Jessica looked at Eddie in amazement. He had obviously known about Dominic all along. ‘It was you that ended their relationship, wasn’t it? What did you do, beat Dominic up? Threaten to kill him? Violence is all you know, isn’t it, Eddie? Well, that might be part of your world, but it’s not part of mine. I’m a good mother and I love my children whatever they are.’

Eddie gave a sarcastic laugh. ‘Yeah, and you’ve done a fantastic job, ain’t ya? We’ve got a daughter out on the piss all night, shagging Christ knows who and a son who’s away with the fucking fairies. Well done, Jess, what a wonderful job you did. You see, when our next baby is born, I’m taking over the parenting and I mean that, Jess. Our next kid will be raised my way.’

Jessica burst into tears, ‘You can be such a nasty bastard at times, Eddie, you really can.’

Eddie picked up his keys. Usually, whenever Jessica turned on the waterworks, it tugged at his heartstrings, but not today. He was furious with her for allowing Joey to carry on seeing Dominic, fucking furious. ‘I’m going down the pub, don’t wait up,’ he said, as he slammed the front door.

Hearing their dad’s car pull off the drive, Joey and Frankie both ran downstairs. They had been earwigging and had heard every word.

‘Well, at least I now know why Dominic finished with me. I’m just relieved he’s not in love with someone else. I’m gonna meet him from work next week, tell him I know that my dad paid him a visit. Maybe we can sort things out. What do you think, Mum?’

Jessica smiled sadly. Joey had caused all this fracas, yet he was only bothered about himself. Frankie was the same – in fact, she was probably even more selfish than Joey was. Perhaps Eddie was right. Maybe she was a terrible mother and should let him bring up the next child, the way that he saw right.

‘Are you OK, Mum?’ Joey asked, aware that she was looking at him strangely.

‘Not really. I’m going to have a lie down.’

Without even glancing back at her children, Jessica tearfully left the room.

Not that far away, someone else was planning to cause a spot of bother. Jimmy O’Hara was well aware that Eddie Mitchell had been creeping into one of their local pubs recently. Michael Murphy was a cousin of Patrick’s and he spent half his life propping up the bar of the Optimist.

Three days ago, on finding out his son was dating Frankie Mitchell, Jimmy had given Michael a ring. ‘As soon as Eddie Mitchell comes into that pub again, call me. I’ll make it worth your while, Mickey boy,’ Jimmy told him.

Jimmy was feeding his chickens when his mobile phone rang.