𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐘 peaky blinders

xxv. TWO YEARS LATER

ACT: THREE
CHAPTER xxv: ' two years later! '

"How was your trip?" were the first words Eli heard as soon as she stepped off the train and was greeted by the familiar scent of Birmingham. She wish she could have said she missed it, however the scent of pollution and ash was far from a pleasant one.

"Enlightening," Eli replied dryly before grinning at the person facing her and holding her arms open expectantly. "Don't I get a welcome back hug?"

Polly pursed her lips in amusement at the younger woman, flicking her cigarette on the ground and begrugdingly obliging to Eli's request with a small huff. "Welcome back to the shithole we call home, love."

Eli's grin widened as she pulled back and put Polly at arms length. "Step back, let me get a look at ya!" Her actions left Polly in utter confusion as she wondered what the bloody hell the blonde was playing at. Said blonde gave her a once over and nodded solemnly, "So who the fuck's been dressing you while I was gone?"

A scoff fled Polly's lips at the cheek of Eli, only back a minute and she was already back to her usual self. "You've been gone a year, Eliza. You'll forgive me if I had to shop elsewhere."

"A bloody long year," muttered a voice from behind Eli before a tall, skinny blonde pushed past her to step off the train behind her. Or almost blonde. Her hair was darker than her sister's, a butterscotch bronze compared to Eli's pale gold, and her eyes brown like her mother's, instead of her father's blue.

Polly turned her gaze to the newcomer and had to pinch herself in disbelief at the sight of the female that closely resembled the little girl that had Finn wrapped around her finger since she was ten years old. "Is that little Mila under that fancy coat and dress?"

"It is," joined another voice, this one belonging to a shorter girl, the last to join the women. Rose was an almost exact replica of Eli at her age only with a warmer shade of hair and darker eyes, wearing a fur trimmed coat and matching hat. "She fought like a rabid dog when Ma forced her into it."

"God, look how you two have grown!" Polly gushed while Eli snorted in amusement. "It's only been a year, what the fuck was your mother feeding you both?"

"Potatoes." Mila joked with a wild grin.

Eli and Rose both rolled their eyes at their younger sister and ignored her, whereas Polly only laughed at the Irish jig and thereafter, turned her attention back to Eli. "And where is Marie? Waiting for me to leave before she shows her face, is she?"

"Nah," Eli shook her head with a look that said a lot more than her voice did, "she's decided to stay back in home for a while with my Da."