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" The Headaches of Family "

          FOUR DAYS. FOUR DAYS IS HOW LONG Balthasar appreciated it would take Tommy to reach London in that boat with Curly. Another day or two for the business he has to attend and probably three more days on the way back, or less, if he is in a spending mood and will procure himself a wheeled ride back home. 

Either way, that was almost more than a week in which all Jackie was left with was Tommy's promise and the remnants of her patience, all coming together and sheltering behind her only worry-free concern: wedding preparations. It was Tommy's early apology before he left on this business trip to London in the awful condition he was in — Jackie received free reign to handle anything she wishes from the wedding preparations, abiding by her desire to get on with their formal union as soon as possible.

Naturally, the easiest thing for her to do was at first to handle a list of attendees. 

It wasn't all that long on her side, with only Lester and Gene to call family, and should Tommy think he needed more of his kin present than those she noted down from memory, that would be handled when he returned. All in all, she appreciated there would be no more than thirty people present for their ceremony in the local church. 

Thankfully, that part of her work was done before staying in the same room with a fidgeting Lester would get too annoying — he was brought to an uneasy distress by the long delay to their merchandise being brought in-land, nor did he appreciate the significant setback to actually looking for buyers  in the area for everything they were shipping. Like adding hay to a growing fire, Jackie had to remind him for the third time, "No business until after my wedding." 

But to the eldest Alloways, the wedding itself looked a lot like a business deal too hence, after having watched Jackie leave their hotel suite's living room, he sighed further into his armchair, until even the book opened on his lap and facing down slid closed between his legs. Fatigue by all the nonsense he had to deal with from his sister, Lester allowed his head to rest on his right palm and thus slowly lift his gaze to Gene, who was reading the newspaper across the room from him. "How are you alright with this?"

"With what?"

"Everything," Lester gestured.

"Like the riots at the docks in London?" Gene flicked a hit on the newspaper before dropping it down on the table besides his armchair. "'Cause that I find to be ridiculously bad news."

"No, damn it," Lester closed his eyes, annoyance building up, now on the wave of the detrimental bad news he shared. "Jackie," he looked again at his younger brother. "You do realize she's not telling us everything, right?"

"She rarely does," Gene merely shrugged. 

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"You get used to it after a while, really," the admission was spoken calmly. "Though I suppose you should have gotten used to it by now. Two years around the world and you still don't know our sister will keep things from us until it's detrimental that we know? It's better this way, face it. We don't want to accidentally ruin her plans. So just sit back and relax, read your little... What are you reading anyway?"

"Keynes," he responded shortly.

"Never heard of him," Gene concluded even quicker. "But you read that, brother, because rest assured, if our sister needs us, she will let us know. Consider this an extended service in the army, if you must, though substract all the gore and add instead the marvelous benefit of wealth."

"It just bothers me, you know," Lester sighed himself deeper in his seat, leaning his head now back. "The British market is hardly the best to sell to, so one must obviously conclude Jackie brought us here solely for that man, Thomas Shelby. You are aware he is neck deep in illegal business, right?"

"You deafened me in only one ear, you know," Gene brought his left hand up and hit his left temple. "Of course. I've heard all about Shelby and his Peaky Blinders."

Lester remained ever the restless, adjusting his position and leaning forward next, "Then are you alright with our sister marrying that man? He's got blood on his hand-"

"We all do," Gene interrupted him, then sighed. "Look, I thought he's bad news too. I thought he was in just to trick her and steal from us. But that was two years ago. Only one type of man waits two years for a woman he sees and hears nothing of except in scarce letters. A man in love."

Lester stared ahead in blank disbelief for enough seconds that silence compelled Gene to return to his newspaper read. "By God," the eldest Alloways exclaimed then, standing up. "She's turned you into such a compliant fool..." As soon as he stood up, Lester made a beeline to his coat and hat.

"Where are you going?" Gene inquired upon hearing the shuffle of the coat.

"We have ten ballots of blades and guns on that transport, Gene," Lester called, dressing himself. "The longer it sits unsupervised, the higher becomes the risk of some copper coming across it and us winding up in jail again. It's carelessness like this that keeps us now from ever returning home."

"No," Gene puffed a chuckle, forcing his brother to stop and turn around. "That would be the Russians, silly," he tilted his head. "Your memory might be fuzzy, since it all happened on your watch," his smile drained with giving that reminder. "How much poison did you drain into you the night they attacked our docks, hmm? But no worries," Gene returned to a innocent shrug, "rest assured, Jackie forgave your carelessness. You know, being understanding of one another is part of our family duty too, not just being fragrantly honest all the time." After but a single glance on Lester's paled features, Gene returned his attention to the newspaper again, "Do not cross through London on the way south. Solomons is still alive and his goods burned on your watch."

It turned out, as pleasant as Jackie usually found it to spend money on clothing, getting the right dress for her own wedding was a dreadful business.

Maybe her own concerns and worries played a part — finding out Lester has left for Southampton to stay with their men was an undesirable thing to add to the list of this she must be careful about keeping in mind, right next to the constant dread of waiting for Tommy —, but only a fool wouldn't recognize also that the market available in Birmingham was not entirely what she expected it to be.

That particular day, the fifth since Tommy was away, Jackie found herself in the Chinese side of town. Amongst a hundred stands with fine materials either exported long distances or reproduced to mimic exoticism from around the world, she walked underneath corridors with ceiling of red rags. On such selling grounds, she stood out like the diamond did in rock to the eyes of a miner. It was almost unbelievable to most bystanders and merchants that she, looking so high class, was there, dirtying her Oxfords in their mud and over their carpets.

It was even more unlikely that she hadn't become aware of the attention she was bringing onto herself. One would have to be entirely deaf not to hear most of the merchants stop and whisper as she passed their stands. But then again, if Jackie was in any hurry whatsoever to do anything but kill her time with something else other than her worries for Tommy that either way kept her haunted at night, perhaps she would have cared to give more than a fugitive glance to any of these people giving her all sorts of looks. For any measure though, she knew she could trust the pistol in her coat, the pocket knife in her bag, and even just something as simple as her perception, which just then alerted her that a set of steps were approaching her from behind.

"You've been looking for a needle in this haystack for a while now," a woman's voice joined the steps, probably as soon as it was noticeable Jackie realized she was being followed. "Maybe it's time you changed the haystack."

"Polly Gray," Jackie identified the voice. With a sigh, taking her sweet time, she turned around and gave the woman an attempt at a polite smile. 

"Just Polly," the woman dismissed her posh attitude, stepping forward. With great interest, Polly measured Jackie, her attention not so discreetly stopping on the ring on her finger, thus confirming a rumor she had heard, but was hesitant to believe — so Tommy really asked this American girl to marry him before the Sabini incident. "Arthur told me you and your brothers were back in town. Both of them this time."

"To what do I owe your most thoughtful advice's honoring of me this afternoon, Mrs. Gray?" Jackie insisted on pleasantries, even though she avoided the casual talk Polly was pushing. After all, this was not a woman she knew, and not for the lack of trying.

"It's rather distressing to know you looking for a wedding dress in this place and I thought you could use the company to guide you to more worthwhile tailors perhaps."

"Kind," Jackie noted bluntly. "But that's not all of it, is it now?"

"We might be family soon," Polly let her know after a moment's hesitation. "Is it wrong to want to get to know you better—?"

"If you truly wanted to know me better, you wouldn't have talked to me like I was your street corner beggar all those years ago," Jackie's smile turned cold. Alas, she crossed her arms at her chest, "But you are correct. We will be family soon. So please, allow the lies a rest and speak to me plainly at the very least."

"I do not want us to be enemies moving forward," Polly lifted her chin. "You've been here for five days and you haven't really visited us. Well, apart from Arthur, who I very much appreciate you've been brightening the mood of."

"It seemed fairly inappropriate to force myself into connections with Tommy's family while he's away. I've had a drink with Arthur before, so I would say I know him better than I know you. Or heck, even John... Finn, I certainly don't even recognize anymore. He's grown just so fast." Jackie stiffened the smile that resurfaced naturally for a moment, letting it sink back down into a sigh, "But I don't see how my politeness would make us enemies, Mrs. Gray."

Polly shook her head, stepping forward and dictating the rhythm to a slow walk on which she wished to proceed with Jackie, "We are alike, you and I. Self-made women with a strong will. The voice of reason behind men. Calculated entrepreneurs..."

"Your worries are misplaced," Jackie hurried to get to the point of the conversation that she had already guessed. "Thomas would never replace you, nor kick you out of the family business and I'm not interested in seeding discord in his family by joining it either. Sure, this marriage does mean that eventually my business and his business will blend together and we will each have our say in what the other does, but before that's the case, this marriage is just that: a marriage. Sought out of love, not greed for more money."

"Regardless," Polly gulped after a moment of silence in which she assessed the girl's words. "I do hope you'll be joining us for a dinner one of these days. Your brothers too." It bothered her, not knowing exactly who will be joining the family, and it was growing so obvious Jackie no longer wished to ask for it to be said plainly.

"I hope to see you at the wedding, Mrs. Gray," Jackie concluded their conversation with the sort of inconclusive and blunt answer that she too had received two years prior, when inviting Polly to join their hunting trip that never had the chance to happen. If anything at all, Polly learnt a great deal about Jackie just through that short chat at the market alone.

The conversation was bound to burden Jackie's mind only shortly, because as soon as she returned to the confines of the hotel suite, she met not just Gene, but Lester too, both looking a little off; while the youngest Alloways seemed pale and troubled, the eldest looked at Jackie entering the room as if he had seen the sun after days of rain. 

"Was Southampton not to your liking?" Jackie puffed amused at such a sight. 

"I didn't get to see it," Lester admitted instantly. 

Worry had gotten the best of Gene and after moving his hand over his mouth nervously, he retreated to the nearest table to pour himself a glass of anything strong that came to hand first. Such demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Jackie, managing to make her wary as well, thus hesitant to inquire her older brother further. "Why?" she spoke slowly, growing aware of Lester sporting a bruise around his neck. "What happened?"

"He went to fucking London, that's what happened!" Gene burst out after downing the first glass of alcohol. He slammed it back down and poured himself another. 

"What?"

"I didn't go deliberately, I was stopped by police-"

"How is that better?" Jackie lamented louder than him, passing him in a hurry to join Gene at the table and take the glass from his hand before it touched his lips. She drank it all herself, with a permanent frown. 

"They took me to see Sabini, Jackie."

At Lester's addition, Jackie almost choked on the alcohol. 

She dropped the glass back on the table behind her and turned with her arms crossed at her brother, unable to put into words her bafflement. 

With exuberant joy, Lester continued cluelessly, "He wants to buy all our ballots from Japan."

Jackie burst out laughing. A short, but heartfelt laughter. It was all she could bring herself to do when her brother had sabotaged her so fragrantly. Given, neither him nor Gene knew that Sabini and the Shelby's were at war, as Jackie was not kin to the idea of sharing Tommy's plans with anyone, not even her brothers, but she found it common sense that Lester at the very least tried to abide by her rules. Not only did her end up in London, most likely using their family name, but he prepared a deal with perhaps the worst possible person he could have came across. 

"If you weren't my brother," Jackie shook her head, not even looking at him anymore, "I would have killed you right now." 

AUTHOR'S NOTE:   
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