𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐘 peaky blinders

xviii. OH, JOHNNY BOY

ACT: TWO
CHAPTER xviii: ' oh, johnny boy! '

Tommy had long felt his backside grow numb from sitting on the edge of his chair for, at the very least, over an hour. His leg itched to shake up and down but he suppressed the urge to show his inner turmoil with Zilpha Lee sitting in the seat next to him. Yet there was nothing he could do to stop himself from chain smoking like a chimney on overtime in a poor attempt to ease the restlessness in his hands.

Nevertheless, the matriarch of the Lee was nothing short of perceptive and she had took notice of his odd behaviour. Her eyes strayed from the dancing wedding guests just as Tommy lit up another match, she had lost track what number it was a while back. "Do your bones grow on tenterhooks under light of the full moon, Thomas?"

"I don't hold any of your superstitions, Zilpha." Tommy replied swiftly, skilfully hiding his confusion from being asked such an out of the blue question. "A full moon is as pretty as any."

Zilpha pursed her lips into a small smirk. "My Esme and your John seem fairly pleased with one another, a close to perfect match I'd say. Are you happy with our arrangement?"

Tommy furrowed his brows and turned to her, smoke fleeing his mouth when he opened it to speak, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your hands tremble like a man gone mad under the full moon, dancing his way through the forest." She leaned forward in her chair to whisper almost mockingly, "Tell me, do the trees call to you tonight?"

He stared blankly at her, lips parted but unmoving. He was unsure if she were just pulling his chain or if she was simply being an mad ole gypsy. Either way, she'd managed to render him speechless and that was saying something.

"Or is it that young blonde dancing with your brother that calls your name?" She stared at him with a teasing smirk, watching her words clink in the gears behind his eyes. "You hid your face well but our eyes are the windows to our souls and yours have not left her all night."

It took all the willpower Tommy had to force his gaze to remain on the Gypsy woman and not flash over to Eli and Arthur dancing with the other partygoers. He hadn't realised how obvious he was being by staring at them until Zilpha made the jab at him.

He had been pleasantly surprised to see Eli's blonde head blur past him behind his aunt while Ada stopped beside him to bare witness to the wedding ceremony. It had been hard to tear his eyes from her then too, with her heavenly pink dress and pale fur coat, with her golden and silver weaved curls and her glowing smile.

Admittedly, there was still a small bitterness in his chest from letting his brother beat him to asking her for a dance after the ceremony and the way they hadn't sat back down since. Not that he would have asked her if she retired to her seat anyway. This may have been a family event but it was still a business affair in his mind. The Lees were new allies, he didn't feel like getting too comfortable with them. Dancing and getting hammered with his family would have felt unprofessional.