Christmas to Come: a heartbreaking coming of age saga set in London's East End Carol Rivers (best sales books of all time .txt) 📖

'What about Micky?'

'He has been running the club with me and Joyce for the past three months and let anyone try to disprove it. As for you and Terry I want you both to stay here. Plaster a smile on your face and act as though you've not set foot outside this place all weekend. It's business as usual and no one will know any different if you don't tell them.'

But Bella was alarmed. 'It's not me I'm worried about. It's Micky.'

Ronnie looked at her and smiled. 'I don't know what today will bring, but one thing I will say to you, Micky is a lucky bloke. He doesn't deserve you or what you did for him yesterday.'

'It wasn't just for him,' Bella said, unable to stop herself.

'What do you mean?'

Bella looked down. 'I'm expecting a baby.'

Ronnie was silent, his grey eyes staring into hers as he searched her face. 'Does Micky know?' he asked at last.

She shook her head, drawing her fingers across her wet cheeks.

'As I said,' he murmured as his black eyebrows knitted together, deepening the grooves between them. 'He is a lucky man, even luckier now that he has his own family to take care of. His blood will be the new generation. What man could ask for more?'

She looked up in surprise. 'I hope Micky sees it like that.'

'If you want my advice, wait until this is over,' he replied after a pause. 'As you well know, Micky is the biggest of kids himself and his little toy has just been taken away. He's not in the best of moods. But you are going to be part of this family, Bella and you will need a tough skin. Develop it as quickly as you can.'

Bella heard the kindness in his voice. Where Micky was concerned, she was weak and they both knew it. But it was advice from someone who loved him as much as she did and she took comfort from this.

'Now, I will take you up on that breakfast,' he told her, his tone matter of fact once more. 'I'll come to the kitchen as soon as I'm dressed. Then I'll take Micky and Sean to the club.'

'How will we know you're all right?' Bella asked anxiously.

'I'll send word. Now, get yourself out of here, girl.'

She left the room and in the kitchen, tied on her apron, as her stomach revolted at the sight of bacon. But at least she had shared her secret with Ronnie and having done so, she felt stronger.

After Ronnie, Micky and Sean had left, Gina sent Lenny for a newspaper.

'It's here!' Lenny exclaimed when he returned and spread the paper over the kitchen table. 'Not much, though. A couple of paragraphs entitled "Warehouse Fire".

'Read it out,' Gina said as she fried the bacon.

' "A disused – "' Lenny stopped abruptly, gulping his breath. 'Hear that? Disused, meaning they don't know we was in it!'

'All right, all right, don't get excited,' Gina warned over her shoulder. 'What else?'

' "A disused warehouse caught fire on the Isle of Dogs and was attended by the fire brigade last night," ' Lenny continued. "The smoke from the blaze was seen as far away as Nelson Dock south of the river." '

'Go on, get to the important bit,' Gina told him impatiently said as she broke eggs into the pan. 'Was anyone found? Did anyone see anything?'

Lenny read on, mouthing silently, then nodded. 'It says the remains of unidentified bodies were discovered in the burnt out shells of two cars nearby.'

'Oh, Christ,' Gina gulped, handing the plates to Bella. 'Do they say who they were?'

Lenny looked up at them woefully. 'No, they were burned beyond recognition.'

Bella's face paled as she imagined the gruesome discovery and Lenny's face showed he was thinking the same.

'I never intended to kill anyone,' he whispered, his eyes full of remorse. 'I didn't think those bottles were that lethal.'

'Look, Lenny,' Gina said firmly as she turned sharply from the stove, 'stop torturing yourself and us. You've been at it all night. Even in your sleep you was tossing and turning and yelling out like a stuck pig. Now, there is nothing you can do to change the past. It was self-defence, pure and simple. Does the paper say any more?'

He didn't look down, just stared into space.

Gina nodded to Bella. 'Take those breakfasts out whilst they're hot, love. And, as Ronnie said, try to act as normal. Someone has to around here.'

Bella looked at Lenny who seemed dazed, then took out the first fry-ups of the day. She knew Gina was attempting to help Lenny by taking a brusque attitude. To rally him and return him to normality. But even Bella could see that was not going to happen overnight. Lenny had taken the news badly, which showed he had a heart. Something that Sammy Stratton did not possess. For if he was still alive and kicking all three of them knew he would exact his own form of punishment without turning a hair.

Bella served the two meals to the men, smiling brightly as Ron and Gina had told her to do, hoping her worries didn't show on her face.

After the last customer had left, Bella washed down the tables and cleaned the floor, taking the pig bin into the yard where Gina was watching Lenny at work. She stood in her coat, chain smoking, frowning at his every move. Bella knew that Gina hadn't let him off the hook from his crimes. Which were, in her book, deserting her business in preference for Micky's still. It wasn't dead bodies that Gina was concerned with, unlike Lenny who was suffering under the weight of guilt.

'Have you shut up for the day?' Gina asked sharply as Bella appeared.

'Yes, and the kitchen's clean. Is there anything else you want me to do?'

Gina's scowl softened. 'No thanks. Me and Lenny will be finished here soon. It took us all day to shift the rats. If I had sixpence for every