𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃
chapter 64

"Listen, Tommy" Lizzie urged, "he said we shouldn't come close to her in case,"

"In case of what?" he asked. "When she coughs, there's blood." Tommy pushed past her and toward the office. He walked into the room, looking at the drawings and picking up the phone. "Madonna, put me through to the number i gave you for Esme Shelby-Lee"

-

Tommy held Ruby as they rushed through the halls of the hospital. "Move away" he shouted as the nurses tried to take her. "No where's the doctors"

"Can you get the doctor?" Lizzie asked. "I need to speak to a doctor" Tommy said.

"Mr Shelby, Mr Shelby" the man approached. "Your daughter has consumption. It is very infectious, there are procedures that must be followed. Please hand over the child"

"Okay, it's all right" Lizzie whispered. "Lizzie" Tommy said. "Right you take her, be gentle" he handed over Ruby.

"That's my daughter, do you hear me?" he shouted. "I need to be with her" he whispered. The doctors pushed him back. "I need to be with her" he shouted. " I need to be with my daughter."

"Tom" Lizzie grabbed him. "They are X-raying her they need to X-ray us. We might have it as well"

"Fuck us, Lizzie. Fuck us! Fuck you and me" he shouted. "Who brought this on?We've brought on this curse!" He shouted. The nurses stood, watching as he acted out. "Stop, Tommy! Fucking stop!" Lizzie grabbed him.

"They wouldnt let me pass. They wouldnt let me pass. They did it on purpose. To punish me."

"Tommy stop it, please" She begged.

"All right," he sighed. Lizzie turned away. "My husband is very sorry. My husband is very sorry and he is calm now. Hes recovering from addiction, Sometimes,-"

Tommy stepped forward. "Sometimes, hes a horse in a crate, kicking the crate. Its just the crate im kicking. Im sorry. Lizzie," he whispered.

"Yeah.."

Tommy looked back toward the nurses. "Tell me what i have to do."

"This way sir,"

Timmy apologised to Lizzie once more.

-

Tommy sat on the steps outside, looking as Lizzie joined him. He passed her his cigarette. "She has a tubercular infection in her left lung. They've caught it quite early, They'll do more tests. They do this thing. "Pulmonary" something, where they collapse the lung, let it rest. Sometimes the lung cures itself. If that doesnt work, they use gold"

"What?" Tommy frowned. "Gold?"

"Yeah, gold salts. Doctor said he explained the methods to you when you cut the ribbon to open the institution"

"Cant remember, i wasnt listening"

"Yeah, well, gold salts. Salt with 37% gold. They say it helps, but it will make her more sick at first."

Silence. A lump gathered in Lizzies throat.

"Did they say..did they san what the chances are?" he asked. "No, they dont say, but shes small and with TB thats not good because the disease is big and fast." a sob let her mouth and Tom wrapped his arms around her.

-

Tommy sat beside Rubys bed whilst she slept, thoughts rushing through his head. "Im so sorry, my darling" he whispered. "I will deal with it, i will make it go away. I will strike a bargain."

The door opened. "You should be wearing a mask" Lizzie said.

"I am"

He pushed her hair back, kissing her hand. Tommy grabbed his coat. "You can try gold, i will try something else" he said, leaving the room.

-

Tommy drove quickly down the road, stopping at an empty field. As he got out, he scanned the trees and bushes, his eyes landing on a red cloth wrapped around the wood. He wasted no time before getting inside the car and driving along.

-

"Mrs Florence Gray" The man announced to Diana.

Whilst Tommy was away doing whatever he was doing, he'd asked both her and Ada to do his business in London for him.

"I thought you were all called Shelby" Diana smiled, wrapping her arms around her. "I'm not a Shelby, i'm Polly Gray's daughter. Ada is a widow" she said.

"My husband didn't have the grace to die, he lingers yet" Diana said. Florence glanced at the painting on the wall. "Your husbands a member of the Guinness family, I believe? They do a lot of good work on behalf of the poor."

"The poor who are only poor" Diana turned. "Because they spent so much of their income on Guinness. Please"

"I think the causes of poverty are a little more complex than that" Florence argued.

"Yes, i believe it is to do with genetics."

Florence let out a small laugh, sitting down. "Beautiful vase" she complimented.

"My grandfather stole it from a brothel in Cairo."

"Egyptian. 18th dynasty, i think" Florence said quietly. "How do you know so much about Egyptian vases?" Diana asked. "I collect antiques" Florence nodded.

Diana hummed. "A tribe of Gypsies settles on a clearing in a factory town. Children of course, ensue in their hundreds, but one of them becomes a gangster and a politician. Another becomes a collector of antiques. It is quite extraordinary."

"A result of genetics, i think" Florence mocked.

"My dear, you researched me and i researched you. If this was 1919, you would have come through my front door carrying a revolver and a Molotov cocktail and would happily have blown off my head"

"Oh, Diana, i'd still do that" Florence smiled sarcastically. "But, isn't it wonderful how time changes everything? Where is the American?"

"He'll be here later"

"Where's Mosley?"

"He heard Thomas wasn't coming so he decided to sulk. You know how men are. Where is Thomas?" she asked.

"His daughter is sick," Florence sighed.

"Does he not employ a governess?"

"Hm, it's a class thing, a genetic thing" Florence mocked again. "He puts his daughters welfare before business."

"Even the business of changing the world?" Diana asked.

"I thought today was purely social" Florence raised her eyebrows. "Now that it's just you, i suppose it will be" Diana sighed. Florence chuckled, looking around. "Florence, you should know your cousin has altered my life. The men here just bounce up and down in their saddles in a rising trot, never even galloping. Thomas is the man on the horse on the vase, that's why i put it out for you to look at."

"According to recent interpretations the black rider on 18th dynasty cases is meant to signify approaching death. So, yes, i suppose it resembles Thomas" Florence agreed.

"Tell me, why is he so emotionally mutilated?"

"Well, because he's a character in a novel, of course. One of those novels ladies like you like to read. All about wild men."

Diana sighed. "Well i don't read novels. I read only pornography and politics"

"Diana, in the absence of the men, shouldn't we ladies be engaging in small talk?"

"Very well. Small talk."

She inhaled deeply. "You know i like to fuck women as well as men" Diana mentioned. "Tommy was right. He says that everything is a circle. A lady in Eaton Square as course and honest as an Aston whore."

"Just realised i haven't even offered you a drink" Diana stood. "Florence, before the dreary business of changing the world begins, i want you to know something. When the time comes for the great cleansing, i myself will personally argue the case that the jews must be dealt with, but that the Gypsies should be spared."

Florence scoffed.

"Let's drink whiskey and wait for the American"