"This had better be good to be interrupting my holiday." Polly warned, coming into the shop. Tommy had called a meeting. "Where's the boy?" Arthur asked, as John locked the kitchen doors. "In the back room. I only brought him because afterwards we're going to the museum." Polly explained, stopping in front of the small table. "He wanted to come in and say hello but.." John started, coming over and standing beside me, before Polly cut him off. "Shut up, John." she told him, sternly. "There is nothing of interest to Michael in this room." she added. John shared a look with me as he put his arm around my waist, pulling me to lean on him as he leant on the wall.
"Tommy, get on with it." Polly demanded. "Last night, one of our men had his throat cut in Winson Green. This morning, I had a telegram to say it was Sabini who ordered it." Tommy told us. "Who was it? The man?" I asked, watching Tommy closely. He didn't respond. "So you mean boy then. Digbeth Kid?" I asked, crossing my arms against my chest. There was still no response and I just shook my head, looking away from him. "Un-fucking-believable." I muttered as John kissed my head. "The important thing is that it says Thomas Shelby's next." Arthur interrupted, throwing me a glance over his shoulder as he ripped up the paper.
"If our men think we can't look after them in prison, they'll not work for us. Sabini knows that. So we need to get the Green sorted out. Scudboat, you and one of the boys. Break a couple of windows and get yourselves arrested. I'll have our coppers get you into the Green and you can find the bastards who did it." Tommy instructed. "Instead of breaking a window, can we pinch a car?" Scudboat asked, earning a laugh from the men. "What? Everybody else is getting a bloody car. I'm still on a donkey." he defended, earning more laughs.
"All right, just get yourselves fucking arrested, it doesn't matter how." Tommy instructed. "Before you all laugh, a boy is dead. He was just a kid." I scolded, looking around the men who all avoided my gaze. "You are right, Evie. We'll start a fund for his family, Pol." Tommy added. "Agreed." she told him, nodding. "So is that it? Can I go now?" she asked. "Well, as company treasurer, I need your permission to spend 1,000 guineas." Tommy told her. "On what?" she asked. "On a horse." he replied. "1,000 guineas on a horse?" she asked, confused. "That's right." Tommy confirmed.
Polly turned away from Tommy, looking around the room. "When was this decided?" she asked, her eyes settling on me. "You've been busy with Michael." Tommy told her, drawing her attention from me. "Oh, my god. So, in the absence of common sense, you boys have had an idea." she laughed. "You're head accountant. Why didn't you tell them no?" she asked, turning on me. "This is the first I've heard of it." I told her. "Polly, she didn't know. There's a thoroughbred quarter-Arab filly up for auction at the Doncaster Bloodstock." Tommy told her, drawing her attention back to him again.
"What do we want with a 1,000-guinea horse?" Polly asked, crossing her arms. "When we make our move on Sabini's racing pitches, any men we get into the betting enclosure will be lifted by Sabini's police. A good racehorse is a passport to the owner's enclosure." Tommy explained. "We'll be in there with all the toffs." John grinned. "The coppers won't know where to look." Arthur added. "The Epsom Derby, Pol. We'll be drinking with the bloody King." John finished. "The Derby?" Polly asked as I pulled away from John, giving him a why-hadn't-I-been-told-any-of-this look. "Did he say the Derby?" Polly asked again. As I looked at Tommy I could see John had put his foot in it. "That's right." Tommy confirmed, looking away from his brother. "For the last ten years Sabini's made it his race. If we're going to take him down, might as well make it there as a symbol." Tommy confirmed.
"Did you come up with this idea in a pub by any chance?" I asked. "Eves, you know better than anyone, a good racehorse is like an investment, like property. We need to diversify the portfolio." Tommy explained, looking between me and Polly. "So when is this sale?" I asked, glancing at Polly. "Tomorrow." Tommy told me. "And Tommy's had a death threat so we'll have to go with him for protection." Arthur told us. "So, you're going to close up the shop, go out on a piss-up and blow 1,000 guineas on a horse that's not even whole Arab." Polly said, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Quarter Arab is better!" Curly laughed. "I'm going with you." I told them. "Shut up." Polly instructed, looking behind me. I frowned slightly at her before turning and watching Michael approaching. He walked around John and stood beside me. "I thought I told you to lock that door." Polly scolded John. "He did. I used the key on the nail." Michael told her, glancing at me quickly before looking at his mother. In my heels I was only an inch or two shorter than him. "Look, I've been listening. I want to go with them." he told her. "You see?!" Polly shouted at Tommy, holding her hands out at him.
"I love horses. I could even help." He reasoned. "Over my dead body. And you're not going either, Evie. Not now." Polly told us. "It'll be all right, Mum. I've been to loads of horse auctions before with my uncle. They're very respectable. People bring their butlers." Michael assured her. I saw her face soften when he called her mum, he was definitely a Shelby. "Yeah, and their posh wives!" Arthur laughed, turning to look at John behind me. I shot him a look. "And their mistresses…" John added and I quickly turned to look at him, raising my eyebrows at him and shooting him a look that dared him to say anything else.
"Evie, you're staying home. But let him come, Polly." Arthur said. I turned back round as he continued. "We'll go there, buy an 'orse, come back." he finished. "I'll drop him back at the house in Sutton before it gets dark." John added. "No. Fucking no." Polly told them. I could see Michaels head fall beside me. "Let's put it this way. Michael and I will either come with you. Or we will go by ourselves." I told them, looking around at them. "Your choice." I smiled before turning to Michael. "You can't go like that, though." I laughed, before turning back to the group. "We are going to find a suit for Michael while you lot have a chat." I told them, before turning and walking out, Michael close behind me.
Michael followed me in silence, up the stairs and into mine and John's room. "Do you think they'll actually let us go?" he asked, closing the bedroom door behind us. "Oh, yeah. Tommy can never say no to me and they know I'm not joking about us just going without them." I laughed. "Can you get the bag down?" I asked, pointing up at a suitcase on top of the wardrobe. He nodded, taking off his coat and placing it on the bed before moving my stool in front of the wardrobe.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" I asked him as he stepped up into the stool. "Why would I be mad at you?" he laughed, pulling the suitcase off the wardrobe. "Because I lied to you when I first met you." I told him, holding the stool steady for him. "Well, you didn't lie exactly. You just failed to mention that you were married and had a baby and weren't 17 and knew my mother." he laughed, climbing down. "Yeah… sorry about that." I told him, giving him a small smile as he looked at me. "Tommy wanted to know what you were like and he thought I was the best person to do that." I added.
"I'm glad we met before all this. It was nice to get to know you away from the family." he commented, placing the suitcase on the bed. "Yeah, it was nice getting to know you as well. This family is hectic and I know what it's like coming in as an outsider." I told him, sitting on the bed. "How did you and John meet? It seems like you've known everyone forever." he asked, sitting on the stool opposite me. "It feels like I have." I laughed. "My parents were killed when I was ten. Polly was good friends with them and took me in without batting an eyelid. Tommy and Arthur were 18 and 20, fully grown but still lived at home. John was 13, Ada was a year older than me and Finn was barely a year old. She was looking after all of them and still took me in. 'We'll make it work.' she promised me and they did. My last name may of been Michaels but I was a Shelby." I continued before realising something. "I think I know where my surname came from." I laughed, raising an eyebrow at the boy who chuckled back.
"She never forgot about you, Michael. Even with four boys and two girls to look after who are like children to her, she never forgot about her real children." I told him, leaning forward and taking his hand in mine. "She needs to know that I am not a child anymore. I am 18 next week and I know what I want. I want to be a Shelby and a Peaky Blinder. I want to help the family." he told me, looking into my eyes. "And you'll have a chance to, you will. She just doesn't want to lose you. None of us do." I replied giving him a small smile.
Before he could respond, I heard footsteps on the stairs. "And just remember, when you are in this house, there is no such thing as privacy." I laughed, standing as the door opened. Michael laughed as well, looking up at Tommy and Polly as they entered. "Did you have a nice chat?" I asked them, smiling innocently at Tommy. "We do not blackmail in this family, Evelyn." Polly told me, putting an arm around Michael shoulders. "But we're the Peaky Blinders, Polly. I thought that was exactly what we did." I replied, cocking my head slightly.
"All right, all right. If their surname is Shelby or Gray, we do not blackmail them. Okay?" Tommy said, putting his hands up to both of us. I nodded, fighting a grin. "So what was decided in our absence?" I asked, still smiling innocently. "You can come on conditions. Michaels gotta be home by dark and neither of you are allowed out of mine and Arthur's sight. That means no sneaking off with John." Tommy told us, pointing a finger at me at the last sentence. I gave him a mock salute before flicking my eyes to a grinning Michael, winking. "The suitcase has a few of John's old suits, they should fit you." I told him, gesturing to the bag on the bed. "Thanks, Evie." he smiled.
A/N Had to bring back a little bit of sassy Evie! What did you all think about Evie/Michaels chat? Let me know what you wanna see happen next! :)