I really appreciate everyone that takes the time to read this story. Considering what's going on with the world right now, I hope everyone is okay and coping. I've been gone from writing for a long time, but I am fine and have just had a massive mental block with writing. I thought I'd give it a go seeing as I'm not currently working as we're on lockdown and I can force myself to write something.
While I know where this story is going, I still find it hard to write chapters, so I'm starting to write scenes and weaving them together.
I wanted to show the sort of relationship Elsie has with her Grandmother and the problems she and Tommy will face due to their marriage.
What do you think of Tommy? Am I capturing him alright? I really am trying to keep him in character, but him being with Elsie will change him slightly as a person. I don't want it to be a dramatic change, but there will be one. I just want him to be a little sweeter when it's just the two of them.
Please let me know if there's something wrong, or there's something you'd like to see in the future.
Thank you for reading x Comet96 x
"I have to warn you, my grandmother has invited my cousin Robert and his son, Henry. I recall you've heard about them before?" I said, running my hand down Tommy's chest as I buttoned his vest for him.
"Is this the cousin that asked for your hand in marriage?" If I didn't know better I would have thought he was jealous.
"My hand for his son. Henry would never ask for my hand, he sees me more like a sister than a wife." I ran my hands up his chest and rested them on his shoulders. I pecked his cheek and pulled away with a smile. "I don't think we should dwell on what cousin Robert has done. I am married to you, Tommy and Henry is a kind man."
"A kind man," he muttered under his breath. I knew he didn't like it, knowing there were other men that wanted to marry me. He'd made that clear when he first found out.
"Would you be yourself tonight, Tommy. Don't pretend to be someone you're not."
"Are you ashamed I won't live to be like Henry?"
Now that was bitter.
How could he think that? Did he not know by now that I loved him the way he was?
"I am not ashamed of you, Tommy. I just don't want you thinking you have to be someone you're not. You're not here to impress me or my family. Papa knows you and he respects you. His would be the only judgement I care about and he already accepts that you are my husband." I ran my hand over his cheek and pressed a quick kiss to his jaw. "Come now, dear."
"So, what type of man are you then, Tommy?" Robert asked barely a minute after dinner had been served.
"Not the good sort," Grandmother replied before either Tommy or I could.
The tense silence that followed gave me goosebumps and made my stomach twist. Why did she always have to do this?
"I wouldn't believe everything that Elizabeth says, Robert," Papa said as he chuckled at the startled look on Robert's face. "Tommy is my business partner and he's a fine match for Elsie. They are remarkable together and I expect great things in the future."
And then there was Papa.
It was a truly preposterous idea that the two of them could have ever loved each other because as I look at them now, I don't see a speck of love in my grandmother's eyes.
"You work with Alfred in London then?" Henry asked, trying to move the subject away from grandmother and her distaste for Tommy.
"I help Alfred with his horses," Tommy said, lighting a cigarette as he looked over the table at Henry.
I had a feeling he was trying to intimidate Henry, even though I already told him there was no need to get jealous over my friendship with my cousin. That was all it was. I should have known that my dear husband would still go all Peaky Blinder on him.
It made me wonder if Henry would ever visit us in Birmingham. It would be a shock to see Tommy and how he did business then.
"Ah, you must be dealing with Graves then. It explains why he was in the office today."
That was news to me.
Is that what Papa and Tommy were dealing with today? Did they have Graves come to London to sort out business?
"There were a few contracts we needed Graves to sign," Papa supplied, no doubt trying to change the subject.
There seemed a lot of that going on tonight as well.
It wasn't a secret to me that Tommy wanted to keep me out of his business when it came to Graves.
He said it was to keep me safe but I knew a part of him wanted to keep business and pleasure separate. Not that I was saying I was only married to him for pleasure. We had gotten together in the first place because of business which eventually led to pleasure.
"Anything I can help with?" Henry asked, and I knew what Papa was talking about now. Henry was so eager to learn and to help. I knew that could be a problem. Tommy liked to keep everything secret and I wasn't sure how he'd deal with Henry interfering.
"Not at the moment," Papa said, sharing a look with Tommy.
"If you're interested, perhaps you can come to Small Heath next weekend and I'll show you the contracts," Tommy added, his eyes flicking to me before he set Henry with a challenging look.
What were they planning? Was it safe to include Henry in all this?
"I like the idea, I'll get a train down Friday afternoon."
This was not what I was imagining when I wanted Tommy to get on with Henry. Why was it so easy for them to make plans like this, which could eventually ruin Henry's life.
"Just let the gypsy scum rot away more of this family," Grandmother said, giving Papa a dirty look. "You've dragged this family through the dirt by letting her marry that rat."
"Elizabeth," Papa warned, his hand clenching around his glass. My eyes settled on Tommy as his jaw tightened and I knew he was fighting to say something.
"Oh don't stop me, Alfred. You should hear what the Ladies say about her at the tea rooms. The Prime Minister's wife was disturbed to find out that our granddaughter married a nobody. A thieving little scumbag from Small Heath stole the heir of the Cromwell fortune."
"I have the right to marry whomever I like," I snapped, defending Tommy when I knew he wouldn't. He had told me before this dinner that he wouldn't speak out of place with my grandmother.
"But a gypsy, dear?" Robert cut in, leaning forward and looking disgusted. He didn't show any shame as he roamed his eyes over Tommy and scoffed in disgust.
"You're a fine one to talk, Robert. Who are you to judge my marriage, huh? Isn't your wife currently fucking another man because you got caught up in drugs and whores? You drove your wife away and your son can't stand to be in the same room as you.
"Elsie," Papa warned, the same tone he used on my grandmother switching to me. I looked at him and scrunched my nose up and turned to Henry.
"I'm sorry, that was impolite to you, Henry. Please forgive me," I said not wanting to hurt his feelings over his mother leaving. Henry shook his hand and held up his hand in dismissal. He was never bothered by his mother leaving, he didn't blame her and I knew he wished he could have left too.
"He's already turned you into scum like him with a mouth like that. Doesn't he tell you when to hold your tongue? You need to wash your mouth out," grandmother hissed, pointing her long, boney finger at me in disgust.
"I'll have you know, Tommy has nothing to do with my mouth unless it's wrapped around his dick."
Tommy's hand settled on my knee and gave it a slight squeeze. Perhaps I had gone too far, but the satisfaction of watching my grandmother choke on her words made me happy.
"I think that's enough for one night," Papa said, rising from the table. "Henry, come join Tommy and I in the parlour and we'll go over some contracts." Henry rose with a nod and followed Papa out of the room, turning and giving me a wink as he left.
Tommy rose too, pushing his cigarette out on his plate as he turned to face my grandmother.
"A pleasure as always, Elizabeth," he grumbled before leaning over and placing a kiss on my cheek. "Behave," he whispered, running his hand through my hair before he left the dining room.
"I hope you feel ashamed of yourself, Edith," she said and I hated that she used my middle name. She was not happy when mother named me Elsie, she said it was too much of a gypsy name and I should have been called something with a bit more class and decorum.
"My name is Elsie, grandmother, and you will do well to remember that."
"You don't get that sort of respect, girl, you marry yourself off to that man after you slept with him like a whore and then you dared to bring him into my home. You should have cut yourself open and bled to death rather than marry him."
"I married Tommy because I love him. We would have waited to marry but Papa and Mah-mee pushed for it to be fast. It would have happened eventually, whether you liked it or not. Mah-mee's seen it and we all know she sees the truth." It was something Grandmother hated about Mah-mee. She had the gypsy sight and it was never wrong, Grandmother couldn't dismiss it either.
"Your scum husband should have died in France and graced those lands with his dirty blood."
"I swear to god, if you say one more thing about Tommy I will wipe that smug look off your face." This might be my cue to leave. Clenching my teeth I rose from the table and pushed my chair away.
"I'll send my prayers of his death to the Lord and hope he fulfills my desires." I was under no illusion that my grandmother followed god. She was the first one to curse him when all went wrong and it was for that reason it pissed me off more. She once said God was a myth created by man to make them more powerful. Now she was making jokes about praying to a man she didn't believe in hoping he'd kill my husband.
All because he was of gypsy blood.
"You hate Tommy because he's of gypsy blood. Do you remember who I am? Do you forget that your daughter married a man of gypsy blood? Have you forgotten where I was born, Grandmother, or do you just pretend I don't exist?" It didn't even bother me that she probably pretended I didn't exist. It bothered me that she despised Tommy so much because of his blood when I was from a similar background.
"You think I can forget what your father did to my daughter? I despise everything he's done to her, he tainted her soul and he took her to her grave. I wish she never met him." It didn't even hurt that she wished I had never been born. Papa told me she had never been the same since my mother ran away and married my Pa.
"I will never apologise for that. I will never let you bully me into thinking I am anything less just because I'm not as pure as you like to put it. I don't care if you despise me and are rude, but I will not let you talk to my husband that way in front of guests." Not that I would consider Robert a guest, but it didn't look too good when Tommy was left feeling like shit because of my grandmother.
"You're a dirty whore if you can even love scum like him," Grandmother said, ignoring the look Robert was giving me. I bet he thought he had a toe in the door when it came to inheritance. He must be thinking grandmother wouldn't leave anything to me in their will.
"I'll tell you what, Elizabeth," I said leaning on the table smirking down at her. "On my way here, Thomas fucked me on our train, right against the god damn door. It was fucking amazing and tonight I'll let him fuck me like the gypsy loving whore I am."
With a huff, I grabbed my glass of wine and stomped out of the room. Yes, I was stomping like a child but I was pissed off with the equally childish woman I had just dealt with.
Tommy wasn't in our room when I returned but I wasn't expecting him to be there. I could admit that I was more than childish but I wouldn't go back and change anything. I could have handled it better without losing my temper but I couldn't stand people judging Tommy.
I was somewhat protective of him in the sense that I hated when people tried to bring him down. He wasn't a bad man, he just made bad choices sometimes. And he was very good at making bad choices.
"Fuck." I threw my glass at the wall and held my head in my hands. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." What was the point in all that? It was meant to embarrass my Grandmother and I ended up looking like a spoiled brat instead.
"So," Tommy's voice startled me as he joined me in the room. I glanced at him over my shoulder as the door closed with a thud. "You do know you called yourself a whore?"
"Oh shut up, Tommy," I sighed, throwing myself on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I was aware of what I had said and I knew I had practically called myself Tommy's whore.
The bed dipped as he crawled over me, his hands running up my sides as he tugged my dress up my thighs. He ran his hands back down my sides until they tickled against the insides of my thighs.
"That mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble," he muttered leaning down and pressing a kiss along my neck until he reached my ear. I giggled as fingers pushed my dress up over my hips and let them run over my underwear.
"I think it already has," I whispered, running my hands through his hair as his lips sucked on my collarbone.
"Didn't you tell your grandmother you were going to let me fuck you?" I squeaked at his words and pulled away from him feeling mortified.
"You heard that?" I asked, pulling my hands away from him and holding them over my mouth. He was right, my mouth was going to get me into trouble.
"I've wanted to fuck you on the dining room table since you mentioned sucking my cock."
And this is your latest chapter. I hope you all enjoy it. Comet96 xx
