by Karen Clow
Mickey thanked him and asked if he was sure about staying and that Ann was ok about it.
“Don’t even be asking me that” joked Shaun “regarding my good lady, she’s looking forward to the peace and quiet and she won’t be able to keep her hands off me the next time she sees me.”
Mickey then heard what sounded like a slap before Ann came on the phone and said “Take no notice of him Mickey; you can keep him for as long as you like!” Mickey laughed and thanked her.
They fed the triplets in the playroom, Jess and Billy helped out because the girls had insisted on their dad playing Twister with them. No one was more grateful than Mickey when his mum called to say that dinner was ready.
Over the evening meal, he talked about Shaun and how good it was of him to come and stay. Billy noticed that Jess looked a bit out of place; winking at her he asked if everything was babe.
“Are you sure you don’t mind me being here Billy, especially as your friend will be staying?”
“Of course not babe, Shaun’s like part of the family. He’ll only be here a couple of weeks and even if he was here permanently, it wouldn’t make any difference to you staying. If I know Shaun he’ll be spending most of his time with the girls; he likes to look after them.”
“Yeah,” piped in Mickey “the girls know just how to wrap him round their little fingers, just like they do Billy. Shaun looks mean, but with them he’s a real pussy cat.”
Madeline then shocked everyone when she said, “Uncle Shaun looks after us Jess, because daddy is a gangster and someone took us away once. It was horrible!”
Jess just looked at her. Since living there, she had realised things were not exactly as they had first appeared, especially when she’d heard them rowing over Davy Sheridan. Aware of the startled silence, before anyone could say anything she looked at Madeline.
“Oh is he really Madeline,” said Jess “well he’s the nicest gangster I’ve ever met and you’re so lucky to have him as your daddy as well as your uncle Shaun and Billy to look after you.”
Maria smiled at her and mouthed the words thank you, then she looked at the twins and asked who on earth had told them that. When Melanie said it was some of the girls at school, Mickey frowned and asked why they would say that. Everyone noticed Madeline looked a bit sheepish long before Melanie replied.
“Well Daddy, Madeline was going to hit this horrible girl because she was nasty to me and her friend said, ‘don’t hit her because her dad is a gangster and the bald guy who takes them to school is their minder’.”
Knowing they meant him, Billy coughed and looked down at the table trying hard not to laugh. Mickey was also finding it rather amusing, although he was angry about it. Their mum and his parents just sat there wondering what was coming next. Calmly, Mickey looked directly at Madeline and asked what she’d said when the nasty girls’ friend said that. Looking very humbled she said she couldn’t remember.
“Can you remember what your sister said sweetheart?” he asked smiling at Melanie. Melanie nodded her head, much to Madeline’s disgust and nudging her told her not to say anything because she’d get them in trouble.
“Tell daddy the truth sweetheart, no one’s going to get into trouble, I promise.”
Having her dad’s complete attention and approval, she was more than happy to grass her sister up, despite Madeline protesting and telling her to be quiet. Knowing that Melanie was torn between him and her sister he quickly told Madeline to be quiet or she’d be leaving the dinner table.
“Tell me what she said princess.”
“Well Daddy, Madeline told them they were right and that you are a gangster and so is Uncle Shaun and Uncle Tony. Billy is our minder and if they ever tried to hit us she would get him to beat them up!”
At that point Billy who was trying to hold back his laughter; stood up and left the room using needing the toilet as his excuse. Den also stood up and leaving the room said he was going to put the kettle on.
The two men had to leave the room before they started laughing.
“Fuck me Den, she’s a case that Madeline” said Billy once they were in the kitchen, “I almost choked on me fucking dinner! How I didn’t laugh I don’t know. No wonder some of the kids at school look at me funny.”
“Yeah she’s a case alright; trouble is she knows that none of us can stay cross with her. Let’s face it Billy she’s fucking adorable. Mind you, I wouldn’t want to be her sister. I reckon they’ll be some retaliation later for grassing her up.”
“Yeah and like her sister, Melanie’s also fucking adorable, although I think she’s got her mums temperament.”
“Madeline puts me in mind of Mickey. I remember once when he was about eight, his mum had to go down the school. Some kid had a fight with him, nothing serious, but Mickey told him I was this big crime boss and that not only would something terrible happen to him, but to his entire family. That’s the trouble with kids you don’t think they’re taking things in, but they are and sometimes, like today, it jumps up and bites you on the arse!”
They returned to the dining room where Mickey was still giving the girls a lecture on what they did being wrong.
“In future if anyone is nasty to you,” continued Mickey as the men sat down “go and tell your teacher and tell those kids that your daddy is a solicitor who can have people put in prison if they cause trouble or hit other people.”
“Well that was tactful darling,” interrupted Maria “I think I prefer the original threat, it had more impact!”
“Well I am a solicitor!”
“Yes we know darling, so now instead of all the little kids fearing Billy or the thought of waking up with a horse’s head next to them on their pillow, they’ll be looking at spending the next twenty years of their young lives in prison!”
“Do people sleep with their ponies as well Mummy?” asked Madeline innocently “or is it just horses!”
“Ask daddy sweetie, he seems to have all the answers. I’m going to get the dessert!”
The school incident wasn’t mentioned again at the table.
The ladies had just finished clearing up and getting the twins ready for bed when Shaun turned up.
Maria and the ladies stayed up until eleven then headed for bed, leaving the men downstairs to talk. It was obvious that the topic of their conversation would be Davy Sheridan.
“Just for the next couple of weeks I think me and Billy should drive the girls to and from school” said Shaun “that leaves you and Den home with the babies and the women Mickey. It’s just a precaution in case Davy does try anything.”
Mickey agreed and thanked him. They all turned in around half one.
CHAPTER 60
Shaun and Billy had taken the girls to school. On arriving the two men had walked the girls’ right to the entrance, purely because Madeline had asked them to. Just as they approached the door, Melanie pointed to an older girl and said she was the girl who’d been nasty to her. Shaun had been told about what had happened when the men had talked the previous evening and like Billy he’d found it very amusing. He asked Melanie what the girls name was.
“Yolanda Pan and she’s horrible Uncle Shaun!”
The big Irishman winked at Billy.
“Don’t forget girls,” he said to the twins just as the girl walked past them, “if anyone says anything bad about your dad just let us know, ok!”
The twins looked at Yolanda, who had heard what he’d said. Madeline had not been able to resist poking her tongue out at her. The two men just watched as Yolanda quickened her pace and hurried into school.
Making their way back to the car, Billy laughed and said Yolanda had looked terrified!
“Aye Billy, I don’t think she’ll be upsetting my lasses again. She looked like a right toffee nose little madam and she was a good couple of years older! Mind you did you see our Madeline poke her tongue out? I wouldn’t say it to Mickey, but she’s got a lot of Jimmy in her that one.”
“Oh yeah, she’s spirited alright Sh
aun and no doubt about it she’s fucking funny. How I don’t laugh sometimes is a fucking miracle!”
Maria had just finished making the lunch. Everyone except Mickey was in the kitchen so she went to find him as he had been in the study all morning. When she walked in and told him lunch was ready, he smiled and said he wanted to show her something on the computer. Leaning over his shoulder to look at the screen, she kissed his cheek. To her surprise he was looking at a cottage on the internet. Curiously, she asked why he was looking at it. He asked if she recognised it. Shaking her head, she didn’t.
“Well it’s in our village babe; in fact it’s about a five minute drive from here. I was working, but thought I’d take a break so I was just looking at local properties because of what we said about Jess, anyway this came up. It’s going up for auction next week. I’ve called the auctioneers and asked for some details. Apparently the family who it’s been left to; don’t want the hassle of doing it up. From the sound of it, the owner died and it hasn’t been modernised in the last forty years. I just thought it might be worth a look, the reserve on it is a hundred and forty grand and according to an estate agent I’ve just spoken to, if it was done up to a good standard it would be worth around one eight three. I just thought as an investment it might be worth a look?”
“This is why I love you,” said Maria as she kissed his cheek, “after all you’ve been through you still think about someone else.”
“I’m just thinking babe, when mum and dad move into the annexe and Billy goes back to London or gets a place here, it would be nice to have the house to ourselves again. Then when you feel the urge to make hot passionate love to me, like you did at mums, we won’t have to worry about it!”
“And there was me thinking it was because you’re so kind, when really you’re just a pervert!”
“Absolutely and you love it!”
Before joining the others for lunch, they kissed tenderly in the study. She hoped that his leaving was nothing more than his way of dealing with things, but she still had a niggling doubt that until Davy Sheridan was nothing more than a bad memory, their lives would never quite return to normal.
After lunch, he took her shopping. They had left the babies under the watchful and very capable care of his parents and the others. Mickey told them they would be back before the girls needed collecting from school. In the car, Mickey said if they shopped quickly they might have enough time to look at the cottage.
Fifteen minutes later, he was walking down what seemed to be endless aisles of food and toiletries. His mind wasn’t on the shopping, but on the child that Davy was probably going to snatch. All he could think was how he had felt that day when he came home to find his children had been taken. If he was to prevent it happening to someone else there could be no mistakes, but he wasn’t happy about making an anonymous call to George. What if something went wrong? He decided then he would talk to Shaun and Billy later that night to ask their opinion on how he should handle it. His first thought was to tell Monica as she was no longer a detective, but a full time mum with kids. If nothing else he knew he could trust her.
“Mickey! Do you think they would like this for dinner?”
Quickly he turned round to look at her.
“I’ve asked you three times, where on earth were you?”
“Actually babe, anywhere but here have you nearly finished? You’ve already got enough to feed a small country!”
Relieved to be back in the car ten minutes later, he talked about the cottage as he drove homeward. It wasn’t until he pulled up in front of it Maria recognised the cottage, but said it looked different in the picture.
Mickey laughed as they walked through the tiny wooden gate and it dropped from its hinges. She couldn’t help but think it looked a lot worse up close than in the picture he had shown her. They looked through the window; there were old newspapers and broken furniture everywhere. It looked as though someone had started to clear it out and then given up. They walked round to the back of the property, the garden was completely overgrown, but there was still evidence of some shrubs and bushes. Looking through the kitchen window, she was amazed at how old and basic it was.
Driving home he asked what she thought. Although it would require complete refurbishment before anyone could live there; she had to admit it had got potential.
“I think we should bring Jess to see it babe, just to see what her reaction is. If she hates it, we’ll simply forget about it, but if she likes it, we could go to the auction to see about buying it. Obviously we won’t tell her it’s for her to rent, we’ll just say it’s a property we’re thinking of investing in.”
Maria nodded.
It was just after eight that evening when Lenny called Mickey.
“Alright Mickey, thought I’d let you know who Danny Monk has been following. Her name is Mercedes DeLauro her father is mega rich. The body guard is ex military, served in the forces until going to work for her mother. Trained in weapons and armed combat, he was also his regiments boxing champion. A confirmed bachelor no ties and totally committed to Mercedes and her mother, even seen together at social functions. I wouldn’t want to fucking mess with him Mick; he’s built like a red brick shit house! From what I gather it’s more than just a job, he thinks a lot of the kid. He’s been her bodyguard for the past six years. I never saw a weapon, but I would hazard a guess he’s carrying something.”
“Sounds like Davy is serious about her Len, when do you think it will happen and more importantly where?”
“My guess is just after they leave the house, traffic is heaving to and from school, but when they leave the house it’s less. That’s where I would do it if it were me, no doubt about it. As for when, I know Davy’s heard from the Turk and he’s confident he’ll have his money. Considering the bullshit he fed those two lads, along with the other bullshit he fed Danny, my guess is early part of next week. He needs to get it done quickly, no messing about. Take the kid, get the money and get rid of the two lads once she’s returned so there’s no come back on him. If I know Sheridan, he’ll want it done and dusted by midweek. I think Monday or Tuesday next week. I can’t see him doing it tomorrow and then it’s the weekend; which incidentally is when lover boy Sebastian has the opening of his new studio. Ironically, Mercedes mother is on the guest list to attend the bash and even Davy isn’t stupid enough to do it then. Monday or Tuesday I’m ninety five percent sure.”
Mickey waited until the women had gone to bed that night, then he told them what Lenny had said. His main concern was leaving the little girl’s safety down to an anonymous call to George. They agreed with him that it was risky and like him, everyone thought that sounding Monica out was the best way to go.
They turned in around midnight. Maria was fast asleep when he went to bed, having heard her get up to fed the babies around eleven he tried not to disturb her as he got in beside her.
Friday morning as they lay awake, Mickey talked to her about what Lenny had said. Her first thought was to call George and tell him, but she knew that if Mickey was right and if the little girl’s routine changed, Davy would back off. She didn’t like the idea, but she wanted the whole business with Sheridan to end once and for all, she did feel a little more comfortable when he said about telling Monica. He was right the little girl’s safety was paramount. He suggested calling Monica to invite her down for the weekend.
Sensing she was nervous about the plan, he leaned over and kissed her. Knowing he was horny, she quickly reminded him the twins would be up at any minute.
“They won’t be the only ones that are up in a minute!” he said as he kissed her passionately.
Aware he was making a reference to sex; she kissed him and moved her hand down the bed to feel him. Kissing her breasts, he ran his hand down her body and into her pyjama bottoms. He could feel as he touched her that she wanted him. Within minutes of their first touch they were making love and trying desperately hard not to wake the triplets. Embroiled in the throes of passion, they kissed each ot
her passionately in the hope of muffling their cries of pleasure. The twins woke ten minutes after they’d finished.
Breakfast was always hectic especially with the number of people now staying. The women seemed to always be cooking, feeding babies or changing nappies. Maria was pleased when Den had suggested sending out for takeaway that evening. Monica had readily accepted the offer of visiting the following day, even George was off so he could accompany her and the boys. The day passed quickly.
Later that evening after all the kids were asleep, Mickey talked about the cottage. He noticed that Jess seemed to like the idea of doing a property up, especially when she offered to make all the soft furnishings, if they did buy it. She asked if they’d want to keep it traditional cottage style, she would if it was up to her.
Shaun grinned; he knew Mickey was testing the waters after Maria had told them about his plan. Shaun smiled at Jess and said he thought she was right and she seemed to have a flare for that sort of thing.
“Actually, I love those programmes that you see on the telly Shaun,” said Jess “it’s amazing what they do. I wanted to study interior design at college. Can you imagine what it would feel like to have a blank canvas and be able to do whatever you wanted to bring it to life?”
“Maybe one day lassie you’ll be able to do that, you’re young enough to still get a career when little Rebecca goes to school.”
“I know, I have thought about it. I’d like to think I could make enough money for me and Becky to live in the country; but at the moment I’ll be grateful with what ever the council offer me.”
“I’ve got an idea Jess” interrupted Mickey, “why don’t you and Maria drive along to the cottage tomorrow and see what you think? Maybe all those programmes you watch can give us some ideas and if we do buy it, maybe you could sort out the curtains and that for us, mum’s got a sewing machine.”
Jess jumped at the chance, especially when Maria suggested going straight after breakfast as Monica would be there by lunch time.
