Elizabeth had bid her goodnights to everyone later on in the evening before locking the door to the house and looking to Tommy who was sat on the bottom step of the staircase, a cigarette dangling from his mouth as his wife watched him and he knew that he had some explaining to do. The serving staff were all clearing up in the dining room, giving them the space they needed.
"Who was that man?" Elizabeth demanded from Tommy. "You've been avoiding me all evening, Thomas Shelby. What did he want?"
"Nothin'." He moved to stub his cigarette out before resuming his place on the staircase.
"Do not lie to me!" Elizabeth roared at her husband, moving closer to him as he stood up and looked to her, observing her face as she dared to take hold of him by the upper arms, stopping him from walking away from her as she kept her hands clasping onto him. "Just talk to me…please…shutting me out…you promised never to do it to me."
"I am bein' serious, Liz," Tommy promised his wife, taking her hands into his and moving down the steps to look her in the eye, searching her gaze as she remained fearful. "He didn't want anythin' tonight, but he said that he will be back. I think it's 'appenin', Liz. I think Churchill is playin' 'is 'and."
"Already?" Elizabeth whispered and Tommy nodded his head to her as she shook hers and moved away from him, her hands moving to her hair and pulling the pins from them as she dropped them onto the desk by the doorway, her hands clutching the edge of it as she bowed her head.
"Nothin' will 'appen," Tommy promised his wife. "Whatever 'appens to me…you and Charlotte will be safe."
"Don't talk like that," Elizabeth pleaded from her husband. "Just don't talk like that right now, Tommy. Whatever these people want cannot be good news. You know that as well as I do."
"I know," Tommy told her. "I know that it will be dangerous. Always is, but I'm goin' to make it all right…like I always do."
"And if you have bitten off more than you can chew?" Elizabeth enquired, turning back to look at him as her hair hung around her face and her hands dropped to her hips, her eyes wide and her mouth gaping. "Tommy, there is only so much that we can go through without remaining unscathed."
"There's no other option," Tommy told her, shrugging his shoulders highly as he felt anger take hold of him. "What do yer want me to do, Liz? Say no? Hang for disobeying? Is that it?"
"Do not be absurd," Elizabeth snapped back.
"Then wise up," Tommy demanded his wife and she startled for a moment. "Wise up and realise there is nothin' I can do but what has been told of me. I do what I can to survive."
Elizabeth hated being spoken to like that. She detested it. She hated the way he spoke down to her, almost as if everything was her fault and he had brought none of it on himself. She felt herself grow close to breaking point as she moved towards him, her finger moving to jab against his chest.
"Do not talk to me like that," she demanded from him. "Do not talk to me as though you have done nothing wrong to land yourself into this mess. If you had just lived honestly…without breaking the law…or getting into situations you cannot handle…then perhaps we might be better off."
"Are yer forgettin' why I did that in the first place?" Tommy demanded from her, his voice now higher too as he moved to take hold of her by the arms, his grip tight as he looked at her, seeing how her face never changed from one of anger to understanding. "I did it to get back at yer brother…because I thought yer 'ad gone…left me…I fixed races to get back at 'im for what he did to yer."
Tommy let her go then, seeing how her chest heaved as her face softened and her eyes welled with tears. She shook her head slowly and Tommy shrugged his shoulders before moving off to the staircase and heading up them. Elizabeth followed him, standing on the bottom step as her hand gripped the bannister.
"Where are you going?" she demanded from him.
"To sleep in the guest room," Tommy grunted back, too occupied with pulling a cigarette from his pocket.
Elizabeth shook her head once more and said nothing more as he climbed the staircase and she moved through the hallway and into the study, slamming the door behind her as she went to sit at her desk, her head falling back as she closed her eyes and tried not to think of what her husband was doing.
…
Tommy had said nothing to Elizabeth since that night. He had not told her about how the Russians had made contact. They wanted money in exchange for arms. Tommy didn't know what the exiled Russians wanted with the weapons, but a part of him didn't care. He was quite happy to stay out of the business of the Russians and take their money.
A part of Tommy didn't want to admit that he loved the thrill. He loved the thrill of being involved in the business. He loved the feeling he had whenever he walked through the streets of Birmingham and people showed him respect. He loved the fact that he had risen from nothing to the top. He didn't care what people thought.
Working with the Russians was going to be a one time deal. Tommy had no intention of continuing their involvement with each other once the Duchess handed over the money she had promised him. Tommy knew that he had to go to London after visiting the Lancaster Factory to make sure the vehicles were all in order.
He had a meeting with the Russians that he needed to attend in the next week, but his main issue was his wife. Elizabeth had barely spoken two words to him since their argument following Charlotte's christening. His wife had been stubborn enough to refuse to converse with him and Tommy had offered her no apology for what he had said to her that night.
He knew her anger would only intensify if she found out about the Russians. Of course, a part of him suspected that she would be angrier if he hid it from her. But she wasn't even talking to him so it would be difficult to tell her anything.
The morning before he had to leave, Tommy found his wife in the garden with Charlotte. The babe was laid on a blanket while his wife held a trowel in her fingertips, her hands gloved and the sleeves to her blue blouse rolled up to her elbows while a hat sat on her head to protect her from the sun. She was planting some kind of seed in the ground, smoothing the mud over them before watering them.
"I'm leavin' tomorrow."
Tommy's voice was curt, but Elizabeth had grown used to that recently. Picking her head up, she looked up to him. He was dressed in his usual three piece suit, his hat on his head and his boots newly polished.
"Where to?"
"Lancaster and then London."
"May I ask why?" Elizabeth wondered back, going back to digging as Tommy shrugged.
"Depends if yer want to know."
Elizabeth slammed the trowel into the ground and gave her full attention to her husband. "Do not talk to me as if this entire thing is my fault."
"I didn't say anythin'," Tommy defended himself.
"It was your tone," Elizabeth retorted. "I understand, Tommy. You are angry because you think that I do not understand. You think that I worry too much about what you do and yes, I do. But I only worry because you are my husband and I love you. Why is that too much for you to understand?"
Tommy took a deep breath then, knowing that he didn't want to argue with Elizabeth, but he suspected they were heading down the routed of having an argument. They often did recently. Tommy dropped his hands to his hips as his daughter reached her hands up towards him and he bent down, obliging her request and picking her up into his arms.
Juggling her on his hip, Tommy looked back to Elizabeth. "I love you more than yer will ever know," Tommy promised his wife. "But I need yer to trust me that everythin' will work out fine. Business will never come home to yer and Charlotte."
"No?" Elizabeth wondered from him. "Then who was that man at our daughter's christening? He was not your friend and that was business, Tommy. Do not think me naïve."
"I think nothin' of the sort," Tommy promised her. "But Churchill has asked me to do a job…in exchange for money I give some arms to Russian exiles."
"What? Why?" Elizabeth asked and Tommy shrugged.
"I don't know," he admitted. "That's why I'm headin' to London to find out."
"And is that it? Will he want anything else after this?"
"How many times do I 'ave to tell yer that I don't know?" Tommy huffed and Elizabeth shook her head. She had had enough now.
Pulling her gloves from her fingertips, she tossed them to the side and stood up, smoothing out her skirts and moving from the garden as Tommy followed her, still holding Charlotte in his grip as the little girl began to squirm around, clearly noticing how the little girl knew there was some tension between her parents.
"Liz."
"No," Elizabeth said. "I am tired of this, Tommy. I am tired of you talking to me as though I am the cause of your problems when I am your wife. I am your wife and I deserve to know what is happening without you making me feel like a nag."
"I know," Tommy assured her. "But I'm just as worried as you are, do yer get that? I'm nervous too, Lizzie."
"Then just say so," she responded and stopped walking to turn and look at him. "Just talk to me, Tommy. Just talk to me and tell me what is happening and accept the fact that I am going to worry, just as you worry about me."
Nodding, Tommy suspected he could agree with that. A moment after they had stopped their bickering, Charlotte began to sob loudly, her cries echoing through the ground as Tommy moved to rest her against his chest, his hand patting her back as he looked to Elizabeth.
"I don't think she likes us arguing, eh?" he said, a soft smile on his face as Elizabeth finally broke into a smile and Tommy moved closer to his wife, managing to free one of his arms to wrap around her waist as he brought her closer by his side.
Sighing for a moment, Elizabeth kissed him on the cheek before resting her head on his shoulder while Charlotte hiccupped loudly, her cries slowly dying down as she looked between her parents.
"Just promise me you will be careful," Elizabeth whispered and Tommy nodded.
"Always."
…
Tommy had left for business and Elizabeth had found herself growing with worry each day he had been gone. He would phone each night, telling her what had happened, but so far everything had been quiet. Tommy intended to go and visit Ada before he returned home after she had gone back to London to make her life there.
That evening, Elizabeth had invited Pol around for some company and she was glad she had done. Charlotte had been in bed early that night, Elizabeth bathing her and putting her down in her cot by her bed. She had left her alone with the door open so she could hear her from the sitting room where her and Pol were.
"Did Tommy tell you why he went to London?" Elizabeth enquired.
"He did," Pol confirmed. "He also told me that a Russian showed up 'ere on Charlotte's christening."
"Correct," Elizabeth sighed, pushing a hand through her hair and leaning back, feeling exhausted. "I know what he is doing, Pol, but that does mean I am at ease with it all. Tommy can be reckless, I know that, but he is still my husband."
"Tommy is only reckless when it comes to you and Charlotte," Pol said. "But everythin' else…well…Tommy is calculated. He thinks things through before anyone else does. He's no fool."
"I know that too," Elizabeth nodded. "That still does not mean I stop worrying."
"Yer his wife, it's natural," Pol promised her.
It was only as Elizabeth took a sip of her tea did she hear a knock on the front door. Leaping to her feet, she moved into the foyer, calling back to Pol as she did so.
"Maybe Tommy came home early," she said. "I thought he was supposed to see Ada, but maybe she cancelled earlier today and…"
Elizabeth trailed off as she pulled the wooden door open and her eyes widened as she saw the man stood there. She recognised him from that night. He smiled to her and his thick accent shone through as he spoke to her. Pol was beside Elizabeth in an instant, making sure no harm came to the girl as the man tried to step into the house.
"Mrs Shelby," he drawled.
"Thomas is not here," Elizabeth said, her voice demanding as she refused to move out the way and the man chuckled.
"I know, Mrs Shelby," he promised her, looking to Elizabeth with a menacing gleam in his eye. "But I'm not here for him…I'm here for you."
…
A/N: Do let me know what you think!
