Tommy drove home in silence, his mind playing the image of the little boy over and over in his head. He wanted to help him; he should have helped him. Guilt sat like a lump in his throat. The boy was his son's age and the image in his mind changed to that of his son in the window. Beside him his dead wife stared at him.
"it's your fault Tommy." She said in her Irish accent as she looked at him. "You could have saved him, but you didn't."
Tommy clenched his jaw as he attempted to ignore her coaxing to turn the wheel abruptly off the road.
When he drove up the entrance to his house, Charlie stood outside on the stoop.
"Dad!" Charlie yelled as he ran toward his father. "Aunt Ada called, said there was an explosion. Did you see it Dad?"
Tommy stared at his son, not wanting to answer. "I did."
"Why did it explode?" The boy asked curiously.
"Gas line explosion. Luckily, no one was injured." He lied.
"Do we have gas, Dad?"
Tommy paused as he looked at his son and saw a small glimmer of fear in his eyes.
"Yes." He started as he knelt to be at eye level with the boy, "But I promise you, I will always protect you."
"And Ruby and Lizzy?"
"Yes. And Ruby and Lizzy."
"Lizzy is cross with you because of the woman in your study." Charlie said nonchalantly.
"What?" Tommy asked as if he misunderstood.
"The woman in your study. Lizzy was cursing about her. Is she going to stay for dinner?"
Tommy blinked at his son and stood, "Um, I don't know."
"Lizzy says she can't stay for dinner." Charlie said matter-of-factly as they walked up the steps and into the house.
"Who is she?" Lizzy insisted before Tommy had walked into the house.
"I don't know." Tommy said flatly, though a hint of curiosity peaked as he spoke.
"Then why did she come here asking for you?" Lizzy stared at him, her eyes wide with anger. "You brought a woman into this house, with our daughter in the other room!"
Tommy began growing impatient from his long day, "I didn't bring anyone here Lizzy, I don't know who it is. But if you move, I will go find out."
Tommy moved passed his wife and walked into his study, Lizzy in his wake. He knew by the dark hair and the frame of her body who it was.
"Well?" Lizzy insisted as she stared at Tommy with her eyebrows raised.
"We do business together." Tommy said as he turned to his wife and put his hands on her shoulders, shepherding her out of the room.
"Business?" Lizzy repeated with a strong implication to her past work.
"Just because you were a whore does not mean every woman is." Nora replied as she turned slightly toward the door.
"I beg your pardon? You will not talk to me like that in my own house!"
"I don't have time for your marital problems." Nora said eying Tommy with frustration. "You can't come to my streets, so I came here. Clearly, a waste of time." Nora said as she put down the glass of whiskey she helped herself to and began to grab her things off the chair.
"Wait, Nora. I-" Tommy started as she approached him.
"No, Tommy, I will not wait! You saw what happened today. The time for waiting is over. You have more issues that my brother let on." She said with a look at Lizzy. "I will find someone else."
"No. Stop." He ordered as he put his hand on the doorframe, blocking her exit.
They stood staring at each other, inches apart, their jaws clenched and eyes tense.
"Right. Business." Lizzy said sarcastically sensing the tension in the air.
Nora's nostrils flared and she shook her head.
"I'll handle it." Tommy told her and she turned away, crossing her arms.
"You'll handle it?" Lizzy repeated and Tommy released a loud sigh and titled his head back. "this is MY house!"
"No Lizzy!" Tommy interrupted. "This is MY house. It was my house long before you got here and it will be my house long after you're gone." He said as he pointed in her face. "Now, she is here to do business. Nothing more. Leave us."
Lizzy huffed before turning and stomping away, her nose in the air. Tommy ran his fingers through his hair as he walked in and shut the door.
"What all did your brother tell you?" Tommy asked Nora as he walked to his drinking cart.
"Everything." Nora replied, her voice tired. "He told me everything about you. How did you think I knew so bloody much?"
She stared out the window as she sat across from his desk. Finally, as he sat in his chair, she looked at him.
"You tried to go in." Nora pointed out.
Tommy looked down, breaking their eye contact as the guilt rose once more into his chest.
"Why?" she asked.
He inhaled a breath before biting his lip in frustration before he looked at her.
"You knew." She said as she gently shook her head in disappointment. "How long had you known?"
"They requested it at our meeting."
"They requested it?"
Tommy then told her about the meeting he had had earlier in the day.
"I didn't know he made the call then. I thought he went to take a shit, I don't know." Tommy said shaking his head. "It was very quick. From the time the conversation to the actual explosion, I don't know how they did it that fast."
"It's amazing how fast you can accomplish something if you have the resources. But you're wrong. It wasn't quick." She corrected and he looked at her. "Not for Josiah. He died from the smoke. Breathed it in 'til it suffocated him. The others died from the explosion… but not him" she shook her head again and Tommy could see the pain in her eyes.
"I'll kill them. Collins and Allen. Make it look like an accident."
She chuckled at his idea. "You know as well as I do that will never work. I have to start making moves against him. Some of them I can tell you in advance about, some I can't. But, you need to do something about your wife. This relationship, you and I, business. That's all. The fucking Scots are watching Camden. So, I will be coming to Birmingham because you can't come to me, this can't be an issue every time."
"It won't be." Tommy assured her.
Nora finally leaned back in her chair. "Your boy… he looks like you. Does he act like you too?"
Tommy grinned. "No."
"Mm." She grunted, a feminine version of her brother. "Well, that's probably for the best. Look what kind of shit holes you end up in."
"I was born in a shit hole." Tommy replied.
"Yeah, I heard. Small Heath. Jews can visit, they just can't breathe while they do on account of the pig in the air."
"Alfie put that in the letter too?"
"Letter? Have you met my brother? The letter would have been a novel and I'm not sure how much of it would have even been factual." She laughed, "No. I spent three days in Margate learning everything about the great Tommy Shelby."
"Well, then we are a bit unevenly matched. I know nothing about you."
"And what do you want to know?"
"Your last name is Solomons… Alfie mentioned once he never met his father."
"He didn't. Neither of us have. He had my mum and then Alfie was born. Eleven years later he either forgot he had her already or liked what he had so he came round to Camden again. Didn't even stay till morning to meet his only son. Nine months later, I popped out."
"Popped out." Tommy repeated as he grinned and took out a cigarette. "You've never married?"
"No. I was engaged before the war but, he…." She looked down and Tommy knew her fiancé didn't come back from the war. After a pause she explained, "The Somme."
"Is that why you left London?"
"No. I was young and my brother was paying for it all. I wanted to explore."
"Did you find anything?" Tommy asked casually.
"Oh yes. I found a lot of liquor and a lot of men who can't play cards if their lives depended on it."
"Not love? Isn't that what every woman goes looking for?"
"Oh, I found love." Nora said, a smile covering her face. "Men were falling in love with me all over the fucking globe. Why do you think I went somewhere new every couple of months?"
"Perhaps we can recruit some of them for our cause." Tommy suggested playfully.
"Fuck off." She said as she laughed. "I'm good at what I do, I can find men right here in England if we need them."
"Are you?" Tommy asked, his eyes twinkling with flirtatiousness. "Good at what you do?"
"Oh yes, Mr. Shelby…. I am very good." Nora said in an almost breathy voice that peaked Tommy's interest. "Unfortunately for you… You'll never know." She said as she stood and walked out the door, leaving him sitting in his chair a strange feeling in his chest.