'I am keeping this baby under wraps for a while; no one has noticed yet anyway. I am letting you know what I want from you if it goes full-term, that's all.'

Jambo nodded once more.

'If that's what you want, Lil, then I am happy to go along with it as I already said. But I ain't promising you no more than what you asked, OK?'

Lil laughed then, a real hearty, loud and dirty laugh. 'Oh, dream on. I wouldn't want you, darling, if your knob was dripping with diamonds and you farted perfume.'

Now they were both laughing and Lil relaxed a little, happy she had for once done what she wanted and not waited to see what happened. This child would at least have a fighting chance in life, she was determined about that. And once the novelty of her situation wore off it would all work out somehow, she was sure. She had been through the worst that life could throw at anyone and she had survived. Older, harder and a little bit wiser but she was still managing to live through every day.

Now Patrick was home and he was trying to make amends for the past so she hoped that, sooner or later, life for this child inside her might just turn out to be easy.

Chapter Twenty-Four

'All right, Mum, let's sort this out, shall we?'

Patrick's voice was so reminiscent of his father's that it made Lil go cold. They were in the office of the club once more; it was different now, all fresh paint and cheap furniture. The club was the blind for the other businesses, as always.

But it was once again Lil's domain and she knew it. She enjoyed the way she was now, back on top; it was like years ago, when this had been her world. Lenny Brewster had snatched it away from her, taken everything that she had that made her feel a part of something bigger than her. And now she had it back; her life back, her self-respect back and, most of all, she was once more working at something she loved.

It might be a small victory to most people, but to Lil, after the years with Lenny, it was equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize.

Lil knew that the girls understood how she felt; in fact they were happy for her, most of them anyway. That is, the ones who had bothered to get to know her and understood Lil's craving for some kind of recognition, and for her need to be a part of the world she inhabited and that she loved.

'Sort what out?'

Lil was smiling at Pat innocently and she saw herself in his eyes and in his anger, not his father. Pat had her short temper and her ability to keep it in check if it was necessary. He was a clever boy, no doubt about that, and she loved him with all her heart. But he was also her son and her business partner, whether he liked it or not. She was the one he had left to put things back on track again. She would be the one who made the money that would give them their way of life. The taxman could climb all over this place and find nothing that would be cause for concern. She was the straight one out of them and he respected that; he knew she would never tuck her son up. You could only ever trust your own, most of the time anyway.

Patrick grinned and his white teeth made him look even more handsome than usual. He had dark Irish looks; his eyes were the giveaway, deep blue, framed with thick lashes that a woman would fight to make her own. He had the square-cut jaw and thick black hair that seemed to have a life of its own. Pat also had the appetite for the drink and that bothered Lil, as did his disregard for anything he felt as beneath his interest. That had been his father's downfall, not that anyone else would see that of course. Pat should have kept his own house in order, fuck everyone else's. If he had sorted the Williams brothers he would still be here now, and Spider knew that as well as she did.

'Are you pregnant, Mum?'

Lil stared into Pat's handsome face and suppressed the urge to slap his name out of the phone book. How dare the cheeky little fucker ask her that?

'Well, are you?' He was talking slowly now, as if she was stupid, as if she didn't understand what he was asking her.

'What has that got to do with you?' It was said with all the indifference she could muster and with all the bravado she possessed.

Pat sighed. 'So it's true, then?'

Lil had been dreading this, but she was still surprised that Pat had noticed so quickly. He had girls, but no one ever lasted more than a few days, so he had not even lived through a girlfriend's or a wife's pregnancy. He was so cute, he had noticed hers. One part of her wanted to cry because of that, but she wouldn't, of course. Lil didn't know what to say to him. She felt guilty, as if she had done something wrong, and that was because she felt she had. It wasn't him, it was her. Once more, she was giving birth and once more she was having a child that would ultimately become this boy's responsibility, like the others had. But she could no more dispose of this baby than she could have disposed of any of the others. It was the eighties and there was no longer any stigma for women who had children without the benefit of a wedding ring.

'I am a grown woman and if I want to have a baby, I'll have one. You are not my keeper, Patrick. You are my son and you have no right to question me about anything.'

Pat Junior looked into the eyes of the woman he loved more than he had ever loved anyone in his life and he shook his head in distress at her words. The anger she was displaying and the secrecy, the fact she was trying to conceal her condition from him and the other kids, hurt him. He didn't care what she did, why couldn't she see that? He loved her no matter what. This was the woman who had cared for him, loved him, visited him in prison and tried to fight his end all those years ago when his father had been murdered. This woman had given birth to two more children with Lenny Brewster because she had believed that they would give her and her kids some kind of security, because she had thought he would take care of her; thus enabling her to take care of them.

She had even sold herself for him and his brothers and sisters; why couldn't she see that all she had done had made him love her more, not less. Had made him look up to her, not down on her.

Pat walked over to her and, pulling her into his arms, he said sadly, 'Oh, Mum, I just want to help you, darling, that's all. You can do what you like, I ain't going to judge you, am I? None of us would. I just don't want you coping on your own any more. You don't have to. I am here now and I will do whatever is needed, OK?'

Lil hugged him and felt the strength of him as he held her close and she knew he meant every word he said to her.

'Whose is it, Mum?'

She could hear the nervousness in his voice and realised that he thought she was pregnant by Lenny again. He couldn't even say his name out loud. It would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic. As if she would be that stupid! And yet once more she was reminded of how she was seen by her children. That this boy, her eldest son, could think that she would even consider sleeping with Lenny again after what he had done to them all was so insulting that she had to fight the urge to smack his face. She wanted to tear at his skin with her nails and make him hurt as he was making her hurt.

Did they really think she was so low, so base that she had been capable of coupling with Lenny again after everything he had done to her, to them?

She roughly pushed Pat away. Her anger was in check, but for how long, she couldn't say.

'You can't think this is Lenny's, surely?'

Lil's voice was low and colder than Pat had ever heard it before. He knew she had picked up on what had been in the back of his mind. He didn't answer her and it was his silence that told her all she needed to know.