As the taxi pulled onto the drive, Joey’s mouth fell open. ‘Oh my God, Dom, do something,’ he shouted. Alice was holding the baby with one arm and pushing Frankie with the other.
Dominic jumped out of the taxi and ran towards Frankie. ‘Leave her alone. What’s going on?’
Frankie was hysterical. ‘She won’t give me Georgie back,’ she screamed.
Joey had never been one for confrontation, but seeing the state of his sister, he felt his blood boil. He marched over to Alice. ‘Give me the baby now,’ he yelled.
As Alice’s brazen manner momentarily faltered, Frankie snatched the sobbing child out of her grandmother’s hands.
‘Go into the trailer and get Georgie’s carrycot, baby bag, my black handbag and phone. They should all be in the bedroom,’ she ordered Joey.
Dominic put an arm around Frankie’s shoulder and led her over to the taxi. ‘You’re OK now. Me and Joey will take care of you and Georgie,’ he said comfortingly.
Alice was livid. She loved her granddaughter more than anything else in the world, but she hated her bloody mother. ‘Gertcha, you fucking old rabbit’s crotch. I’m ringing my Jed right this minute to tell him what you’re up to. You don’t deserve a good boy like him,’ she screamed.
As Joey ran over to the taxi with Frankie’s belongings, he glared at Alice. ‘You leave my sister alone, you horrible cow.’
Alice burst out laughing. ‘And what are you gonna do, you big poof? It ain’t natural what you are. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, you fucking bumboy.’
Frankie was distraught. ‘Just drive, will you,’ she screamed, as Alice approached the car.
The taxi driver was an elderly man in his sixties. To say he was petrified was an understatement. Desperate to escape the woman who was now pummelling against his window with her large fists, he swung the car around and drove off like Ayrton Senna.
Joey told the driver to head towards the Albion pub.
‘I think we all need a drink after that, don’t you?’ he said to Frankie.
Frankie handed Georgie to Dom and clung to her brother. ‘What am I gonna do, Joey? I hate Alice, I’m so unhappy living there with her breathing down my neck all the time. And next week, I’ve gotta face Dad in court. I wish I was dead sometimes; I wish I could be with my mum.’
Joey glanced at Dominic. Frankie’s predicament was way beyond his control and as much as he wanted to help her, apart from offering her a place to stay, there was very little else he could do.
A few hundred yards down the road, Joyce and Stanley were having one of their usual little tiffs.
‘You silly, bald-headed old tosspot. I told you you’d took the wrong turn off, didn’t I?’ Joyce yelled.
Stanley sighed. Joycie had driven him mad this morning. He’d planned to meet Jock for a beer, but she’d insisted he drive her to the garden centre in Aveley. She’d then cost him over a hundred quid on plants, gnomes and accessories.
‘Can’t we do it tomorrow, Joycie? Jock wants me to go and look at a pigeon with him this afternoon,’ he’d pleaded with her earlier.
Joyce had been adamant that she wanted to go today. ‘I want to get started on that garden as soon as possible. I want it to be a tribute to our Jessica this summer. You and Jock can discuss pigeons tomorrow. Today you’re taking me to the garden centre, Stanley.’
Seeing a rabbit run across the road, Stanley winced as he slammed his foot on the brakes to avoid it. ‘What the bloody hell are you doing? You trying to kill me or what?’ Joyce shouted.
Stanley ignored her. There were times when he would gladly love to run over Joycie, but not some poor defenceless little rabbit.
‘I’m starving and I need a drink. Your driving makes me nervous, Stanley. Drive to that pub – you know, the one on the roundabout along the A13.’
Stanley nodded. ‘You mean the Albion, my dear.’
Watching Dominic and Joey fuss over the baby, Frankie flinched as her phone rang yet again. Jed had been ringing her constantly for the past half an hour and she knew that Alice had told him every little detail of their argument.
‘Leave it,’ Joey said, as Frankie debated whether or not to answer it.
Frankie sighed. ‘I can’t exactly ignore him. I’m gonna have to talk to him at some point, aren’t I?’
Joey studied the menu, chose what he wanted and handed it to Dom. ‘Go up the bar and order for us.’
As Frankie cradled Georgie, Joey leaned towards her. ‘What you gonna say in court? You know, about Dad?’
Frankie shrugged. ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to think about it. The detective that came to see me was a nice lady and she said I don’t have to say anything bad. All she wants me to do is tell the jury that Dad never liked Jed’s family and was unhappy when me and him got together.’
Deep in thought, Joey sipped his lager. He knew what he should do, but he didn’t know if he was brave enough to go through with it.
Frankie could read her brother like a book. ‘What’s the matter?’
Joey shrugged. ‘I feel I should come to court with you. Do you want me to book a day off work?’
Frankie squeezed his hand. ‘Oh, yes please, Joey. I know you can’t stand up and speak for me, but even if you were there and I could look at you, it would help me get through it.’
Joey nodded. ‘OK, I’ll come.’
Joyce punched Stanley on the arm as he pulled into the pub car park. ‘You can’t park in between those two posh cars with your bleedin’ old banger. Park over there, where it’s empty.’
Stanley sighed as he reversed his Sierra out from between the Mercedes and BMW. Joycie could be so far shoved up her own arse at times, it was a joke. Anyone would think she was Lady bloody Diana by the way she behaved. Moving over to the empty spaces, Stanley turned the engine off. ‘Ready, dear?’ he asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
Joyce waited for him to open her door and stepped out of the car. She held his arm. ‘I do love you, Stanley, you know,’ she said fondly.
Inside the pub, Frankie’s phone was still ringing.
‘Can’t you turn that bloody thing off?’ Joey asked. He hated Jed; he was frightened of him and Jed’s continuous hounding of Frankie was putting him off eating his fish and chips.
Frankie stood up. Unlike Dom and Joey, she hadn’t ordered any food. She’d had the morning from hell and didn’t feel at all hungry.
‘Look after Georgie for a minute. I’m gonna ring Jed back, Joey. I have to.’
Joey shook his head. ‘Why don’t you come and stay with me and Dom? I worry about you, Frankie, living with that awful family, I really do.’
Frankie touched her brother’s arm. ‘Jed loves me and I love him. It’s his mother that’s the problem.’
About to leave the table, Frankie froze with shock. ‘Oh my God, Joey. Nan and Grandad have just walked in.’
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jed O’Hara was like a bear with a sore head. He had been trying to ring Frankie for just over an hour now and he was absolutely seething because the bitch wasn’t answering his calls.
His mum had been livid when she’d rung him up earlier. ‘She’s a proper old whore, she is, all tarted up, she was, like a single girl. And the way she spoke to me, Jed! Hurt I was, fucking hurt. You’ve made a rod for your own back there, son. I told you you should have settled down with a nice travelling girl, didn’t I?’
As Jed tried to ring Frankie once again and got no answer, he threw the phone against the passenger seat in temper.
Sammy laughed. ‘You wanna give her a right-hander – that’ll stop her going out,’ he said, as Jimmy tried to calm his son down.
Jed was in no mood to be calmed down. He couldn’t believe that Frankie had done exactly what he’d warned her not to. As for shouting at his mother, that was unforgivable. He turned to his dad. ‘Listen, when we get to the yard, I’m gonna borrow the motor and drive back home. I’ll find Frankie, sort her out and then I’ll drive straight back again.’<
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Jimmy nodded sympathetically. He guessed what Jed might do, turned away and smirked. If Jed was with any other girl, Jimmy would have probably warned him to tread carefully, but seeing as it was Eddie Mitchell’s daughter, Jimmy didn’t really care how far his son went to teach her a lesson.
Back in Rainham, Stanley was a bundle of nerves as Joey approached the table. He’d spotted Frankie and not wanting any more aggravation, had begged Joyce to let him drive her to another pub. His wife, unfortunately, had been as obstinate as ever.
‘We’ve got as much right to be in this pub as anyone else,’ she’d said, plonking herself at a nearby table.
‘Hello Nan, hello Grandad,’ Joey said, with a hint of awkwardness. Usually, whenever he was in the vicinity, he would arrange to visit his grandparents, but today’s arrangements had been made with such haste, he hadn’t even thought of it.
‘This is a nice surprise. Planning to visit me and your poor old grandad later, was you?’ Joyce asked sarcastically.
Joey sat down at their table. ‘Dom and I didn’t know we were coming down until this morning. It was a last-minute thing.’
‘How very convenient,’ Joyce mumbled cynically.
‘Don’t be like that, Nan. Frankie’s really upset, that’s why me and Dom rushed down here. The police are making her stand up in court to face Dad next week. In bits, she is.’
Joycie softened slightly. ‘That’s awful. What has she got to say?’
Joey shrugged. ‘Why don’t you speak to her, Nan? The baby’s over there. Georgie is your great-granddaughter and she’s absolutely gorgeous.’
Stanley turned to Joyce. ‘Please, Joycie. That baby’s our flesh and blood. We can’t be in the same place and ignore Frankie or the baby, it ain’t right.’
Joycie, who had knocked her first glass of wine back in record time, told Stanley to go up to the bar and get her another.
‘Shall I order us something to eat as well?’ Stanley asked.
Joyce shook her head. She’d been starving earlier, but the situation she now found herself in had taken away any hunger. As her husband walked away, Joyce turned to Joey. ‘How’s she getting on with that Jed and his family?’
Joey had always been extremely loyal to his twin sister, but for once he decided not to be. ‘Between me and you, not great, Nan. The mother’s awful and has been giving Frankie a real hard time. Please try and build some bridges with her. Frankie needs us, I know she does.’
Joyce had always liked to be needed. She was also glad that things weren’t that rosy in the O’Hara household. When Stanley returned from the bar, Joyce nudged her grandson. ‘You go back over to Frankie. Give us ten minutes or so and me and your grandad will join you.’
Eddie Mitchell sat forlornly on the bunk in his cell. He hadn’t felt like talking to anyone since finding out he had to face Frankie in court. The thought of seeing his daughter again made him feel physically sick with guilt.
Stuart, his cellmate, was extremely worried about his pal. Ever since they had shared a cell together, Eddie had been vibrant and full of life, but today he seemed seriously depressed. Knowing there was nothing he could say to make things right, Stuart tried to think of something that might cheer Eddie up and snap him out of the trance he seemed to be in. He jumped off his bunk and smiled. ‘Let’s go down to the TV room, Ed.’
Ed didn’t feel one bit like socialising. ‘I dunno if I feel up to it, Stu,’ he said honestly.
‘Please, Ed. I’m bored shitless and if you don’t go, then neither will I,’ Stuart said, trying his best to persuade him.
Eddie sat up. Perhaps watching a bit of TV might take his mind off things. He stood up and slung an arm around Stuart’s shoulder. ‘Come on then, you fucking nuisance.’
Back in Rainham, Frankie had taken her brother’s advice and switched her phone off. Joey had told her that her nan and grandad were coming over to the table and Frankie didn’t need the added distraction of her phone constantly ringing.
As Joyce and Stanley stood up, Frankie nibbled at her fingernails. ‘What am I gonna say to them, Joey?’ she whispered.
Joey squeezed her hand. ‘Everything will be fine,’ he said reassuringly.
Dominic got up. He felt awkward, knowing the situation, and decided to make himself scarce. ‘I’m going to pop outside to make some phone calls. I won’t be long,’ he told Joey.
Joyce felt edgy as she said a quick hello to Dominic and turned to her granddaughter. ‘Hello Frankie. How are you?’
As soon as Frankie looked into her nan and grandad’s faces, she felt her eyes fill with tears. Seeing them again brought back so many memories of happy times with her mum and dad.
Joycie flinched as Frankie kissed her on the cheek. Stanley was much warmer and hugged his granddaughter tightly. Joyce glanced at the sleeping baby and instantly felt her own eyes well up. The child was a beauty with a massive mop of wavy, dark hair.
‘Do you want to hold her?’ Frankie asked immediately.
Desperately trying to hold back her tears, Joyce nodded. Joey smiled at his grandad, who winked back. So far so good, they both thought.
As Frankie lifted Georgie out of her cot, she opened her eyes and began to cry. ‘Sssh, it’s OK. Nanny’s here now,’ Joyce said, as she took the child in her arms. When Joyce started to rock her, Georgie stopped crying almost immediately. As great-gran and baby stared at one another for the very first time, Joyce melted.
‘Oh Frankie, she’s adorable. She’s got the biggest, most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen.’
About to tell her nan that Georgie’s eyes were big with long lashes like Jed’s, Frankie stopped herself in mid-sentence.
‘What did you say?’ Joyce asked.
‘Oh nothing, Nan. I was just going to say that all the nurses in the hospital said that Georgie’s eyes were beautiful, too.’
As Stanley put an arm around his wife’s shoulder and stared at the tot, he was overcome by emotion. ‘Hello Georgie, I’m Grandad Stanley,’ he said in a silly voice.
Joyce smiled at him. ‘Do you want to hold her, Stanley?’
Stanley nodded dumbly.
With his nan and grandad both besotted with the new addition, Joey sidled over next to Frankie and whispered in her ear. ‘Why don’t we go back to Nan and Grandad’s for a bit? We can have a proper chat there and they can spend some quality time with you and Georgie.’
Frankie felt a bit uneasy. ‘After everything that’s happened, they might not want me to,’ she whispered.
‘They will. Ask ’em, Frankie, go on. I bet they say yes.’
Frankie stood up. ‘It’s a bit smoky in here now. Would you like me and Joey to come round to yours for a bit, Nan? You and Grandad can spend some time getting to know Georgie then.’
Joyce grinned. ‘That would be brilliant, Frankie.’
Unaware of the family reunion currently taking place, Eddie Mitchell was getting more and more agitated by the second. Concentrating on the programme he was trying to watch was an impossibility with the loud-mouthed prick sitting behind him.
Johnny Venger was not a popular inmate. Half German and half Scottish, he was built like a brick shit-house and had a mouth like a sewer rat. Venger was serving a five stretch for GBH, but rumour had it, he’d once been arrested for fiddling with little boys. The case was never proven, but in Ed’s eyes there was never smoke without fire.
Eddie turned around, his face as black as thunder. ‘Will you shut the fuck up? I can’t hear the poxy telly.’
Venger looked Ed in the eyes and smirked. He knew most of the inmates were scared of Eddie Mitchell, but he was afraid of no one. ‘How’s your gay son doing? Still taking it up the rear, is he?’
Eddie’s eyes were full of evil as he flew at Venger. No one slagged his kids off, it was an unwritten fucking rule. With both hands grasped around Venger’s throat, Eddie spat in his face. ‘Got anything else to say, cunt?’ he asked, as he pressed tightly against his windpipe.
As all the other lag
s cheered, Stuart tried desperately to pull Eddie away. ‘Leave him, Ed. He ain’t worth it,’ he yelled.
‘Call for assistance,’ one of the screws shouted as he was stopped from intervening by the other lags. They were all standing in front of him, so he couldn’t see who was fighting whom.
‘Nonce, nonce, nonce,’ the inmates screamed as Eddie viciously pummelled Venger around the head.
The angst he’d felt over Joey’s sexuality was all taken out on his victim and it was only Stuart who finally stopped Eddie from killing the man.
‘Ed, listen to me. Don’t fuck your case up. Think of your kids!’ Stu screamed out.
Satisfied with the damage he’d done, Ed let Stu drag him away. ‘Say anything about my kids again, you fucking child molester, and I will kill you,’ Eddie spat.
Five minutes later, ten screws ran into the room and were surprised to see an orderly situation. All the inmates were watching the film and apart from Venger, who was covered in blood and writhing in agony on the floor, nothing seemed amiss. Parker, the guvnor’s understudy, crouched down. ‘Who did this to you?’ he asked.
Venger couldn’t talk. Mitchell had nearly strangled him, and even if he had been able to speak, he was now too scared to do so. Eddie had battered his face so violently that his teeth had sliced through his tongue and the pain was excruciating.
Parker stood up. ‘Who is responsible for this?’ he screamed at the other inmates.
The lags stared at the telly as though nothing had happened and not a soul answered. Crossing Eddie Mitchell was something that none of them was prepared to risk.
Back in Essex, Frankie was thrilled to finally be reunited with her grandparents. It was strange being back in her old house and although it was upsetting because of all the wonderful memories it held, Frankie found it almost comforting at the same time. Buster and Bruno were no longer around. They had gone to live with her dad’s old mate, Pat Murphy, and the house seemed quiet without them.
As a child Frankie had never really appreciated what she had. She and Joey had obviously been spoilt in a way and it was only now, living in a trailer with Jed, that she appreciated the beautiful home comforts that her parents had given her. Feeling emotional, Frankie went outside into the garden.
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