The Faithless - Martina Cole [123]
It would be nice to have a weekend alone with Vince. Cherie was a handful, constantly wanting her father’s attention. But that was to be expected – he had not been in her life properly until now, and Cherie, the little madam, was making the most of him being there. For his part, Vince loved his pretty little daughter, and she knew he was happy at the prospect of another baby.
‘Thanks, Mum. I’ll pick her up on Sunday afternoon.’ Gabby walked into her daughter’s bedroom which her mother had decorated to perfection, and hugged the little girl to her. ‘You be a good girl for your nanny, OK?’
Cherie nodded happily. She loved it here; she was the centre of attention from the minute she opened her eyes until she fell asleep. For a child like Cherie that was heady stuff, and Cynthia indulged her shamelessly.
‘Go on, get yourself away. I’m sure that man of yours is champing at the bit to see you.’
‘He is, he always is.’
Gabby left the flat and walked to her car. As she unlocked it, she saw her brother standing at the corner of her mother’s road, and felt troubled. After all, her Cherie was in the flat with her, and she didn’t want James going there and causing trouble in front of her.
She drove to the corner and, stopping beside her brother, she said, ‘What you doing here, James?’
He smiled absently at his sister, then he said, ‘I hear your Vincent is doing well for himself.’
She ignored him and said again, ‘What are you doing here, James? You know Mum doesn’t want to see you.’
He shrugged and she saw how emaciated he had become. Vincent had heard he was an addict and, seeing him now, she believed it. He looked thin, drawn, and very run down. The weather was just turning cold and all he had on was a thin jacket over an even thinner T-shirt.
She looked into his face and was heart-sorry for the way his life had turned out. If he had not been her brother she certainly wouldn’t have approached him. If she was honest, she had avoided him like the plague since he had been back on the scene. She had seen him from a distance a few times, and she had driven past him without stopping to even say hello. He made her nervous; anyone looking into his eyes could see that he was not quite right. He could easily be mistaken for a rapist, or a serial killer from a film. He was dirty, unkempt, and basically just odd. The trouble with James was that he was literally capable of anything, and she had to make sure he wasn’t going near her mother’s house while her daughter was there.
‘My baby’s in that flat, my Cherie, and if Vince finds out you’ve been near there, or that you scared her . . .’ She left the sentence unfinished and she saw her brother’s eyes widen. ‘You are taking your medication, aren’t you, James?’
The question threw him, and she could see it had also annoyed him.
‘Are you?’ she repeated.
He shuffled his feet for a few seconds, unable to meet her eyes. ‘What do you care?’
She sighed then, a sad, drawn-out sigh. ‘You’re still my brother, James . . .’
He didn’t answer her so she tried again.
‘Where are you living? Locally?’
He shrugged. ‘Why the interest suddenly?’
Gabby could smell the foetid breath of the junkie and she felt her stomach heave.
‘Because you are hanging round Mum’s street, and you aren’t exactly her biggest fan, are you?’
He looked awful, like he had been sleeping on the streets, and she wondered at how her father would feel seeing him like this. Seeing what had happened to them all, for that matter. She wondered if, had he known what their fates would be, he would have left them like he had, at the mercy of a woman who had no real care for anyone except herself, and now also little Cherie.
Neither Gabby or James had had the best start in life. They had been little children at the mercy of an adult who had no real care for anyone or anything but what she herself wanted. It was an abortion really, all of it.
‘It’s a free country, Gabby. I can go where I like, and I like to watch Mother. I can promise you this though; if I decide