Her dad knew that she wasn’t as innocent about it as she let on, of that much she was sure. Her dad was of the opinion that his lifestyle was something she should appreciate and respect even if she was not an active part of it. As always with her dad, it was a mass of contradictions, which pretty much summed up him and his personality perfectly.

Tania was aware that she was pretty, but there were not many boys in her orbit brave enough to ask her for a date. That hurt. It made her feel different once more, and not in a good way. It was in junior school that she had started to realise that her family were different somehow to those of her friends’. She was always offered the starring role in the nativity play, she was never ever picked on, everyone she knew was overly nice to her; if she went to friends’ houses, their parents treated her as if her presence was what they had lived for all their lives. When she had started to understand, she had felt awful, questioning if people liked her for herself not just because of her name. Even now, in sixth-form college, she was still treated differently to her peers, but she had finally accepted it; she had no choice. She couldn’t change her family. Whereas Delroy Junior had embraced the Bailey name, she had always played it down, making sure that she was never seen as too big for her boots, or spoiled.

She wondered sometimes if her mum knew how she felt, and that was why she over-compensated. Whatever the reason, she knew that, as mums went, she had one of the best ever.

‘Can I help you, Mum?’

Lena smiled and Tania saw sadly that age was finally creeping up on her mum. Her Auntie Ria still wore a lot of make-up, still dressed well for her age, whereas her mum had lost interest. She was happy enough in her house, watching her soaps, and immersing herself in the latest series of Law & Order – she loved the American crime programmes especially. Tania knew her mum lived what she would judge to be a good life; she was content.

‘You’re all right, lovely. I’ll be finished in a minute, and we can have a cuppa together. Did you enjoy last night?’

Tania forced a smile. ‘Yeah, it was all right. Personally, I think that Bernadette’s a moron, but Petey knows his own mind, I suppose.’

Lena sighed and, looking at her daughter, her lovely, innocent daughter, she said lightly, ‘Listen to your old mum, Tania. You’ll look back on these last few years and laugh about it one day. When you’re older and you grow up a bit more, you’ll see the crush you’ve got on Petey as no more than the product of a young girl’s fancy.’