Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Tommy wiped his forehead as he stood, one foot on the bench beside the practice field, his breath coming quickly.
One could always count on their captain to never take it easy on them. Practice was always gruelling, and today was no different.
In fact, if anything, it seemed that since Rhys had married, while he had softened in his personal life, he was even harder on them on the football pitch.
On the plus side, Tommy had never been in such fine shape before, and if he had less pride, he would have to thank Rhys for the definition he was seeing in his muscles.
However, he would never let his captain know of any positive outcomes from his relentless drills. Wouldn’t want to encourage him.
“How you feeling, Tom?” Colin asked as he came by, his own towel draped over his shoulder.
“Never better,” he said, forcing a grin, which Colin snorted at, knowing his true thoughts.
Tommy reached into his pocket to find his watch, groaning when he saw what time it was.
He wasn’t going to have the chance to stop at home to bathe and change without being late for dinner at his mother’s — and one could never be late at Mrs. Ward’s house, for then he wouldn’t get dessert.
Six-and-twenty years old, and his mother could still threaten him with sweets.
But then, she was allowed to, after all she had put up with from him over the years.
“It’s Wednesday,” Colin said, “dinner at your mother’s?”
“Dinner at my mother’s,” he confirmed.
“How is your sister?” Colin asked, and Tommy hesitated.
“She’s all right,” he said. “Not better, not worse, as far as we can tell.”
His younger sister, Cindy, had taken ill with consumption a year ago. Fresh air and rest seemed to help manage it, but some days were worse than others.
“Well, I hope she’s feeling better,” Colin said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help out.”
“‘Course, Colin. Thank you,” Tommy said before he went into the bathhouse to change his shirt and continue on to his mother’s.
The home where he had been raised was small but as tidy as any could be, sitting on the edge of the neighbourhood where Tommy lived above the blacksmith’s shop.
He had apprenticed for seven years and was more than ready to take over for the blacksmith, but every year Jack said he would stay on for “just one more.” It caused no end of frustration for Tommy, who was sick of making an apprentice’s wage.
Yet he knew that no one else would ever give him a chance, for they would wonder why the man who had spent all this time apprenticing him wouldn’t provide him any more opportunity.
It was a question that Tommy often asked himself.
“Good evening, ladies!” he called out as he walked through the front door, immediately embracing his mother, standing by the stove, and then his sister, where she sat at the table.
She looked all right, although she could use some more color in those cheeks.
“Tommy, did you bring any friends with you tonight?” she asked eagerly, and he laughed, pretending to pinch her cheek, even though she was only a few years younger than he was.
“The last thing we need is footballers around,” he said as his mother swatted him with a dishtowel, directing him toward his seat.
“The young men are both kind and polite, and are always welcome here,” his mother said. “And, as Cindy has pointed out, most of them are not difficult to look at, either.”
“Mother!” Tommy said, his mouth open wide, his hand over his chest. “You shock me.”
She laughed. “I am a grown woman, Thomas, and I can say as I please in my own house. Now, if you’d be a dear and help me serve the table.”
“Where is Father?”
“Still working.”
“How is… everything?” he asked, not wanting to get into detail, although he knew his mother was aware of what he had left unsaid.
His sister’s health and his father’s despair at not being able to work as he used to, before his injury.
“Well,” his mother said slowly as she served them each the hashed meat she had made, “we received some information.”
“What kind of information?” Tommy asked immediately, his heart seizing as he stole a glance at Cindy, but she gave him nothing, her eyes down upon the table.
“We spoke to the physician, and there is some medication that your sister could benefit from.”
His shoulders fell in relief. “Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?”
“It is,” his mother said with a nod, hesitating. “But it is of rather great expense.”
“How great?” he asked, and his mother’s eyes flitted over to his sister.
“We can discuss it later, but it is likely out of our reach,” she said.
“Let me know,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
His mind flitted to that piece of paper still sitting on the table in his apartment. The one that he had meant to burn, but, for some reason, he held onto. Perhaps this was why.
He pushed it out of his mind for now, intent on enjoying the meal and the company.
But each glance at his sister told him that he had to find a way to get what she needed.
Even if it might mean compromising his soul.
Of all the people Tommy longed to talk to, he couldn’t go to the one who had always provided him advice in the past.
For Colin’s moral compass was far too great, and Tommy knew before even asking just what he would say.
So, he decided to go to the next best person — one who wouldn’t judge, but should hopefully understand, for Tommy knew his own activities were sometimes morally gray.
He and Jonny Tate hadn’t known one another until they both began playing for Manchester Central, but they had grown closer in the last bit of time, especially once Colin had married and was less likely to frequent the tavern or any other late-night haunts without Lily.
Since they’d had their daughter, Tommy barely saw him besides football.
“Jonny, could you spare a minute?” he asked, inclining his head toward a booth in the back of The King’s Head, where Rhys usually sat when he needed to conduct a private conversation.
“‘Course,” Jonny said, following him back, his pint in hand.
He was a rather burly man who moved quickly despite his size and was one of the best defenders Tommy had ever seen play football.
“I have a dilemma,” Tommy began, wrapping his hands around his own pint.
“A feminine dilemma?” Jonny said, leaning forward in interest.
“No, I have that well in hand,” he said, waving away Jonny’s suggestion. “Call this a moral dilemma.”
“Let’s have it, then.”
“My sister is ill with consumption. There’s a medication that the docs say can help her, but it’s costly. More than I could ever make with my apprentice’s salary.”
There was also the small amount he was paid to play football, but that was neither legal nor known to anyone except Colin.
“Sounds like there isn’t much you can do,” Jonny said, although he eyed him as though knowing there was a catch.
“I have one other option.”
“Which is?”
“I was made an offer.”
“What kind of offer?”
“The unscrupulous kind,” Tommy said, waiting to sense his teammate’s reaction before he said anything more.
“One that you would never agree to… until it meant that you might be able to do this for your sister.”
“That’s right.”
Jonny blew out a breath as he pushed away from the table, leaning back, arms outstretched before him.
“What would it cost you?”
“My integrity and possibly all faith my teammates have in me.”
“It’s a bribe to throw a game, isn’t it?”
“Just one,” Tommy said, rubbing his hand over the scruff on his jaw. “Isn’t even one that would affect our Cup chances.”
“I don’t know, Tommy,” Jonny said, shaking his head. “For one, who’s to say that you can affect such an outcome? If anything, maybe you can pretend to throw it, but not actually make a difference? It’s a tough one, though. If Colin or Rhys ever found out you even considered it…”
“I know,” Tommy said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. “Especially with everything that happened a couple of years ago with Mick. They forgave him, and we moved on from it. If I did this and was found out…”
“Then your chance of playing football might be done forever,” Jonny finished for him. “I can tell you this. I won’t say anything to anyone, but I also don’t recommend doing it. If you decide to, though… well, I have family myself and I understand. But football is not something to mess with.”
“Thanks, Jonny,” Tommy said. He had wished for more clarity, but as his teammate, of course, Jonny would have a vested interest in the game’s results. “I appreciate you.”
As they stood and clasped hands for a moment, Tommy decided he needed one more perspective — and knew just who to ask.
Minnie walked into Lily’s home at the corner of her father’s property, prepared to spend teatime with her friend, but was in for a shock when she saw who was sitting at the small table in the corner.
“Tommy,” she said in astonishment. “It is… surprising to see you.”
“I suppose the pleasure is all mine, then,” he said with a gleam in his eye.
“Mine too, of course,” she said quickly. “Where is Lily?”
“She agreed to give us a few minutes alone,” he said. “However, she warned me that she’s just out in the back garden, close enough that if you call for her, she will be here in an instant.”
“In case you decide to ravish me?”
“Something like that,” he said with a grin. “Would you be opposed if I tried?”
Minnie’s cheeks flushed. This type of flirtation wasn’t like her, but Tommy brought out a different side of her. “When we barely know one another, in my friend’s drawing room? Yes, most likely.”
“That’s not a no,” Tommy said with a wink.
“What would you like to discuss?” she asked, taking a seat across from him, careful to leave a great deal of room between them.
“Actually, I have a dilemma,” he said, sobering and lowering his voice. “I needed the opinion of someone outside of the football club, and you were the first person to come to mind.”
“I am flattered, although I am uncertain if I am the best person to help in such a regard,” she said, considering what she had just heard of her father’s fortunes.
“I am certain no one else would be better,” he said. He launched into an explanation of his plight, and by the time he was finished, Minnie’s mouth was hanging open.
“So, you must decide between medication for your sister and integrity to your team?”
“That sums it up,” he said, smiling weakly. “Unless I come up with another way to make enough money before then.”
Minnie sat back, dumbfounded. To think that Tommy would face such an impasse when her father had just thrown money away because of a gambling debt made her father’s actions seem all the worse, for, as far as he knew, he didn’t even have a proper reason to have done so.
“Do you have any other family that could help? Your father?”
Tommy shook his head. “My father barely makes enough for my family to get by. He works in the factory, but after an accident, he can’t work in the same position as he once did.”
“I understand,” she said in a low voice.
“Well, at the end of the day, it is your decision to make. However, whatever you choose to do should be with pride for who you are and the actions you take. If you cannot make this decision with a clear conscience, then I suggest finding an alternative approach. Perhaps you could tell the club your issue, and your teammates would help you.”
“Like a charity case?” he said with distaste.
“I would call it helping a friend in need,” she said gently. “If I had any access to my family’s finances, I would give it to you myself, but alas…. Meanwhile, you could do all you could to save money yourself, and somewhere between the two, hopefully, you will come up with enough.”
“I could try,” he said, although he didn’t seem convinced.
“You’ll find a way forward,” she said. “But you have to do what feels right for you. Not for me or Colin or anyone else.”
He nodded slowly, his eyes meeting and catching hers. “Thank you, Minnie.”
She blushed once more. “It’s nothing,” she said. “Let’s just say that I have some experience as of late with unscrupulous practices.”
His eyes widened at that, but before he could ask any more, the back door opened, and with an incoming sweet vanilla-cherry scent of her garden’s heliotropes, Lily joined them.
“Minnie, how good to see you!” she said, although Minnie didn’t miss her questioning glance between the two of them. Apparently, Tommy hadn’t provided much of an explanation for this conversation.
As much as Minnie’s heart ached for Tommy, she could sense that he was a good man, that he would make the right decision.
She only wished that she could help him. But it seemed that all the men in her life were just outside of her reach, even if Tommy, at least, had asked for her opinion.
It was altogether too frustrating and only made her want more agency in her own life.
Agency she was determined to find.
Even if it came at a price.