Bad Boys of London(37)
‘Yeah, everyone is really happy. I’ll send you a picture of her. She’s got hairy ears, but ma says even I had hairy ears when I was born and it will fall off.’
‘You still have hairy ears.’
‘Quit it or I’ll send you the pictures where she still has cottage cheese all over her body.’
He bursts out laughing.
‘Layla,’ my mother calls from behind me.
‘Got to go, Maddie, I’ll speak to you later, OK?’ I say and quickly cut the connection.
‘Are you staying for dinner?’ my mother asks. She is so happy she is glowing like it’s Christmas morning. This is her first grandchild and an event she has been praying for ever since Jake turned 21.
I touch her hand. ‘Might not be a good idea, Ma. I have to work tomorrow. I’ll come back on the weekend.’
‘Are you leaving now then?’
‘Yeah, before the traffic gets heavy.’
‘Do you want me to make you a sandwich before you go?’
‘No, I’ll go and say goodbye to Jake and Lily and be off.’
‘Lily is sleeping. Poor thing is exhausted.’
‘Fine. I’ll just go say goodbye to my brother and my niece then.’
‘Come and see me in the kitchen before you go. I’ve made some food for you to take back.’
‘OK,’ I say and run up the stairs of Jake’s house. I stand at the door of the nursery transfixed by the sight of Jake bent over Liliana’s cradle.
‘Hey,’ I say softly and he looks up, his expression soft.
‘Hey,’ he whispers.
I walk up to the cot. He is gently stroking her cheek with his finger.
‘Congratulations, Jake. Other than the hairy ears she’s beautiful.’
He looks up at me, a huge, stupid grin on his face. ‘She is, isn’t she.’
Suddenly I feel an overwhelming wave of love for my brother. All these years he never had anything for himself. To call his own. Always he was fighting all our battles. I blink back the tears.
His eyes narrow. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s just perfect.’
He nods. ‘Are you going back to London now?’
‘Yeah. The traffic won’t be so bad now.’
‘Why don’t you stay a bit longer and let Shane drive you back?’
I shake my head. ‘Then you’ll just have the hassle of sending my car back to me.’
He frowns. ‘It’s no trouble.’
I smile softly. ‘No, it is trouble for you. I’ll be back for the weekend.’
‘All right. Drive safely.’
‘I will.’
That’s the thing about Jake. Even at a time like this he is worrying about me. I hug him tightly and go down to the kitchen. My mother is putting together plastic containers of food into two carrier bags. The containers are labeled so I know exactly what’s in them. Dom is sitting at the table finishing off a massive bacon and sausage sandwich.
‘Are you off?’ he asks me.
‘Yeah.’
‘Didn’t you have something else you had to do?’ He puts the last bit of the sandwich into his mouth and raises his eyebrows meaningfully.
I glance at my mother, but she is busy washing her hands.
‘I’m not doing it today. I’ll be back this weekend, I’ll do it then.’
My brother wipes his mouth and stands up. ‘I’m off then. See you at dinnertime, Ma.’ As he passes me he whispers, ‘I wouldn’t wait beyond the weekend if I were you.’
I watch my brother leave with a heavy heart.
‘Put this bag into the fridge and consume it today, tomorrow at the latest,’ my mother says. I turn back to her. ‘And the other bag, you can freeze it and eat on Thursday and Friday. You’ll be back here on Saturday, won’t you?’
‘Yeah. Thanks.’
‘Do you want to take some cake for Maddie too?’ my mother asks.
‘No, I’ll share what I’ve got with her.’
‘All right then,’ she says moving towards the fridge.
‘Ma,’ I say sinking into a chair.
‘What?’
‘Did you ever think we’d all turn out like this?’
She looks at me. ‘Never.’
‘What did you think we’d become?’
‘I didn’t know. I didn’t dare dream anything like this. I thought we’d always be struggling,’ she says softly.
‘You’re really proud of Jake, aren’t you?’
She is so choked up she can’t even speak. Just nods violently, her body clenched tight.
‘Me too,’ I say.
She comes outside with me, and waves as I drive away. I watch her become smaller in the mirror and I get a horrible cold feeling in my stomach. When I am far enough away, I pull over by the side of the road and call BJ.