Field of Poppies

March 1909

            It took some time before Amelia was at least a little bit settled, a couple of weeks to be exact. Polly had warned all of the Shelby children to leave the young woman be and to let her figure out her place. That meant no asking about what happened in London, no asking about the baby, and no asking about the father of said baby. Instead, they talked to her about the things they'd been up to. A very short list, honestly. After all, they were all in Small Heath the entire time. The only thing that really changed was the death of their mother and their ages.

Although, Amelia did notice change in Tommy. He was a bit quieter than he was as a young teenager. Not as loud or rambunctious. However, he was still passionate. Still had an enthusiasm for horses and guns. But there was something budding that she noticed as soon as he started talking about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now there's a grocer looking for a shop-girl. I've just spoken to his wife and I think they'd be good employers. They know you're pregnant so they would make you do anything too taxing. Best you're not lifting anything too heavy." Polly said after sitting down with Amelia late one afternoon. "But if that doesn't work out, there's always work in one of the factories."

Tommy who was listening in took instant offense to Polly's suggestion. "She's not working in a fucking factory, Pol." He snapped protectively.

"She has a baby on the way, she's going to need the money." His aunt insisted. "Here you have to take whatever you can get, you know that."

"You know what happens in those shitholes. People lose limbs to the machines and the bosses don't give a fuck. They don't even pay 'em a decent wage." He spoke with such anger in his voice. It was obviously something he cared a lot about. And since none of the Shelbys worked in factories, she could only assume it was based on friends he knew. What she did know was Tommy always had a big heart and especially hated injustice. She could recall several instances of him raising his voice over things he didn't think were right or fair. On one such occasion, they couldn't have been more than ten, he stood up for Curly because a couple of kids were making fun of the way he talked. When they refused to apologize, Tommy jumped the biggest kid of the pack and broke his nose. After that, the rest of the group hurried off.

"I'm not disagreeing with you, Thomas, I'm just saying."

"She doesn't need to work; we'll take care of her." He leaned against the counter.

"That's very sweet of you Tommy, but I'm sure you all have enough on your plate. I really don't mind working." In fact, Amelia felt like she didn't have a choice. She could rely on the Shelbys for housing for a bit. But she wasn't going to take money from them. If Arthur Sr was absent then that meant Polly was probably trying to make ends meet for the entire household. With money from the odd jobs that Tommy and Arthur did, that would mean there was only enough for them. Amelia felt it wasn't her place to put more of a burden on the family.

"Well, soon we're going to have a betting shop. We'll make plenty of money and you won't have to work." He brushed aside her concern.

Polly threw a hand up. "This again..."

"Betting shop?" Amelia raised an eyebrow. It was the first she'd heard of the venture.

"Yep." Tommy nodded proudly. "Arthur and I have already been taking bets for races. We've saved enough to buy the place next door for practically nothing. The last owner got kicked out. We'll set it up as a betting shop."

"An illegal betting shop," Polly interjected. "No one with any good sense would give you two a fucking betting license."

He just shrugged. "Don't need a license if we don't get caught." He reminded her as if it were sage advice.