River of sin

42. Ain't nobody taking you away from me again

Jacob scratched his head looking over the vast amount of papers on his desk, trying to make sense of them, the sound of his two girls playing in the distance distracting him. He looked up to see Yvonne bringing him in tea and biscuits.
"Thank you, little darling." He smiled happily, he didn't like being far from her or the girls, so was happy they were here even if they were a distraction.
"What is all this?"
"To be honest, I don't know" he laughed "I left Lenard and Harry in charge of the books while we settled, while you recovered. Now I have no clue what they have done. I should have remembered they are no good with numbers." He shook his head, sipping his tea. "These ones are deeds to Barnes businesses'' he held out a stack of papers "what would you like me to do with them, my little Evie?" he rubbed her knee when she sat on his desk, looking them over. "If I sell them, then we will still have Barnes money. You want me to gift them or the profits from their sale to well deserving recipients?"
"You want my opinion as the sole surviving Barnes heir, the women that he forced into this dark world, as a women with an insider insight into the Barnes empire, or as your future wife?"
"Hmm future wife eh? Interesting." He sat back in his chair smirking "last I heard you were refusing to marry me, my little Evie. I see no ring on your finger."
"No. I don't suppose you do" she smiled, blushing

"This one here. The boxing ring. He acquired through a backhand deal. Keep it. You are to send a monthly allowance to the name I give you."
"An allowance?"
"To the woman and child I let out the back door. Before my brothers and father slaughtered them too, for her husband and fathers betrayal of mine. She is living in the slums with an aunt of hers. When I could, I bought a basket of groceries to them. Last I heard she was still there, remarried with another on the way. She will not stake a claim. Her entire family were slaughtered that night. She wants nothing to do with the place. She also does not hold a grudge towards me, in fact we struck up a friendship. Been coming over to your side of the river of sin for a lot longer than you think, Jacob Evans."
"I have no doubt, you're good at this game, Evie. Very well, I'll set it up. You know I like boxing, I'll reopen the place." Jacob scribbled in his book

"This one burn to the ground" she handed him another document
"may I ask why? It is just storage. Contents has already been used and allocated. Cigarettes, alcohol and such. I'm sorry little darling but I could not let it go to waste."
"It is where his third wife died. Keeping it will bring you bad luck. Anyone who has dealings with it has since regretted it. My brothers refused to enter the building believing it was haunted by her ghost. You have met most of them, they are not men to usually be scared of anything."
"Burn to the ground it is." Jacob nodded "you wanna talk about it?" He looked up hesitantly "I'm not known for my empathetic talk but if you want an ear to offload on. I'm here. I'm trying to be a better man for you and Maggie. I know I am constantly falling short. Old habits die hard."
"True" she nodded, with a half smile. "I think that phrase could go both ways."
"Still tearing down those walls you built to protect yourself, eh little darling." He rubbed her knee affectionately "I know, same goes for me. We're doing it together though, one brick at a time and that's all that counts."

Jacob smiled at his daughter toddling past like a duck, Betty chasing after her. They were all worried about Jacob's daughter, when things started to settle it was obvious she was behind, being held captive taking its toll her. Yvonne having the difficult conversation with Jacob about what his daughters first years of life had been like, Jacob discovering his daughter had rarely been outside, on the rare occasion Sullivan allowed it it was brief and restricted, she was late to crawl and had not long started to walk. He was very proud of her and secretly pleased he hadn't missed the milestone as he had presumed he had. "She's getting fast on her feet now that she has the freedom to roam and explore, bless her."

"Sorry, distracted, you were saying, on Richard's third wife?"
"She slept with...." Yvonne looked down at her fidgety hands "an Evans"
"An Evans? Who? I highly doubt there is truth in it, Evie. I'm fairly sure I'm the first to fall for a Barnes."
"I believe it was your father. I can not recall details. It was before I came to the family. I only know through overheard conversations. They call it the Evans whore store. Sorry."
"It's alright." Jacob squeezed her hand "it wouldn't surprise me."
"From my understanding she was only supposed to be...flirtatious with him, I would guess" she shrugged "a few pleasurable favours exchanged here and there. To get information from him. Your grandfather was head of the family at the time. I do not know a date, if he was already married to your mother or if it was before. Maybe it was your uncle, or perhaps your grandfathers brother, I can not be sure, I do not recall a name, just that it was his third wife, I am trying to do the math, she was Andrew's mother, he is older than Danny, by quite a way. Perhaps he was too young then. Sorry I did not mean to accuse...."