Chapter 6)Home sweet home

.-.-.

Polly Gray cursed herself for wearing her new heels that morning. Her high one strap heels stood layer deep in grime, she did not miss the poor working class streets she grew up in. Not at all. Wearing a black cocoon fur coat she cursed herself again for not bringing her cigarettes.

She did not recall the lass' full address but by the poverty surrounding her she knew she had to be close.

Her lips curled into a tight smile and she thanked her luck when she spotted her young employee getting out of one of the houses. Tilting her felt hat up she walked directly to the girl and making her halt.

"Do you have a moment?" It was a matter of formality, not a question, they both knew that. She motioned the girl to walk alongside her and lead her into a small tavern that was open, which she had arranged. There were a few very important matters to press today. She notioned the owner after they walked in and the man turned the door sign back to closed.

"Sit down child," Polly spoke and poured two cups of tea already set at their table. Her table mate kept quiet, intimidated by her boldness.

"Why do you think I offered you the job?" She asked matter-of-factly.

"To take care of the horses?" The girl spoke carefully.

"Wrong, think again." She ordered shoving a cup across the table.

The girl was silent for a moment, biting her lower lip and plucking nervously on the hem of her shirt. "Because I know sign language?" she finally settled, a little dejected as she came to her conclusion.

"Aye, that's the right answer," Polly said, harshly. "How do you like your job so far?"

"I love it ma'am." The girl spoke honest, finally ready to bring herself to look up. "It's the only thing that keeps my hopes up."

She didn't think the girl would be so honest. "Hopes up for what?"

"That I won't go mad from this city, I come from a small town, I don't belong here." She drew her gaze back down and stared at her tea. "I should not be here, ma'am."

The plain sight of hopelessness struck Polly's heart, but this wasn't an unfamiliar story and honestly, the girl was better off than most. At least she had a roof over her head and didn't need to sell her body.

"But you are here now, and you're working for the Shelby family, dear," Polly informed her bluntly, "and if you'd like to keep your job, you need to be doing some certain things for me."

Her table mates brows frowned but she kept quiet.

"My nephew is not well." It hurt her to say it out loud, but she managed to keep her voice under control and pragmatic. "For our family business he needs to be well. I need him to be better."

And she did, for reasons more than strictly business. Their family was falling apart, Arthur was doing the best he could, but Arthur was the muscles not the mind, not fit to do the thinking or the talking for that matter. And Arthur did not want to listen to a woman, afraid to be overruled.

To function he needed to feel superior. Which lead to many fights and dangerous mistakes. Flaws that wouldn't have happened if Tommy was more around, or around at all. John wasn't much better, he'd became a man during their three years of fighting, but was still a teen when it came to business.

Polly had successfully kept their name high and mighty during their absence and would rather eat her felt hat then see it being demolished by her own flesh and blood. By their stupidity and arrogance.

"And how can I help," the girl spoke carefully, breaking Polly's thoughts, "I'm not a doctor."

"Aye, but you could be an influence," Polly told her. Tommy would always confide in her, not with many words, but he would let her in occasionally. That changed after the war, she remembered so vividly how he came home with his brothers after months in the hospital. He couldn't bear to look at her because she could not hide her enormous grief.

She would never hear his deep husky voice again, he would never provoke or comfort her the way he used to. He would never shout at his sister to keep her babbling mouth or sing lullabies when he'd take Finn to bed.

"I want you to keep an eye on him and report to me if he does something stupid. I will give you three shillings extra every week if you drop by Watery lane," she told the girl firmly.

She picked her words carefully because she didn't want to give the girl too much information about her nephew, or make her think he was pathetic. Because he wasn't, he was just so lost. She once caught him at their fireplace in the middle of the night, he sat there staring at the flames. He'd taken all the bullets from his gun and tossed them at his feet. Absentmindedly his hands played with the gun, then firmly placing it against his temple.

Click

She couldn't bring herself to find out he'd done something so irreversal stupid and she would be too late. She would never forgive herself if she didn't try to get him out of his silence literally and figuratively.

"He needs to get well again," she said, more to herself then to her companion. "Try to get him out of the stables for a bit, he needs to… get out more."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" It wasn't an accusation, but a honest question. A very good question which Polly didn't know the answer to.

That day when she first lay her eyes on the girl was only because she saw her sign to her mother in a casual way. She was fluent with the motions and the rapid finger spelling. And that's where she failed, Tommy's new language was their barrier. Tommy hated it when she didn't understand what he was trying to tell her and didn't bother to try after a while. If he needed to inform his family with something he would write it down or point. But a literal form of communications lacks emotions and he'd already grown so cold and distant.

"You are a clever girl, I can see that. You will figure something out." She took her wallet from her purse and handed the girl two pounds. "For your troubles and don't mention our little meeting to anyone." If Tommy found out about their little deal he would never trust her again. "Now drink up your tea, dear, else you will be late for work."

.-.-.

The house of her aunt Mirjam and uncle Walter in Adeler Street was never quiet, or ever close to it. The industrial small house was a 'two up two down'- just two main rooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms above separated by the staircase. Maria, her mother, and two sister where cramped up unto the small attic. Besides the two self-made bunk beds, there was just enough space for one closet, nothing more. Her two cousins had to share rooms now and were still furious about it, picking on the three girls the best they could.

Even at night there was noise, coming from the pipes and there were mice. She didn't see them, but she could hear them squeak and run over the wooden floor.

There was horrible plumbing, ice cold water would come from the faucet in the kitchen. The toilet was in the small outhouse in the back of their yard. There was no bath or shower. Twice a week her mum and aunt would fill a wooden tub in the kitchen with hot water and everyone got ten minutes. The women first, then the men. After her uncle used the tub the water was pitch black.

"Five more minutes, Marie!" Her aunt shouted from behind the kitchen door. "Hurry up, your sisters are already undressed!"

Furiously she tried to scrub dirt from under her fingernails and she hadn't even wringed her hair yet. She could hear the twins April and May whine about being cold and her hoarding all the hot water.

Frustrated she grabbed the wooden edge of the tube and pushed herself down into the water.

For thirty seconds it was quiet, the high pitch voices just a slight buzz. It was cruel of her to think but sometimes she envied her mother's deafness.

She thought back of her encounter with Miss Polly and felt slightly ill about keeping it from Tommy. She was a good Catholic girl and was not fond of lying or keeping secrets. It was wrong, but she didn't dare to defy Polly's orders. Any other option would lead to her getting fired. And she needed this job, she would go mad if she'd be locked into a factory for ten to twelve hours a day. So in order of keeping her work she would take the role of a spy.

"MARIA!" Her sisters screamed on the top of their lungs.

"Fine, fine!" She shouted back at her sisters who forcefully pushed the knob up and down "I'm coming out, shut it for a minute will you!"

With drenched unwashed hair she got out of the tub and shivered, the windows of their house where paperthin. Collecting her clothes and folding them up in a ball she covered her body with a towel and threw the door open.

"We are cold, cold!" April screeched, huddling herself in her towel. Her twin sister nudged her aside and speeded in.

"Then you should have waited to undress, I have ten minutes!" She shot back annoyed.

"We do too and we have to share!" April replied and stuck out her tongue.

'But you don't need to work at the stables', she thought angrily but didn't respond and marched through the hallway, the faster she could get dressed the better.

"What are you looking at?" She spat at her prepubescent cousins who peeked at her with the same beady eyes as the men at the docs. Both boys laughed and ran up the stairs. "We saw your tits!"

"CARL, STEVEN!" Her aunt shouted from the living room, "DON'T MAKE ME COME UP THERE!"

"Don't worry ya ain't got any to look at!" her oldest cousin Carl told her viciously when she crossed him on the first floor staircase. "And I know you stole my jeans, what did you do with 'em?"

Ignoring Carl she ran up the stairs two steps at the time. He ran after her but she was faster, throwing the door into his face. Alone at last.

Shivering she threw the bundle of clothes down, they smelled bad and where bloodstained. If her cousin wasn't a first class git she would have bought him a new pair.

She'd done something sinful just now, only gave her uncle one pound and kept the other deeply buried in her pocket. Her family had taken them in, but not for free, they'd made that very clear on her first day. Her uncle and aunt would provide a roof over their heads, but every penny would have to come their way. Their christian duty had a price, her paycheck.

But her uncle was impressed by half of her fee and honestly two pound was a ridiculous amount of money for any girl of her class to earn without selling herself, although she felt as if she'd sold her soul for telling a lie.

With her towel she cleaned the tained mirror of their shared closet. Arms crossed she observed herself. Her breasts were small and not as developed as most of her peers. Not so strange as there was barely any food on the table. She pressed them firmly up together but still wasn't satisfied with the result. She lacked a feminine figure, skinny legs and no hips. She pinched her buttocks disapprovingly, she needed to gain weight, maybe she would use her private money to buy some sweets and cake tomorrow.

Her mother came in after she pulled her nightgown over her head.

How was work? Her mother signed tiredly, her freckled face paler than usual. Her normally triangular face now asymmetrical from a thick left jaw. She had a terrible toothache since last weekend, and it seemed to be getting worse every day. Eating was a torment and she had been living on soup for three days.

"Good, how is your tooth?" she asked facing her mom. She could read lips with ease, quit an advantage sometimes. Her mother always knew all the gossip from their small town.

Her thumbs turned down and her mom sighed. Her face was worn, with bags under her eyes and her hair had lost it's healthy glow. Maria couldn't recall her mother smiling after they buried her son and two months later her husband. It broke her, she hadn't had a chance to truly say goodbye because an open casket had been out of the question.

The light flickered and it was dark. Maria sighed as she glanced around the room. Another power cut. Quickly she reached over to take her mother's hand and sat beside her on the lowest bunk bed. No sound and sight was frightening, her mom always kept a light on at night.

The moonlight shining through their tiny bedroom window provided enough light to see the contours of each others faces.

Maria bit her lip and waved her sweets and cake goodbye. She took her pound out of her skirt and pushed it in between her mother's fingers. Her mom gasped and clutcher Maria's hands tight.

After a few minutes the light flashed back on.

How did you get this?! Her mother signed shocked.

"I earned it today," Maria told her, "use it to go see a dentist tomorrow, just don't tell Uncle Walter and Aunt Mirjam."

Her mother stared at her intently, What did you do to earn this?

Maria gasped of the underlying accusation. "I'm just working very hard! Honest," she added when her mother frowned deeply.

"I'm not lying mum, my employer is just very content with my work."

Don't be gullible Maria, remember at the end of the day it's not his reputation that will be ruined.

Angry, Maria shuffled herself away from her mother's side and crossed her arms. "We are not having this conversation, be glad I found a job this fast! I'm not doing anything wicked. Don't worry about me."

I'm your mother, I'm always worried about you.

"I know, but I am no longer a child. Not after Daniel and dad," she whispered sorrowfully. "I will do what I can to make ends meet and keep the four of us together. Just go see a dentist tomorrow, it'll be alright."

She kissed her mother goodnight, and crawled up the top bunk, letting her tears run wild.

.-.-.

A/N first I didn't intend to do a Polly POV, wanted to keep it strictly between Tommy and Maria. But I think aunt Poll is the best female character from Peaky Blinders and her POV is a great way to reveal some more about Tommy's tragedies.

This is the last chapter that I wrote so far and this week I have to work seven days, so the next update will take some time.

Xoxox Nukyster