Outside in the rain, Franny paced about as she spoke on the phone. She’d never met Ma Dwyer, but she’d heard of her. Heard of the twisted relationship she’d had with her sons and heard how brutally she’d treated Bree. So, the idea that Ma had Mia felt worse than when she hadn’t known where she was.
And on top of that, the other problem she now had was the fact that Charlie was Ma’s brother, and she had no idea if Alfie knew that or not. Of course, Charlie and Alfie went back a long way, back to when they were kids, but when Alfie had spoken about Charlie’s family earlier, he didn’t seem to know anything about them. So hopefully, he could never put two and two together. Hopefully Charlie wouldn’t speak to Alfie about Mia. Though again, it was all about hope and hope certainly wasn’t going to help her now, especially as she’d blamed Charlie for the fire, which meant Alf would be paying Charlie a visit one way or another very soon. Somehow she needed to stop him.
She rubbed her head, feeling a migraine beginning to kick in. ‘Just give me Mia back, you understand, Ma?’
On the other end of the line, Ma Dwyer sat in her kitchen of the mobile home in Essex she’d once shared with her sons. She dipped the piece of white bread in the runny yolk of her fried egg before shovelling it into her mouth, leaving a dribble of yellow and white running down her chin.
‘I’m afraid I can’t do that, Franny … Shut up, you noisy little madam!’ Ma turned to shout at Mia who screamed in the corner of the untidy room.
Distressed, Franny clung on to the phone. She spoke gently, appealing, desperate. ‘Ma, please, please, don’t shout at her. She’s only a baby and she’s probably hungry. Have you fed her?’
Nastily, Ma sniffed, burping as she spoke. ‘Who do you think I am? Gordon fucking Ramsay? This ain’t a five-star hotel.’
‘I know, I know, but she still needs to be fed, Ma.’
Ma stared at Mia. ‘Listen here, by the looks of her she’s not only been eating too much, but she’s clearly been spoilt as well. It’ll do her good to know that when she cries people aren’t going to drop everything to run to her. She’ll soon learn. It never did my lot any harm sitting there all day. They soon get tired of screaming.’
Tears ran down Franny’s face as she listened to Mia continue to cry. ‘Ma, I’m begging you, just please, please pick her up.’
‘I ain’t a fucking forklift truck. Now do yourself a favour – stop begging and start talking and maybe that way we can come to some sort of arrangement. Where’s Bree anyway? I would’ve thought she’d be the one calling me.’
Keeping her voice even despite the fact she was trembling, Franny said, ‘She’s too upset … You took her baby, what do you expect?’
Scratching between the folds of fat on her neck, Ma sniffed. ‘But it’s not just her baby, is it? It’s Johnny’s. It’s my son’s baby as well, which means she’s my granddaughter. And he might not be around but that don’t mean I suddenly stop being her granny. And I know my son would’ve wanted me to have her.’
‘You can’t just take other people’s babies.’
Ma snapped, ‘Are you stupid or you just ain’t listening? She isn’t just other people’s, she’s my son’s.’
Franny spoke firmly. ‘Ma, she isn’t though. Mia isn’t Johnny’s baby.’
It was the first time Ma sounded unsure. ‘What do you mean? I may not be Einstein, but it doesn’t take him to work out when Bree fell pregnant. She was still with Johnny.’
Franny sighed, her migraine now pulsating behind her eyes as she thought about what Ma was saying. She remembered that in the beginning Bree had never been entirely sure whose baby Mia was, mainly because of the slight crossover between Alfie and her husband, Johnny. But to her there was no doubt. She knew Mia was Alfie’s. Watching Mia grow she could see her looking more and more like Alfie each day. Mia was the spitting image of her father.
A slight bit of hope came back into Franny’s voice. ‘No, Ma, Mia came early. She was premature. She’s Alfie’s baby, not Johnny’s. Look at her, Ma. Look at her face. You know Alfie. You can see that she looks like him. Go and look at her, please.’
‘But …’
‘Just do it, Ma.’
‘Okay, okay! Hold on …’ Irritated, Ma stood up, kicking the large tabby cat out of the way as she waddled over to the corner where Mia was sitting in her car seat. Holding the phone, she stared at Mia, seeing Alfie staring back at her.
‘Ma! Ma, are you still there?’ Franny called down the phone, knowing she had to play this right. After all, Mia might not be Johnny’s, but the fact was, Ma still had her.
Waddling back to her chair, Ma answered Franny, ‘Of course I’m still here.’
‘So, did you see? Can you see what I’m saying?’
Not wanting to admit it to Franny that rather than Mia being the image of her son, she was the image of Alfie, Ma tried to sound casual. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. All babies look the same to me.’
‘Maybe they do, Ma, but I’m sure the police would have something to say about kidnapping. Because that’s what this is. Mia has nothing to do with you, but you still took her.’
Ma laughed, though she didn’t feel as confident as she had done half an hour ago. ‘That’s ridiculous. You wouldn’t call the police – that ain’t what you lot do.’
Franny’s voice was cold and hard. ‘Believe me, Ma, I would do anything for Mia and I mean anything.’
Not liking how the conversation was going, Ma said, ‘I don’t want to speak to you anymore, I want to speak to Bree.’
‘Like I say, she’s too upset to talk.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that. I already know where she lives. Shannon told me. So maybe I’ll give her a knock.’
Franny’s head once again began to spin. How Shannon knew where Bree lived, she had no idea, but what she did know is that she needed to stay as calm as possible. ‘Do whatever you want, but she won’t speak to you.’
‘Then I’ll speak to Alfie.’
‘No!’ The minute she said it, Franny knew in that one little word, she’d spoken too quickly, had jumped too soon, had panicked too much. She chewed her lip, closing her eyes, hearing the pounding of her heart and hoping that Ma wouldn’t have picked up on her desperation.
A laugh came down the phone, loud and unpleasant. ‘Why not, Franny?’
Franny could feel that Ma had her on a hook. ‘Because, like Bree, he’s upset. Wouldn’t you be?’
‘Well, maybe getting a phone call from me will make him feel better.’
‘Don’t do that … Just don’t.’
Again, Ma roared with laughter, the sound mixing with Mia’s distressed cries. ‘He doesn’t know, does he? He doesn’t know about Mia.’
‘Of course he does. He’s her father, isn’t he?’
‘Or is it Bree he doesn’t know about?’
‘What are you talking about?’
Ma’s voice dripped with scorn although she spoke quietly. ‘Oh, Franny, who are you trying to kid? Something’s going on, I’m no fool. Bree was always a sly little bitch, and it doesn’t surprise me that you’re the same. And for one moment there I thought you had me … For one minute I really thought I’d have to hand back this little snot bag to you. But it turns out for one reason or another you don’t want Alfie to know what’s going on.’
Unable to hold her temper, Franny screamed down the phone, ‘Listen to me, Ma, you better just hand her over to me, you understand? This ain’t got nothing to do with Alfie.’
‘Why don’t we let him be the judge of that.’ The hoot of laughter from Ma incensed Franny more.
‘If you phone him, you’ll regret it. I’m warning you, Ma.’
‘No, Franny, I’m warning you: if you don’t give me what I want, then you’ll regret it because I will be phoning Alfie … Now this is how it’s going to go. I’m going to decide how much I want for Mia, and then I’ll call and let you know. Understand?’
Paling and barely able to speak, Franny nodded her head. ‘Perfectly.’
Ma chuckled nastily. ‘Good. And in the meantime, I think I’m going to pay that little mare a visit. I think it’s high time me and Bree had a chat about old times.’
And with that, Ma put down the phone, leaving Franny standing in the pouring rain. But a minute later, she began to run, jumping in her car and speeding off with only one thing on her mind.