‘You’re the strong one, Donna, if you only knew it. You had to be stronger than bleeding Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep a man like Georgio for twenty years. Don’t put yourself down, love. You’ve done a great job. Your strength is greater because you never knew you were fighting for Georgio. You never knew the competition.

‘I’ve watched out for it all my married life. Davey never even tried to hide it from me. I’ve found letters, phone numbers, smelt other women’s perfume, and washed off lipstick that ain’t mine. That’s why I watch him like a hawk nowadays. You’d be surprised at the silly little bitches who want a bit of excitement with a local villain, and that’s all Davey is to them. To me he’s Davey from Plaistow, Davey I went to school with, Davey I married, and Davey the father of my four kids. I was seven months pregnant when that bastard finally married me and I even had to fight for that. I’ve been fighting for him ever since.’

Donna asked softly, ‘Was he worth it? All that fighting?’

Carol sat up straight and grinned, her hard countenance back in place once more. Carol the hard nut. Carol the villain’s wife. ‘Some nights when I laid in bed waiting for the bastard to come home, I wondered.’

‘And now?’ Donna’s voice was even softer.

Carol laughed ironically. ‘Now? Now it had better have been, darling, or I’ve wasted the best part of my bloody life.’

Donna didn’t laugh. She lit a cigarette and pulled deeply on it before saying, ‘He’s wasted his too then, if that’s the case, because if he didn’t want you, why is he still here?’

Carol bit on her lip and thought before she said seriously, ‘Because I’m the mother of his children, love. No long-legged bimbo can compete with that. I had my Jamie at forty-one to keep that fucker in his place. He idolises her, she’s his baby. That’s all I have going for me these days and I’m honest enough to admit it.’

‘Then you’ve got more going for you than I have, Carol.’

Carol could have bitten her tongue for what she had just said. Instead she shook her head sadly.

‘That’s what I was trying to tell you - you’ve kept Georgio without any shackles whatsoever. With a man like him, that’s no mean feat.’

Donna stood up. ‘Oh, there were shackles, Carol. The only thing was, they were all on me.’ She walked unsteadily to the door and opened it. ‘If you get any more thoughts on Sri Lanka, let me know, won’t you?’