The Life (25 page)

Lena and Ria were sitting down watching the goings-on around them. Tania was exhausted – such a shame, Lena thought, that the excitement had made her unwell. Still, they had made it through the most important part of the day unscathed. She put two chairs together, and laid her down there, covering her with a coat.

Ria was keeping an eye on her own daughter. When Imelda had had a few drinks she could be a bit aggressive, and Ria didn’t want her to start at her son’s Communion. Young Delroy was nowhere to be seen – he was probably up to all sorts with a couple of other boys. She glanced at Tania; the child was white as a sheet. All too much for her, she supposed, it was a long old day for the kids.

Everywhere she looked, people were laughing, having a good time. Ria liked her life, especially at times like this. She appreciated how lucky she was, she didn’t take it for granted like other women. She knew that this could all disappear overnight, she wasn’t a fool, but that didn’t scare her in the way it always had Lena. Ria was determined to enjoy it, if not, what was it all for? Her boys were having a good time; she wondered if Lena had noticed that two of her sons were sporting shiners. Well, she wasn’t going to mention anything, they were grown men.

She spotted her grandson sneaking a puff of a cigarette someone had left burning in an ashtray, and sighed with irritation. He was going to be a holy terror, that fucker, and Imelda would
have many a sleepless night over him. Young Delroy was not going to be easy to control; he was a born mischief-maker, just like her Jack.
He
had arrived at the church late, and had since gone on the missing list. Peter was far from happy about his youngest son’s antics, and she was waiting for them to have words one of these days. Ria had a bit of a soft spot for her youngest – probably because he was her baby. He’d been acting a bit odd recently – very secretive. Worse, though, was the knowledge that he had stolen some of her jewellery. Not the big stuff – he knew his father would notice if that went on the trot – but he had stolen her everyday stuff. He didn’t understand that it was the cheaper jewellery, the necklaces and rings that her Peter had bought her when they were young, that meant the most to his mother. Now it was all gone, in an uncle’s somewhere. She was keeping it from Peter at the moment, but it broke her heart. She suspected he’d been stealing from Imelda too and wondered if she should talk to her daughter about it. She hoped the situation would right itself. But Jack was Jack, and she feared he wasn’t going to change any time soon.

Lena tapped her on the arm to get her attention. ‘Your Imelda’s just getting to the point of rowing.’

Ria got up a little unsteadily; they’d had more to drink than she thought. She could do without all this. ‘Thanks, Lena. Fucking real, eh?’

Imelda was at the bar; her father was talking with a crowd of men on her left-hand side, and her Uncle Daniel was with his friends to her right. Ria wondered at what people really made of it all.

Imelda was pointing a long, manicured finger into her husband’s face, and Delroy was not looking too happy about it.

‘You look at her again – I mean it, Delroy – and I’ll fucking go over there and lay her out.’

Ria stood in front of her daughter. ‘I beg your pardon? Who are you going to lay out?’

Delroy sighed, clearly frustrated. He was a handsome man all right, but Ria wondered why her daughter couldn’t control herself where he was concerned. She wished Imelda could see herself right at this moment, see how spiteful and vicious she was being. If she could only see herself as everyone else saw her, she would be so ashamed and embarrassed she would never let herself get so upset in the future, not in public anyway.

‘This is all about Mandy, Liam’s bird. Apparently I am ogling her, giving her the eye, so to speak. I tell you, Ria, I ain’t in the mood for this tonight. Talk to your daughter, because if this keeps up I will slap her down.’

Ria watched as he walked away from them.

‘I mean it, Mum, I can’t do this any more.’

Ria looked at her child. She saw a beautiful girl, with a great bone structure, high cheekbones, and olive skin that looked like burnished copper. She wished Imelda could see how lovely she really was instead of constantly wishing she looked different. She had huge eyes that were framed with thick, dark lashes which, even as a baby, had brought comments from complete strangers. She had a good figure, she dressed well, she had long slim legs, and she was as lovely today as she had been as a sixteen year old. She still had the fresh-faced beauty that Ria had always seen as something really special. Imelda was what her father would call a good eyeful.

Grabbing her daughter by the arm, she pulled her through the crowd on the dance floor and into the ladies’ toilets, before saying seriously, ‘Listen, Mel, I love you dearly, but you need to stop all this jealousy lark. Liam’s girlfriend is gorgeous, and you can’t do anything about that, love. Everywhere you go, there will always be good-looking girls, younger girls, prettier girls.
That doesn’t mean that he is going to go off with them. All men look – your father’s the world’s worst for it. But that’s all he does, and he loves me as much as I love him. I never felt the jealousy you feel. I see how it eats at you, and I’ve got to tell you, Mel, it’s not a pretty sight. It makes you look ugly and mean. You must learn to control it or, one day, if you’re not careful, you
will
drive him away. You’ll accuse him once too often and he will think to himself,
fuck it, I’m always being accused of shagging around, so I might as well do it
. Now, I am half pissed and I don’t want to argue with you, not today, on little Delroy’s First Holy Communion. So, promise me you will let this go.’

Imelda looked at her mother’s kind face, saw the love there, and the worry for her and, nodding sadly, she said, ‘OK. But he does take a flyer, Mum, I know he does.’

Ria pulled her daughter into her arms and, hugging her tightly, she said sadly, ‘So what, darling? As long as he don’t rub your face in it, so bloody what! You’re his wife, you have his child. You’re his first priority. Now, let’s get back to the party, shall we?’

Peter and Daniel were both aware of the other. They stood at the bar, no more than ten feet apart, but it might as well have been ten miles.

Tommy Barker stood beside Daniel; now they had finally established some ground rules, they actually got on very well. Tommy was surprised at how much he did like Daniel Bailey; when Daniel was alone, and relaxed, he could be very good company. He knew he was a loose cannon – Tommy had realised early on that Daniel Bailey was not what might be termed the full shilling – but that was part of Daniel’s make up. These days, however, he was also a man who was genuinely interested in other people’s lives, who listened to their opinions, and asked relevant questions so he could fully understand what he was being told.

He and Daniel had struck up a friendship of sorts, and he believed that Daniel felt that he was good for his mother.

Now that he was gradually handing his money-laundering operation over to Daniel, he was seeing how shrewd he was where money was concerned. Daniel Bailey knew his maths all right; he could work out any percentage in his head, and he could tell you down to the last halfpenny what was owed where and by whom.

Tommy had underestimated Daniel Bailey’s intelligence, and he realised that many other people had made that same mistake.
Peter had always been considered as the brains of the outfit; Daniel’s rep was just as the hard man. But Daniel was more than that. He was very good at dissecting how a scam worked and, once he had thought it through, nine times out of ten, he could come up with a way of improving on it. He had already proved that by increasing their earnings almost overnight. Tommy Barker’s respect for Daniel Bailey’s acumen was without question.

‘Look at them, Tommy, drunk as skunks, and twice as fucking annoying.’

Tommy smiled. Lena, Ria and Theresa were all singing along to the Irish ballads that were now being played. It was time for the lock-in and, for many of the people there, the night was only just beginning.

‘Your little Tania will be all right, Daniel. She won’t remember the half of it tomorrow.’ Tommy guessed what was bothering Daniel the most about today’s events.

Daniel shrugged. ‘I hope not. It’s funny, you know, Tommy, I realised something today. I realised, for the first time, that I don’t want this for her. I don’t want my daughter to grow up in the Life. I want her to have a chance. I want her to do something with herself.’

‘That’s good, Daniel. That’s natural, wanting the best for your kids.’

Daniel smiled. ‘I want a bit more for her than some fucking oik whose life is dependent on a fucking thieve, you know what I mean? I want her to live in the real world, with real people. I saw her fear today, and I saw myself as she must have seen me. A big, aggressive fucking gangster. What the fuck must my baby have thought? She is seven years old, Tommy! I must have looked like a monster. She was physically sick, you know? She was
that
scared. I had that fucking muppet Noel by the throat,
and she saw all that. I have never seen her so frightened, and I never want to see her like that again. You know I’ve bought that great big drum? Well, Lena doesn’t really want to move, but she has a fucking surprise coming to her. We are going, and sooner rather than later. My Tania is going to have a good life, a comfortable life, and she will go to a good school and all. The best that money can buy.’ He swallowed down his beer quickly, then motioned to the barmaid for a refill. ‘But, as for that pair of fucking prats, Noel and Jamsie, they can fucking whistle for a crust in future. Who does a fucking robbery like that, first time out? They are a pair of fucking idiots. Not a fucking useful brain cell between the pair of them. Still ain’t out of the woods are they? Fuck knows what really went down today. Knowing that pair they left a fucking gas bill behind for the Filth – name, address and fucking phone numbers. Unbelievable, un-
fucking
-believable.’

Tommy Barker couldn’t help laughing. ‘Still, they got a good wedge, you’ve got to give them that, Daniel.’

‘I ain’t giving them fuck-all. That’s
my
money now, I think that should teach them a lesson in etiquette. Never go on the rob with strangers. I have told them all, time and time again – keep things in the family.’

Peter Bailey overheard his brother’s last words and nodded in silent agreement. He had drummed that into his lads’ heads since they were old enough to walk. It was the Bailey mantra. But once they were grown men, they would eventually go their own road. That was human nature.

Lena was not comfortable, and she didn’t like that feeling. The house Daniel had bought them was lovely, but it was too big, and she didn’t like the feeling of isolation it gave her. Even though they were on a road, the drive was a good thirty feet, and the front wall was obscured by great big trees. Once she was inside the house itself, she felt like she was living in the middle of nowhere.

The kitchen was big, and she quite enjoyed pottering in there but, other than that, she didn’t like any of the other rooms very much. They were beautifully decorated – whoever had lived there before them had wonderful taste – but she felt like an intruder, like she was in someone else’s house.

Daniel, on the other hand, loved it. He walked around admiring things, like the coving and the hardwood doors; the brass door handles were a particular favourite of his. But to Lena, this house was like a hotel, somewhere you visited for a few days and then went back to your own place where you felt safe, secure.

She sighed. She was sighing a lot lately: she had sighed when Ria had picked out the new furniture for her, she had sighed when everyone had squealed with delight over how well it went in the new house. If she lived here for the next twenty years, she had a feeling she would still call it the ‘new house’.

As she walked out to pick up the post she saw herself in the
large mirror that Ria said would look
perfect
. She wasn’t getting any younger, but at least she looked all right for her age.

She picked up the few bills that were lying innocently on the oatmeal-coloured carpet, and walked aimlessly back into the kitchen. She sat at her new glass and chrome table and, picking up her mug of tea, she took a large gulp. Who needed a glass table this size? It was a bastard to keep clean, and she harboured a secret hope that one of the boys would accidentally break it, smash it into smithereens. According to Ria, it wouldn’t break like a wine glass, it would shatter like a windscreen. Shatter or smash, she didn’t really give a fuck – she just wanted it gone.

She heard her husband coming down the stairs and she automatically poured him a mug of tea.

‘The boys already gone?’

‘Not yet, they’ll be down in a minute.’

Daniel put on the TV he had installed on the worktop. Now, she quite liked that, if she was being honest.

‘They are hardly ever here, Dan, I just do their washing and feed them these days.’

Daniel laughed. ‘Well, they are grown up now, girl, thank Christ. All fleeing the nest, it’s only natural. Only our little Tania left now, eh? She is a clever little mare, did you see her school report? She is a budding genius, that one.’

Lena nodded. She was tempted to point out that of course she had read Tania’s school report – she had read it days before he had in point of fact – but she didn’t.

Noel and Jamsie came into the kitchen noisily, but shut up when they saw their father. They both seemed to be nervous around him. Whatever had happened on the day of the Communion must have been serious. Serious enough for her husband to refuse to even acknowledge their presence in any way for months on end.

‘All right, Dad?’ Jamsie asked warily.

Daniel smiled benignly at them. ‘I’m all right. Now, shut up – the news is on.’

He turned up the volume, and Lena poured the boys out mugs of tea. They sat around the glass table, and she took their breakfasts out of the oven and served them quickly and quietly.