Annie grinned. ‘Seven.’

‘Done.’

Jonnie H. grinned too as Danny shook hands with Annie. ‘I’ll let you know the dates nearer at hand. It’ll be within the next few weeks. The car will be supplied as will your clothes for the actual going to work. All you have to do is keep out of fights and we’ll all be on the go before you know it.’

‘Nice doing business with you both.’

Annie smiled and showed them to the door. As she walked back into the front room, Jonnie laughed at her.

‘You’re a girl! You know we’d earmarked ten grand apiece.’

‘And that’s exactly what Calder will think they’re getting. We deserve to make a few quid on this one. Actually I was out to offer eight. Men, eh? You never value yourselves highly enough. Leave it to a mere woman to rip you off!’

She placed a hand across her swollen belly. ‘This baby had better get a move on, Jonnie. Once this blag’s over we’ll be at the hundred grand mark.’

He grinned. ‘I’ve already seen a smallholding in Wales. Thirty-seven grand. That’ll leave us plenty to live on, with just the occasional bit of work. I want to get the kids out of this slum.’

Annie raised her eyebrows and said seriously, ‘But will we ever get the slums out of the kids, eh?’

Jonnie shook his head. ‘That, my love, remains to be seen.’

Annie settled herself on the leather settee and picked up her knitting. ‘You’d better let Calder and Alan know the score. We’re ready for the off. At least, as ready as we’ll ever be.’

Jonnie nodded. ‘I’ll ring them now.’

As Annie began to knit the small bootees, she said over her shoulder, ‘By the way, stick the kettle on while you’re out there. I could murder a cup of tea.’

Jonnie H. chuckled as he dialled Alan’s number. Only his Annie could have ever made him so happy. She was phenomenal. His father had said to him years before in a joking way: ‘Marry a whore, son, she can’t sink no lower.’

Well, his father had been right in a lot of respects. When you were a whore at Kings Cross, the only place for you was up, or into the ground itself. Annie wanted to go up and she had taken him with her.

For that he would always be grateful.

Jamesie stroked the Rottweiler bitch’s head and spoke to her soothingly.

‘There, my little darling, out it comes. There’s a good girl. There’s a beauty if ever I saw one.’

He lifted the new puppy and placed it gently at the bitch’s head. She began to lick it, pulling it out of the birth sac with the help of Jamesie and her own teeth.