The Faithless - Martina Cole [69]
He could hear screaming, but was that Cynthia or was it Gabby?
It was all happening so fast.
Chapter Fifty-Six
‘Calm down, child, and tell me what’s happened. Is it James Junior? Has something happened to him?’
‘It’s me dad, he’s attacked me mum . . . You’ve got to come, Granddad.’ Gabby was imploring Jack with her eyes while her nana tried to get some sense out of her.
‘Me mum was on the table with . . . Me dad’s gone berserk.’
Suddenly her words hit home and her grandparents both groaned as if in pain.
‘Jesus Christ, what was she thinking! In her own home, the fucking whore.’ Jack Callahan was fuming. ‘I knew this would happen one day! I knew it. I warned her about being so brazen, I only wish I’d talked to him too. But you know Jonny Parker, no talking to him, is there? Too high and mighty for the likes of us . . .’
‘Will you shut up, Jack!’ hissed Mary.
It was only then he remembered that Celeste was there too, and she was looking at them as if they had all miraculously appeared before her in a vision.
Gabby looked from one to the other, and realised just how far-reaching the repercussions of her mother’s actions would be. She had stopped herself saying Jonny’s name, because her aunt had enough on her plate as it was. This was the night Celeste came round here for her dinner, and what her nana referred to as a ‘catch up’. Now it was out, and Gabby felt it was her fault, but she had not known where else to go.
Her father had been like a maniac and, when she had left, her uncle Jonny was beating down on her dad in order to get him away from her mum. It was like a nightmare, only she was wide awake and it was really happening, and her dad would never be the same again. She had seen and heard the hurt inside him. The strange thing was, he seemed more upset with her uncle Jonny. And her uncle Jonny she could tell was ashamed, ashamed and frightened. But then so he should be, he had done the dirty on them all. She hated him now just as much as she did her mother. They were both of a kind, both selfish, both believing that the world was only there for them and what they wanted.
Celeste was in her nana’s arms now, and she followed her granddad out of the house, wondering what this night would bring them all, and aware that it wouldn’t be anything good, that much was for sure. It never was with her mother. She was sending her away to school in the middle of nowhere so she couldn’t be with Vincent, and all the time she was having an affair with her uncle Jonny!
Gabby still couldn’t believe what she had seen, still couldn’t get over her father’s reaction. Her poor dad, her poor, poor dad. She was crying again, and she hoped that her mum was dead on the floor when they got back home. She wanted her dead so badly. If she died she couldn’t hurt them any more.
Even James Junior might be in with a chance if she was gone, because her mother infected everyone and everything around her, and she destroyed anyone who stood in her way, just as she beat down anyone who disagreed with her.
Gabby hated her, even more than before if that was possible. Her mother had more or less called her a whore today, smugly telling her she was going away to school, where there would be no boys. Well, she herself would know what a whore was – no one could know better. In fact, she was worse than a whore, because she had done the dirty on her own sister, and that was something only the lowest of the low could be capable of.
Gabby hoped her dad killed her, she hoped he had killed them both. They deserved it, the pair of them.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
‘Oh, shut up, Cynthia. Shut the fuck up!’ Jack Callahan was disgusted with them, both Cynthia and Jonny, and it showed. He looked at his son-in-law and, sneering, he said, ‘Where’s Jimmy gone?’
Jonny had the grace to look shamefaced and that placated Jack a little bit. Even his son-in-law’s fearsome reputation wasn’t