TWENTY-FIVE

Danny watched the door shut behind him and walked through the prison gates. It was March, the sun was out and he appreciated the nice weather and clean fresh air, which he breathed in deeply. It was surprising how spending eighteen months stuck in a stinking shithole made you appreciate the simplest things in life.

Danny spotted Jimmy the Fish leaning against the door of his Jaguar, and strolled towards him.

'Hello, son,' Jimmy said, giving him a bear hug. On the way home, Jimmy filled Danny in with all the gossip. Taking a detour, he pulled up outside his pal's steakhouse in Barking. Smiling, Jimmy took an envelope out of the inside pocket of his jacket and chucked it at Danny.

'There's five grand in there, son. Just to give you a bit of spending money until you feel ready to come back to work. I thought it would be nice for you to spend a bit of time with Billie and the kid before you rush back into things.'

Danny tucked the envelope safely into his pocket. 'Cheers, Jim. I need to spend a bit of time with my family. Between me and you we wasn't getting on that well before I went away and I'm desperate to make things right again.'

Jimmy felt a surge of love for the boy who had done so much for him. Ever since his only son had been killed in that terrible accident, Jimmy had been aware of an emptiness inside. Nobody could understand his emotions. Only somebody who had lost a child would ever be able to relate to how he felt. Since Danny had been on the scene, Jimmy's loss had eased and the gap in his life had been filled.

Although no one could replace his precious boy, having Danny as a surrogate was definitely the next best thing.

'Come on, Dan, I'm gonna treat you to a nice juicy steak. We'll have a couple of bottles of champagne and then I'll drop you off at home so you can spend some quality time with Billie and the boy. Oh, and by the way, I'm taking you for a posh meal on Saturday. Late afternoon it'll be, so put your best togs on. I've cleared it with Billie Jo. I need to have a chat with you about the business. I wanna take you on as a partner, so we've got to set a few ground rules. I'll pick you up about four, son, OK?'

Danny was overjoyed and immediately decided to go out the following day and invest in a new suit. If he was gonna be business partners with Jimmy, he needed to look the part. He'd lost weight in prison and knew that all the good clobber he had indoors would now be miles too big for him. Half an hour later Danny rubbed his bloated stomach, and let out a loud sigh. 'That was the best meal I've ever had, Jim. The food in Brixton was absolutely fucking rotten.'

Laughing, Jimmy downed the rest of his champagne and shouted for the bill. 'That'll be a thing of the past for you now, son. It'll all be about champagne and caviar from now on, you wait and see.'

Danny smiled and stood up. 'Yeah, right. Are we ready to make tracks? I've got a beautiful bird and a little boy eagerly awaiting my arrival.'

Hugging Jimmy tightly, Danny thanked him for the money and meal and confirmed the arrangements for Saturday. As he walked up the path, he felt strange to be knocking at the door of the house that he had never seen before.

The sound of the doorbell made Billie jump. She had been a bundle of nerves all afternoon and had been knocking back alcohol just to calm herself down. Gingerly she opened the door.

'Hello, darling,' Danny said, handing her the bouquet of flowers that he'd purchased on the way back from Barking.

'Come and have a look around the new house, Dan. We've so much more room than we had in the flat and the garden is well cool,' Billie gabbled, not knowing what else to say. Danny followed Billie from room to room allowing her to show him around.

'Where's the baby, Bill?'

'He's having his afternoon sleep. I'll go and wake him up now. There's beers in the fridge, Dan. Go and pour yourself one and pour me a glass of wine while you're out there. I thought we'd have a drink and celebrate, as it's a special occasion.'

Danny did as he was told and sat in the living room. A minute later he heard the pitter-patter of tiny feet. Billie walked into the room followed by his very grown-up-looking son. Danny hadn't seen the kid for over a year. Billie had visited him alone, but apart from once, she had refused to take their son into the prison.

'Look, DJ, there's Daddy. I told you he was coming home today. Go and give him a cuddle, there's a good boy.' Clinging on to his mothers legs, DJ peeked shyly at the father he barely remembered.

'He ain't half grown since I last saw him, Bill. I love his haircut, it looks the bollocks.'

Billie knew that Danny was upset by his son's reaction to him. Holding DJ's hand, she led him towards his father.

'Don't be naughty now, DJ. Be a good boy and say a proper hello to your daddy.'

'I want Jamie,' DJ screamed, as he clung to his mother for dear life.

Fuming at his son's behaviour, but desperate not to show it, Danny quickly changed the subject. 'I've got to pop into Romford early in the morning, Bill. I need a haircut and I wanna try and get a new suit. I've got a business meeting with Jimmy on Saturday and he told me to get dressed up. I think he's taking me to a posh restaurant somewhere to discuss our partnership. When I get back tomorrow, how about the three of us going out somewhere? What do you say?'

'That sounds great,' Billie said, pleased but also shocked at his suggestion. It would be the first time ever that they'd been out as a family, just the three of them. Danny had been full of promises in prison, but once released Billie had expected him to go on the piss and forget all about them.

The rest of the afternoon and early evening passed pleasantly. The atmosphere was jovial and most of the conversation was centred around DJ, who was now getting used to his father and lapping up the attention. Tucking the little 'un up in bed for the night, Billie felt slightly uneasy as she made her way back down the stairs. This was the part that she'd been dreading the most, the part where she and Danny were left on their own together. She'd got so used to it being just her and the child, it felt strange to be part of a couple again.

Danny being in prison had kind of suited Billie Jo. For one thing, she had known where he was, secondly, she had got used to her own company and thirdly, and probably most important, she hadn't had to worry about Danny forcing himself upon her. Billie and Danny had not had sex since the night he'd raped and buggered her and intimacy was the part that Billie was dreading the most.

He was bound to expect sex tonight: he'd been locked up for eighteen months. What man wouldn't? Billie decided to numb her worries with alcohol. Maybe if she got the first time out of the way, everything would be all right.

'Cor, you're knocking 'em back tonight, Bill. You opening another bottle, girl?'

Billie smiled and sat down next to him. 'We're celebrating, aren't we?'

'Yeah,' Danny replied. 'It's just that I didn't know you could drink that amount. You used to be flat on your back after a few.'

Deciding to shut him up, Billie turned to face him. 'For your information, I've become partial to a bottle of wine, once the baby's tucked up in bed. Maybe it's all the stress and worry I've had to put up with. Bringing up a toddler single-handed wasn't easy, you know.'

Danny knew when he was beaten. 'Oh, I didn't mean nothing by it, babe. In fact I like to see you enjoying yourself, letting yourself go a bit.'

Billie smiled to herself. One-nil, she thought silently. Start as you mean to go on, eh! By half past ten, Billie felt that she'd consumed enough wine to see her through the ordeal in front of her. Sidling up next to Danny on the sofa, Billie squeezed his hand. 'Let's go to bed, eh, Dan?'

Danny couldn't believe his luck. He thought he'd be treading on eggshells for at least a fortnight before he got anywhere near her. Not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, Danny took Billie by her hand and led her up the stairs. Five minutes later, the ordeal that Billie had dreaded so much was over.

Danny O'Leary had been sexually active since the age of thirteen, when he'd picked up on the facts of life by shagging his mate Darren's eighteen-year-old babysitter. Deciding sex was the greatest thing since sliced bread, Danny had never gone more than a couple of weeks without it ever since. That part of prison life had done Danny's head in. The rest of it he could handle, but having no sex for nigh on eighteen months killed him, and having a wank whilst looking at some old slapper in a porno mag was no substitute. This was the reason why it had all been over in five minutes tonight.

'You all right, babe? Sorry it was a bit quick.'

Billie covered herself over with the quilt. 'You haven't got to be sorry, Danny. Don't be silly. I'm ever so tired anyway. Let's get some sleep now or we won't be up for our day out tomorrow.'

'Night then, babe.' Danny snuggled under the covers, appreciating the feel of a nice clean, comfortable bed. It had been a long, eventful day and he was knackered. He fell asleep minutes later.

Billie lay awake, listening to him snoring. She'd been so used to having the double bed to herself that it felt strange having to share it again. She was glad the sex bit had been over so quickly. She wanted to make the relationship work and knew she couldn't spend the rest of her life guzzling bottles of wine just in case Danny expected sex. She had to try and forget the past and concentrate on the future.

Feeling like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders, Billie drifted off to sleep. In her dreams, she was safe, content and happy and dreamt that she was having another baby and about to get married. Her dad was in her dream, giving her away at the altar. As she walked up the aisle with him, her husband-to-be turned round and smiled.

It was at that point that she woke up with a jolt. The man she was marrying wasn't Danny. Unbelievably, it was Jamie.