Lily didn't see what was so wrong in being kind, it was something that their mother had always taught her to be, and it is what she had so solemnly swore to do as she stood over her gravestone that dreary grey Sunday morning. And she often reminded Martha of that, especially when she would narrow that scary steel glare of hers at those catty BSA women always gossiping shamelessly on the streets.
Though through her teenage years, Lily had little time to offer guidance to her dear sister, given that she always seemed too preoccupied with sticking her tongue down John Shelby's throat as often as she could to pay her much attention edgeways. So, it came as no surprise when Lily's life became intertwined with that of the infamous ruling Shelby clan through the everlasting bond of marriage, joining their two households together by the two amorous lovebirds and the budding infant growing in Martha Shelby's womb.
However, happy times were far and few to come by as the war sirens rung and the brave foolish men stepped off into the screeching wheels of the hearse chugging them all towards their inescapable fates. Though, while Lily was not on the battlefronts of France, she endured the horrors of war just the same, with the death and tragedy of losing her Martha just two days after the birth of her fourth child.
Grief and loss had little time to settle in her mind, as alongside her Shelby kin, Lily was now tasked the job of raising four infants while juggling the nefarious acts of running an illegal business underneath its leading matriarch. And when the war came to its end, and men returned in flocks back to their hometowns, a whole new rule of chaos came to take its siege in the form of an ambitious, ridiculouslyattractive, blue-eyed, man she had only passed by on far and few occasions.
All expenses of tortured souls crave that small sliver of shining goodness to provide sanctuary to their sinning and devilish hearts, and none was more than giving then to provide their services to the monster of a man, that is Thomas Shelby, than Lily Bennett.
Oh, what a truly naive woman indeed.
NOTES . . . i. Lily has a close knit relationship to only certain members of the Shelby family but she is still well known to all of them. A familial relationship is already established between Polly, Ada and Finn. But, her closest bond to the Shelby's is through John due to him having been married to her sister and, now because of her huge role in the mothering of John and Martha's children. John feels very protective over Lily because she should have a very innocent, sweet and kind persona about her and would probably get taken advantage of very easily if it weren't for her well known connection to the Shelby's.
ii. Tommy is fully aware of who Lily is but doesn't know much other than basic facts. Since Lily has been around his family a long time, they aren't strangers to each other but they have rarely had a conversation with one another that wasn't just small talk really 'Hello, how are you?' that sort of stuff. That only starts to change when he gets back from the war because Lily's position within the business and family is much more prominent and Tommy really is incapable of seeing a pretty girl and not ending up sleeping with her so...
iii. Lily has a secretarial job within the betting shop. Helping John with the books, helping Polly sort through papers etc. This then shifts in the story so that she will be directly working for Tommy and sorting out all of his affairs. It is through this job that Tommy and Lily really begin to form their relationship. With the introduction of Grace, Lily will often offer her guidance and help her go through things after Tommy officially hires her since they will be doing much the same job.
iv. It is an incredibly long, slow burn.Throughout season one, they should still have a lot of interaction that will probably have to be made through a lot of completely made up scenes of them discussing business, sharing drinks (however you decide). But in the end Tommy still ends up sleeping with Grace and having formed a bond with her. They should not get together before well into season two. This can be because of number of reasons; being that Lily is quite naive to Tommy's feelings towards her, Tommy doesn't believe he deserves to be with someone as kind and gentle as Lily...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
