The Feud (17 page)

Eddie had turned up at the hospital late the previous night, but Jess had immediately sent him packing. ‘Get away from me and my children,’ she screamed.

‘Please, Jess, let me see Joey. I’ll make it up to him, I’ll make it up to you and Frankie as well. Nothing like this will ever happen again, I promise,’ Ed pleaded.

Jessica was having none of it. She had seen a side to her husband over the last couple of days that she’d never
seen before. A nasty, vicious, drunken side, and she would never forgive him for what he had done to Joey. ‘Just go, Ed. If you don’t I shall scream blue murder and tell the nurses and doctors what really happened,’ she told him.

With tears in his eyes, Ed walked away. Jess knew he felt terribly guilty – she could see it in his eyes – but she could never excuse what he had done.

She had told them in casualty that Joey had fallen off a swing. She could hardly tell them the truth, could she? Their faces would be a picture if she told them her husband had forced their six-year-old son to participate in a boxing match. She’d have social services knocking on her door if the doctors found out the truth..

‘Hello, Mummy. Are we going home now? I want to play with Milky the Cow.’ Joey said chirpily.

Jessica scooped her son into her arms. ‘We’re going to stay with Nanny and Grandad for a few days,’ she told him.

Joey looked perplexed. ‘But I haven’t got any toys at Nanny and Grandad’s house. Can’t we go to our house, Mummy?’

Jessica stroked his thick blond hair. The innocence of his eyes tugged at her heart strings and she felt a tear run down her cheek. ‘Frankie’s round at Grandad’s. You want to see your sister, don’t you? And what about the pigeons? Grandad will take you out and you can help him fly them.’

Joey could tell that his mum was upset, but he wasn’t sure why. ‘OK,’ he said, smiling.

‘Hello, darling, how’s Nanny’s little soldier?’Joyce said, as Jessica walked towards her with Joey in her arms.

‘I’m hungry, Nan. Can I have some chips?’

Joyce kissed Joey on the forehead. ‘As soon as we get home, Nanny will cook you whatever you want.’

* * *

As soon as Raymond opened his front door, Eddie walked inside and sat on the sofa with his head in his hands. He hadn’t slept a wink and he was consumed with guilt and an aching heart. Ed knew he’d been bang out of order. Seeing O’Hara had made his blood boil. Overcome by jealousy, he’d got paralytic and the rest was history.

‘I know Joey’s all right. I rang up the hospital this morning. What am I gonna do, Ray? Say I’ve lost Jess? She might leave me and take the kids with her.’

Raymond shrugged. This was an awkward situation for him, and his loyalty really lay with his sister. Seeing tears in Eddie’s eyes, he decided not to rub salt in his wounds. He obviously knew what he’d done was wrong, so there was no bloody point in making it worse for him.

‘I dunno what you’re gonna do, Ed. Is Joey still in hospital or have they let him out?’

‘The nurse I spoke to said that he was OK and he’d be discharged this morning. I can’t see Jess coming home, though. Your mum’s up there with her and I reckon she’ll take the kids round to hers.’

Raymond nodded. He’d shot up the hospital last night and spoken to Jessica and his mum, and he knew she wasn’t planning on going home. ‘Do you wanna drink? You’re shaking,’ Raymond said to Eddie.

Ed shook his head. ‘It’s drink that’s fucking caused all this. If I hadn’t been so pissed, none of it would have happened.’

Raymond opened a can of lager and sat down opposite Eddie. ‘I really don’t know what to say, Ed. The only advice I can give you is to let me sister calm down a bit. I wouldn’t go round me mum’s just yet. I mean, Jess has got to come home at some point, she’s got no clean clothes for herself or the kids with her, has she? And what about
school? She won’t want the twins having too much time off, will she?’

Eddie stood up. ‘I’m gonna go home and wait there in case she comes back. I might try and ring her at your mum’s, see if she’ll talk to me. I’ll do anything to get her to forgive me, Ray. I love her, she’s my life and without her I’m nothing.’

‘Joey,’ Frankie cried, throwing her arms around her brother’s neck.

Stanley hugged Jessica. He’d always known that one day that bastard she’d married would show his true colours and he just hoped that his daughter had the courage to leave him now.

‘I’m gonna have a lie-down on the sofa,’ Jessica said.

‘Let Mummy have a rest. Nanny’s going to cook some of her special crinkled chips,’ Joyce said, leading the kids into the kitchen.

Stanley sat in his armchair. He needed to have a chat with Jessica in private. ‘You’ve got to leave him, Jess. I mean, if he’s done what he’s done to his son, it proves that he’s capable of anything. It’s not like it’s a one-off. He nearly strangled you the other night, love. The man’s a fucking monster.’

Jessica looked down at her hands and said nothing. Punishing her husband was one thing; leaving him was another.

Her dad carried on talking. ‘You’ve got to put the kids first, Jess, and if their safety is at risk, you’ve no option but to leave him.’

Jessica felt her eyes welling up. ‘I need to make this decision myself, Dad. I’ll stay here for a few days, get me head straight and then I’ll decide what to do.’

Stanley shook his head. ‘If you stay with Eddie, you’re
a fool, Jess. He’s obviously an animal and you’d be far better off without him in your life.’

Pleased that the twins had run back into the room and ended such an awkward conversation, Jessica went outside to talk to her mum. ‘Dad reckons Eddie’s dangerous. He said I’ve got no choice other than to leave him.’

‘Don’t take no notice of that silly old bastard. What does he know, eh? Look, what Eddie did this weekend was wrong, very wrong, but you can’t just walk away from an otherwise happy marriage because of two stupid mistakes. You said yourself, he was drunk both times. Lay the law down to him. The ball’s in your court, Jess. Tell him you’ll only come home if he promises not to drink Scotch in front of you and the kids any more.’

Jessica sighed. She had so much on her mind, she felt as if her head was about to burst. ‘I really don’t know what came over him, Mum. He’s usually such a good husband and father, and I’ve never seen him as drunk as he was yesterday. There was some bloke at the party that he’s had this feud with over the years. Eddie hates this O’Hara fella. I think he was the one that scarred his face and I just don’t think Eddie could handle seeing him again.’

Joyce smiled. ‘There’s your answer, then. It was a oneoff, Jess. Play hard to get, make him sweat for a few days before you go back home, but you must go back, dear. Look at your lovely house, you don’t want to lose that and your nice lifestyle, do you now?’

Jessica nodded. The house and her lifestyle were the last of her bloody problems, but sometimes it was easier just to agree with her mum than to argue her point.

Eddie paced up and down the living-room carpet. He was desperate to speak to Jessica, but too nervous to ring her.
Debating whether to call his dad and ask for advice, he decided against it. His dad had got the pox of him the other night, so how could he admit he’d now allowed his six-year-old son to be knocked out cold?

Furious with himself, Eddie punched the wall. He was probably the laughing stock of Rainham. Gossip tended to travel at a hundred miles an hour in the circles he mixed in. Noticing one of Jessica’s sweatshirts lying on the chair, Eddie picked it up and held it to his nose. As he took in her scent, he felt a comfort within.

‘Forgive me, Jess. I love you so much,’ he whispered.

Looking around the house he’d been so proud to have built, Ed decided that he now hated it. Without Jessica’s constant chattering and the twins’ happy laughter, it wasn’t homely at all. He’d dropped Gary and Ricky home earlier and the silence was killing him. Desperate to make things right again, Eddie picked up his car keys. A phone call wasn’t the answer. He needed to see his beautiful wife face to face, tell her how sorry he was. Even if he had to go down on his bended knee to get her back, so be it.

Jessica was upstairs freshening up when she heard the doorbell go.

‘Mummy, Daddy’s here,’ Frankie shouted.

Feeling her body go rigid, Jessica stood rooted to the spot. She wasn’t ready to face him yet – she couldn’t.

‘You’re not going to answer the door, are you?’ Stanley said to Joyce.

‘Of course I’m going to answer it. You stay there, and mind your own business. I’ll speak to Eddie in the kitchen.’

Joyce ushered the twins out of the room. ‘Frankie, Joey, go upstairs with Mummy. Nanny needs to have a little chat with your dad.’

‘Is Daddy angry with me because I lost at boxing?’ Joey asked innocently.

Joyce stroked his head. ‘Of course not, darling. Just go upstairs until Nanny calls you, then you can come down and say hello to your dad.’

As Joyce opened the front door, Eddie was standing there holding a massive bouquet. ‘I am so sorry for what happened, Joyce. Where’s Jess? I desperately need to talk to her.’

Joyce led him into the kitchen. ‘She’s very upset, Ed. I don’t know if she’s ready to have it out with you yet. Let me make us a brew and then I’ll go upstairs and try and persuade her to talk to you.’

Eddie sat on a stool. ‘I ain’t slept all night. How’s Joey? I take it he’s here?’

Joyce nodded. ‘The twins are both upstairs. Joey seems OK now, he’s just eaten a big plate of chips, bless him.’

Eddie put his head in his hands. ‘I feel so guilty, Joyce. I’ll make it up to Joey, I promise I will. If Jess can find it in her heart to forgive me, I’ll book us all a holiday. We can spend some proper time together as a family, it will do us all good.’

Joyce handed him his cup of tea.

‘What do you want?’ she asked, as Stanley peered around the door.

Ignoring Eddie, Stanley walked in. ‘The pigeons need feeding,’ he said curtly.

As Stanley shut the back door, Joyce locked it. The crafty old sod had only come out to be nosy. She smiled at Eddie. ‘Stands out there for hours with his cock in his hand,’ she joked.

Eddie did his best to force a smile. He wasn’t in the mood for jokes, no matter how funny they were.

‘Go upstairs and speak to Jess for me, Joyce. Ask her if I can go up and talk to her.’

Jessica was sitting on the bed with the twins either side of her.

‘Are you angry with Daddy?’ Frankie asked her.

‘Can we go and see him now?’ Joey pleaded.

Joyce opened the bedroom door. ‘Ed wants to talk to you, Jess. I’ll take the kids downstairs and send him up, shall I?’

Jessica shook her head. ‘I don’t want to see him, Mum. I’m not ready to go through all this yet.’

Joyce put her hands on her hips. ‘Look dear, he’s your husband, you have to talk to him and there’s no time like the present.’

Jessica sighed. ‘OK, but let the twins stay here for a minute. I’ll send them down when he comes up. I’m not leaving them on their own with him.’

Joyce nodded and left the room.

‘Go up, Eddie. She’s in her old bedroom.’

Eddie felt his heart rate quicken as he carried the flowers up the stairs. He took a deep breath and walked into the room.

‘Daddy!’ Frankie and Joey exclaimed.

‘Hello, kids. Can Daddy have a cuddle?’ he said, with tears in his eyes.

Hugging them both tightly, Eddie crouched down and kissed them. ‘You go downstairs and see your nan for a minute,’ he told them.

They both nodded. ‘Will you come and see Grandad’s pigeons with me?’ Joey asked him.

‘Another time, son,’ Eddie said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

As the twins left the room, Eddie handed the flowers to Jess. ‘Peace offering,’ he said.

Without looking at them, Jessica put them on the floor. ‘It’s gonna take a bit more than a bunch of flowers, Eddie.’

Eddie knelt down in front of her and tried to take her hands in his, but Jessica quickly snatched hers away.

‘Jess, I’m so sorry for what happened. I was bang out of order and I promise you faithfully that nothing like that will ever happen again. Please, Jess, look at me. You and the twins mean the world to me, just give me another chance, let me make it up to you.’

Aware that Ed was crying, Jessica averted her eyes. If she looked at him she’d melt and she was desperate not to thaw that easily. ‘What you did to Lee the other night was bad enough, but what you did to your own son was despicable, Eddie. How am I ever meant to trust you again? How can I live with a man who I’m frightened to leave alone with his own children?’

‘Don’t say that, please don’t say that. You make me sound like a monster, Jess. I love my kids, you know I do. I made a mistake, one stupid mistake, that’s all. Just give me another chance. I’ll do anything you say, anything,’ Eddie begged.

Jessica shook her head. ‘It’s not that easy, Eddie. I thought Joey was dead, I really did. How do you think that made me feel?’

‘I’m sorry babe, I really am. Let’s go home, we can talk indoors,’ Eddie pleaded.

Jessica stood up and opened the bedroom door. ‘I want you to leave now, Eddie. I need to think things through, decide what I want to do. I need you to bring some clothes here for me and the kids. Bring their school bags as well and Milky the Cow and some other toys.’

Shell-shocked, Eddie stood up. ‘How much stuff shall I bring? Do you think you’ll be back home by next weekend?’

Jessica kept her cool. She was damned if she was going to make this easy for him.

‘Who says I’m coming home at all? I’ve got a massive bump on my head and my son nearly died. The way that I feel at this moment, Eddie, I never want to see you or that bloody house ever again.’

Many visits, phone calls and apologies later, Jessica agreed to go out alone for a meal with Eddie to discuss their future.

Her mother had done her head in and just wouldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. ‘You can’t keep messing your husband around, Jess. Two mistakes he’s made and even though they were big mistakes, you can’t keep punishing the man forever. There’ll be women out there who will be waiting in the wings as we speak. I’d make things right with him, if I was you, before it’s too late and some little dolly bird gets her claws into him.’