𝙿𝙴𝙽𝙼𝙰𝙽𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿 - 𝚃. 𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙱𝚈

22

Two years had passed since the whole saga with Billy Kimber and it hadn't been peaceful per se but it had been quiet. Juliet used to hate quiet, her mind was never quiet always whirring and rushing faster than light. But now quiet was Juliet's haven, those moments in her study where Tommy would sit on the small sofa as she wrote were the moments she cherished. 

Silence is a fine tailor when your thoughts are silken thread being spun constantly, a jumbled mess of soft strands trying to formulate something. Anything.

"And give him peace. Amen,"

"Amen," Everyone echoes, snapping Juliet out of her reverie as the warmth radiating from Tommy leaves her side.

"I promised my friend Freddie Thorne that I'd say a few words over his grave if he should pass before me," Tommy says, his voice low and his accent thick. "I made this promise before he became me brother-in-law. When we were in France, fighting for the King"

"Amen," Arthur says.

"And in the end, it wasn't war that took Freddie," Tommy continues, his eyes focused on the coffin containing his friend. "Pestilence took him. But Freddie passed on his soul and his spirit to a new generation before he was cruelly taken"

Polly does the sign of the cross as Juliet mutters a gyspy spell under her breath.

"May your life after the earth reflect the one you lived whilst on the mortal plane," Juliet murmurs, her fingers dancing over her black madonna ring. "Rest well Freddie Thorne, may your soul sit among those of old and great"

"You practice gypsy spells?" Polly asks and Juliet nods. 

"The belief helps my writing," Juliet shrugs as Ada moves next to them.

"We thought, now Freddie's gone, you might come back to Birmingham," Tommy says and Ada scoffs.

"God, do you know how funny it is that you've got chauffeurs in uniform now?"

"It's just for the occasion, Ada," Juliet says. 

"Do you know how unfair it is that you've got four Bugattis when half the country's starving?" 

"So now they've made you ashamed of us, eh?" Tommy says. 

"Sometimes when I think how I used to be, it makes me embarrassed," Ada shakes her head. 

"Karl's with his cousins," Polly says, joining them as she talks. "I caught 'em trying to pinch flowers off a grave. Ada. Are you coming home?"

"I'm going home," Ada says.

"It's all right, Pol. We make Ada embarrassed," Tommy says and Ada shakes her head. 

"That's not what I said,"

"You didn't have to," Juliet says.

"There's another reason we want you home. We're planning an expansion. I'm taking premises in London," Tommy says. 

"Tommy, it's a funeral, business can wait," Polly says and Juliet nods in agreement. 

It felt almost cruel. A man freshly lay in the dirt, his friends and family mourning his death and yet business was being discussed as if it had been a fly swatted with a rolled-up newspaper.

"Polly, if Ada was weeping then I'd stop," Tommy says. "But she's not. The expansion means it's going to be dangerous to be a Shelby in London for a while"

"Yeah. Well, I'm not a Shelby anymore," Ada says. "And I'm not a Thorne now, either. I'm free. I've got to get Karl home"

"I told you," Polly says to her nephew. "Let me do it"

"It's all right. I'll have some men watch her house till the danger passes," Tommy says. 

"Till the danger passes?" Juliet repeats Tommy's words as he walks over to Arthur. "That'll be the bloody day"

Tommy jogs over to them, stress clear on his face.

"What's happened?" Juliet asks.

Juliet stares at the charred remains of the Garrison, her jaw agape.

"Holy shit," Juliet says. 

The burnt down bar is skeletal in the light of the day, as if an artist sketched it in charcoal. Moss lifts the rope barricade for them to duck under. 

"It happened at, uh, exactly 7 a.m," Moss says. "Nobody saw anything. Our patrols were not in the area. Mr Shelby, have you got any idea who might've done it?"

"I'd say it was something to do with the gas," Tommy says, handing Moss a handful of notes. "It's just been fitted"

Juliet approaches the doorway, stepping inside the pub.

"Er, madam, the structure's not yet declared safe. Madam!"

Juliet crouches down, picking a piece of green confetti off of the ground.

"This is all over the place," Juliet says. 

"Confetti," Polly says, taking it from Juliet's hand.

"You can go," Tommy says.

"Right," Moss tips his hat before walking away as the trio stare at what was left of the Garrison pub.

"Who? Who did this to us?" Polly asks.

"Go back to the Shop Pol," Tommy says. "Jules will be joining youin a minute"

"Tommy you may hide your feelings but you forget that your eyes speak," Juliet says. "You know exactly who did this"

Tommy looks at the woman who can read him as easily as the novels she indulges in late at night.

"I'm going to deal with it," Tommy says, pressing a quick kiss to Juliet's lips before walking away.

"How?" Juliet asks and doesn't receive a response. "Tommy!"

Tommy continues walking and Juliet rolls her eyes. 

"Lord give me strength,"