Chapter twenty: Ready and willing
"Katherine?" even though she'd been on the train for hours, she knew that voice anywhere in the mayhem of the train station. It was Emmett. She'd been dreaming about seeing him again that she could have sworn she was hallucinating. She was so glad that she wasn't this time! Emmett dropped his workbag as he ran towards her.
Kate started crying softly the moment she felt that his arms around her waist. The fact that he was here with her after not seeing him for almost two years was indescribable. She closed her eyes, breathing in his familiar scent of peppermint and ink. Oh, how'd she missed him! And as his lips covered hers for the first time in a long time, Kate remembered how much she'd missed him and his embrace.
At the sound of some whistling caused them to separate. "I'm sorry." Emmett said. "That was inappropriate."
"Marry me." The words slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them. "Make it appropriate. God, I've missed you so."
"God, I really want to Kate." He shakes his head. "But not without your father's permission."
"You'll never have it." she exhales. "Look, why don't we just get married?" he shakes his head. "It can be in name only until we've had a chance to come up with some sort of plan. If anything happens to you, I want to be informed. And should anything happen to me-
"Don't say that Katherine."
"It's a possibility." She says calmly. "I want to be your wife."
"I want you to be mine as well." Emmett exhaled and ran a gentle hand down her cheek. "Kate. Kate?"
"Kate?" she gasps as she awakens with a jolt. Thomas Shelby is standing over her and she realizes that she's hanging partly off the couch in the library. She groans as he helps her sit upright again. "What are you doing in here?"
She blinks as she groans, looking around to see where she is. "I….don't know." she yawns as she rubs her eyes. "I was reading and…I guess I fell asleep."
He chuckles as he helps her up from the couch. "Right, you go on upstairs."
She nods as she yawns, running a hand through her hair. "What time is it?"
He glances at his watch. "Almost seven now."
"Hmm," she rubs her eyes. "I've no idea what happened."
"Just tired, I expect." He glances at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You look really tried. Did you sleep at all?"
"I fell asleep…around 3:00 or so." She exhales. "I came down here to read and…I guess I fell asleep at some point." She yawns. "Did you take your tea last night?"
"Yes, I did." He helps her up. "But, let's get you upstairs right now."
"I'm fine."
"You look like you're about to keel over." He heads out of the library holding the door open for her.
"Thank you."
"That's not a compliment." He states firmly. "You look like you're walking in your sleep."
"I feel like it." He holds her limp hand and gently leads her up the stairs. "I don't think, well at least I thought I've been getting enough sleep."
She stumbles, missing a step slightly and he pauses. "Here." He pulls her towards him and wraps an arm around he waist. "You've been working a lot around the house. You should go spend a few days in London, I'll cover the expenses."
"Mhm sounds nice, but I'll tell you like I told Alfie. I wouldn't make it past the gate before I started panicking over everything going on here." she covers another yawn. "What about Charlie?"
"Right that's it," he helps her up the stairs. "I'm sending you somewhere for two weeks." She starts shaking her head in protest. "You need some time off."
"No, what about Charlie? And you're still-
"I'll be fine. That tea helps at night, no weird dreams. And Charlie," he leads her down the hall towards her room. "has a nanny that can watch over him."
"But what if he starts to-
"Kate, I'm ordering you to take some time off."
"But-
"No 'buts', take some time off."
"Fine." he pauses outside her room before opening the door for her. "You know, you've never said, what my role is to this family."
"I know." he exhales. "As soon as I know, I'll let you know. Maybe when you're gone, your role in this household will become clear." She nods. "Now, get some sleep and pack up. I'll have a car ready for you at noon."
"But I-
"And if you're not in the car, I'll pack your clothes myself and throw you in the car!"
"But-
"I'll send you an invitation to the," he pauses for a split second. "opening of the Grace Shelby Institute. You can come back here then."
"Where will I go?" she asks. "That's not for another week!"
"You can stay with Ada." He explains quietly. "She'd love another woman around the house and you can spoil Karl, like you do Charlie." Kate lets out another yawn. "See? You need to go."
Kate bites her lip. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. You need to rest. You've spent too much time looking after me. you need some time to look after yourself now."
She bites her lip before stating. 'I hate it when you're right." He smirks. "It really hurts. Goodnight."
"And Kate," she turns towards him. "you were right. I won't find Grace in someone like Tatiana, last night made that very clear."
She smiled faintly. "I liked Grace. She talked about you a lot."
He nods his head slightly. "I bet she did."
"She told me how your first question to her was, if she was a whore. And if she wasn't, she was in the wrong place!"
Against his will, Thomas smirked slightly. "That I did." He exhaled. "She was in the wrong place, she didn't belong in Birmingham."
"She said, that given the chance again between New York and Birmingham. She'd have picked Birmingham."
He stills for a long time, his mind absorbing her words before nodding. "Thank you for that Kate."
She bites her lip. "If you ever want to talk about her-
"No." he's silent for a moment. "Get some sleep; I'll make sure you're not disturbed."
"Thank you." And with that he closed the door to her room. And in spite of her protests, she did sleep hard.
Good God, she was glad to be back in the presence of the Shelby family! Not that spending almost two weeks with Ada hadn't been somewhat fun. It was fun, she loved hanging with just Ada and Karl, but, Ada had a lot of company over. She felt obligated to spend some time with Ada, even though she hated socializing. When Ada's political friends came over, she was granted some respite. Aside from that, there were several men who made it clear that were she to give them the word; they'd make play court to her. Kate made a point of staying in black in the evenings at Ada's to ward off any unwanted attention.
She did opt to wear color for the opening of the Grace Shelby institute. She wore a deep lavender-gray color. The moment she walked in the door, the whole family, hurried over to her with Charlie in the lead. Thomas, he just stood there and nodded his head at her before collecting Charlie from her. All he said was, "Good to have you back. Everyone, find your seats." Then when she started looking around, he'd said. "You're with us."
Several people, including Polly gave a lovely speech before bringing Thomas up. He'd then handed Charlie off to her while he gave a brief speech. It was brief and unplanned, but Thomas promised that all the children would be safe and loved in his institute, under peaky blinder protection. Then, they all sang immortal visible, a favorite song of Grace's. A little later, Kate found Thomas in the memorial section of the wing.
She smiled, reading Thomas's body language and decides to leave him alone with his thoughts of Grace. He hears her walking away and turn towards her. "Kate?"
"I'm sorry." Kate smiles. "I'll leave the two of you alone." He glances at her as she smiles. "You can't fool me; it's the two of you in here. Enjoy it. I'm going to go out and get some fresh air."
He nods. "Thank you." and as she walks away, he adds. "Good to have you back."
She smiles. "Good to be back."
With that, she walks down the hall. The door opens and father Hughes comes out of a room, nearly bumping into her. She bobs her head, causing him to state indignantly. "Pardon yourself."
She rolls her eyes and states. "Pardon me Hughes."
"It's father Hughes." He says testily.
"You're no father of mine." she snips as she walks by. He grabs her arm and spins her around. "Get your hands off me, or I will shoot you."
"You're unarmed and Shelby won't lift a finger to help you."
"Mr. Shelby won't lift a finger because he knows that I'm a woman not to be trifled with. Now, let me go… 'priest' or not, I will shoot you." the man lets her go and Kate smiles. "A wise move."
With that, she turns and walks down the hall, towards the back. She exhales once she's out of father Hughes sight. She doubts Thomas would be working with scum like Hughes. She'd seen enough of Thomas's body language, to know that he wasn't completely willing to talk with Hughes. Kate stepped outside, leaning against the brick wall, bringing in the cool autumn air. After a few moments, the back door opens and at the sound of Charlie crying, she whips around to see the nurse exiting with Charlie.
"What are you doing?" the nurse whips around, her eyes wide. Kate steps towards her. "Give me Charlie."
"Mister Shelby," she says uneasily. "asked me to take him out for some air."
Kate nods casually. "Right, let me fix his coat." The nurse exhales as Kate fixes Charlie's button, well, she fiddles with it. She then smoothly extracts Charlie from the nurse's arms once the woman's guard goes down.
The nurse instantly reaches for Charlie. "Miss, give him back."
Kate shakes her head. "No."
"Miss, please." A car pulls up and her eyes widen. "Miss, now!"
Kate shakes her head. "No!" The door opens as a man jumps out of the car. Kate instantly lunges for the door, to find it locked! "Damn it!" she curses as one of the men point a gun at her head.
"Give her the boy, now."
"No." she snaps instantly. "I'm not giving Charlie over to scum like you!"
The man cocks the pistol. "Hand the f**king brat over now."
"Or what?" she demands. "You'll shoot me? You really don't want to do that. If you do, the Shelby and the Kovach family will hunt you and your gang down until everyone is dead."
The men shift uneasily before stomping towards her. "Hand over the brat, now, or we'll shoot her!"
The nurse gasps as the man points a gun to her head. "Please." The nurse begs. "I've got a family to take care of."
Kate inhales deeply, her heart pounding deep in her chest. "Alright, how about this? Let her go and I will go quietly, if you let me go with Charlie." They all look suspiciously at her. "Look, Mr. Shelby will be furious if you take his son. He's already lost his wife, his father and now you're taking his son. He may be more inclined to cooperate with whatever plans you have, if you let me, his nanny, come along to keep an eye on his child."
The men exhale before nodding. "Right. Alright, come on." Holding onto him tightly, she follows them out and into the car. "Tie up the loose end."
Kate looks up as the second man, shoots the nurse in the head! She gasps. "You are-
"Shut up, before I decide to put a bullet in you."
"Try it and you'll be the one changing his diapers, since you shot the nurse." She snaps. However, she does opt to remain quiet for the car ride. Charlie is very talkative though and she does her best to act casual. She points to stuff out the window and he enjoys seeing the sights around him. Fifteen minutes later, Kate is hauled out of the car and shoved into a small church. Some part of her just knows that this has to be Father Hughes's parish. She's escorted down to the lower floor and put into a small room with only a mattress on the floor. Charlie is curious about the place and begins to wander around the enclosed room. Kate smiles half-heartedly as Charlie finds little things.
The door opens and Kate holds her hand out to Charlie. He instantly runs to her and Kate holds onto him as father Hughes walks into the room. She's heard of the rumors of his taste for underage boys and she's not about to let him touch Charlie.
"Well, you're not who I was expecting to deal with tonight." He walks towards her. "Let me see the boy for a moment."
"Don't you dare lay a f**king finger on him!" she snarls, her inner mother coming out. She's not Charlie's mother, but her anger makes Hughes stop a foot away from her.
"God does not approve of-
"Don't you start preaching to me about God!" she glowers at him. "You're no messenger of God. You mark my words…you took Thomas Shelby's son…you will meet the devil before this week is over! And when you're in hell, asking God what you did to deserve this, trust me, He will let you know!"
Hughes is silent for a long time, anger boiling over in his eyes and filling in his body. She sits there, holding his gaze, her breathing heavy and furious. After what seems like an hour, he speaks. "You have a visitor." She blinks in surprise. "He was visiting me and when I was informed of your presence, he insisted on seeing you personally. If anyone's going to hell, it'll be you and he will most likely be the one to send you there." Kate frowns and stands up as Hughes goes towards the door. He opens it and says dismissively. "She's all yours. Don't do anything in front of the boy."
A man steps in and the blood drains out of her face as she instantly recognizes him. "Luca."
"Well," Luca says slowly as he looks her up and down slowly. "if it isn't my runaway bride."
MeriemDjez: I know! They're such children aren't they? It's clear to everyone, but him or her at this point! As to Alfie being her first kiss, isn't it ironic? Poor Thomas. That information is going to be pure torture for him.
Idcam: Yes, she does and the jealousy was obvious. However, they're both trying to pretend they're not jealous!
Guest: Wish granted!