Christmas to Come: a heartbreaking coming of age saga set in London's East End by Carol Rivers (first e reader txt) 📕

'No, I'm all right. It was just that awful smoke. I couldn't breathe and it made me cough.' Bella sat down at the table.

'You used to eat a good breakfast every day.' When Bella didn't reply she sighed, saying wearily, 'Don't concern yourself over Micky, because he's not worth it. He was bound to upset someone, sooner or later. If it wasn't Sammy Stratton, it would have been another Face. I warned Lenny so often, I got sick of hearing my own voice.'

'But Micky never intended to harm Tony Stratton,' Bella was quick to defend.

'Bella, ducks, you can't see the wood from the trees where Micky is concerned,' Gina said fiercely. 'He's an opportunist and lives to make number one happy. God knows what happened today, but Micky draws in the bad. Ronnie, his own brother, is lucky to be alive. If that knife had gone any deeper it would have done for him. Now, I've never met Ronnie before, but what he told me as he laid in Mum's bed, was enough to freeze the blood in my veins. Even he maintains that you and Terry would be better out of it. I'm not saying this to benefit myself, but you kids was doing all right with me. Now you're in the shit right up to your armpits and so is my Lenny.'

'I love Micky, Gina. And he loves me.'

'You're sure of that?'

'He doesn't show it, but I know he does.'

Gina pulled her frilly blue nightgown over her full breasts. 'You are only just turned seventeen, girl. I worry over you, can't help it. Now, don't look so sad, love, the world's not come to an end. Look at it another way, a miracle might happen and Micky turns into a straight geezer. If he does, I'll be the first one to admit my mistake. At least the Almighty, in all his wisdom, burnt down that den of iniquity tonight. Though I suppose we have this Sammy whatshisface to thank for that.'

Bella shook her head slowly. 'It wasn't Sammy Stratton who started the fire, Gina. It was Lenny.'

'What!'

'He made what he called bottle bombs from the neat wash in the tank. Sammy's men had guns and started shooting and so Lenny and Micky threw the bottles out the window. One of them landed on a car and it burst into flames. The fire spread to the other car beside it and then the warehouse caught light.'

'My Lenny making bombs?' Gina gasped. 'Where did he learn how to do that?'

'From your mum's books, he told us. These Molotov Cocktails were used in the Spanish Civil War against the Russian tanks. Only then they had petrol in them not Lenny's formula.'

The two women looked at one another as Gina's jaw dropped. 'Him and his formulas!'

'None of us realized it was so inflammable. When the wash inside the tank got really warm it exploded. We just managed to run clear before the roof blew off and took a couple of cars with it.'

'Was Sammy and his men inside?'

'There was too much smoke to see. It was everywhere, big black clouds blowing all over the island.'

'So that's why Ronnie wants to lie low, in case Sammy is alive and kicking?'

Bella nodded silently.

'A blaze like that will be seen right up to the city,' Gina said eventually. 'The papers are going to love it.'

Bella shuddered. 'They might be reporting us dead if it wasn't for Lenny.'

Gina's dark eyes widened. 'Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?'

Bella had no answer to that. She was still unable to believe it had all happened. Had Sammy Stratton escaped or had he perished in that terrible inferno?

Bella was feeling sick again. She had not seen her periods since making love with Micky and the dread that had been growing inside her was now a real fear. Visiting the doctor had been way down on her list of priorities, but she knew now that a visit had to be made. She hadn't let herself think about the baby. Didn't want to believe it could be true. And yet, when she did, a tenderness filled her. If it was a mother's instinct, then it was powerful, lighting up the world before reality set in. What would Micky say if she told him?

Up at the crack of dawn, she washed and dressed in an old blue working skirt and brown jumper. She had taken her good clothes to the still, all part of her private dream to be Micky's wife. Now all her treasured possessions had gone up in smoke.

Ronnie was awake when she went in. As she pulled back the curtains he screwed up his eyes against the pale morning sun. He was sitting up, his broad shoulders bare against the white pillows. The strips of old sheeting that Gina had wound round him were unsoiled and Bella nodded to them. 'You're still in one piece, then?'

'Thanks to you and Gina.' Ronnie smiled, the stubble on his jaw thick and dark.

'I'll cook you some breakfast and bring it in.'

'If I don't get my arse into action today, I'll be laying down permanently, six feet under.'

'You should rest. Let the wound heal.'

'Listen, sit down, I want to talk to you.'

She sat on the chair beside the bed. If this was going to be a lecture on Micky, she didn't want to hear it. But Ronnie's voice was soft when he spoke.

'I've been thinking all night and devised a plan,' he told her quietly. 'Whether or not Sammy Stratton is alive, I will still need to recruit muscle, because I am not getting caught with my trousers down again. I'm going back to the club bright and early, make the place tight as a drum. Sid and Bernie are there and I'll brief them in on what to say if Old Bill sniffs round. The story is, the club was closed yesterday because of a ruptured water main. A minor flood with witnesses and a wet carpet