Chapter 17

He kept his word to Rosie and kept his tongue still, not letting Ada know he'd said anything to Becker and letting Rosie explain away the boy's abrupt departure of her own accord, but it didn't sit entirely right within him.

He didn't want to admit it, but if it hadn't been a Saturday he might have gone against her and said something – but their Saturdays in the front room with Lily were turning into the high point of his week. Although that evening Ada even sat in with them the entire night, chattering away (they'd had their baths the night before because Ada felt freshly washed hair was essential to her 'grown up party') which he wasn't so keen on – he found he much preferred when his sister stayed out most of the night and only appeared in when she was going for a bath in the kitchen. Ada commanded the conversation and Rosie's attention when she stayed in - and though Rosie sat on the floor, half leaning against his legs, he preferred when she sat next to him.

His other reason for agreeing to keep his peace was the tension between her and his aunt that hadn't shifted since Tuesday evening and their words had been tight all week. She had thanked Polly for taking Lily during Ada's party but that evening as they'd sat in the front room he'd noticed she was overly enquiring with her sister about how her day had been, clearly worried something would have happened.

Still, Lily did seem to have had a perfectly lovely time – Polly had taken her to the park and then they'd gone to the tearooms, which was something he could never quite picture his aunt doing even though he knew she'd taken Ada a few times - and when Lily appeared downstairs the next morning wearing her usual church dress, the tears of the Christmas dress seemed to be long forgotten, much to his relief.

Rosie had outdone herself with a second cake for the family tea, which was set up in the kitchen and they all squeezed in, lining the walls to sing and give Ada her presents – the main of which was a gramophone and some records, along with a coat that she adored that Tommy thought was potentially the most ridiculous thing he'd ever seen. It was light beige with a fur collar and floral embroidery – likely to get filthy no matter how careful she was with it (which he knew she wouldn't be) and far too likely to attract attention in a city of dark, sensible coats for his liking. Polly had done most of the shopping and he, Arthur, John and Finn had signed their names to whatever she had told them to, so he hadn't actually seen the coat prior to it being lifted from layers of tissue paper – though the words she and Polly exchanged over it told him it was clearly something she'd pointed out herself.

"Looks like something a film star would wear," was John's amused assessment of it, which pleased their sister greatly.

After the excitement of the coat Ada picked up a smaller parcel next. He thought it might have been shoes – it looked about the right size for a shoebox - and he hoped Polly had had the sense not to make Ada the only girl in Birmingham with four-inch heels to go with her ridiculous coat. His sister's eyes flicked to Rosie's when she read the card, her face slightly confused. He watched as the other girl gave her a confused look in return and Ada moved her eyes back to the paper and tore it open, much more slowly that she had dived into any of her other gifts.

"The suspense is killing me," his Uncle Charlie remarked, to snorts from his brothers.

"Good things are worth the wait Charlie," Jeremiah remarked with a grin.

Jeremiah wasn't technically family but he had been part of the Small Heath Rifles and had been by their side in the war, so he was as good as, as far as the Shelby's were concerned. He didn't consider himself a Peaky Blinder as such – he had found god when Thomas had lost him, and Jeremiah and god went dancing barefoot in the streets most days. The man wouldn't touch a weapon. His son Isaiah had come along – he was about ages with Finn and the two were close; Tommy had a feeling Isaiah would be swearing in as a Blinder when the time came.

Ada took the paper down and stared at the front of the box that lay underneath the it – from his position over by the sink he couldn't see what it was and was vaguely annoyed when his sister didn't announce what it was, even though he shouldn't by all rights have cared. His sister's eyes found Rosie's again and the two stared at each other, whilst everyone else smoked and talked amongst themselves or, like him, watched the interaction in fascination.

Rosie spoke first, her face slightly uncomfortable as she waved her hand and said, "The woman in the shop said it's good if your hair doesn't take a curl – you… I don't really know, there's instructions in the box… you heat it on the fire then wrap the hair around it – I don't know!" By the time she had finished talking both her hands were waving around as if she were batting flies out the air in front of her.

"Thanks," Ada said after a long pause.

"Yeah – well – it's from Lily too, isn't it Lily?" Rosie said, reaching down to bring child who stood at her side up onto her hip, suddenly very interested in her sister and not in looking at Ada, or anyone else in the room, "Look Lily, I think Ada might like it."

"That's not from me!" Lily exclaimed, almost slightly crossly, twisting around to look from her sister to the table, "That's from Rosie, I picked the sweets!" She pointed at another smaller bag.

"Aye well you may as well open that one next Ada since you know what it is now!" Rosie said, her voice overly cheerful.

"You did the cake – two cakes – I didn't expect you to get me anythin'," Ada said, her voice a bit stilted.

"Yeah well… More of a present for me really, you look like a sea creature with all those rags in your hair – gives me a fright every time I have to sit and look at you of an evening," Rosie replied, scuffing her shoe and looking at the ceiling this time.

There was a pause again, which didn't seem anyone else's right to break, before Polly – who in all her life as far as he could tell had never cared about what was anyone else's right – slammed her hand on the table and shouted, "Oh for goodness sake!"

He half thought his aunt might be about to tell the two of them she'd smack them and send them to their beds judging by her tone.

"I swear to god! If I hadn't attended the births of most of the people in this room I'd swear you came out the Shelby womb!" his aunt shrieked, stabbing her finger across the room at the redhead, who had stood in the corner in front of the big cupboard and seemed to be regretting her boxed in choice, "You're as pig headed and stubborn as the worst of them! You did a nice thing! Just admit you did a nice, thoughtful thing! Lily – your sister's as bad as our Tommy – neither of them will take any criticism or compliment on what they do but they've both got good bloody hearts and neither of them wants to admit it! I don't know what-" she punctuated her thoughts by slamming her hands down on the table again and turning to fix him with a glare, though he wasn't entirely sure how he'd suddenly come under fire too, "- is so wrong with the people in this family! Sometimes we do nice things! Can't we ever just admit sometimes we do nice things?"

His aunt finished her tirade by scrabbling in her pocket, pulling out a cigarette and stuffing it in her mouth, shaking her head as she faffed with striking a match to light it.

Looks were exchanged around the room, most of them not sure how to follow any of what had just happened.

"Well," Arthur spoke up, his eyes on Rosie, grinning, "First ya go an' make Tommy laugh an' now ya've gone an' broken Aunt Pol. You can keep away from me, I like myself as I am."

"Ah, she can do what she likes with me as long as she keeps making those cakes," John said in response.

"Them cakes are enchanted too I'd bet," Arthur said, "Ya sure you're not gypsy? Even half? Got a bit of magic running through ya?"

Tommy frowned over at his brother, but Rosie seemed to take the comment in the good spirit it was offered in.

"I mean sometimes when he's being a grumpy git," she said, nodding her head in his direction, "I think about putting a good dose of rat poison in – but most of the time the cakes are just normal stuff. Maybe Lily's stirring is magic though, I don't know."

She smiled and pressed her lips to the forehead to Lily's forehead, doing that thing again where she didn't want to look into a room and see everyone's eyes on her.

"It'll never cease to amaze me," Polly said, taking her cigarette from her mouth for a second, "How soft you lot can be with a bairn but how you can't even think about admitting you did a nice thing!"

His aunt jammed her cigarette back in as soon as she was done speaking, her brows knitted in annoyance.

Rosie looked awkward.

"I'm sure Lily's stirring is magic," he said to the room, "But I have never been grumpy in my life."

The room broke with a chorus of disagreement.

She grinned over at him, "Ah you shouldn't tell lies on a Sunday Thomas – it's extra bad for the soul!"

"Lily – do you think I'd do such a thing as tell lies?" he asked, crossing over to stand in front of her – hoping offering himself as a shield between her and the rest of the room would let her breathe for a second.

The child giggled and shook her head.

"Quite right too, that's why you're my best girl," he said, holding out his arms and smiling when Rosie acquiesced to pass her over to him, though she tutted and rolled her eyes at him as he professed the innocence of his tongue.

He turned, holding the child in his arms and told Lily to pick what Ada should open next, pushing the focus of the room back to the task at hand. Once it was under way he took a step to the side and slid his free arm around her waist to give it a squeeze. She rested her head on him, just for second before she straightened and stepped forward, out of his reach.

He got the impression he wasn't the only one who had decided to put some distance between them, for whatever reason. His heart panged, just a little.