sabrina. peaky blinders

𝑇𝑤𝑜

❤︎

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑇𝑤𝑜: 𝐴 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑆𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑎

The Lewis household was in full chaos. Fred Lewis was sat around the kitchen table, surrounded by his children, Jenny Potts and Henry Johnson, all shuffling against each other to peer over his shoulder. He held a small envelope in his calloused hands, it was folded daintily and scrawled across in a neat manor, created in a caring and precise nature.

Jenny Potts turned to take the parchment from his hands, smoothing the crisp paper with her soft and gentle fingers before turning to smack the head of one of the youngest children's head with a stern glare. Peter sulked as he rubbed his chubby hands through his messy, brown hair and whined, "What was that for?"

"Let your father breathe. We can't hear ourselves think over your bloody racket."

Jenny Potts was a rather slim woman of a short stature and a rounded face to hold her arched and soft brows. she was pretty and an incredibly hard working woman at that. Her description wasn't typically of an intimidating woman, but her confidence and, in some sense, her motherly nature made her all the more respected.

"I ain't done anything wrong, tell her Henry." Peter scowled as Jenny chuckled, running a hand through his brunette locks and ruffling it some more.

"Just listen to the woman. You'll learn that she gets what she wants. There's no use fighting." Henry spoke up. A cigarette was hanging from between his two lips lazily and a smirk played on his face cheekily as he looked up towards the older woman. His suit was crumpled from the long night spent drinking at the Garrison, but other than that he showed no sigh of exhaustion as he glanced back to look at Jenny with a cheeky, child-like grin.

"That's right. Women know best these days. We found that out from the war."

"Alright. Alright. Enough of that, then." Fred said, running a hand through Peters hair as the eleven year old exhaled loudly in annoyance, fighting his fathers hands from off his head.
"Stop ruffling me hair. I'm a man now, me!" Peter exclaimed in defence, earning a laugh from his eldest brother Harry.

"I swear I done nothing." Peter shouted, instead turning to face his older brother with pointed fingers. "It was George."

"No it wasn't!" The children argued back and forth, squabbling like mice.

With a loud cough, Jenny was instantly able to quieten the children's bickering, gaining their attention as her eyes flitted across the page, taking in the pretty loops of the writing.

'Dear Father,

Paris has treated me kindly in my stay here. I know I have not wrote to you much but I simply haven't had the time in between my studies. You understand, don't you Father.

I want to thank you for my education here and I know I will make you proud. I will always love you for it.

I have learned so many things father, but what I guess I mean to say is that I have learned much more from the trip than what was taught in the classroom. I have learned how to live and not just to stand at the side and watch.
And I will never, never again run away from life or from love either.

I am pleased to tell you that we will be graduating in a little under two weeks from now and I will be home no more than a week later.
I hope to meet you at the train, the usual 4:15 train on the Friday.
If you should have any difficulty recognising your daughter, I shall be the most sophisticated woman at the station.

With love,
Your dearest Sabrina.

And P.S- If it is Betty or Peter reading this:
Shut your gob about my writing, there's a thing called proper English and class.'

"Oh, Fred! Why didn't you tell us earlier that Sabrina was coming home?" Jenny held the paper to her chest as she beamed down at the man expectantly. "And she sounds so educated and proper!"

"The letter arrived late and I wanted to tell everyone at the same time. I knew you'd all be excited."

"Sabrina's coming home?" Jane shouted, clinging onto Jenny's dress as she clawed for the letter, her brunette curls bouncing as she hopped from foot to foot. Her eyes brightened as her small hand wrapped around the paper and she brought it close to her face, struggling to read the words.

Betty snatched the paper from her youngest sisters hand, flattening it to read the words for herself, with a roll of her eyes. "You can't even read Jane."

"Leave her be, Betty." Mary said softly, bringing Jane into her arms and sitting the young girl on her lap and brushing her fingers through her hair. "She's only little."

"I am not!" Jane squealed, waving her arms around as if she were swimming.

Betty stuck her tongue out with a smile before turning her attention back to the letter. She laughed as she read it.
"How did she know we would make fun of her writing."

"You make fun of everything anyone does." Jenny said.

"Where does she think she's from! London?" Betty's voice was half joking and serious as she spoke of her sister. Many people would have thought Betty was jealous of Sabrina but in reality it was her own was of showing her love for her sister by joking. She was proud of her really.

"But I'm surprised there's no mention of John Shelby."

She flipped the paper around, not bothering to take care as the paper had already been crumpled and ripped by the grabbing hands all eager to reach it.
"Oh, never mind."

Betty's eyes landed on a small scribble on the back of the paper, hidden discretely in the far corner. The writing was rushed and not thought through.

"'Please ensure John Shelby is not near when picking me up. I do not wish to have a run in.'"

Betty rolled her eyes at the words of her older sister. Everyone in the family knew of Sabrina's infatuation with the Shelby boy and they could not understand why.

"I spoke too soon. Will she ever stop obsessing over him?"

"Oh, hush. I think it's quite sweet really." Mary voiced, earning another roll of the eyes from Betty. "She's remained faithful to him after all these years even though he doesn't know how she feels."

"Well she ought just to tell him. Before I bloody do."

❤︎