Chapters (56)
To Charlie, a strong work ethic was one of the most important things in life because nothing in life came free. He of all people should know that, and now Shannon, thanks to his sister, knew that as well. Still, even he knew on occasion there were exceptions to those rules.
He grinned, digging into his trouser pocket, and winked at Shannon as he pulled out a small off-white rock of crack cocaine, throwing it to her gently.
‘You’d thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you? Well I hadn’t … Happy birthday, Shan. Now you can’t say I don’t give you anything … Come on then, come and give your uncle a birthday kiss.’
3
Another person who seemed to have Alfie on their mind was Franny Doyle, but it was another couple of hours before she’d cleaned herself up and found herself walking slowly along the bustling streets of Soho towards their club just off Sutton Row.
Although Soho had changed a lot over the years, she still felt at home here. It gave her a certain kind of peace like nowhere else did.
She’d been raised in the small square mile of Soho and around each and every corner were memories. Happy childhood memories, and she could almost feel the ghosts of the past.
She smiled sadly to herself as she walked past St Anne’s Church on Dean Street, remembering how her father Patrick, a number-one face, had once raced her home from there to their large house in Soho Square; him running, and her pedalling away on the new pink bike he’d given her, like her life depended on it. And they’d laughed hard and hysterically whilst the rain lashed down, and they’d been soaked to the skin but it hadn’t mattered, not one little bit.
Until those days had become complicated, they were happy ones. And she supposed that’s what she missed most of all. The simple pleasures. The laughter, something that was certainly absent from her life of late, though one thing that being back had done was reconnect her with the past, and take away any doubts she had. It made her see even more clearly what was important to her, and that was family. Family came in all different ways and in all different manners. Family didn’t need to be about blood, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t protect them like they were. No matter what it took. No matter what she had to do.