Two Women (11 page)

June decided there and then that she would start as she meant to go on. This was a perfect opportunity to get rid of the old woman once and for all.

‘I think you had better get your coat on, Ivy, and get yourself home.’

Ivy looked at her as if she had never seen her before.

As she screwed up her face into a mask of temper, June said quietly, ‘This is no time for fighting, Ivy. Joey’s in hospital with terrible head injuries. I’ve managed to get him out of the Bill shop and to stop all the madness of the last few days. I’m in no mood for listening to you an’ all. As for Susan, she’s probably worried by what’s been going on, and knowing you, you wound her up. This is
my
house and if you ever want to enter it again I’d advise you to do as she says and piss off.’

‘My son would never refuse me . . .’

Susan shouted, ‘Well, your son ain’t here, is he? And my mum is. Until he comes back you can go and take a flying fuck!’

Even June was shocked now.

‘Susan, for Christ’s sake, love, calm down. What on earth is going on here?’

She was nearly crying with frustration and anger.

‘I mean it, Mum. Either she goes or I do. I have had her up to my back teeth. Half the trouble in the past has been over her. Winding him up when he’s drunk, giving him gossip and making everyone’s lives a misery. I hate her nearly as much as I hate him. So now you know, don’t you?’

She stormed from the kitchen, leaving June and Ivy alone together. Ivy knew in her heart when she was beaten. She also knew that the girl was right. It was this that hurt more than anything, the knowledge that a young girl could see through her so easily.

‘After all I did for that child . . .’

June shook her head sadly.

‘Go home, Ivy. For crying out loud, will you just for once piss off back to your own house? She’s right and you know it. You picked on her from the word go. Well, shall I tell you something? When Joey comes home you’d better change your tune, lady, because like Susan I’ve had enough of you.

‘One thing you have never allowed for is the fact that Joey can’t function without me. No matter what I do he always takes me back. Remember that, won’t you, because if I throw you out now he won’t do a thing to stop me. And if I choose to, I will.’

Ivy walked from the flat a few minutes later, a defeated old woman. Susan stayed in her room and June counted the money and planned what she was going to do with it.

All in all, she reasoned, not a bad day’s work.

Chapter Six

Joey was pleased to see June at his bedside. She was dressed in a nice red dress and her make up was not too obvious; her nails were a pale pink instead of scarlet and her perfume not too strong.

‘You look nice, June.’

She smiled gently.

‘Well, I wish I could say the same about you, mate, but I can’t.’

Joey grinned.

‘I had a look at me boatrace this morning so I can hardly argue about that, can I?’

June didn’t answer.

‘Thanks for getting me out of the shit, I know you didn’t have to.’

She sat on the bed and took his hand in hers.

‘Listen, Joey, I did that because I care about you, I really do. But I can’t live the way we did before. It’s too much like hard work. If we’re going to make a go of it then things have got to change. Jimmy knew how to treat me; he gave me a new outlook on life. Whatever he was, he gave me more than anyone ever did before. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

Joey nodded.

His mind was working overtime. He had got the full SP off Davey Davidson. He knew that Jimmy had just dumped June, he knew everything by now. Like the fact that she also had three grand stashed.

‘I know that, love, and I will change, I promise. Even aim me mother out of it, I know she was a trial over the years . . .’

June laughed.

‘You’ll never guess what? Our Susan had a right go at her.’

Joey was intrigued.

‘What, she had a pop at me mother?’

June nodded.

A shadow of the old vindictive Joey crossed his face for a few seconds, then he smiled. ‘Who would have thought that, eh?’

‘She got herself a bloke, and Ivy being Ivy had to go and insult her.’

‘What do you mean, she got herself a bloke? Sue’s too young for fucking blokes.’

Joey pulled himself up in bed, the action making him wince. His legs were sore and he was still delicate, or at least as delicate as Joey McNamara could ever be.

‘I’ll fucking lay her out, the whore!’

June was nonplussed.

‘’Ere, calm down, he’s a nice little fella. Who’s rattled your cage, Joey?’

He took a deep breath and sighed.

‘She’s too young, June, and she ain’t streetwise enough to land herself a bloke. I’m putting a block on it and you can tell her that from me. You can also tell her that I’ll be home soon and things will be back to normal. Tell her that, right?’

June was surprised by his reaction. Debbie had been talking about blokes since she was ten and he had just laughed, telling her to keep them on the run, make them sweat, make them spend money on her.

Now poor old Susan had got herself a bloke, a nice one and all - June would have given him the come on herself a few years ago - and Joey was acting the big wronged husband. There was something fishy going on.

‘You sound jealous, Joey, what’s the scam?’

He felt a burning urge to punch his wife but knew he had to bide his time. He wanted her back and couldn’t push his luck for a good while. She held all the cards at the moment. So he sighed once more and assumed the mask of concerned father.

‘Listen, June, Debbie is a girl’s girl, right? She knows the score. Whereas poor old Susan . . . well, be fair, she’s got a face like the back of a bus and Bristols that would encourage a fucking monk out of his celibacy.

‘You know what I’m saying. This little fella’s probably gone to her head and she’s vulnerable. I mean, when was she last complaining about being asked out all the time like Debs, eh? I’ll tell you when, shall I? Never. And I have seen a lot more of her over the last few years than you have. Her and me got quite close, as a matter of fact, and I know how ignorant she is of men and their ways. If she meets a wrong ’un now, before we know it she’ll be in the club and that will be it.

‘I have great hopes for that girl, she has a brain on her. She even reads, for fuck’s sake. How many people we know do that, eh? Real books and all, not just the usual old crap Debbie reads, true confessions and that. Our Susan reads real books, I’ve seen her.’

June was practically fainting with shock.

‘That must have been quite a bang on the head from Hitchin - I can’t believe what you’re saying. This chap is quite a catch for Susan and seems genuine enough. He bought her gold earrings for Christmas and comes round all the time.’

Joey closed his eyes and tried to keep a lid on his temper.

‘Listen here, you, I want Susan to have a bit of a chance in life, that’s all. I want her to get an education. If I had the money I’d advise her to go on to college or wherever it is people go on to from secondary modern. Her face will never be her fortune but her brain might be. She could be anything, anything at all. A lawyer . . . whatever.’

‘Fucking hell, Joey! You feeling all the ticket, love? If I didn’t know better I’d think you’d had a head transplant instead of concussion and two broken legs.’

Joey shook his head sadly.

‘I’ve had time to think, June, and I’m a changed man, I tell you. Be honest, wouldn’t you like to see one of them put the McNamara name up in the right place for a change? It’s a new world now and women can do all sorts of things. It’s accepted that they’ll work until they settle down and have a few chavvies. Some even work afterwards, though personally I think that’s stronging it a bit. But you get the gist of what I’m saying, don’t you?’

June looked nonplussed.

‘I do and I don’t. Our Susan has a brain on her, I admit that. But only in comparison with the people we know. I mean, outside our world she’s probably a bit thick, and I mean that in a nice way.

‘I love that girl, I always have. But I don’t want her setting her heart on something she’ll never be able to have. A couple of kids in a few years and she’ll be happy as a sandboy. She ain’t really cut out for all that education stuff, not deep down. And if she went on to higher education she’d meet people other than her own kind and then she’d start looking down on us. I tell you, I’ve seen it on telly. Kids who’ve gone on to better things, they leave the rest of their family behind, mate. They have to.’

‘You’re wrong, June . . .’

June was miffed and didn’t really know why. Suddenly his being so interested in Susan was bothering her and she felt bad about that.

‘Bring her in to see me tonight,’ Joey told her.

She laughed gently.

‘You’re a funny fucker, Joey. One minute you’re one thing and then the next minute you completely change.’

‘That’s what makes me so interesting.’

June looked into his face. It was battered and bruised but she could still see what had attracted her to him all those years ago. She pondered why she was going back to him. She had a few quid and could run away if she wanted to. But he was her life in a lot of respects. He accepted her for what she was and who else was ever going to do that? Jimmy had been a nice diversion and now it was over.

With Joey, what you saw was what you got and you’d be a fool if you thought you were getting anything else. Though there were plenty of women of her ilk who would not kick him out of bed. In their world a reputation as a hard man was a well-respected thing. Now he was believed to be Jimmy’s killer it would enhance his standing locally.

She wondered if he knew about it all yet. She knew Davey had been in to visit him.

‘What did Davey have to say?’

Joey laughed.

‘I’m thought to be behind Jimmy’s killing. That should give me reputation a boost! For the breaking jobs and that I’ll get paid extra because of the added fear factor. I tell you, June, that Davey has got it in his bonce, girl. That’s what hanging about with the Bannermans has done for him. He’s learning all the time and now I’m going to go up with him. What a touch, eh?’

She nodded, wondering whether Joey was really as thick as he made out. Surely he didn’t really believe that taking the rep for someone else’s actions would do him any favours?

‘What about Old Bill, what they got to say about that?’

Joey shrugged.

‘They say what Davey and Bannerman want them to say, of course. It’s still an ongoing enquiry.’

‘What if there’s comeback from Jimmy’s family or something?’

Joey shrugged once more though he seemed less assured this time and June realised that the thought had not even entered his mind.

‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but I reckon it’s all sorted. Davey ain’t stupid, and Bannerman is definitely on the ball. I’ll take me chances as I always do, girl. But the added bunce can only be for the good.’

June laughed then.

‘What, for university fees for our Susan? I can just see her face when I tell her what you said, it’ll kill her.’

June was rolling with laughter and Joey smiled as he watched her. He had no intention of letting Susan go anywhere.

 

Susan was a bundle of nerves. Her father was due home from hospital and she knew she was expected to be pleased to see him.

Her mother had cleaned the flat from floor to ceiling and cooked his favourite meal, a large roast beef dinner with Yorkshire puddings that stood up in the oven like diddymen. Susan was to make the trifle and Debbie was to make the Welcome Home cake for him. Ivy was once more allowed in the house, and was at least on her best behaviour which gave Susan some respite.

But she knew that once Joey was home everything would return to normal in a matter of weeks. She only wished her mother could see that far ahead.

In fact June was getting on her nerves lately. She was acting as if she and Joey had never been parted and whenever Susan brought up the subject of Jimmy there was a row, with her mother telling her to let sleeping dogs lie. It was as if he had never existed and this bothered Susan more than anything. June had also told her that her father was not at all happy about her having a serious boyfriend. He felt she was too young and on her visits to him in hospital she had been banned from seeing Barry at all.

But Susan was seeing him, and would continue to see him whatever her mother said or her father did.

Maud from next door tripped into the flat with a bunch of flowers and some grapes. ‘For the invalid, June. I hope he’s better soon.’

She stifled a grin. Maud would do anything to be in this flat today. She wanted to know exactly what the score was between June and Joey. The estate had been rife with talk for the last two weeks about Joey killing Jimmy and claiming back his wife. He had been arrested and then battered in the Bill shop, everyone knew that. They assumed he had taken the beating and not cracked, therefore he was doubly a man in everyone’s eyes. Jimmy was a nice bloke but at the end of the day he had taken a wife away from her husband and children. Everyone chose to forget June’s past record for the time being and they were all firmly on Joey’s side.

He was a bit of a hero.

June was loving it. Debbie was revelling in it. His mother was over the moon. Susan wished they would all drop dead.

Maud felt as if all her Christmases had arrived at once when Joey walked into the flat with Davey Davidson who had picked him up from hospital, but June soon hustled her out.

Davey was in a good mood and June was dressed to kill in low top, short skirt and leather boots. She bent down to pick up a small stool for Joey to put his feet on. He graciously agreed to have a cup of tea.