by Martina Cole
‘Something smells good, Reeva.’
Reeva gave one of her loud laughs. ‘All my food smells good, Jade. I have a knack for cooking. It is the only thing I was ever good at. My mother can burn water as we all know. But, me, I can take the cheapest cut of meat and deliver a fucking feast!’
Aiden rolled his eyes in annoyance as he said without humour, ‘Fuck me, Mum. Talk about “I love me, who do you fucking love”!’
It was the way he spoke to Reeva that set her off; he was being so disrespectful towards her. She knew he was upset and she understood that, but he was not going to talk to her like that and take his anger out on her. She had given birth to that lairy fucker, and she was not going to let him get away with it.
She turned on him, shouting angrily, ‘Who do you think you are talking to? Eh? For all my faults, real and imagined, I fed you lot better than any of your fucking mates’ mothers. So don’t you ever forget that, Aiden. I brought you all up as best I could without a pot to piss in most of the time, and without any other fucker’s help.’
That Reeva was genuinely offended was apparent, and even Aiden was shocked at the way she had retaliated.
‘You know your trouble, Aiden? You forget how fucking hard it was for me with you lot. But I soldiered on, and I did my best! I was fourteen when I had you, mister. I was a child myself, remember. I never regretted any of you.’
Aiden could see how upset his mother was, and he did feel bad for what he had said.
Tony came into the kitchen then and, grabbing Reeva around the waist, he kissed her on her lips, saying calmly, ‘Listen, woman, no fucking arguments today. Come on, darling, let’s make this a good day, yeah? This is about building bridges, remember. This is about trying to make some good come out of this situation.’
Reeva pushed him away, but she shut up and that was what really mattered. Tony Brown meant what he said and Aiden wondered at a man who had stayed with Reeva for so long, knowing that she was a fucking walking nightmare. But that was Tony. He had always been there for them, especially for Reeva, no matter what she had done. Tony had somehow sorted it as best he could and Aiden admired him for that. He had stayed around longer than any of the men in Reeva’s life and he had also always treated them well. Tony was one of the good guys, and his mother should really be reminded of that occasionally. Reeva was a lot of things but she wasn’t what could be regarded as an easy woman. That Tony had stood by her for so long was something that Aiden could not help but admire. And, of course, without Tony Brown he would never have been given the chance with Eric Palmer. Aiden would never forget that, even though he knew that Tony didn’t expect anything from him. That was Tony Brown’s nature, and Aiden would always look after him. The mad thing was that Aiden knew that Tony didn’t expect anything from him; he wasn’t a man who expected payment for his actions. He had been over the moon for Aiden and his success with Eric Palmer. There had never been a hidden agenda.
Jade stepped in, trying to defuse the situation between Reeva and Aiden. They were far too alike.
‘Come on, Reeva, get Aiden Junior down here. You are the only person who can get him off the computer.’
Reeva knew when she was being humoured but she chose to ignore that fact today. So, smiling cheerily and sarcastically at her eldest son, she left the kitchen. Tony followed her, smiling his usual apologetic smile.
Jade sighed before saying seriously, ‘The Clark brothers will be here in a minute. Are you going to be able to contain yourself, Aiden?’
Aiden shrugged. He was not a happy man, and that was to be expected as far as he was concerned. His friend, his good friend, who he had taken into his everyday life, who he had really liked, had fucked his little sister on the quiet. No one had ever made a cunt of him so spectacularly − no one else had ever dared. Now he was expected to swallow the insult, not just to him as a man but to his sister who he suspected had been seen as nothing more than a conquest by the man she was so in love with. Aiden had to box clever. But this was a complete piss-take, a personal insult. There was no way he could ever swallow something so heinous, especially when it involved his sister. But he would play the game tonight, there was nothing else he could do until the time to pay back the insult presented itself.
‘Of course I will, Jade. As you keep reminding me, there is a child involved. He will marry her, and we will all forget the circumstances once the baby arrives. Except I will never forget that he went after my baby sister behind my fucking back. You and I both know that if she had not got pregnant that bastard would have never let on what he had done. He would have laughed up his fucking sleeve at me and I would never have been any the wiser. Really not impressed, OK?’
Jade couldn’t argue because she knew he was telling the truth, but she had to try and calm down the situation, for all their sakes.
‘That aside, he has stepped up, Aiden. She is mad about him, and he loves her. These things happen. Like you would have been encouraging him if you had known! You know that you wouldn’t have let him near her!’
Aiden looked at Jade as if he could cheerfully punch her. ‘No, you’re right. I would have told him to keep as far away from her as possible because he is a romancer, a piece of shit. He loves the girls and he leaves them.’
Jade grinned sarcastically. ‘Remind you of anyone, does it, you fucking hypocrite?’
Just then there was a knock on the front door and, shaking her head in disgust, Jade walked out of the kitchen with Aiden following behind her. But she knew that her barb had hit home.
Chapter Eighty-Three
As Agnes sat beside Colin, she felt as if everything she had been dreaming of had come true − which it had, of course. Agnes O’Hara was getting exactly what she wanted. Aiden had been magnanimous. He had not lost his temper nor caused any kind of upset. Instead, he had been the epitome of common sense.
He had welcomed Colin to the family, had said that he was looking forward to the wedding. They had then all sat down to dinner and it had been almost a jolly affair. Eugene and Patsy had done their best at making it seem like it was just a normal night. Porrick, as she had expected, had behaved like the arse he was, acting like she should be shot at dawn, and Colin should be just shot. Murdered, removed from his sight. Porrick had taken it worse than any of her brothers. Like she cared what he thought!
Her mum, God love her, and Jade, had been marvellous, talking about the wedding and what she would wear, asking her what kind of flowers she wanted. They had made it seem almost normal. Jade proposed taking her to get a dress made and, after a while, everyone had seemed to get into the swing of things and it had actually been quite nice. Timmy had been wonderful; he had made a fuss of her and acted like he had known this was going to happen all along.
It had been a very stressful day for her, wondering what would happen, especially where Aiden was concerned. She understood how he felt. She knew that Colin and Aiden were such good friends and that Colin’s behaviour could not be overlooked. It was her job to make Aiden see that they were meant to be together, that they were a perfect match. She knew that Aiden would never have allowed them to be together. Colin had explained that to her – as though she needed him to tell her anything about her brother! If it was left to him she would never have had a boyfriend. Between Aiden and Porrick she would have never had any kind of real life; they would have happily seen her alone for the rest of her days, going to Mass, looking after Aiden Junior, no man in her life. That was what the real problem was: her having sex with someone. Aiden had seen her as the eternal virgin, his baby sister who he loved but who he saw as without stain. The fact that she was so religious had really pleased her brother Aiden, because he could not bear to think of her as anything other than pure.
She was a different girl these days. She had been taken repeatedly by a man, a real man who had made sure that she had enjoyed it as much as he had. She was a different girl because of his treatment of her. It was unfortunate that Colin Clark had been the man who had pursued her and who sh
e had fallen in love with, because Aiden was always going to see it as a direct attack on him personally. Aiden couldn’t accept that anyone could ever do anything without his permission or his blessing. Now, thanks to Colin Clark, she had the courage to fight for what she wanted and not just do what everyone expected of her.
Taking a deep breath, she smiled at everyone around the table as she said lightly, ‘I am so happy that we are all here tonight. Colin and I didn’t plan for this to happen, we couldn’t help it.’ She leaned across her eldest brother’s lap and grabbed Colin’s hand in hers tightly. ‘I know you are disappointed in me, that I got pregnant. But I have never been happier than I am at this moment. Sharing my good fortune with the people I love more than anyone else in the world is just the icing on the cake.’
Colin got up then and, stationing himself behind her chair, he hugged her to him tightly and, kissing the top of her head tenderly, he said truthfully, ‘Agnes, sweetheart, I can’t tell you how happy you make me, darling.’
Looking at the two of them together, his sister, Agnes, so small and dainty and so fucking young, and Colin Clark so big and fucking heavy in comparison, did not endear either of them to Aiden or to Porrick for that matter. Even Aiden had been shocked at how deeply affected his little brother was about their sister’s predicament. It pleased him that Porrick couldn’t really see any kind of benefit from Colin Clark marrying their sister. Like himself, Porrick thought it was a fucking diabolical liberty − that Colin Clark slipping his little sister a secret portion on a regular basis was actually a fucking insult. It was not something that they should be congratulating him for. Colin Clark had snuck around behind their backs. He had broken bread with them at the table, while knowing that he was basically tipping them all bollocks. He was laughing at them because he had fucking had them over.
Agnes was as green as the fucking grass, she was a fucking innocent. Colin Clark, in contrast, knew exactly what he was about and therein lay the problem. He had done the one thing that Aiden would never be able to forgive: Colin Clark had used his baby sister and, no matter how they tried to dress it up, he would not have married her if she was not Aiden’s flesh and blood. If they had not been such great friends, it would have been a completely different scenario. If it had been a young lad Aiden could have handled it. But a thirty-odd-year-old man, who everyone knew chased strange on a regular basis and bragged about his conquests, didn’t sit well with Aiden.
Aiden himself had witnessed on more than one occasion Colin talk a bird out of her drawers and then brag about it afterwards, making them all laugh at his antics. His sister was worth much more, by Christ. But here he was, expected to swallow his knob and pretend that he was happy about the union that would bring the two families together. Well, that was not something he would ever be even remotely in favour of.
He would smile − and he would bide his time. And he would pray to the Good Lord above that he could somehow, eventually, get over these feelings of anger and dismay. But Colin Clark had stepped over a line and everyone, including the Clark brothers themselves, was more than aware of that fact. What really pissed him off was that he had really liked Colin Clark. He had finally found a kindred spirit, someone he could laugh and joke with, someone he felt a connection with. Somebody who wasn’t a fucking blood relative but who he had really taken into his circle. Someone that he had really enjoyed working with, and who he had given his complete trust to. Someone who had eventually taken him for a complete cunt without one second thought and that was what really rankled.
Timmy Clark knew that Colin had to really up his game if he wanted to salvage his relationship with Aiden. The strange thing was, he could see Aiden O’Hara’s point. But, unlike Aiden, he had always known that Colin could never be trusted completely; he was not capable of fidelity to anyone. Like Aiden, he didn’t have any real conscience when it came to looking after number one.
Patsy and Timmy made eye contact across the table, and both of them were more than aware of how difficult the next few months were going to be.
Agnes, though, didn’t care about anything. She wanted Colin Clark. She needed Colin Clark − he was now the be-all and end-all of her existence.
Chapter Eighty-Four
Joshie D was looking good, but that was to be expected. He prided himself on his look. He worked hard on it, and he spent a lot of money ensuring he had what he believed gave him the edge. Some of his outfits had been a cause for concern in the past but, given his reputation as a man who swung both ways, he had actually been allowed quite a lot of slack. He had his creds and that went a long way in this world.
While no one was relishing the atmosphere between Aiden and Colin, Joshie D had no knowledge of any bad blood between them. Nor would he find out − Eric Palmer had been clear on that. Though everyone involved in the coke deal knew that Aiden was the main man, the assumption had always been that Colin would be the distributor; that was what he had always done, and that was what he was expected to do here. He did his job well, and that was all anyone cared about outside the family. The real measure of a man was whether he could deliver. If he could then that was what counted. It was one of the perks of being in the criminal world – you could be the biggest cunt walking but, as long as you could provide what was required by the people you were dealing with, you would be tolerated, kept in the loop.
Joshie relaxed with a large Scotch. He looked around him at the luxurious offices and gave himself a mental pat on the back. He was expecting great things from this alliance.
Eric Palmer sat in his chair and watched over the proceedings with his usual aplomb. He had deliberately decided not to go to Reeva’s house for dinner, knowing instinctively that the best thing was to let Aiden and Colin sort it out between them. He had no interest in this kind of stupidity. He wouldn’t offer an opinion unless asked, and he knew Aiden well enough to realise that he wouldn’t ask unless he was desperate. He trusted Jade to smooth everything over although, if he was to be brutally honest, he didn’t imagine that Aiden would ever exactly forgive and forget − it wasn’t in his nature. He couldn’t let things go, and that was why he had fucked up in the past. Aiden had a great mind − no one better − but he let his emotions dictate his actions. Never a good idea when you were working for someone else. Now, as they sat there in the expensively decorated offices − all chrome and leather − waiting for Aiden to arrive, Eric found he was hoping that his blue-eyed boy had not lost the plot. Because this deal was worth more money than any of them could ever imagine.
Chapter Eighty-Five
‘Come on, guys, let’s get this show on the fucking road!’
Aiden was laughing and joking but it wasn’t natural, as everyone could tell. It was forced and it was almost challenging. He’d drunk a few glasses of wine with his dinner, and it was starting to show.
As Colin kissed Agnes goodbye, he made a point of not making it too obvious. He had hugged her quickly and kissed her lightly on the lips.
Outside the house they had all stood there embarrassed until Patsy had said loudly, ‘Are we going to this fucking meeting or not?’
Colin had got into his car quickly, glad to be getting away from the whole O’Hara family for a while. His nerves were shot although it had gone much better than he could have hoped, considering the circumstances.
But then Aiden jumped into the passenger seat. Smiling nastily, he said, ‘I thought me and you could have a little chat, Colin. I think you owe me that much, don’t you?’
Porrick climbed into the back seat with Eugene and, as they pulled away, Patsy and Timmy looked at each other in despair.
‘It looks like it’s just us then, Timmy.’
The sarcasm wasn’t lost on either of them.
Jade got into the driving seat and, as she started the car up, she waited until both men were seated before she said quietly, ‘Whatever you both might think, he would not do anything to hurt Agnes until after the child arrives. So that gives us a good few months to sort this out.’
Chapter Eighty-Six
Reeva was washing up, and chatting away to her daughter as if there was nothing amiss.
‘I think it went better than expected, Aggs.’
Agnes was clearing the table, stacking the crockery and bringing it through to the sink.
As Reeva loaded everything carefully into the dishwasher she said through a yawn, ‘Put the kettle on, girl, I need a cup of tea.’
Agnes did as she was asked and listened as her mother told Aiden Junior that he could have one more hour on his computer game before he had to have a bath and get his nightclothes on. When her mother finally came back into the kitchen, the dishwasher was on, and she had made a pot of tea. Reeva sat at the table and lit a cigarette, drawing the smoke into her lungs deeply and savouring the moment. Tony was rolling a joint and, when he had finished, Reeva took it from him and motioned for him to leave her alone with her daughter. He smiled easily and, as he left the room, he shut the door behind him.
Agnes poured the tea and, as she placed the cup and saucer in front of her mum, she said sadly, ‘Aiden is bad enough, Mum, and I do get why he is upset. But Porrick! Who does he think he is?’
Reeva sipped her tea; it was perfect. Her Agnes was always the tea queen. She made everybody’s tea just how they liked it − that was a big part of her daughter’s nature. Remembering things, like who took one sugar and who liked ginger biscuits and who might prefer their toast heavily buttered. Her Agnes would be bothered enough to care about such trivial things. She was a people pleaser. Now she had brought the spotlight on herself over her relationship with Colin Clark and, for the first time ever, she had not done what everyone expected of her. It was a bigger shock than it should have been.