The girls were gradually starting to accept what had happened, and she knew they were stronger than they thought. Jackie's suicide note had not helped them, she knew. She had just written plainly, to no one in particular:
Sorry. But I can't live without him. Be happy one and all.
It had been so short, so poignant and so lonely she had wanted to die herself. Her poor daughter, who even in death remained in the grip of the man who had deliberately and systematically chipped away at her until she had forgotten how to be happy, forgotten how to live her life.
Lena prayed every day that her poor Jackie had found some kind of peace at last.
'Here they come, Lena. Go and refresh that tea, girl, it's older than I am.'
Joe loved Maggie, and he loved Jimmy, but as they walked into the large conservatory and placed the baby in his arms, his face lit up like a Belisha beacon.
This was the miracle child as far as they were concerned, and the family had been brought closer together with his birth and his cousin's birth.
Rox had also been blessed with a boy child a few months earlier, and they looked like two peas in a pod. Both were strong and dark haired, and sometimes a shadow crossed over Lena's face because they looked like Freddie and Jimmy all over again.
But these two were not going to be like that. Jimmy would ensure that they were brought up properly, and little Dicky was gutted that Rox had given theirs her maiden name so they were both Jacksons. Rox had decided that marriage was out of the question now, she wanted to wait until her life was back on an even keel. The papers had had a field day, and they had all had to suffer the humiliation of their private lives being played out on a daily basis, and being branded criminals and anything else that guaranteed sales for the gutter press.
Lena looked at the two little Josephs and she knew that the names of these boys had given her old man more pleasure than anything in his life before.
'The girls coming over tonight?'
Maggie shook her head. 'No, they are all going out, and about time too. What do you think of their house, Mum?'
Lena smiled again at her daughter and she said earnestly, 'It's beautiful, and they love it there. You are very good you know, you two.'
Jimmy shrugged. 'What can you do, they are family.'
Joseph nodded his head in agreement. 'What's left of it anyway, eh?' He held his grandson tightly as he said it and he prayed that this boy, and his great grandson, had inherited nothing from Freddie Jackson.
Family was a blessing and it was also a fucking curse. He knew that better than anyone else in the world.
Joseph had taken a call that morning from the secure unit that housed his other grandson and it seemed Little Freddie had hung himself in the night. He had felt a wave of joy wash over him at the news. He still loathed the boy and the news he was dead had cheered him up no end. That was another mad bastard out of the way.
He would tell them all eventually, when the time was right. Until then he would let them enjoy the lovely summer days.
Maggie lay on the chaise longue at the end of her bed and breast-fed her little son. It was her favourite time of the day. She counted her blessings now. God had seen fit to give her this child and she was not going to let anything mar her happiness.
She would never forget her little Jimmy, but Joseph was like a life belt and she had held on to him for dear life, until now, at long last, the fear was gone. Freddie and his poison was in the past. He had ruled too many lives and it was time for them to stop allowing him to dictate their feelings and their thoughts.
She was still young looking, she knew. Her body was not as good as before but she didn't care and neither did Jimmy. He still took her with the same passion he had taken her with when they had first come together.
Jackie was often in her mind. She missed her, but she knew the girls were always going to be there for her in the same way she had always been there for them.
It felt strange, this return to normality. It had been so long since she had felt like this, she had forgotten what it was like to just sit and think like other people.
Just to be.
She was happy again, but this was a happiness based on the truth. Like her Jimmy had said, all that time ago, sometimes things are best left unsaid, and she was now a devotee of that herself.
She kissed Joseph's head as she swapped breasts, and the smell of him alone filled her with delight. She was happy, really happy and no one was going to interfere with that.
Jimmy never tired of this spectacle. He could watch Mags feed his Joseph all day and all night, it was to him the most beautiful sight in the world. They had been given a second chance and they were determined to make it work.
Freddie Jackson had blighted all their lives in one way or another and now he was long buried and the wounds he had inflicted on them all were healing over.
He felt the difference more and more every day. Even the girls were coming to terms with the devastation that had passed for their lives. They were closer than ever before, and they were gradually fleeing the nest that he had provided for them with Maggie.
He had achieved so much in his life, he had worked for his family, he had tried to live a good life, and it was his duty now not to let Freddie Jackson spoil his happiness in any way.
If Freddie had left a legacy, it was to push the remaining family closer together. As Ozzy had always told him, find a positive instead of a negative, and you will find your life is much easier to bear. The Jackson clan was still strong and new recruits would be added all the time. Rox had already started the ball rolling for the girls.
The Jackson empire would live on, and he was determined to pass it over to this little lad here. Otherwise, what the fuck was it all for?
He smiled at his lovely wife and basked in his own happiness, because being a Jackson he had learned the hard way that you never knew how long this feeling was going to last.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank all the people who kept me company through the long nights of writing. Beenie Man, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Barrington Levy, Usher, 50 Cent, Free, Ms Dynamite, The Stones, The Doors, Oasis, The Prodigy, Bob Marley, Neil Young, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Janis Joplin, Ian Dury, Clint Eastwood and General Saint, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Charles Mingus, Edith Piaf, Canned Heat, Steel Pulse, Peter Tosh, Alabama 3… to name but a few.
About the Author
Martina Cole is the No. 1 bestselling author of eleven hugely successful novels. Her most recent novel, The Graft, was No. 1 on the Sunday Times hardback bestseller list for eleven weeks, as well as a Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller in paperback, and The Know was selected by Channel 4's Richard amp;Judy as one of the Top Ten Best Reads of 2003. Maura's Game and Faceless both shot straight to No. 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller lists and total sales of Martina's novels now exceed four million copies. Dangerous Lady and The Jump have gone on to become hugely popular TV drama series and several of her other novels are in production for TV. Martina Cole has a son and daughter and she lives in Essex.
