‘Fair enough. Look into it. If I am still away, you talk to Jack and he will set you right, OK?’

Sharon was over the moon and, as she fed the baby, she felt a feeling of complete happiness wash over her. She was so very lucky. She had a beautiful baby, a beautiful home, a handsome husband who loved her and now she would also have two businesses.

‘How long are you going to be gone?’

Lenny shrugged. ‘Not sure, darling. But I will call you often.’

‘OK, mate.’

Reggie was amazed at just how compliant she was. No where you going? Who with? What for? This was a girl who trusted her husband completely. If only the poor cow knew.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Sometimes Sharon wondered at her friendship with Geraldine Dornan. They were such different people yet they got on like a house on fire. She wondered if it was because of the friendship between Lenny and Reggie. They had become best mates overnight it seemed. She was pleased about that though. Reggie wasn’t one for going out drinking all the time and he was not a womaniser either. Sharon understood that in the world they lived in womanising was the norm for a majority of the men. She knew that Lenny loved her and, in the years they had been together, he had never once caused her a minute’s upset.

Geraldine had got involved in a bad situation with Jason Prior, and she had explained everything to Sharon; about how exciting he had seemed at first and how she had finally realised that he’d been using her all along. That had hurt her so much, because she had believed he cared for her. Geraldine had a way of explaining things that made them feel normal – not scary. She was sensible, Sharon supposed. She certainly didn’t sugar-coat anything though – she said it the way it was.

Sharon wasn’t a fool; she knew that her husband had taken Jason Prior out, but she did what she always did with unpleasant facts and just tried not to think about it. After the Keith Smith incident it was the only way she’d been able to live with the knowledge. As far as she was concerned, Lenny had his reasons, and that was pretty much good enough for her. Unlike her mother, she didn’t feel the urge to go in and out of the cat’s arse looking for hidden agendas. Plus she trusted her husband; he would always make sure she was well cared and provided for.

Geraldine was making little Lenny laugh, and Sharon smiled at her son’s obvious pleasure. Gerry was very good with him, and he had more than taken to her.

‘I would love a baby of my own. It must be great having someone who loves you unconditionally, you know? So dependent on you.’