The Feud (19 page)

‘Coo-coo, coo, coo-coo,’ the pigeons replied. Stanley felt a tear roll down his cheek. Even his pigeons could see through Eddie’s charade. If only his family could do the same.

Much to Eddie’s dismay, Jessica insisted that the twins sleep in the king-size bed with her, and he sleep in the spare room.

‘Please let’s share a bed, Jess. I’ve missed your warmth, I need a cuddle,’ Eddie pleaded.

Jessica shook her head. By the time they’d got home, both the twins were out for the count and they had had to carry them up the stairs. ‘It’s only for tonight, Ed. I don’t want them waking up wondering where they are. Anyway, they’ve both had a bit of a tummy bug. I want them next to me, so I know they’re all right.’

The following morning the twins were both full of beans. ‘Can we go and play outside?’ Frankie asked excitedly.

‘You can play in the garden later. Firstly, you’ve both got to have a bath and then Daddy’s gonna take us all out for lunch,’ Jessica told them.

Frankie stuck her bottom lip out. ‘I don’t want to go out for lunch, Mummy. I want to have a picnic in the tree house.’

Jessica smiled. Trying to keep the kids from getting dirty in the garden could be a real pain sometimes, but she was glad to be back home. ‘How about if we go to
that pub that’s got the big play area?’ Jessica asked hopefully.

Joey and Frankie jumped up and down on the bed. They liked the pub with the play area, there were lots of other children there. ‘Can we go now, Mummy?’ Joey pleaded.

Jessica lifted them both off the bed. ‘Bath first and then we can go,’ she laughed.

Hearing Jess and the kids banging about, Eddie got up himself. ‘Good morning, sexy,’ he said, hugging his wife.

His touch felt good and Jessica returned the compliment. ‘I’ve told the kids we’ll take them to that Beefeater that’s got the big play area. Get yourself ready, Ed, and we can stop on the way and deliver our apologies.’

‘Can’t we do that tomorrow? We can’t take the kids with us, can we?’

Annoyed that he was trying to go back on his word, Jessica pulled away from him. ‘Don’t start breaking promises, Ed. We said we were gonna do it today and we will. The kids’ll be fine – we’ll only be a minute and they can sit in the car.’

Knowing he was still on a trial run, Eddie unwillingly agreed. He was dreading being marched up to people’s houses like a naughty schoolboy. Him – Eddie Mitchell? Talk about making him look a cunt but, unfortunately, he didn’t have much choice. He wanted his life with Jess to get back to normal and if a few apologies allowed that to happen, it was worth it.

An hour later, Eddie stood at Pat Murphy’s front door and rang the musical bell. Hearing it play, ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’, Eddie couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Trust Patrick! Fuck knows where he got that from,’ he said to Jessica.

Patrick immediately opened the door. ‘My auntie who
lives in Limerick got hold of it for me. Good, isn’t it?’ he said chuckling.

Eddie held out his right hand. ‘Patrick, I’ve just popped round to apologise for my drunken behaviour at your party. I was well sloshed and I probably upset a few people other than my wife.’

Patrick Murphy laughed loudly. ‘Bejesus, Eddie, you were fine. I’ve had a lot worse than you here over the years, that I have, for sure.’

Spotting the twins waving at him from the car, Patrick nodded towards them. ‘How’s your son now?’

Eddie smiled at Jessica and squeezed her hand. ‘He’s absolutely fine. No thanks to his dad though, eh, babe?’

Jessica nodded. ‘Well, we’d best be going now, Patrick, and once again, we’re sorry for spoiling your party.’

Patrick waved them goodbye. ‘I’ll see you both soon,’ he shouted.

The next stop was Dougie and Vicki’s house. ‘Hello yous two,’ Vicki said, as she opened the front door.

‘Is Dougie about?’ Eddie asked her.

‘He’s in his office. Spends half his life in there, he does. Come in, I’ll tell him you’re here.’

Jessica gesticulated to the twins to tell them that they would only be a minute. ‘Stay in the car, you’re not to get out,’ she shouted.

As Eddie stood apologising to an unfazed Doug, Vicki and Jessica swapped phone numbers. ‘How about you and Doug come over to ours for dinner next week?’ Jessica asked her.

‘We’d love to, wouldn’t we, Doug?’ Vicki replied.

Dougie smiled. ‘I’ve told Ed, the party’s long forgotten. Christ, if I had a pound for every time I’ve got pissed and made a prick of meself, I’d be a very rich man, and yes, dinner sounds great,’ he added.

Jessica and Eddie said their goodbyes and left. Driving towards Jimmy O’Hara’s house, Eddie felt his stomach start to churn. Two down and one to go and this was the bastard he was dreading.

Pulling onto O’Hara’s drive, Eddie was surprised to see that the beautiful grounds of the house he’d once been so keen to buy now resembled a shit-hole. There were two big, tatty mobile homes either side of the house, six lurchers, three Jack Russells and dog shit everywhere. There were a load of horses standing behind a wire fence and there was even a fucking goat staring at him.

‘Typical fucking pikeys,’ Eddie muttered as he got out of the car.

‘Can we go and see the horses?’ Frankie squealed with delight.

‘Can we stroke them? Joey asked.

With dogs leaping up at him from all angles, Eddie did his best to stay calm. ‘Yous two stay in that car and don’t move,’ he ordered the twins.

‘Please, Daddy, let us see the horses,’ Frankie whinged.

‘No, Frankie, and I mean no. Do you wanna stay in the car with the kids, Jess? There’s more animals running around than there is in a fucking circus.’

Jessica opened the car door. She needed to know that Eddie had said the right things to Mr O’Hara. ‘I’m coming with you,’ she insisted.

With a Jack Russell trying to shag his right leg, Eddie made his way towards the house. Seeing a miniature tractor drive past, he took little notice. Goats, horses, dogs, tractors – they all seemed to blend in with the territory.

With a heavy heart, he knocked on Jimmy O’Hara’s front door.

Frankie looked in amazement as the tractor stopped
by the car and Jed, whom she’d met at the party, leaped off it.

‘Frankie!’ he exclaimed. He opened the door of the car and urged her to move over.

Unusually for Frankie, she came over all shy. ‘Do you live here?’ she mumbled, averting her eyes from the grinning Jed.

Joey could feel his heart pumping though his T-shirt. This was the boy who had hit him in the boxing ring and he was petrified of a repeat performance.

Aware of Joey’s anxiety, Jed held his hand out to him. ‘I’m really sorry for hitting you so hard. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I had to do it, else my dad would have beat me.’

‘Shake his hand then, like Daddy does,’ Frankie urged her brother.

Joey did as he was told and sat quietly as Jed spoke to Frankie.

‘Come for a ride on my tractor,’ Jed urged her.

Frankie shook her head. ‘My dad said I had to stay in the car. He’ll tell me off if I get out.’

Jed laughed. ‘You’re a scaredy cat. Go on admit it, you’re frit to death. You think I can’t drive, but I can. I can even drive my dad’s car – I can, honest I can,’ Jed bragged.

Jimmy O’Hara smiled as he locked eyes with Eddie Mitchell. ‘Well, well, well, this is a nice surprise,’ he said, with a hint of sarcasm.

Embarrassed that the Jack Russell was still trying to mount him, Eddie gently pushed it away.

Jimmy O’Hara laughed as he picked the dog up. ‘His name’s Rocky; I named him after me cousin. He likes you, look. Got his cory out, for you, he has.’

Eddie ignored Jimmy’s crude comment and held out his right hand. ‘My wife and I were just passing and we thought it could be a good idea to stop by, just to say no hard feelings about last week. As you said at the party, we’re neighbours now and all of us want a quiet life.’

Jimmy shook Eddie’s hand and nodded towards his car. ‘My little Jed’s chatting up your daughter again. Ain’t stopped talking about her since that party last week. I’d definitely say we’re gonna be in-laws one day,’ Jimmy said, chuckling.

Eddie glanced at the car in horror. ‘We’d best be going now. Come on, Jess,’ he urged.

‘I appreciate you dropping by, Eddie. Goodbye, Mrs Mitchell,’ Jimmy said, as he shut the front door.

‘Who was that?’ his wife Alice asked. ‘Eddie dinlo fucking Mitchell,’ Jimmy said, laughing his head off.

Breaking into a run, Eddie reached the car before Jess. ‘What are you doing in there?’ he shouted at Frankie.

‘Nothing, Daddy. You said we wasn’t allowed to get out of the car, so Jed got in to talk to us.’

‘We’re going now, so time for you to get out, boy,’ Eddie told Jed.

Grinning from ear to ear, Jed leaned towards Frankie and pecked her full on the lips. ‘I’m your boyfriend now, Frankie, and I’ll come and see you soon,’ he yelled, as he climbed back on his tractor.

Eddie waited for Jess to get in. Furious, he started the engine and put his foot down.

‘Frankie’s got a boyfriend, Frankie’s got a boyfriend,’ Joey sang to his sister.

Frankie felt herself go all weird again. ‘No, I haven’t,’ she said shyly.

‘Yes, you have and you kissed him,’ Joey giggled.

Annoyed that some old dodderer was driving too slow, Eddie held his hand on the hooter and cursed as he overtook him.

‘You stay away from that boy, Frankie, do you hear me?’ Eddie demanded.

Aware that Jed was the boy who had knocked Joey down in the boxing ring, Jessica was more worried about her son. ‘Are you OK, Joey? Did that boy frighten you, love?’

Joey shook his head. ‘He said sorry, Mummy. He said that his dad made him hit me.’

‘Sounds a bit like you, dear,’ Jessica said, nudging her husband.

Eddie drove in stony silence. Shaking hands with Jimmy O’Hara had made him feel physically sick, and as for that cheeky fucking kid of his, he’d kill that little bastard if he ever came anywhere near his daughter again.

Seeing the expression on Eddie’s face, Jessica guessed today had been hard for him. ‘Thanks Ed, for doing that for me,’ she said, stroking his arm.

‘Are we going to the pub now, Daddy?’ Joey asked.

Still in a foul mood, Eddie tried his hardest not to show it. ‘Yep, we’re going there now, son,’ he replied, as cheerfully as he could.

An hour and a couple of pints later, Ed had finally calmed himself down. Sitting opposite Jessica on a wooden bench in the beer garden, he gently held her hand. ‘This is what life’s all about, eh? Me, you and the kids,’ he said, nodding towards the twins, who were playing happily on the apparatus.

Jessica smiled as Frankie waved at her.

‘Watch me, Mummy,’ she yelled as she hurtled down the big slide.

Jessica turned her attention back to her husband. ‘I know
we’ve had our ups and downs recently, but I do love you, Eddie Mitchell.’

Eddie winked at her. ‘Does that mean we’re gonna sleep in the same bed tonight and you’re gonna let me have my wicked way with you?’

Jessica felt her cheeks redden. Even after all these years, Eddie still had the ability to make her blush. ‘Yes, we will sleep in the same bed tonight and, if you behave yourself, I just might let you have your wicked way with me,’ she told him shyly.

Their intimate moment was ended by a screaming Joey. Standing at the top of a climbing frame, he was bawling his eyes out.

‘What’s the matter?’ Jessica asked, walking towards him.

Frankie giggled as she took stock of the situation. ‘Joey’s too scared to come down, Mummy,’ she said, as she ran over to her dad.

Knowing her son didn’t like heights, Jessica urged him to hold the metal rail and walk backwards. ‘Just come down the way you went up, Joey,’ she urged him.

‘I can’t, Mummy. I can’t get down,’ Joey sobbed.

Aware that some other children were laughing as him, Jessica had little option but to go up herself and carry Joey back down. ‘It’s all right, Mummy’s here now. Come on, stop crying, there’s a good boy.’

‘Isn’t Joey a crybaby, Daddy?’ Frankie said laughing.

Eddie was embarrassed. There were other parents looking over at him and he was thankful that nobody knew him in this boozer.

Jessica walked towards him with Joey in her arms. ‘I’m gonna take him to the toilet and sort him out. He’s had a little accident. Give us your car keys, Ed, I’ve got a spare set of clothes for him in the boot.’

‘What do you mean accident? Has he hurt himself?’ Eddie asked, bemused.

‘Don’t tell no one, Mummy,’ Joey begged his mother.

‘He’s wet himself,’ Jessica mouthed to Eddie.

Annoyed, Eddie slung her his car keys. His youngest son was a total fucking embarrassment. That Jed might be a little bastard, but at least he was a kid for his father to be proud of. Joey was a total tart and showed himself and his family up wherever he went.

‘I’m going on the swing now, Daddy,’ Frankie said, as she climbed off his knee.

Eddie sipped his beer and watched his daughter swing higher than any of the other kids. At least Frankie had a bit of spirit about her; Joey had fucking none whatsoever. Seeing his wife and son walk towards him, Eddie forced a smile. He couldn’t have a go at Joey or say anything about him, as he’d promised Jessica he wouldn’t.

‘Panic over. What shall we do, Ed? Shall we order some food now? The kids both want burger and chips.’

Eddie stood up. ‘Keep an eye on Frankie. She’s over there with some little boy, he keeps following her around,’ he told Jessica, as he headed to the bar.

The little boy in question was quite taken with Frankie and had been trying to attract her attention for the last ten minutes. ‘My name’s Luke. What’s yours?’ he asked her.

‘Not telling you,’ Frankie shouted at him.

‘Why not? I’ve told you my name,’ Luke said, trying to hold her hand.

Frankie snatched her hand away. Placing her hands on her hips, she scowled at her stalker. ‘Go away and leave me alone.’

As Eddie walked back from the bar, he saw Frankie clump the boy. Putting the drinks on the table, he went
over to rescue the poor little sod, who was now sprawled on the ground crying.

‘I’m really sorry,’ he told the boy’s shocked parents.