The Take (45 page)

Little Freddie was standing there watching her, and for the first time ever Lena felt a twinge of pity for him. No wonder he was like he was, with this sorry excuse for a mother and that ponce Freddie as a father.

'You are wankers, you and my dad. Nothing but fucking wankers.' Jackie was pointing at her mother now, poking a grubby finger into her face.

'Stop this, Jackie, stop it. Why do you do this?' She was trying to walk her towards the front door, but Jackie was so unsteady on her feet Lena was convinced her daughter was going to fall over and hurt herself.

Little Freddie was attempting to help his mother stand upright when she pushed him away from her and shouted, 'You are trying to send me away again, ain't you? You don't want me or mine here, you don't care about us. It's all about Maggie, ain't it? I can count on one hand the amount of times you've been round my house, but I come here every day, every day I come to see you. Well, not any more, you can all fuck off now. My Freddie was right all along, none of you care about me. None of you.'

She was on a roll now, gesturing madly with her arms, and Lena watched her eldest child in abject sorrow. No wonder the girls were never home, no wonder they avoided her like the plague. At this moment she could even find it in her heart to sympathise with Freddie, because Jackie couldn't be the easiest of people to live with.

Jackie screwed her face up in hate, and spewed out her vitriol and her anger while all the time being led out of the flat. Joseph had the front door open and he was dressed for the outdoors. When Jackie saw him standing there, she laughed out loud.

'Oh, here we go, the big guns are out, are they? Walking me home, are you, Dad? Making sure I don't stay here with you pair of fucking tossers.'

Little Freddie helped his mother out of the door. He was holding her up now, and Lena watched them go down the stairs until finally she could shut her front door. She knew that her neighbours had heard Jackie's ranting and raving, and she felt angry and upset.

She sat at her little kitchen table and put her head into her hands in utter despair. This was happening more and more, and she knew that something would have to be done before that girl drank herself into an early grave.

No wonder that boy was a mad bastard. What had he ever had in his life that was constant, that was good? She had a memory, suddenly, of Little Freddie as a baby, only about eighteen months old. Jackie was half cut as usual and she was saying to the boy, 'Here, Freds, phone Daddy.'

And the child had picked up the phone and said over and over again, 'Tunt, tunt.'

He could not say 'cunt' yet, but Jackie had rolled up.

Joseph had said to her then, all those years ago, 'God help that child, Lena. Between the two of them he has no fucking chance.'

And he had been right.

Chapter Twenty-Three

'I have never felt more happy in my life, Jimmy.'

His wife was relaxed, so liquid in his arms, that he felt as if he had been given a second chance at happiness. In the last couple of years she had gradually become again the girl he had known, the woman he had always needed.

Last night had been one of the most fulfilling nights of his life. His Mags had given herself to him with such forcefulness he had been amazed. All the hurt, all the distance was gone, and this was a new beginning for them, a new start to a marriage that even at its worst was better than anything else he could imagine.

He kissed her gently on the lips and she snuggled closer to him.

It was so long since Maggie had felt this calm, this happy, and she wanted the feeling to last as long as possible.

Jimmy held his tiny wife in his arms and marvelled at the change in her. Whatever had ailed her after Jimmy Junior was born, it seemed it was finally gone, and the laughing, happy girl he had married was back for good. Just to hold her like this was wonderful, to feel her soft skin next to his, to smell her perfume.

Unlike Freddie, and even Glenford, birds had never been a top priority with him and he had never really wanted anyone other than Maggie. He had taken a few fliers over the years but they were few and far between and he had regretted them immediately. No other woman had ever made him feel like his Mags did. And Little Jimmy was like the icing on the cake. He was their world, and they would see that he had everything that they had never had.

'So is Ozzy giving all his businesses over you, then?'

Jimmy kissed her again. 'It seems like it, but he ain't
giving
them to me as such, though Freddie won't believe that. I am just going to run them all for him. Like I do with all the other businesses.'

'He must really trust you, Jim.'

He smiled then. 'I hope so, babe, he ain't never had any reason not to.'

He was so dependable, her Jim, no one would ever say a bad thing about him because he was as right as the mail, as her mum always pointed out.

'What's he like?'

'Who, Ozzy?'

'Well, who else, you twonk!'

He shrugged, and hugged her even tighter, laughing at her as she knew he would.

'I told you, he's… different. He's sort of very much his own person, and when you are in his company you know he is someone of repute, someone important.'

Maggie could hear the pride in her husband's voice and she thought it was probably this self-effacing way he had that made Ozzy think so much of him.

'He sees you like I do, Jimmy, as a handsome, clever and kind man.'

Jimmy laughed. 'I think he sees a different side to me actually, but I will take your word for it.'

They laughed together. The hard-nosed Jimmy she rarely saw, and she was glad of that. But she knew it existed, and she had heard about his escapades, knew he was capable of violence if necessary. She knew he would use his considerable strength but only when all else failed. He was not a vindictive man, and she was lucky in that respect. But he was a serious Face in their community and she must bask in his reflected glory whether she wanted to or not. Jimmy had taken out enemies on more than one occasion, she accepted that. But he had to do it, that was what Ozzy expected from him and what he paid him for.

Brought up as she had been on the periphery of that world, she understood it was nothing more than a means to an end. It paid for their life, made sure they were taken care of. It was, after all, his chosen profession and his prerogative.

When he came home, though, he was just Jimmy, her Jimmy, and he was a husband and father. And she loved this man so deeply, nothing could change her feelings for him, no matter what he did.

He was also popular, not just with their close friends, but with everyone they mixed with, except, of course, Freddie. She forced Freddie from her mind, he had no place here, not any longer. He had spent too much time like a spectre between them. She would not allow him to hurt her or her family ever again.

It had taken her far too long to realise that her mother's old saying was true: 'People only do to you what you let them.' How many times had she heard that over the years?

As long as she let Freddie dictate her happiness, she was never going to experience any. Now she had fronted him, made
him
frightened of the truth coming out, and she felt almost euphoric in her happiness.

Jimmy Junior was, when all was said and done,
her
child. Hers, and her Jimmy's. They adored him, and no matter what anyone said, or anyone did, they could not take that away from them.

She glanced at the clock and saw it was eight thirty. They had slept in for the first time in years, and she had enjoyed it as well. She missed her baby, though. He had taken to coming in to them first thing and getting a few cuddles before they all got up and ate breakfast together.

It seemed strange without him, but she yawned happily. She had better get her arse in gear and go and pick him up. But Jimmy's hand on her breast told her that she might be longer than she had first thought.

'You what?'

Rox sighed, and said again, 'I am pregnant, Mum.'

Jackie was bleary-eyed as usual, and Rox wondered why she had come round to this house on her way to work when the woman she called her mother didn't even function until after three o'clock.

'The wedding is being brought forward, that is what I am trying to tell you.'

Jackie yawned and searched through the legion of empty fag packets on the kitchen worktops until she found a cigarette. Lighting one she said sarcastically, 'Oh, well. I'll sleep better for knowing that, Rox.'

Roxanna closed her eyes in annoyance. No congratulations, nothing.

Freddie padded down the stairs and Roxanna smiled at him. It was a forced smile as always and he said tiredly, 'So, Dicky boy has been rogering my baby, eh?'

Rox was hurt by her father's words. And her own mother had no interest in what was going on in her life, but then, when had she ever been interested in anything other than drinking and this big twit who was allegedly her father?

'So, and?'

Freddie took the cigarette from his wife and pulled on it deeply before saying, 'Always got a fucking answer, ain't you? Suppose I decide to take umbrage, eh? Give him a fucking kicking, what would you do then?'

Rox shook her head sadly and he was reminded of just how good looking his daughter was. She was so like Maggie, thank fuck, and not the fat whore who was now eating a slice of day-old pizza. In his own way he was proud of his Rox. Considering the way she had been dragged up she was a fucking diamond, really.

'Here, Fred, I just realised you'll be a fucking granddad!'

Jackie's laughter turned to a hacking cough and she spat into the sink. The scene made Rox, with her morning sickness, feel like heaving.

She flapped her hand at her mother. 'You are like a fucking animal, Mum.'

'Yeah, look around you, Rox, you were all dragged up in her den of shit!' Freddie was laughing now, but he shocked them as he hugged his daughter briefly, pleased she was going to have a child, pleased that she had turned out so well. Suddenly that was important to him.

He was proud of her. People talked about her in glowing terms, and he was impressed that she had made such a success of her young life. Considering how she had been brought up it was amazing she wasn't on to her second or even third baby by now, he knew a lot of her mates were. He should know, he had fucked half of them.

She could do a lot worse than young Dicky and all. The boy always gave him his due and was respectful and polite. But if he ever mugged her off he would put the little fucker in his place, no danger.

Freddie went into the lounge and, picking up his coat, he took out a wad of money and peeled off five hundred pounds. He walked back to the kitchen and said almost shyly, 'Open an account up for it, babe, so it'll have a start in life. That is what Mags and Jimmy did and that kid's worth a fucking fortune now.'

Jackie and Roxanna looked at the man who had been the thorn in their sides for so long that they had forgotten how to like him, and their mouths were open and their eyes were round.

Rox saw the confusion in his eyes, and she knew it was mirrored in her own. Of all the things she had expected this morning, this was not one of them.

'Fucking hell, thanks, Dad.'

She was on the verge of tears, and for the first time in years Freddie understood what a small act of kindness could accomplish.

Rox hugged him back then, and he smelled the cleanliness of her, smelled her happiness and he also felt the love of a child he had never really taken any notice of.

She was a good girl, his Roxanna. He suddenly knew that they were
all
good girls really. Even his Kimberley, and especially his Dianna.

Why did he never appreciate that fact before?

'He must still be dead to the world, him, it's nearly nine o'clock!'

Joe's voice was high and Lena grinned. Joe loved that little child and she knew the feeling was reciprocated, since Jimmy Junior would listen to his old crap for hours.

'Go and wake him up, then, you rotten old sod. You know how much he likes his kip.'

'Have you done him his boiled egg and soldiers?'

She turned from the draining board where she was cutting the bread and butter into thin strips.

''Course I have. He would do 'is crust if they weren't waiting for him!'

Joe laughed with her. They were happy these days and it was mostly because of that little child. Maggie's postnatal depression had meant they had been privileged to be a very big part of his little life, and they were grateful for that.

'Go and get him, Joe, and I'll make him his cup of tea. He loves his cuppa in the morning does our little man.'

Lena watched as her husband raced off to wake their grandson. She would have let him sleep, he loved his Sooty and Sweep, bless him.

Little Freddie sat with his father and ate his cereal. Freddie watched as his son shoved the Coco Pops into his mouth with no manners whatsoever. He was too busy watching
Mighty Morphing Power Rangers
on Sky. Jackie was pretending to drink black tea, which he knew was sherry, because the smell was overpowering, and the house reminded him of a fucking rubbish tip. There were overflowing ashtrays, the curtains were half drawn as they were most of the time, and the feel of decay was everywhere. He had spent fortunes on this drum and it was still like a fucking squat.

An advert came on the TV and there was a lovely family, with lovely kids. They were being urged to borrow money, but as they sat there, eating toast and jam and being nice to each other, he knew that other than the poncing to pay off debts they shouldn't have had anyway, that was probably how Maggie and Jimmy acted first thing in the morning.

Jimmy Junior probably had egg on toast, or fresh fruit, they drank tea from a teapot and Jimmy probably read a paper that had been delivered by a smiling paper boy.

As he looked around his own home, he was suddenly pleased his Rox had got out of it all. He had seen her drum, it was clean and tidy and decorated to death.

She would pore over catalogues for hours just to find the right cushion, or the right blind. And he knew that if Maggie had not been in her life she would not have known about anything like that. Would never have realised that people like them were just as entitled as everyone else to have a nice home, a nice life.