The Take (34 page)

Although it wasn't cheap it wasn't actually that pricey, which was the secret to making money in Essex and East London. If it looked good, and if it looked high-priced then you were laughing all the way to the proverbial bank.

As she looked at her newest addition to her chain, Maggie felt nothing. Her usual pride was lost inside her. But she was getting to be such a good actress that no one really noticed. Even her mother had got off her case. She was smiling, she was talking, she was to all intents and purposes back to herself.

But Jimmy knew that despite their success, and the love they had, they couldn't talk any more.

He had stayed out all night again, and she had been pleased, relieved that he wasn't there. Because he was with Freddie, she had even managed to sleep a bit, relaxed in the knowledge that Freddie wasn't going to pop round, or ring her up to talk to her about nothing in particular, while all the time terrorising her.

Roxanna had put the kettle on and made them both coffee. As Maggie sipped hers the urge to vomit was so strong she retched over one of the brand-new glass basins. Her coffee went everywhere, and she dropped the mug on to the floor as she dry-retched over and over again.

Roxanna put her own coffee down gently and went out the back. When she returned with the cleaning equipment, she saw her aunt sitting on one of the new black leather barber's chairs and she said softly, 'Why don't you just do a test, eh? You must know you're pregnant, Auntie Mags?'

Roxy was always with her lately. And the poor girl thought it was because she loved her so much, but that was a lie. She did love her, but she was also her insurance against Freddie. All the time Roxanna was there, he had to keep himself at arm's length.

Now this closeness had been the cause of Rox guessing her condition.

Maggie looked at her niece, and the girl could see the fear in her eyes. Going to her, Roxanna hugged her tightly and said in utter bewilderment, 'What on earth is wrong with you? Please tell me, Mags, I swear I won't say a word. Are you scared of being pregnant? Is that it, mate?'

Maggie pulled herself together. What she had feared more than anything had just been spoken of out loud, and that had somehow made it true. She had forced herself not to think about it, she had pushed the very notion from her head, and she had concentrated on trying to act as normal as possible. Now Rox had made her face up to the one thing she had never wanted to acknowledge.

She was pregnant, and it had to be Freddie's. Even though Jimmy had loved her on the same night Freddie had raped her, he had also loved her over and over for more than a year since she'd stopped the pill, and nothing had happened. Now, the thing she had wanted more than life itself
had
happened. The thing she had prayed for, dreamed of and wanted so badly, had finally been given to her and she didn't want it.

She felt as if she was being invaded by an alien, and every thought of this child brought nothing but terror and despair.

She hated it already, and now her heart, her little Rox, was looking at her as if she was mad. Maybe, just maybe she was. But her secret was out now and all hell would break loose.

Lena looked at her husband as he spoke and stifled the urge to smash him over the head with the nearest blunt instrument she could lay her hands on.

'You silly little mare, is that what you had your mother nearly in bits over, eh? A bleeding baby! You women and your hormones. I told her it was something and nothing, didn't I, Lena?'

Lena gave Joseph such a look it would have floored a lesser man, and he finally took the hint and shut up. Opening his paper, he studied the racing form and not for the first time wondered at the antics of females. Maggie was having a baby, but anyone would think she had terminal cancer by the look on her boat race.

He sighed and concentrated on his horses. They at least were consistent. They ran, they lost and they didn't answer back.

Lena handed her daughter a cup of tea, and sat down next to her.

'You look like the girl who lost a fiver and found a penny. Please, my love, tell me what is so bad about having a baby. I thought it was what you wanted.'

'It is, Mum. I think I am just whacked out what with the new salon and everything.'

As Maggie had predicted, Rox had started to spread the news. It was now three in the afternoon and her mother and father had already been informed. Now she had to face Jimmy and Jackie and
him
. Oh, he would be round their house so fast, she knew he would. And so she had to pull herself together and make him believe it was Jimmy's, even though she was certain it must be Freddie's.

It felt like Freddie's baby, it felt evil and wrong to her. It felt like an interloper. It had been planted inside her with hate, and that was all she felt for it.

She wished it dead with all her being, but she couldn't say that. She was going to have to tell Jimmy she was over the moon about it, and watch him celebrate his fatherhood. And she would do it, because if Freddie guessed the truth then her life really would be over.

Jimmy was holding his wife in his arms and telling her how much he loved her. All her moods and her funny behaviour should now be forgotten, because it could all be put down to her condition.

She was having their baby, and even though he was worried about why she had kept it to herself for so long, he was thrilled.

All the family was coming round later, and he had bought champagne to toast the happy event. The girls were there already making sandwiches, and his wife was sitting on their bed and not saying a word.

After the night he had experienced, and his visit with Ozzy, this news had been a godsend. He had needed this, had needed something good to happen. Yet she had told him over the phone, just blurted it out. He had been speechless with wonderment and happiness, but now he felt once more that there was something radically wrong with her. She was like a robot, smiling and chatting, except the smile did not reach her eyes and her chat was forced. This all felt off kilter. It was like he was part of a play or it was a game. He loved this woman with all his being, but he didn't know her any more. They were both pretending that nothing was wrong, and he hoped against hope that it was just her hormones, as Lena had told him earlier.

She knew he had been worried about Maggie, because he had gone to talk to her a while back, had asked her if she had said anything, if he had done something maybe that he hadn't realised, and upset her.

But Lena had assured him then that it was just a blip, that all marriages had them, that the romance couldn't last and Maggie was probably tired from the work in the salons. Jimmy had grabbed that excuse with both hands, believing she was right because he'd needed to believe it. But now, here she was, sitting on the bed he had not wanted but she had insisted on getting, carrying their child, the thing that they had wanted more than anything else in the world, and she looked like death warmed up.

He was frightened. Kneeling down, he took her hands in his, and he said gently, 'Are you all right, Mags? Are you happy we're having a baby?' She looked into his eyes. He was so good looking, and he had been all she had wanted. He needed her to tell him what he wanted to hear, and she knew that she had to be convincing.

Abortion was not an option because of her Catholic upbringing, but a plan formed in her mind as she forced a warm smile and said, ''Course I am, mate, but I have got morning, noon and night sickness. I just feel so bloody rough.'

He kissed her gently on the lips and for the first time in ages she didn't pull away.

'I love you, Maggie, you are everything to me. You know that, don't you?'

She felt her eyes fill with tears, and she nodded her head and said sadly, 'I know, mate, I know.'

Jackie was delighted. Now that Maggie was in the club she could relax a bit. She knew from bitter experience that Freddie didn't enjoy pregnant women, in fact she had been ignored to the point of fighting when she had been carrying Little Freddie.

She wanted this so much because now she could be friends again with Maggie, proper friends, like before. All her little sister's power was gone. She was now a pregnant woman and Jackie could again play the older sister, giving her advice, helping her understand what was happening, and being the know-all. This was what she craved, what she needed. This was something she had already done, and Maggie, for all her cleverness and her salons, had never experienced.

The girls were already at Maggie's. Jackie was in the car with her two Freddies and she wasn't even bothered by the fact that her husband was ignoring her. In fact, he looked annoyed, but then again Little Freddie had thrown his gold lighter out of the car window earlier.

Maggie, her lovely little Maggie, was out of bounds, and that was all that mattered.

Tight me a fag, Jack, and clump that fucker before he falls out the window, will you?'

She turned in her seat and punched Little Freddie in the arm. Any other child would have screamed in pain. It was a serious and heavy punch that had all her strength behind it since any other kind of punch would have been useless.

Little Freddie grabbed her hair and tried to drag her into the back seat, all the time effing and blinding at her.

Freddie watched his wife and son and wondered at a life where everything was shit. Complete and utter shit. He let go of the steering wheel with one hand and he hit his son with such force the child was knocked back against the leather upholstery and badly winded. Once more, the boy did not cry out or express anything that could indicate he had been hurt.

He had let go of his mother's hair, though, and Jackie sat back up in her seat and tried to tidy herself up. She had really made an effort tonight and she was pleased with how she looked.

'Light the fucking fag, Jack, and
you
, little boy, had better watch yourself because I ain't in the fucking mood for all this, right?' He looked at his son in the mirror on the dash. Little Freddie nodded, but his eyes were slits and his face was dark with anger.

Freddie was annoyed, and he was tired, but as they pulled up on the drive of Jimmy and Maggie's lovely detached residence and went inside, his mood lifted without the aid of narcotics.

Maddie was there as always, and she was thrilled for the young couple. As she said to Lena, it was a new life and a new era.

Lena hugged her. She actually liked Maddie these days. She was a long way from the woman she had been when her husband was alive.

Jimmy's mum and dad were there for once, and quiet as always. Deirdre was taking everything in but not saying a word unless asked a question directly. Lena had gone right off them a long time ago, but like everything else in life, you had to smile and be nice because they were always going to be around.

Lena noticed that Maggie was looking better. She seemed happier than she had for ages, her make-up was perfect and she had dressed in a lovely white dress. It was fitted, and in it her little bump was evident and this alone cheered her. Jimmy and Maggie would produce a beautiful child, she was sure of that. Unlike Freddie and Jackie, who had gorgeous children but didn't appreciate them, she knew that these two would make wonderful parents.

Especially her Maggie, because even though Jimmy was a Face, and a ducker and diver, he had more than provided for his family. Even if he had a capture her daughter would be all right financially. Unlike that ponce, who had just walked in like he owned the place, and who had left her oldest child without a pot to piss in and a belly full of arms and legs.

Freddie had bought a magnum of champagne. He walked straight up to Maggie and, giving it to her, he said loudly, 'Congratulations. We were all beginning to think he was firing blanks!'

Maggie smiled her brightest smile and said gaily, 'Well, you were wrong, Freddie. My Jimmy is all man.'

Jimmy was beside her by then, and as he slipped his arm around his tiny wife's waist Freddie said in a jocular voice, 'Sure you didn't have any help with it, Jim?'

But he was looking at Maggie as he spoke and she couldn't meet his eyes. Instead she hugged her husband and buried her face in his sweet-smelling shirt.

'Fucking cheek, like I would need any help in that department.'

Anyone who knew them would not guess that they were both pretending that everything was all right. Jimmy wanted to throw Freddie from his home, but he couldn't.

'I thought she might have changed her man for the night, that's what the old biddies used to say, ain't it, Mum?'

Maddie nodded, happy he had noticed her and brought her into the conversation.

Freddie raised his voice as he continued, 'Remember the other old saying, Jimmy, it's a wise child that knows its mother, and a
very
wise child that knows its father!'

Everyone laughed. As Jackie watched the little tableau, she felt the jealousy rise inside her. He had never ever made a fuss like that of her, and she had been through it five times if she included the baby she had lost.

Maggie went over to her, and hugged her. 'All right, Jack?'

Jackie tried to ignore her anger, and hugged her little sister with all the warmth she could muster. 'I am so pleased for you, Mags. Kids are the best thing that can happen to you.'

As she said that, Little Freddie kicked Lena in the shins and the slap she gave him was loud in the room, and knocked him off his feet. He was battered on a regular basis and consequently he was as hard as nails.

'You little fucker! You try that again and I'll skin you alive.'

Little Freddie was laughing his head off at his grandmother and as Maggie looked around her at the smiling faces she felt she was going to go mad.

She was sitting on the toilet seat and gathering herself together when Freddie finally managed to catch her on her own. The lock on the bathroom door could be opened from the outside if necessary. He had watched her covertly, and waited patiently all night to get her alone. He walked in and saw the fear come into her eyes at his presence.

'Calm down. I didn't know you were in here, did I?'