Authors: Casey Kelleher
“Well...” Sophia hated lying to her nan, even if it was only a little white one.
Seeing Sophia’s struggle to think of why she had kept her friend’s occupation a secret, Nessa giggled. “Oh, you girls... You do know that being eighty years young does mean that I wasn’t born yesterday, don’t you? I know what she does. God, I’d have to be blind not to realise, the girl looked cheaper than the Pound Shop. I was just being polite and playing along. Your friends are your business, Sophia. She seems genuinely nice, and that’s all that matters. Now, on Dolly’s recommendation, grab me a packet of those Hobnobs. Here, we should have invited her back to the ward. She’d have given that brazen flasher opposite us a run for her money.”
Nessa chuckled to herself as she wheeled over to the till, leaving Sophia speechless.
Hearing the knock at the door, Dolly gave the room a once-over, checking that everything was spotless, before she went to greet her friend. Suddenly, letting Sophia see her in her own environment made Dolly feel nervous. What if Sophia didn’t like what she saw? She took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Ah, Sophia, I’m so glad you came.” Dolly hugged her friend. “Come in, come in.”
Sophia walked through the hallway and into the lounge, surprised at what she saw. The lounge had white walls and minimal décor; it looked more like a show-home than the stereotypical pimp’s den.
“Right, so Trevor has gone on a hot date with his fella, and I’ve been left holding the baby. Long story short: Trevor’s boyfriend, who has a little kid, turned up saying they needed somewhere to stay for a few days, so Trevor has taken him out to wine and dine him and I’ve been lumbered with babysitting duties.” Dolly smiled apologetically. “Hope you don’t mind. She’s in my bed watching movies that I’ve bribed her with to make her stay quiet, but I can’t promise you that she won’t be trouble. Proper little madam she is.”
“I don’t mind at all,” Sophia said. The only thing she cared about was the fact that this Trevor wouldn’t be home. Just seeing Dolly again, with her upbeat chatter and her permanent smile, made Sophia feel at ease. Dolly strolled through to the kitchen, indicating that Sophia should follow, and offered her friend a glass of wine. Feeling herself tear up as Dolly handed her a glass, Sophia laughed.
“God, look at me. I’m an emotional wreck. So much has happened, Dolly, and then seeing you today...” she trailed off. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Dolly didn’t need Sophia to explain; she knew what she meant. When you had been sharing a cell twenty-four seven, you could quickly get to know someone on a deep level. Dolly knew how Sophia felt about her, and she felt exactly the same about Sophia.
“I know, love, me too; what are we like?” Dolly led the way back into the lounge, sat on one of the sofas and nodded to Sophia to take the opposite one.
“So?” Dolly asked, as she tucked her feet underneath her. “How’s your nan?”
Sipping her wine, Sophia sat back on the sofa feeling herself relax for the first time that day. “She is fine, thank God. But it’s a long story, so first tell me exactly what the hell happened between you and Cockroach.”
The girls spent the next hour telling each other everything that had happened since they had been freed. Dolly admitted to Sophia about what Roache had done, and Sophia told her about Jonathan breaking into her nan’s house and smashing up the place. Pouring the last dregs of the wine into the two glasses, Dolly thought how much she was enjoying Sophia’s company.
“Wow, how did it get to be so late? I'm starving: bet you are too. Shall we order food?” Dolly asked. It was almost half-past nine, but as Trevor and Jono probably wouldn’t be home until at least midnight they should have plenty of time to have dinner so that Sophia could get away without encountering them. “Trevor’s been going on all day about this fancy restaurant they’re going to; they’re having seven courses, the greedy sods. They’re probably only just on their second ones by now. Then knowing him they’ll go to a few bars afterwards. He’s on a proper mission to cheer up his fella. Shall I order us a curry?”
Sophia nodded to indicate that was fine with her.
“I’ll have anything as long as it’s chicken and spicy,” she said as she kicked off her shoes off. She sunk back into the chair and closed her eyes, while Dolly grabbed the phone and went into the kitchen to get the menu and order some food. Sophia smiled to herself as she sat in the blissfully relaxing room, surrounded by the flickering lights of the candles. Tonight was the first time since she had been out that she had felt normal. Dolly was a real tonic; the only person that Sophia knew other than her nan who didn’t judge her.
“Dolly,” a little voice called from upstairs.
Sophia sat still, not knowing whether to get up and check on the child. Dolly wouldn’t be much longer, so it probably wasn’t necessary.
“Dolly.”
Sophia decided that it wouldn’t hurt if she just made sure that the girl was okay. She made her way up the stairs; she would just stick her head around the door and see if the little girl needed anything. Dolly could go up and see to her once she was done.
“Right, chicken madras and a chicken bhuna coming right up... Sophia?” Dolly realised the room was empty. She figured that Sophia was in the toilet.
Dolly opened another bottle of wine and filled up the two glasses. After sitting patiently for a good five minutes, Dolly thought she would go and check. Knowing her luck the kid was up to her tricks again; maybe Sophia was trying to settle her.
“Are you alright in here?” Dolly walked into her bedroom and saw Sophia, tears streaming down her face, sitting on the bed and hugging Rosie tightly.
“What’s going on?” At first, Dolly thought that the kid had had a nightmare, but Sophia was holding onto the girl for dear life as she rocked her back and forwards: she looked more distraught than the child she was holding.
“Rosie, what’s the matter?” Dolly asked, wondering if she was going to have to get the phone and interrupt Trevor’s hot date.
Rosie looked confused, and Sophia was beside herself with tears.
“Soph, I think you’d best go downstairs and leave little Rosie to me.”
It must have really screwed Sophia’s head up having her baby taken away from her if this was her reaction to every child that she came into contact with.
“Dolly, it’s Rosie.”
“I know, darling: I told you that. Come on, let’s go downstairs.” Dolly wondered if Sophia was losing the plot. Rosie was probably petrified that Dolly had let this lunatic in. Sophia was hugging her tightly to her, and Dolly could see that while the girl didn’t seem too distressed, she didn’t look too comfortable either. Sophia was obviously unstable, and Dolly could have kicked herself for being so gullible. Trust her to finally make a real friend only for her to turn out to be a nut-job.
“No, Dolly.” Sophia held Rosie’s face in her hands and kissed the girl’s forehead. “This is my Rosie. This is my daughter.”
Rosie started crying then. It was all too much for her.
“I want my gran,” the little girl sobbed.
“Right, Sophia, I think it’s time that you left actually,” Dolly said, suddenly feeling worried about Sophia’s state of mind. She was clearly delusional and the fact that she was gripping Rosie tightly and still rocking her backwards and forwards only added to the madness of the situation. If it got back to Jono that she had let some weirdo touch his child, he would hit the roof.
“She is my mummy, Dolly,” Rosie said in a quiet voice.
Dolly frowned. She felt like she had woken up in the middle of a film having slept through the early and crucial scenes.
“You said Trevor has a boyfriend,” Sophia said. “His name’s Jonathan, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah, It’s Jono.”
“Rosie, darling, tell Dolly the names of your nanny and granddad, they are called Bernie and Stanley, aren’t they?” Sophia asked.
Rosie nodded, really crying now. “I want you to take me to see them. I miss my granny.”
“Shush, don’t cry, darling.” Sophia hugged the girl closer, and Rosie tried to wriggle free from her clasp.
“Bloody hell.” Dolly sat on the end of the bed. “I’m sorry, Sophia, for a minute I thought you were tripping out on me. Your daughter... what are the chances, huh?”
Looking at Sophia and Rosie, Dolly could see the truth staring her right in the face. They both had the same pale skin and red curly hair: they were clearly mother and daughter.
“Oh my God, Sophia,” Dolly said as she remembered something. Taking a half-eaten packet of Polos out of her pocket, she gave the mints to Rosie to keep her quiet for a few minutes.
“Don’t cry, darling,” she said softly. “We’ll get this all sorted out.”
Grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her over to the bedroom door, Dolly brought her voice down to a whisper so that the child wouldn’t overhear.
“Jesus,” Dolly said as she shook her head. “If you’re Rosie’s mum, then... You ain’t going to like this, Soph, but I’ve overheard Jono slagging you off. I’ve never heard him speak about anyone the way he has done about you, real venom in his voice.”
“Go on.” Sophia watched Dolly pause, uncertain whether to continue. But Sophia didn’t think that things could get any worse, so Dolly may as well come out and say whatever it was that she had heard.
“He said that it was because of him that you’d been sent away.”
“What do you mean, he got me sent away? I don’t get it. What exactly did he say?” Sophia’s brow creased, as she wondered what Jonathan would gain by making something like that up. It didn’t make sense.
“God, Soph, it was about two years ago now, I wasn’t really paying much attention. Jono was always spouting his mouth off about something to Trevor. I thought he was just trying to impress him, you know. But I remember he told Trevor that you’d been sent down for murder and that Trevor didn’t have to worry about you... you were off the scene. Trevor’s a jealous fucker, Soph, and I think he was checking where the land lay with you and Jono before he rushed into anything with him. Anyway Trevor had a bee in his bonnet and was convinced that Jono had feelings for you, because he’d got you pregnant. So Jono had told him everything.”
Dolly wasn’t sure if she could continue, especially with Rosie in the room, but seeing the look on Sophia’s face she knew she had to tell her everything. Her voice even quieter now, Dolly continued, “He said he murdered your father, Sophia. He stabbed him and left him to die. And you were done for it. The creepy fucker laughed so hard I think even Trevor was freaked out.”
Sophia felt dizzy, but she said: “Go on.”
As Dolly was opening her mouth to say more, there was the sound of a key scraping in the front-door lock.
“Hello,” Trevor called from downstairs.
“Holy fuck,” Dolly said, hearing footsteps wandering around downstairs, and a bunch of keys being thrown down on the table. “They’re home early. Something must be up. You’re going to have to hide, Soph. If Jono finds you here he’ll bloody well string us both up.”
Holding Rosie firmly by the shoulders, Sophia spoke as calmly as she could. “Rosie darling, this is really important. I want you to do something for me, okay? I need you to lie down and pretend to be asleep when your daddy comes in.”
Jonathan was likely to check on Rosie, and Sophia couldn’t risk him staying long enough to find her. Rosie shook her head disobediently, and then surprisingly did as she was asked as she shuffled down the bed and closed her eyes tightly.
“I’ll go down and find out what’s going on,” Dolly said. “You get under the bed till the coast is clear, Sophia.”
Dolly switched the main light off and left the room. Making her way downstairs, she put on her biggest smile.
“You two are back early, everything okay?” Dolly could tell that things were anything but: Trevor was sitting on one sofa with his arms folded while Jono, who she now thought of as Jonathan, sat stony-faced on the opposite one.
Seeing Sophia’s shoes on the floor, Dolly grabbed them and put them behind a chair, then started tidying the rest of the room. “God, look at me, eh, a right slob, aren’t I? I just checked on Rosie, Jono.”
Dolly smiled at Jonathan. “Sleeping beauty, she is; been an angel all night. She must have conked out the second you left. So, how was your evening?”
“Oh, you know, mostly shit.” Trevor’s tone made it clear that he and Jono were doing their usual routine of arguing and sulking, probably over nothing as usual, before they ended up in bed, noisily making it up to each other. They had the most fucked-up relationship Dolly had ever seen, and that was saying something.
“Oh no. Well, I’ve just ordered a curry, so if you haven’t eaten I can plate you some up when it arrives? Think my eyes were bigger than my belly when I ordered.”
“Whatever,” Trevor said sulkily.
“Perfect timing,” Dolly said as the doorbell rang a few minutes later, grateful that it had broken the awkward silence in the room. As she was dishing up the curry onto three plates, Jonathan came out into the kitchen.
“What were you doing while we were out?” He put a piece of chicken into his mouth.
“Oh, just watching a bit of telly and chilling out,” Dolly said nervously. Jonathan stared intently at her, like he knew what she was thinking. All those times that Sophia had spoken about the evil Jonathan, and it had been Jono all along: it made sense.
“There’s a lot of food here for one person,” Jonathan said.
“Think I went a bit overboard?” Dolly continued to spoon the food onto the plates. Her shoulders tensed as she spoke. “This is what eating prison food does to you, been craving this for weeks.”
“And the wine?”
“What about it?”
“There are two full glasses.” Dolly must think he was stupid. When he grabbed her wrist, she dropped the spoon and curry sauce landed on the worktop.
“Jono, you’re hurting me.”
Jonathan had always disliked Dolly. He didn’t know why Trevor was fond of her: she spoke to him so disrespectfully; if Jonathan had his way she would be down the road living in the brothel with Trevor’s other slags.
“Do you think I’m fucking stupid, Dolly? Did you think that I wouldn’t find out?”
Jono twisted her arm so hard that Dolly was convinced he was going to break it. “Please, Jono, you’re hurting me.”
“What the fuck’s going on in here?” Trevor had come to see what the commotion was about.
Jonathan squeezed Dolly’s skinny wrist tighter before pushing her away. “I know that you’re sometimes a bit slow off the mark, Trevor, so let me enlighten you. There’s enough curry here to feed about four people, for starters.”
“So the girl can put her food away.”
“Well, what about that then?” He pointed into the lounge to the two glasses of wine on the coffee table. “She’s had someone here.”
Trevor stared at Dolly. She knew better than to let anyone come back to the house.
“You got a fella here?” Trevor knew how precious Jono was about his kid; Dolly should have been babysitting, not letting some man get his end away.