Chapter 29
The following Saturday, Tommy walked Rosie to work in the morning before collecting Monaghan Boy from the yard and riding him bareback to Garrison Courts, taking care to go slowly and take the long way there and back. As he had hoped, the streets were busy and by the time he had put the horse in its box an hour or so later and it had been collected to go back to its rider, word had already spread.
Rosie had taken dinner round to John's on Wednesday – dragging Lily with her to get things sorted once and for all between her and Katie and seeming to succeed in her endeavour when she told them she'd clatter them both if they didn't play nicely together. Tommy had rolled his eyes at the ceiling. It had been about six weeks since Christmas and he, Rosie, Polly and even John had been trying to subtly get the two girls to talk to one another again – and all their efforts had been in vain until Rosie had threatened them.
"Would you have clattered them?" he asked mildly once the two of them disappeared out the back door.
She snorted and shook her head, "Don't be ridiculous Thomas."
She had busied herself with the cooking of the pie she'd made, and Tommy had given John a heads up that he shouldn't offer great odds on Monaghan Boy for the following Monday, but that he wanted people to bet on the horse.
John narrowed his eyes for a minute, trying to figure out what Tommy was up to, then gave up, grinned and said, "Aye alright Tom, whatever you say – as long as she keeps up this supply of fittle."
"Sometimes I think you only like me for my food John Shelby," Rosie had said with a smirk.
"Ah not the case Rosie girl, but if Tommy thinks anyone's being too complimentary about you he gets all on edge – more trouble than it's worth."
Other than John, Tommy hadn't told anyone at the shop what he was doing, and he steeled himself for a confrontation between him and that hurt pride of Arthur's as he headed home to check in with John about how the book had been affected by his actions.
Finn and Lily were in the kitchen when he arrived home – Ada was nowhere to be seen – and when he walked through the door Finn jumped to his feet and made a great effort to throw something on the fire, evidently hoping he wouldn't see.
"Finn?" he probed, crossing the kitchen to see what was going on.
"Arthur's mad as hell," Lily told him, in a clear effort to distract him from what Finn had been doing.
He noticed Finn give her a small smile and he fought his own smile as he picked up the cigarette butt from where Finn had thrown it on the floor - his little brother's panicked flail to get it in the fire obviously having failed - and presented it to the boy with a raised eyebrow before he threw it in the fire himself. The cut last Saturday and a cigarette this Saturday… The boy hadn't had a proper hiding since Ada's birthday – and Tommy knew himself in terms of the time frames of eleven-year-old boys, that would feel like years ago to Finn now. Still, he didn't have it in him to do it today. He'd wait till the boy was found by the cut again without permission – though that probably wasn't going to take too long.
"What does a six-year-old know about hell?" he asked Lily, smacking Finn gently on the head with his cap and fixing his brother's rumpled collar.
"Well John said he was," Lily replied.
"Ah I imagine he is Lily – and it was all that sister of yours' idea and now I'll be the one getting it in the ear from Arthur."
"Is Rosie in trouble?" Finn asked.
"No one's in trouble," Tommy told the kids, "At least not yet, not unless I catch them smoking again."
Finn squirmed a little under his gaze, which was a good sign.
"Where's Aunt Polly?"
"Gone to town, she said we'd be fine with Ada."
"And where's Ada?"
"Getting ready," Lily replied.
"Getting ready for what?"
She shrugged, "She's staying at someone's house tonight."
"Oh, is she indeed?" he asked.
Lily nodded uncertainly, and Tommy rolled his eyes, shaking his head but smiling at the child, making sure she knew he wasn't annoyed with her for letting him know.
He felt he should be riled by this – she hadn't even mentioned it to him never mind asked his permission, but she had been staying at her friends' houses a lot recently on Saturday nights and Rosie, he was sure, would have told him if anything was amiss.
Besides, he'd told everyone to keep an eye out in the pubs on Saturday nights and to come to the house immediately if his sister was ever seen in one – which she hadn't been, yet. It wasn't technically illegal (though there was noise happening to make changes in parliament and introduce a minimum age of eighteen to buy alcohol in a pub) but he'd told Ada she had to wait till she was sixteen - and that even then one of them would be going with her.
He was well aware she'd flout his decree – it was a when rather than an if – and he was quite convinced Finn had most likely attained that cigarette from the stash Ada didn't think he knew she had. But, until she was officially caught, if her and her friends were spending their Saturday nights staying at one another's houses to smoke cigarettes they saved up their pocket money for and drink whatever they could pilfer from someone's unsuspecting parents – well, it was more innocent than what he'd been up to at fifteen and if she was going to black out and get a hangover, he'd rather she did it at a friend's house than on the street.
And, apart from anything else, if Ada was away for the night that meant a quiet house and a quiet night on the sofa with Rosie and Lily and maybe Finn, depending on what his little brother's plans were for the evening. Finn didn't raise his eyebrows or seem to think anything of it when Tommy slipped her arm around Rosie's waist or her head rested on his shoulder – and Tommy was pleased with the bond that had been steadily developing between Finn and Lily ever since the debacle at Ada's birthday. The two had started standing up for one another in small ways and looking out for one another – which was exactly what he wanted to see happen.
He left the two of them in the kitchen, pushing his way into the shop - leaving the doors open behind him so he could keep an eye out in case Finn had any more cigarettes on him and was stupid enough to light one up with him in the next room.
Saturdays were always busy, and the shop was loud with staff and customer shouting over one another. Still, John had obviously been waiting for his arrival because his brother noticed him and shouted for his attention almost as soon as he entered the shop, even though Tommy had his head bent – checking the details on slips being handled on the desks, trying to see who was betting on what.
"Tommy! Tommy!" John jumped down from where he'd been chalking the odds up on the board at the end of the room, "Tommy look at the book," he said, picking it up from the desk and showing it to him, "Just look!"
"Tommy!" Arthur's voice demanded from behind him, but Tommy ignored his older brother, smiling as his eyes took in the writing on the pages John proffered to him.
"All on Monaghan Boy," John said, running his finger down the list.
Tommy clapped his younger brother on the shoulder, "Good work John," he said, patting his back before finally giving into his older brother's demands.
"Tommy!" Arthur was still shouting, and Tommy met his eyes, "Get in 'ere - now!"
He did his best not to roll his eyes at his brother's attempt at dominating him and followed him into his office, closing the door behind him to feign some kind of deference – as if he was aware Arthur was about to chew him out and he didn't want the rest of the office to hear.
His brother seemed to believe his humility, sitting behind his desk whilst Tommy opted to lean on the wall and pouring himself a drink without offering Tom one.
"You was seen doing to powder trick down at Garrison Courts," Arthur opened the conversation.
Tommy echoed Rosie's words to his brother, "Times are hard, people need a reason to lay a bet."
Arthur picked up his glass, "There was a Chinese."
Tommy inclined his head slightly, "The washer women say she's a witch – it helps them believe."
It doesn't matter what you do or don't have – people believe it. You know the power of reputation Tommy.
"We don't mess with Chinese," Arthur said.
His brother was drunk, and a state. Flailing over his desk. Maybe Finn hadn't taken the cigarette from Ada's stash after all, maybe Arthur had bloody well handed him it without even thinking.
"Look at the book-" he began, but his brother cut over him, slamming his fist down on the desk.
"Chinese have cutters of their own."
"We agreed Arthur," Tommy said, shaking his head slightly in disgust, "I'm taking charge of drumming up new money."
"What if Monaghan Boy wins, Tommy?" Arthur said, rubbing the hand he'd slammed on the desk – whether from pain or nerves, Tommy couldn't quite tell.
Perhaps both.
"You fixing races now?" Arthur continued, "Do you have permission from Billy Kimber to be fixing races, hmm? What's got into you? You think we can take on the Chinese and Billy Kimber?"
So that was why Polly had taken off into town – because she had figured out what he was up to and had let slip to Arthur and now she didn't want to be in the middle of it.
Arthur had been nearly mumbling, quiet, but suddenly he started shouting, "Billy's got a bloody army-"
Arthur's shouting would penetrate the glass of his office and, well, Rosie had been right – Tommy did know the power of reputation. He didn't need Arthur making a fool of himself with a full shop looking on, so he cut him off.
"I think, Arthur, that's what I do," he crossed closer to his brother, hoping the words, taken from the drunken confession Arthur had made at Christmas might stir in his mind as being his own desires, "I think. So that you don't have to."
He turned and began to walk away.
"There's news from Belfast," Arthur said to his back.
Tommy opened the door, not responding. Did Arthur honestly think he was going to give Tommy news. Did Arthur honestly think Tommy didn't know more about what was going on than he did? Was his brother truly that fucking delusional? Tommy walked out, before he said something he'd regret.
Arthur followed him and shouted across the room, "I'm calling a family council tonight at eight o'clock. I want all of us there."
Tommy balled his hands into fists and walked away, back into the kitchen. Bloody family council on a Saturday night. That was his night. And Arthur knew it – they had all noticed that Tommy didn't come to the Garrison on a Saturday anymore and that, when he did, it was much later than usual.
"You hear me?" Arthur shouted after him, "There's trouble coming."
Fucking Arthur, announcing family councils for the whole shop to hear.
And there was fucking trouble coming, but Arthur didn't know the half of it – and didn't need to know either.
"Arthur!" Ada's voice came on the stairs, clearly having heard the commotion, "Arthur do I need to be there?"
Tommy took the steps back to the door way to point his finger at Ada, "Yes Ada, you fucking do," he told her. If he was having his night spoiled she could have hers spoiled too. Plus he wanted Rosie there and having one without the other would just give Ada ammunition to use against him at some other point.
"Tommy!" Ada whined – and he noticed her face was covered in make up.
Presumably that was what she had been buying on her secret girl's trip last Saturday, lipstick and whatever the stuff on her eyes was called.
"I'm not discussing it – you'll be there," he told her, then shut the shop doors over, rubbing his eyes with his hands in frustration.
He felt a pair of small arms thread around his waist and he removed his hand and smiled down at the child's attempt at comforting him, "There's my best girl."
"Do I need to be there Tommy?" she asked, obviously having heard what had been said.
"No bab, you and Finn are too young to be bothered with the boring stuff like that," he told her, "Besides, you really should be in bed by eight o'clock."
"I don't go to bed till after that Tommy," she giggled.
He picked her up onto his hip and laid a kiss on her forehead, feeling his frustration with Arthur ebb away as he held her, "Oh I know you don't you little troublemaker, I'm just saying when you should be in bed by. Finn's supposed to be in bed by nine and he's nearly double your age. I think we're going to have to have a look at the bedtimes in this house."
"Tom-myyyyy," she whined.
"Lilyyyyy," he whined back in imitation.
"I don't want to go to bed by eight o'clock," she said, kicking her heels into him.
"Well unfortunately for you my love it's not up to you, it's up to me and your sister."
"I'm telling Rosie I don't want to go to bed by eight o'clock then."
"Well you do that Lily, I'll tell her my thoughts too and we'll see what happens."
She grumbled, so he bounced her a little until she smiled and laid her lead down on his shoulder, contented again. Her little moodswings mainly came and went as quickly as that most of the time – and he thought an earlier bed time being enforced might stop the escalations that did occur.
"Finn, why don't you go see what George is up to? Since Ada's clearly not looking after you anyway – just make sure and be back here for half five, eh?"
Finn shrugged, but got off the seat and made to head out.
"And Finn," Tommy shouted after his younger brother, "You stay in Watery Lane, y'hear me? Between the cut last weekend and that cigarette you are on your last warning kid – you understand?"
The door banged behind his younger brother, who had most definitely at least heard the first part of his sentence and decided to ignore it. Tommy clicked his tongue. If Lily hadn't been in his arms he'd have gone after Finn and dragged him to make sure he listened, albeit he'd have been listening with a freshly thickened ear. But Lily was in his arms, and there was a while to go yet before it was time to go for Rosie.
"Hey, Lily?"
"Uhuh?"
"Why don't we go to the tearoom today, just you and me since it was shut last Sunday when I said I'd take you?"
"Oh, can we Tommy?" she asked, kicking her heels into him but from excitement this time.
"Of course we can my little love – just you and me - and we'll get some cake for Rosie too, then we'll go get her from work, how does that sound?"
She nodded and squeezed her arms round his neck in response.
Just wanted to say thank you again for the reviews and messages! The reviews are doing that thing again where they don't seem to be displaying (this happened before and then they all suddenly appeared in one go so hopefully it'll fix itself again!) but I get the emails for them and I honestly can't say how much I appreciate them, they really make my day when they come through and I know you guys are enjoying it.
I do apologise for the cravings I'm giving people though - if it helps I'm making a rod for my own back by making Rosie a foodie too, because I'm spending far too much time googling what foods were available in the 1920s and what a typical working class menu would be and craving all the cakes because of it.