by Martina Cole
Jade was drinking her wine steadily, and that wasn’t like her. Agnes sensed that there was something going on − there was a reason that her mum was drawing so much attention to them all. Agnes was frightened, but she wasn’t sure what she was frightened of.
She saw Timmy Clark walk into the pub with her son, and she felt a sudden relief inside her chest. She stood up quickly and beckoned them both over. Colin Junior ran to her side and she hugged him tightly to her.
‘Did you have a lovely time, Col?’
He pulled away from her and said loudly, ‘Yes, Mum! Come on, Uncle Timmy. Show Mummy what you bought me.’
Jade stood up and hugged Timmy hello, and he squeezed her tightly. Then he bent down and pecked Reeva on her cheek. They were both making sure that people remembered them, though Reeva and Agnes didn’t realise any of that yet. Timmy could feel Jade’s body trembling, and his heart went out to her. But, unlike her, he wasn’t upset about what was happening tonight.
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Five
‘I need a piss, Aiden.’
Porrick had pulled into a lay-by and shut off the engine. It was a quiet lane and, without the headlights on, it was dark and menacing.
‘Well, fucking hurry up, Porrick. I ain’t got all night.’
Porrick quickly lit a joint and, taking a couple of deep tokes, he handed it over to his brother, saying jokily, ‘Take a fucking chill pill, will you! Honestly, Aiden, it’s like you deliberately get up in the mornings determined to fucking irritate everyone around you. Jesus wept. I just need a piss. Relax, will you?’
Aiden took a deep puff on the joint and, grabbing his brother by the arm, he stopped him from exiting the car. ‘Look, Porrick, I know you are all fucked off with me over this business with Marvin and my boy. But, honestly, I can’t in all conscience allow my boy to get himself involved with that cunt. He is deliberately trying to row me out. I can tell what’s going on. Marvin sees this situation as an opportunity to not only take my fucking son away from me but also to turn all of my own brothers against me. But you lot just don’t see it.’
Porrick sighed heavily. ‘We don’t see it though, Aiden, because it’s a load of old fucking fanny. You really can’t tell that all you have done with your usual determination is make us turn against you?’
Aiden O’Hara looked at his youngest brother. Porrick would always be the baby boy, the smallest of them all. But his size had never mattered, because Porrick could have a fucking fight, a real punch-up.
‘Do you remember, Porrick, when I had to go up the school about you, that first time? You had hammered the fuck out of a kid twice your size and two years older. I remember taking you home and thinking that you would be all right. I knew that you could look after yourself. It was a weight off my mind, if I’m honest.’
Porrick laughed his deep, husky laugh. ‘I remember that, of course I do. Dafydd Jones, a Welsh bastard who thought that he was the dog’s fucking gonads.’
They were both laughing together now. Porrick got out of the car and Aiden could hear him pissing into the bushes.
‘Here, Aiden, come and look at this, mate.’
Aiden got out of the car and stretched lazily. He walked to his brother’s side saying, ‘This is a lovely puff, Porrick. I am feeling very mellow! What am I supposed to be looking at, bruv?’
Porrick zipped up his flies slowly and, smiling genially, he turned to his older brother and, shaking his head sadly, he said, ‘I’m so sorry, Aiden. But it is better this way, mate.’
Aiden O’Hara felt the sharp pain as his little brother stabbed him in his groin and watched in shock as he felt Porrick drag the knife up through his stomach and up to his heart. His brother, his youngest brother who he loved, had just gutted him like a fish. He had taught him well. That was all he could think of. He had taught the fucker well.
He dropped on to his knees and Porrick held him gently as he laid him on to the grass verge. As Porrick removed the knife, Aiden felt the pain as his insides tumbled out of his belly and on to the dirt. He tried to hold them in with his hands, but it was already far too late.
Porrick knelt down beside Aiden and pulled his brother’s head on to his lap. He held him in his arms and waited patiently for him to bleed out. He had tears running down his face as he said brokenly, ‘You just couldn’t listen to fucking reason, could you?’
Aiden was unable to talk, he could feel his throat filling up with blood. There was so much blood. Porrick was cradling him still, and Aiden could see the devastation in his eyes. He could feel all the love that his brother had for him.
‘I’m so sorry, Aiden. But this is for the best, mate. Believe me, this is the lesser of two evils. You always had to push everything to the limit. Well, this time you really did push everyone too far – especially Aiden Junior. I couldn’t let your son do this to you. I promised Jade that I wouldn’t let that happen. You were never going to leave Johnny Denton’s alive. You had to have known that. So I decided to sort this out by myself. I owed you that much, Aiden.’
Aiden O’Hara passed away in his youngest brother’s arms quietly and without saying a word. Porrick held him tightly and prayed for the repose of his brother’s soul. He had a feeling that Aiden O’Hara was going to need as many prayers as he could get.
Getting up, he went to the car, opened the boot and took out a can of petrol. He soaked his brother’s body, and the surrounding area, then he set fire to him.
He drove away slowly, knowing that he had done the best thing for everyone concerned. He had promised Jade that he would personally make sure that his brother died with dignity and he felt that he had, at least, kept his side of the bargain. He had been determined to ensure that his nephew would not have to live with the knowledge that he had murdered his own father, even though Aiden Junior had been more than willing to do that and had been angry enough to do what he thought was right. Porrick could see the boy’s logic but he couldn’t in all conscience allow that lad to do something he would have to live with for the rest of his days. Jade felt the same way and that was why she had asked him to be the go-between. And why he had promised her that he would make sure that her Aiden would not die surrounded by hatred.
He drove to the meet covered in his brother’s blood, but certain that he had done the right thing. He put the radio on and the record playing at that moment was The Hollies, ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’. Porrick O’Hara felt that it was a fitting tribute to the man that he had just left behind him burning into the dirt and completely unrecognisable. He was a man none of them would ever forget, but who none of them would ever really mourn, either.
Aiden had forced his family to make a choice, and that is exactly what they had done. There was an old Irish saying of his nan’s that used to make them laugh when they were kids: ‘May God forgive you, because I won’t.’ Porrick could not help but think it was more than apt this night.
Epilogue
My son, may you be happier than your father,
Sophocles (c. 496–406 BC)
2016
Reeva was very drunk, but she was not so drunk she couldn’t work out what was going on around her. Tony Brown thought she was the funniest thing that he had ever seen and Reeva couldn’t help but see the funny side of it herself, even though she knew that she was the butt of the big joke.
Tony grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. ‘You’re a fucking girl, Reeva, do you know that?’
She laughed with him. ‘That is part of my fatal charm, darling!’
Agnes shook her head in despair; her mother was never going to change and it was pointless to think otherwise. Reeva and Tony had more fights in a week than Sky Sports could boast in a year. They fought with every ounce of their being, and then they would make up as if nothing had really occurred. They wore her out at times with their antics. But, for all that, Tony had been the only man to ever stay with her mum, stand beside her, and offer her his strength. He was also the only man, other than her sons, who had ever defende
d her when she needed it, and Tony was seen by Reeva’s kids as a saint. He did really care about her and, knowing her like they all did, they could not help but think the best of him.
Agnes looked around her garden and felt really happy at how this party was progressing. She was thrilled to be hosting this event for her nephew and his lovely wife. She was now the party queen, and she loved it. Aiden and Loretta were five years married, and they had two gorgeous sons. They were a wonderful couple and Jade loved that they were living near to her, as she had told Agnes on more than one occasion. She felt she could enjoy her grandchildren in a way she had never been able to enjoy her own son, since she had spent most of her time policing Aiden. Loretta was a really nice girl, and they were all mad about her. She had fitted into the family immediately. She didn’t want anything other than to be a mum and to be Aiden’s wife; that was all she aspired to and Aiden Junior was more than happy with that.
Agnes watched as Marvin Hendry made a big fuss of her son, and that pleased her. As he had got older, she could see more and more of his father in Colin. He had her colouring, but he had his father’s features. Her Colin was never going to win any awards − he wasn’t an academic − but he was savvy enough in his own way. He was already destined for the family business, and there was nothing she could do about that. She loved that he had that easy way with him that his father had possessed − he was charming, as her mum had always said.
Eugene was standing by the bar with a beautiful young woman called Christine Mayer. He was smitten, as Reeva had informed them. It was not before time either. Patsy was with them too, and his new wife, Hannelore, was five months pregnant. Patsy was as pleased as punch. He had met and married Hannelore within six months, and they were a really good couple. Hannelore was a woman who had met the man of her dreams, but who had the sense to know that the man of her dreams needed taking in hand. She had done just that and no one could fault her. Reeva thought she was the greatest thing since sliced bread. She had been convinced that her sons would never settle down. Now there was a definite future for them on the cards, and that was all that Reeva could ask for. Even her Porrick, God love him, was living with a lovely black guy called Ernest. He was absolutely gorgeous, and he adored Reeva. They even took her on holiday with them, which she loved. She didn’t care that her boy was gay − she embraced it. She loved that he had someone to care for and who cared for him.
Her sons had really blossomed in the last few years. It was as if, after Aiden had been murdered, the whole family had somehow changed, and they had changed for the better. Aiden’s death had somehow shifted the dynamics of her family.
Reeva had taken her eldest son’s murder really badly. She had grieved for him with such pain, it had been hard for her kids to witness, but they had all been there for her, and she loved them for that. Jade had taken his death even worse than Reeva. She had been devastated. It was as if she had aged dramatically overnight, ravaged by grief and guilt. It was only the birth of her first grandson that had pulled her through and helped her accept the decision she’d made.
The newspapers had made such a big story out of his death, about how he had been murdered and his body burned. They had not skimped on any of the details, glorifying the violence of Reeva’s son’s death at every available opportunity. The truth was never uncovered, of course, and it was still dragged up every now and again when a gangland murder hit the news. But, eventually, Reeva and Jade had both come to terms with the truth of Aiden’s demise, and they were closer than ever.
Agnes knew how hard her brother’s death had hit Jade. She had loved that man much more than he had ever deserved − not that she would ever say that, of course. Like so much in her family, the less said the better for all concerned. Agnes sighed sadly. Whatever her brother Aiden might have been guilty of, he had always been very good to her and her son, even though as time had gone on, she had begun to form her own opinion on what had really happened to her Colin. She was enough of an O’Hara to know that nothing was ever as it seemed and it was likely Aiden had had a hand in it. There were some things you were better off not knowing about though. All this fucking talk these days about facing up to the truth and owning the truth! The truth will set you free! It was such complete and utter bollocks. Whoever had coined that phrase had never lived in a family like hers. Well, one thing she had learned over the years was the truth was often not as fucking spectacular as it was made out to be. Sometimes, as Jade had said to her on more than one occasion, the truth was the last thing you needed in your life. The truth could be brutal, and the truth could open up old wounds that were best left alone. The truth was not all it was cracked up to be.
Agnes looked around her at the people she loved, and she knew that if some truths were ever blurted out in her family it would cause fucking ructions. She couldn’t help smiling to herself, because despite everything she had done to step as far away from her family as possible, she was more like them than even they could know.
Jade was in the kitchen pouring herself a drink when Porrick joined her.
‘All right, darling?’
Jade smiled sadly. ‘I’m good, Porrick. How’s that lovely man of yours?’
He pointed out to the patio where Reeva was the centre of attention. ‘Dancing with me mother. Honestly, Jade, they are like fucking yin and yang. He loves her!’
Jade couldn’t help laughing. She saw her two grandsons as they danced with Reeva, and she saw Marvin Hendry join them on the dance floor. Her handsome son pulled his wife into his arms and danced her over to join the party. Marvin and Reeva were going at it with everything they had. Porrick grabbed Jade around her waist and hugged her to him.
‘You all right, Jade?’
She smiled sadly. ‘’Course I’m all right, Porrick. Why wouldn’t I be?’
They stood together watching the party going on outside. They were alone in the kitchen and that suited them. There was a bar outside, but they both knew that the decent drinks were in the kitchen or, as Agnes called it, ‘the family self-service bar’. They watched as Timmy Clark walked over to Agnes and start chatting to her. He had just arrived and they both knew that Agnes had been looking out for him for most of the evening.
‘I wish those two would just fucking come out and admit they are together. He has been knocking her off for years!’
Jade nodded in agreement. ‘I know but it’s up to them, Porrick. Sufficient to the time thereof. Fucking hark at me!’
Porrick laughed with her. ‘Jade Dixon, quoting the fucking Bible! Will wonders never cease!’
They both cracked up with laughter before Porrick said seriously, ‘Look at your grandsons, Jade. Such handsome little fuckers. Your Aiden really fell on his feet with Loretta.’
Jade nodded sadly. ‘I know that, Porrick. I have always known that.’
She turned to face him and, looking into his eyes, she said softly, ‘Let it go, Porrick, please. You did the right thing. You did something that I will always love you for. Because of you no one will ever know for sure what might have happened that day.’
Porrick swallowed down his whisky and Coke. Jade was as aware as he had been that Aiden Junior would have ended up having to murder his own father if Porrick had not taken things into his own hands. Who could have blamed him? It wasn’t as if Aiden had not asked for it − he had pushed everyone around him to the limit of their endurance. That was what he had always been so fucking good at. Aiden had never been happier than when he thought that he had the upper hand; even when he was dealing with people who, by rights, should have been so far below his radar, he was still petty enough to enjoy bullying them. That was one of the main reasons why Porrick had lost all respect for him.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel bad about taking his oldest brother out, even though he knew that he would do it all again if he had to. He had taken it upon himself to remove his brother Aiden from this earth, because he had known that it was a foregone conclusion anyway. The only question had been who was going to
be guilty of his brother’s murder. He had decided that it would have to be him. He knew that he had to protect his nephew and his brothers. Marvin Hendry couldn’t be a part of it either because, at the end of the day, this was still Aiden Junior’s father. Porrick had wanted to do it by the end − he had actually wanted to kill his own brother, and he had gutted him like a fucking fish. He should have shot him, but he didn’t want to shoot him. He wanted it to be up close and personal.
‘I still feel guilty, Jade, but not about Aiden. I would do it again in a heartbeat. He asked for everything that he fucking got. But I feel guilty about you, Jade, and my mum. Because, whatever he was, I know that you both loved him.’
Jade sighed sadly. ‘We all loved him, Porrick − that will never be in dispute. But, truthfully? Both me and your mum were so fucking relieved to finally be free of him in the end. He was like a cancer − he was toxic and he was dangerous. It took us both a while before we could actually admit that to each other. But really, Porrick, never doubt that you did us a favour.’
