by June Tate
‘How many others have there been?’ he demanded.
Lily glared at him. ‘Millions!’ she cried. ‘They could all be the father.’
Vittorio released her. ‘Don’t be so stupid.’
‘Stupid! Me? It’s you who are stupid, Vittorio.’ But she could find no more words. She was incredibly hurt that he could doubt her loyalty. How could he even think of her taking a lover whilst she lived with him?
He sat on the chair, took a cigarette out of his case and lit it. Looking back at her he saw that she was trembling. ‘For goodness sake get under the covers before you catch your death of cold.’
‘I’m not at all sure I want to share a bed with you,’ she said tearfully.
His jaw tightened and he said evenly, ‘Do as I say.’
Lily was feeling so chilled and unwell, she did as she was told. She’d been deeply shaken by their angry exchange.
Vittorio put his cigarette out and climbed into bed.
Lily turned her back on him.
He put his arm around her. She stiffened at his touch, but he ignored this. ‘You’re frozen,’ he said and held her closer until she stopped trembling. He put his hand over her stomach, gently stroking the soft mound. ‘Inside here is our child?’ he asked quietly.
Lily said, ‘Yes. You can believe it or not. I don’t care any more.’ Her shoulders shook as she tried in vain to stem the tears that started to flow.
He gathered her even closer. ‘Please, Lily, stop this,’ he coaxed her. ‘It isn’t good for your condition.’
Her condition. The words seemed strange, but she did have a condition. She was carrying a child in her womb.
‘You aren’t angry any more?’ she whispered.
‘No.’
‘But you told me once, you didn’t want a family.’
He suddenly chuckled. ‘That’s right, and at the time I didn’t, but now, I must say the idea appeals to me.’ He turned her round so that she was facing him. ‘And you, Lily, how do you feel about it?’
She was relieved that his anger had faded. That he knew. ‘I really don’t know.’ She looked at him anxiously. ‘It’s been such a surprise. But when I think about it I wonder how the club patrons will react. Will it make a difference to the business? Oh Vittorio, I want this child very much and I so want the club to be a success, but if I was the reason it all failed, it would be terrible.’
‘Darling,’ he said, his voice filled with concern, ‘so much worry on so young a pair of shoulders.’
‘And now to learn about your gambling. It’s too much.’
‘I have to earn a living. I’ve explained that,’ he said patiently. ‘Especially now, with the baby coming.’
‘I suppose so,’ she reluctantly agreed. She suddenly found her spirit. ‘Why should I care what the customers think, anyway? As long as the food and the entertainment’s good, they won’t give a toss.’
He became thoughtful. ‘I’m not so sure about that. You are already notorious as my mistress. This, of course, will only add fuel to the fire. Are you prepared for it? You could be in for a rough ride, you know. People can be very cruel. I don’t want you getting hurt any more.’
She snuggled against him. ‘I really don’t know. I was hoping that before my pregnancy showed, the club would have taken off. I’ll just have to wait and see.’
He kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You are a wonderful girl. Bright, and very brave. Some women might have rushed to have an abortion.’
‘Not me! I’ll not let some back-street woman shove things up me.’
Cringing at the thought, Vittorio pulled her to him and kissed her softly. ‘Promise me you won’t ever consider putting yourself in such danger.’
‘No, of course I won’t. I know there are girls who have died after such a thing.’
There was a moment’s silence, then Vittorio said, ‘We could always get married.’
This was as big a shock to Lily as when she realised that she was pregnant. She looked at him anxiously.
‘Would that be so terrible?’ he asked.
‘I’m just so confused,’ she said. ‘All this is a bit much to handle at once. First the club, then the baby and now this. My mind’s in such a whirl I can’t think straight.’
‘It would make the child legitimate, darling. And you respectable. And it would make me very happy. Think about it. But right now I want you so much, I can’t wait.’
Later, as she lay in his arms, Lily looked at the sleeping figure beside her. Did she want to marry Vittorio? It would give the child his name. After all, he was the father – but again he was living beyond the law. What if he went to prison? What would happen to her and the baby then?
Chapter Twenty-Two
The first month of the new enterprise was coming to an end and everyone was pleased with the obvious success of the venture. Word had spread quickly that things at the club had changed. It was now the place to be seen and the bookings were much sought-after.
‘Didn’t I tell you, Lily!’ exclaimed Rachel with obvious glee as the head waiter showed them his book of reservations.
‘You did. And we are getting a decent kind of crowd too. More women are coming and that’s good.’
‘Well, how else would the young flappers be able to say they’d spent an evening in a former brothel without having their reputation in tatters?’ was Rachel’s cynical retort.
With a grin, Lily had to agree. ‘At the moment that certainly adds to the attraction, but that’ll soon pass.’
‘Yes, I know.’ Rachel rubbed the palms of her hands together. ‘But by then, we’ve got them.’
Rachel was standing with her back to the main entrance, unaware of the new customer who had just entered, but Lily, looking over her shoulder, recognised him immediately.
‘Oh well, better get on,’ she said calmly. ‘Rachel, why don’t you go up to the office? Vittorio is working on the first month’s figures and I know you’re interested to see how well we’ve done.’
‘Bloody slave-driver,’ her friend grumbled with a smile, and made her way upstairs.
With bright eyes and a brittle edge to her voice, Lily greeted the newcomer. ‘Good evening, Manny. This is a bit posh for you, isn’t it, even if you have improved your appearance.’ She looked at the well-tailored dark suit he was wearing. She’d never seen him look so presentable. But hate burned in her heart as she stared into the hooded eyes of Rachel’s son.
He leered at her. ‘You are the one who’s moved up, or so I hear. Is it true that you and Mama are in business together?’ He looked around the dining area, and she saw the calculating look in his eyes.
‘Yes, that’s right. News travels fast. What do you want? There are no prostitutes here any more.’
‘I’ve come to see my mother. She sold the business in The Ditches.’ He glared at Lily. ‘That was supposed to be my inheritance, but …’ Looking around he added, ‘This doesn’t look so bad.’
Lily felt anger rise within her like a volcano and she fought to keep control. It was because of this man she’d lost Tom, had spent time on the streets, selling her body for a crust of bread. The humiliation still lived hidden deep within her, and Manny had brought it all racing to the surface. She was choking on the memories of that wretched period in her life.
‘I’ll tell her you’re here. Give this man a drink,’ she sharply instructed the barman.
Lily marched into the office upstairs and shut the door behind her. She looked across the room at Rachel, poring over the books. Her glasses were perched on the end of her nose, making her look like a wise old owl. ‘Where’s Vittorio?’
‘Popped out for a moment. He won’t be long. Something wrong, darling?’
‘You have a visitor,’ Lily announced.
With surprise Rachel said, ‘I do?’
‘Your son is downstairs. I thought I’d better warn you, before I brought him up to see you.’
Taking off her glasses Rachel asked, ‘And what does he want?’
‘He
says he wants his inheritance!’
Rachel’s eyes narrowed. ‘They soon come crawling out of the woodwork at the smell of money. You’d better ask him up here. I wouldn’t like the clients to be put off by the sight of blood.’ At the look of dismay on the face of her young friend, she cackled with laughter. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll smother his screams of pain.’
Manny was shown into the office. As the door closed behind him, he looked around the well-appointed room, then at his mother seated in the large leather chair. He took in every detail of her elegant apparel and sneered, ‘Well, well. You’re doing all right for yourself, aren’t you?’
She eyed him up and down. ‘I’m surprised you clean up so well. You’d better sit down.’
He walked across the room and she was filled with bitterness as she watched her son. Things could have been so different between them. ‘What do you want? I know you’re not interested in my health.’ She leaned back in the chair and waited.
Beneath his mother’s steely gaze, Manny became a little nervous. But he had come with a purpose. ‘You sold the shop without consulting me.’
‘What the bloody hell did it have to do with you, might I ask?’
‘It was my inheritance.’
She laughed loudly. ‘You shlemiel! It’s what kept you in pocket-money to spend on women. My indulgence, as your mother. Well, I threw you out – disowned you. Remember?’
His pudgy face seemed to swell even more as his anger rose to the surface. ‘Only because of that bitch downstairs. I want what is mine. I want a piece of this club.’
Raising her eyebrows she said, ‘You think you are capable of running such a business, I suppose?’
‘Of course I could. There’s nothing to it. Any fool could do it.’
‘And that just about sums you up, Manny. What brains you got you carry in your trouser pockets. Beyond that you have nothing. You are nothing.’
‘Look at you,’ he said scornfully, ‘sitting there filled with your own importance, like the bloody Queen of Sheba.’
Rachel remained calm. ‘Such a brain you have. You have just proved my point, Manny. You come here wanting money and you sit and insult me. Hardly a good business move, would you say?’
He flushed with anger. ‘Don’t lecture me, Mama. You’ve nagged me all my life. Now I’m too old to be spoken to like that.’
Her raucous laughter filled the room. ‘My God! The boy is standing up for himself. Nag you? It was the only way to get you off your fat, lazy arse, try and make a man of you. But it was wasted effort.’ Her expression hardened. She leaned forward and in a low voice said, ‘You listen to me, you little runt. Nothing I have belongs to you. You have no right to anything of mine. In my will I have stated as much, with a certificate from an eminent doctor that I was in my right mind when I signed it. So when I’m dead and buried don’t think of trying to contest it in a court of law.’
‘How can you treat me like this? Your own flesh and blood.’ His expression darkened.
‘I meant what I said when I sent you away. I’m ashamed to be your mother.’
‘My father if he was alive wouldn’t have this.’
‘Such a threat you make. Your father is six feet under, his body rotten with the syphilis that killed him.’
Manny’s eyes widened with shock. ‘You foul-mouthed old woman! My father died of a bad heart.’
‘That’s what I told you, to save you shame. He got it from the whores he visited – like you. How do you know you ain’t tainted too?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ Manny blustered, his face white. ‘I only went to clean houses. I don’t go any more.’
She let out a cruel cackle, although inside her heart was heavy with grief. ‘No, I don’t suppose you can afford it now I’m not keeping you. You’re working – earning a living. It should be enough.’
‘Yes, with your brother, the slave-driver. He pays me peanuts. He made me buy this suit and I have to pay so much off a week out of my wages for it.’
She grinned. ‘Well, at least you look halfway decent. Maybe if you get lucky, some woman will take pity on you, though I doubt it.’
He was incensed. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I’m engaged to be married.’ Rachel’s expression of astonishment pleased him. ‘There – what do you think about that?’
‘So, who is this woman?’
‘Miriam Goldburg.’
‘The widow Goldburg? The one whose husband had a hump?’
‘Yes.’
She grinned broadly. ‘Manny, my son, mazel tov! She may have a face like an old bus, but she’s got money, she’s tight-lipped and tight-arsed, and she’s just the woman for you. So you don’t need anything from me. You got it all. She’s got enough for both of you.’
He slumped in his chair. ‘Yes, and she hangs on to it.’
‘So she’s tight-fisted too. Wise woman. You’d spend it all, given the chance.’
He thumped the desk with his fist. ‘I want my own money. You owe me, Mama. I want what is rightfully mine.’
‘I have nothing for you, Manny. Not any more. You forfeited the right when you let yourself into the shop that night. But for Lily, you might have been arrested and imprisoned for rape. Such shame you could have brought on me and your family. Did you care? Of course not.’ She paused to take a shuddering breath. ‘I don’t want to see you in here again. You’re not welcome. I’ve invested my money with someone who’s willing to work for it – something you never did. You had your chance and you threw it away.’ She glared across the desk at him. ‘You walk into the club again, I’ll have you barred!’
Manny got to his feet in such a hurry that he sent his chair crashing to the floor. He stood over the desk threatening his mother. ‘You give me what’s mine, woman, or you’ll rue the day you were born.’
Behind him the door opened and Vittorio stood there surveying the scene. With a few quick strides he was across the room, hauling Manny away from his mother.
Turning, Manny looked into the eyes of The Maltese and froze.
‘What’s going on here?’ Vittorio asked, still gripping hold of Manny.
‘My son, who I disowned, came to claim what he thinks is his – my money. He should be so lucky!’
Manny by now was a shivering wreck, all his bravado gone.
Vittorio looked at him in disgust. ‘God, how I hate parasites like you. You haven’t done an honest day’s work in your life. You lived off your mother for years.’ He led him towards the door. ‘I’m taking you myself down the back stairs. When you leave here, you don’t ever return. Understand?’
Manny didn’t reply.
‘Understand?’ Vittorio repeated. ‘You come back here and I’ll break your legs. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Yes. Yes. I won’t come back.’
Opening the back door of the club, Vittorio sent him flying. As Manny picked himself up out of the gutter, Vittorio said, ‘Remember: you return at your peril.’
Back in the office, he asked Rachel, ‘Are you all right?’
She nodded. ‘Sure. I suppose I should have expected to hear from him, but to be honest I’d put him out of my mind a long time ago.’
‘Do you think he’ll cause trouble?’
Shrugging she said, ‘I honestly don’t think so. He don’t have the balls for it.’ But knowing Manny’s avaricious nature, Rachel was not at all sure.
‘Well, if he gives you any trouble, you let me know. I’ll deal with him.’
There was a look of anxiety in Rachel’s eyes. She despised her son but at the same time she knew that if the need arose, Vittorio would be ruthless. Despite everything, she was still a mother.
‘No, Vittorio!’ Her voice was harsh. ‘You don’t kill my boy.’
With a contemptuous look, he said, ‘Boy! He’s in his thirties. Old enough to take what’s coming to him if he crosses me.’
‘All right, to you he’s a man and not much of one at that. But me, I remember the child.’ She put her hands on her sto
mach. ‘I carried him in here for nine months, felt him move. Gave birth to him.’ Tears welled in her eyes. ‘Held him to my breast. I can’t stand by knowing what might happen to him. No mother could.’ Her voice trembled with emotion. ‘I have learned you can be a good man, a kind man. For Christ’s sake, Vittorio, you’re to be a father yourself! Can’t you understand?’
The cold expression of The Maltese slowly changed as he saw Rachel’s anguish. He thought of his own unborn child and was touched. ‘Very well. But if he bothers me, he’ll get the beating of his life.’
She walked around the desk and caught hold of his arm. ‘But you won’t kill him? Promise me that. You won’t let him die?’
He stared into the older woman’s eyes and patted her hand. ‘I give you my word. But better for him that he keeps away. If you have any control over him at all, warn him of the consequences.’ He turned and walked out of the room.
Rachel flopped into the nearest chair and angrily wiped the tears from her eyes. Bloody Manny, she thought. That a boy of hers could be the cause of so much trouble. With a deep sigh, she lit a cigarette, and put on her coat. She felt sick and needed to be in her own home, alone.
There was a further incident in the club that night.
Four young men were dining. They were flushed with wine and being raucous in their behaviour, disturbing other guests.
Walking over to them Lily quietly said, ‘I’m happy to see you enjoying yourselves, gentlemen, but I must ask you to keep the noise down.’
The ringleader looked at her through glazed eyes. ‘Who do you think you are?’ he asked rudely.
‘I’m part-owner of this establishment.’
He looked her up and down. ‘Were you one of the whores when this place was a brothel? I’d pay for you, my dear.’
Lily picked up a glass of wine from the table and threw it in his face. She looked at the barman and nodded towards the entrance. He quickly returned with the doorman.
‘This young man is leaving,’ she said. ‘And his friends will go too, after they settle the bill.’
The troublemaker’s companions were deeply embarrassed.
She turned to the other patrons. ‘I’m sorry for the disturbance, ladies and gentlemen. Please continue with your meal.’ She walked over to the bar and, with trembling fingers, lit a cigarette.