(no subject)

[bookmaker_boss]

Weather had put a damper on things, weather and other things in Tommy's private life, but as the sun returned and warmth came back to Darrow, he found himself calling on Mary Crawley. He knows, precisely, what it is about her that he finds vexing and fixating, though he feels a little bit a scoundrel to admit it to himself: she is every ounce of familiar femininity that he courted and seduced in Birmingham and London, as much Grace Brugess as May Carleton as Lizzie Stark. And she's none of them, as well, a handsome Earl's daughter out of York.

He may have done a bit of snooping on her, though snooping in Darrow is far from what it was back in England.

So there is a part of him that yearns for her merely because she is familiar, because she, as an object of his time, means something to him simply for that. But she also loves horses, he knows from their first meeting the laundry. But she also becomes slightly rigid when teased. Tommy misses, he thinks, the chase of their time. These careful dances of propriety that he could elude because he is a gangster and a bookmaker and a Gypsy.

So, with good weather and the knowledge that this is a terrible mistake waiting to happen, as most of his romantic endeavors tend to be, he catches Mary one day as she's coming out of their complex. He's leaned on a car he's rented, something flashy and far too low to the ground for his tastes, and he smiles slightly to see her.

"I believe I promised you horses, Miss Crawley."

Comments

[thequitecontrary]

Not only weather, but the entire catastrophe with the Darkness hadn't helped either. Mary had spent a few days in a dank cage, unsure if she was going to be eaten or made the bride of that hideous creature. After being rescued, it had taken Mary a little while to get back into the normal routine that she had started for herself since arriving in Darrow. Perhaps she still needed to process what she had been through, but for now she would prefer to be productive. She had met a few people and was starting to make friends. She had even auditioned for a play, which is something she never would have done back home.

Today, she is going to try to look at a few job openings. Maybe she can find something in secretarial work. That would be steady pay while she worked on giving riding lessons or voice lessons. When she steps out of the building, she's surprised to find Tommy leaning against his car.

She grins upon seeing him, her mood immediately brightening. "Yes, I believe you did, Mr. Shelby. Are you going to take me on a trip to the country?"

Tommy is different from many of the men who have courted her in the past. He's definitely nouveau riche, still possibly not entirely out of the middle class. Even Henry had been related to a Peer. Things in Darrow are very different though. He's the only one here from the same year as her, which means he understands her in ways that others simply won't. Plus, he's charming and handsome. As far as she's concerned, there aren't many other people here that she'd enjoy spending time with more.