Flo had had a bad feeling about this visit. ‘Be careful Dad.’
He’d laughed. ‘Oi! This is your ol’ man talking! Take more than some ol’ East End slapper to get the better of me! Don’t worry about it, I’ll call you later.’
But he never had called her later. The next time she’d seen him was at the morgue. And then his killer had got off, or five years which amounted to the same thing.
Flo felt her fists clenching around the hammer. She looked around. ‘Right. Let’s have these carpets up. They’ll cut into nice strips.’
She pulled the high-end carpets up from their fittings in the back reception room. Flo reared back when she found a trap door under the carpet in one corner. She yanked it up by the iron ring in the middle. She tugged on it and when it opened she saw there was a flight of steps leading down to a room below. After switching on a light, she peered inside to see a collection of old furniture scattered around. The coverings had been torn. ‘What the fuck?’
Then she looked up with a start. Through the open front door, she heard a set of panicking voices. She’d only chosen to do this now was because no one would be around.
Shit! She wasn’t going to be able to make her escape now. On tiptoes she eased into the underground room and closed the door. She looked upwards as she heard footsteps above. And then they started coming closer and closer. The footsteps hit the stairs leading to her. Torchlight flashed down towards her. She saw legs and then faces. She shielded her eyes with her hand as the torchlight was deliberately beamed into her face.
‘Well, well, well,’ a familiar voice said. ‘Given up on scamming people and cradle snatching and taken to smashing up houses instead?’
A furious Babs stepped ahead of Dee and looked with murder in her eyes at her dead former husband’s daughter. ‘What the fuck are you doing in my house? Did you do all that damage upstairs? Coz if you have I’m gonna—’
‘Your house?’ Flo spat. ‘I think you mean my dad’s houses.’
Babs bristled back, ‘Legal paperwork says different—’
‘You conned me out of my dad’s property and the way you’ve been carrying on since would make the Corleone family look like a boy band. Why the hell aren’t you in prison?’ Her eyes grew wild. ‘They should’ve locked you up for the rest of your life and thrown away the key.’
Tiff wasn’t having that. ‘You hold up a minute. You fancy-talking turd, our dad tried to strangle my mum and she should’ve never been doing bird in the first place. They should’ve pinned a medal on her.’
Dee was the only one who didn’t let the rising temperature get to her. ‘Even if you think the houses are yours by rights, what are you doing trying to destroy them?’
The younger woman clamped her mouth shut. Dee moved closer. ‘It’s all starting to fall into place. Did your granddad send you here looking for gold?’ Her eyes roamed around the space near Flo. ‘Looks like you’ve come up empty.’ She folded her arms. ‘Or did you come here with malicious intent to trash the houses?’
‘It’s just one more thing you Millers have stolen from my family.’ Her raging gaze swept her sisters. ‘I deserved something. My whole life I’ve had to live knowing my dad had a first family. How did you think that made me feel? Flo Miller, always second best. Even though he cut out on you when you were young he was always saying, I wonder what my Tiffany or Jennifer are doing. Those girls are going to make me dead proud one day. Anything he wanted me to do, I did it. Came and stayed with him in Spain so he had a hostess for his business meetings. Begged and stole from my mother so he didn’t have to go without when he had cash flow problems. Went along with his plans when he came back for the houses.’ Her voice cracked, hot tears shimmering in her eyes. ‘And not once, not once did he ever say he was proud of me. I was the daughter that stayed with him, made sure he was looked after . . .’ She started shaking. Her body bent double and Florence Miller, for one of the first times in her life, lost control and started sobbing.
The sound was so wrenching that the others couldn’t help but feel their hearts breaking for her. Even Tiff, who had zero respect for con artists in general and Flo in particular, was moved. As an on-off scam merchant herself she knew when someone was faking and Flo wasn’t. The agonising sound she made could only come from someone whose very heart was being ripped open. But what to do? She was still Stan Miller’s wrong-side-of-the-blanket daughter.
And maybe because Dee understood all about growing up that way, she was the one who gingerly approached the crying Flo. She reached out to touch her, but then her hand fell away. ‘Look girl.’ Flo raised her tear stained face to her. ‘I know you don’t want to think your old man was a wrong’un – who does, eh? – but that’s exactly what Stanley Miller was. He might’ve been giving it the big ’un about being well chuffed about Tiff and Jen, but the geezer was lying out of his back hole. How would he know the first thing about ’em? He didn’t bring ’em up, weren’t around when they had to go through the ups and downs of life.’ She put her hand on Flo’s shoulder, waiting for her to shrug it off, but she didn’t. ‘They haven’t had it easy, but you know what, I think they caught a lucky break. It sounds like you’re the one who got the crap end of the stick, having to put up with his demands and yeah, I’m gonna say it, evil.
‘I think he deliberately poisoned you against Babs. I know you feel shitty towards her, but I swear on the baby I’m carrying that she killed him in self-defence.’ The story of what Courtney had done was going to stay in the family, no one else had to know. ‘Think, what would you have done if you’d gone home to find his hands around your mum’s throat? The Commander’s neck?’
Flo gazed at her and stepped back. She wiped the tears from her eyes. ‘I did love him.’ Her voice sounded so alone in a room filled with people.
‘I know,’ Babs conceded. ‘I loved him too. Once. But there comes a time in your life when you have to see a person as they really are, not what you want them to be.’
‘Mum?’ Jen said softly. ‘We still need to find Courtney.’
Flo looked concerned. ‘Has something happened to your daughter?’
Jen caught her lip, still unsure about Flo, but she finally admitted, ‘She’s done a runner. We came to see if she’s hiding here.’
‘I’ve been here for ages and not heard anything, but then I’ve been buried down here.’
‘Right.’ Tiff got back onto their main business. ‘Let’s check the rest of the house.’
‘Can I help too?’ Flo asked shyly.
Dee, Tiff and Jen all looked uncertainly at their mum. She was head of the family and they were going to leave the decision to her. Babs smiled at Flo, something she never thought she’d do. She finally figured out that it wasn’t this young woman she hated, but what she represented – Stan’s bigamous marriage. Every time she saw Flo or heard her name she suffered through the pain and shame it had caused her all over again. Stan had used Flo for his own gain, just like he’d done to Babs. ‘Come on then love.’
As they set off, Babs pulled Dee aside. ‘That below stairs room never used to be there. What did your husband have his workmen doing?’
Dee came clean with her. ‘I think he was planning on hiding the gold here. I don’t know where it is now and I don’t want to know.’ She placed her palm on her mum’s arm. ‘And truth be told, Mum, I’m glad. All that gold ever did was bring misery to our doors. And, I suspect, it cost my John his life.’
Sixty-Four
For ten minutes, the house rocked to the sound of doors being banged and rooms being searched. Then Babs called out from the attic. The other women hurried upstairs. They found it empty but Babs gestured through a door leading onto a roof balcony. There were tubs of plants there but no sign of the missing girl.
Until finally, like a child playing hide and seek, a face appeared over the top of one of the tubs. At last they’d found Courtney.
Back in Babs’ sitting room, Jen and Courtney wept hard tears as they clung onto each other for dear l
ife. Dee and Babs were tearful too; Tiff’s raw emotions were only evident in the wobble of her mouth. The one member of the search party who wasn’t present was Flo. As much as Babs understood why Flo had acted the way she’d done, allowing her into her home was a step she hadn’t been willing to take. Not yet anyway. After they’d discovered Courtney, a solemn Flo had gone back to The Commander’s home. It turned out that Courtney had used a stanley knife to cut out a window pane in the back of the house. Her nan shook her head; she was only thirteen and already knew how to break into a house!
‘We need to go,’ Patrick Johnson said softly. Babs had called him as soon as they’d got back to The Devil.
Jen pulled her wet face away from her daughter, and pleaded, ‘But she’s just a child. She only did it because he was hurting Mum. Why do you have to take her away?’ Courtney clung tighter.
‘I wish I didn’t have to take her,’ he admitted, ‘but we need to clear this business up, once and for all.’
‘Is Courtney going to get locked up?’ Babs asked, fear changing her face into a mask of horror.
Patrick looked her in the eye. ‘Let’s not make any assumptions. Let’s stick with what we have to do and that’s get Courtney back for another chat.’
Jen collected her and her daughter’s coat. Courtney flew into her Nanna Babs’ arms.
‘Nan I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep our secret any longer.’
Babs caressed her beautiful hair. ‘I know pet, I know. It was wrong of me to ask you to. Now you tell the whole truth and you’ll be back home before you know it.’
A minute later the door closed behind Jen, Courtney and Patrick Johnson. A shattered Babs had her arms locked around the waists of her other daughters for support. God she was so afraid, so afraid that what she’d promised her brave Courtney wasn’t true – that she wouldn’t be coming home soon.
The following afternoon, a bone-weary Babs was relaxing on the settee having a G&T. She didn’t want to get up when she heard the knock at her door. She put her glass down, slipped her feet into her slippers.
She opened up and didn’t smile at the person outside. ‘I thought you’d come around sooner or later,’ she told Kieran.
He was excited and eager. ‘Get your coat. I told you that I was gonna take you for a bit of nosh. I’ve booked a table at this floating Chinese restaurant near Canary Wharf. You won’t believe it, but they do a bang-up . . .’
She let him rabbit on as she ran her gaze over him, desperately searching for the boy she’d known all those years ago. Her heart flipped; there was no trace of her little Kieran left.
Babs held up her palm wearily and his words froze on his tongue. ‘Kieran, that ain’t gonna happen.’
His brows met in confusion. ‘Whatcha chatting on about? We agreed to do this.’
‘And we agreed that you would leave my girls alone.’
‘Ah, come on Babs.’ He inched forward like he was trying to get inside but she blocked his path. Stunned, he moved back.
‘You know why I didn’t want them to get to know you. And I was right. As soon as you opened the door to that wicked world you live in there’s danger on every one of their doorsteps.’ He opened his mouth, but she raised her finger to stop him. ‘All that badness is down to you. I know John didn’t behave like no saint—’
‘You got that right,’ he punched in, showing some rebellion.
‘I admit that my girls were already at each other’s throats, but you took advantage of that for your own selfish reasons. Dee could’ve died in that accident. You preyed on Jen’s desperation to get money for her kids’ future. You had Tiff spying on her own sister. And what you did to Nicky . . .’ She shook her head sadly. ‘The truth is I don’t know you anymore.’
He pleaded, ‘Of course you know me. I might not be wearing a plaster to correct my lazy eye now but it’s still the same ol’ me.’
She shook her head sorrowfully. ‘But I don’t know you. You tried to get me roughed up inside.’
He looked outraged. ‘Are you losing your marbles or what? I wouldn’t touch you in a million years. That weren’t down to me, probably Frank McGuire’s way of putting pressure on Dee.’
‘I’m glad that wasn’t you.’ Babs’ next words hurt her chest. ‘You’ll be my boy no matter what, but my girls will always come first. It took me a long time to realise that I can’t have all of you.’ The pain she saw in his face almost made her cry but she held it back. ‘I’ll always love you, but I can no longer be there for you. The sad thing is, Kieran, you’ve started to remind me of Stan.’
Babs took a step back and closed the door in his face. She leaned her forehead against it. Daggers of agonising pain pierced her heart.
EPILOGUE: 2007
‘All this bad blood that Stan left has got to end.’
Sixty-Five
‘Nan, Mum says get a move on! We’re gonna be late.’
Babs scrambled to get her foot into her shoe as she heard her granddaughter’s voice through the open letterbox. ‘I’ll be there in a mo,’ she shouted back. She walked over to the mirror and checked her appearance. She was wearing a gorgeous rich-purple knot dress with diamantes round the neckline. Babs wasn’t one for going to the hairdressers too often but for this occasion she’d got her hair specially done.
She picked up her handbag and walked past Tiff’s room. Her youngest was back living with her again. She wouldn’t tell Babs what had happened, but she figured her youngest hadn’t kept up with the rent. Mind you, she’d always thought there was something fishy about Tiff’s gaff in the first place. Whatever the story, her girls were welcome to come home anytime. Babs picked up speed. When she opened the front door she found a smiling Courtney waiting for her.
‘You look lovely Nanna,’ Courtney beamed.
Babs’ heart lurched when a dreadful been here, done that feeling hit her. Jen sending Courtney to fetch her was how her innocent granddaughter had got caught up in the net of all that terrible business. Babs wasn’t a praying woman but she thanked God every day that the law hadn’t pressed any charges against Courtney. ‘Not in the public interest,’ was the outcome. It hadn’t been so sweet and easy though. Courtney had been kept in a girls’ care home for a week before the decision had been made. That had been a really trying time. Jen and Little Bea had stopped at Babs’ because Jen had been such a wreck. Babs knew that they would’ve never had this result if it weren’t for Tricky Dickie. He wouldn’t admit that he’d spoken up for Courtney, but she knew he’d done it.
After Courtney was back home, Patrick had come knocking with a bunch of gorgeous flowers and had, to her gobsmacking surprise, asked her out. Yeah, Poldark had asked her out. Alright, a Poldark with a touch more grey hair and creased skin. He was the type of man Babs felt she deserved after all these years of despair and turmoil. Kind, loving, a good laugh and, most importantly of all, he’d gone out of his way for her in times of trouble. But she’d turned him down flat. The reason was simple – he was a cop. He might be retired, but once a cop always a cop. Living on The Devil and having a policeman as your fella just wasn’t going to cut it. So she’d let the best man she’d ever known go and her heart was still trying to mend.
Babs banished the past as she ran her eyes over Courtney. ‘You look a picture lovey.’
Still grinning, Courtney caught her hand and they made their way downstairs, across the estate, over Mile End Road and towards number 9 Bancroft Square. Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ pumped out of the open windows. The christening party to celebrate the newest member of the Miller clan was in full swing. Babs and Courtney shared a smile full of sunshine and happiness and then started dancing up the stairs to the rhythm of the music.
‘Nanna you can really bust some moves,’ Courtney said with disbelieving appreciation.
‘I’ve got a pair of legs ain’t I?’ Babs threw back and did a little spin at the door that had her granddaughter giggling like crazy. It was so good to hear Courtney laugh. Even though she hadn’t got done for Stan’s murde
r, there was still something about her that troubled Babs. That light of innocence in her eyes seemed to have blown away for ever. Babs prayed for the day it would come back. All her wonderful granddaughter needed was time, Babs reassured herself.
Jen opened the door. ‘You took your sweet time Mum.’ Her daughter still wore the cropped hairdo Babs wasn’t sure about. It gave her once gentle girl an edge of hardness she didn’t care for. But at least Jen seemed to have more money these days, although where that was coming from Babs didn’t know. Jen had jacked in her job at the supermarket.
The main room was packed with well-wishers including Tiff and Nicky, who was doing his DJ routine at the music system he’d hired. Babs was surprised to see Cleo dancing away; she usually disapproved of anything that wasn’t God’s music. And she was really going for it, even though she clutched a small Bible in her hand. Shaking her head with amusement Babs turned away with eyes for just two people – her Dee cuddling her newest grandchild. She made a beeline straight for them.
‘Mum,’ Dee let out, her voice catching with emotion. It was an emotional moment for the both of them. That Dee was sitting here was a miracle twice over. Firstly because she had the baby she never thought she’d hold to her breast. And mother and daughter had been separated for most of their lives. Now look at them, three generations together.
Babs leaned down to kiss Dee on the cheek and her eyes lit up as they turned to baby Nathan – who, in typical East End tradition, people had already shortened to Natty. Babs took him into her arms with the gentlest care and looked down at him with reverence and pure joy. He was much lighter than Dee and had mostly straight wisps of brown hair with a slight flick at the end. Everyone kept telling Dee he was a dead ringer for John, Babs suspected out of respect to him, but she just couldn’t see it. When Natty’s green-brown eyes were open her breath stilled in her throat. He reminded her so of her father George.
Blood Daughter: Flesh and Blood Trilogy Book Three (Flesh and Blood series) Page 36
