The Family Firm

Chapter 69

Katie had been watching Frankie drink steadily for the past ten minutes, and the woman had yet to notice. She had been able to sense that something was wrong as soon as she had arrived, but neither Frankie nor Junior had informed her as to what was going on, so she hadn't pressed either of them. But that didn't mean she wasn't curious. In fact, she hadn't seen Frankie so visibly distressed since the incident, so naturally it was quite concerning to the girl.

Standing from her spot in front of the television, she padded across the room to where Frankie was sat at the dining table, nursing a glass of port steadily. Only after Katie had crossed the threshold from one room to the next did the older woman even notice her arrival, and smiled weakly at her.

'Hungry?'

Katie shook her head in response. 'Just gonna put a kettle on.'

Frankie nodded silently as Kate got straight to it, filling the kettle in the sink before setting it atop the hob. After waiting a few moments, she pressed her lips together before asking hesitantly, 'Are you okay?'

Frankie smiled a bit more genuinely then, reaching out a hand. 'Come here, love.'

Kate obeyed, stepping forward and taking the seat beside her at the woman's urging. Almost immediately, Frankie put her arm around her in a gesture of affection the older of the two didn't often show, and this wasn't lost on Kate.

'Do you love him?' Frankie asked, stroking Kate's brown locks in a motherly way. 'My little Fred?'

Katie looked away from her almost bashfully, smiling despite herself. 'Yeah, 'course I do,' she admitted sheepishly. She could feel Frankie's eyes on her before she returned the gaze, and the two women sat there a moment, feeling the subtle bond of blood between them, though only Frankie was aware of what it really was.

She tilted her head back, peering down at Katie a bit before she turned to retrieve her glass of port once again. 'Good. And he loves you, I know that much. Thinks he's won the pools with ya, and to be honest so do I.'

Katie smiled earnestly at the compliment as Frankie continued, her words heavy with inebriation: 'What that means is that you'll be an Evans soon enough. Oh, it's only a matter of time before you'll be done up in white and all. And while I've got a bit yet to accept about me son moving on and not needing his old mum any longer, if anyone's going to take him away from me, I'd rather it be you.'

Kate was genuinely awe-struck. She had always found it hard to accept compliments, but managed to stutter out: 'I-I'm not sure what to say.'

'Don't say anything then, love,' responded Frankie, raising her wine to the girl before tipping it back and draining the rest of its contents. Smacking her lips, she set down the empty glass and leant back against the wooden chair. 'What I'm getting at is this: you're already one o' the family, as long as you want to be. But part of being an Evans is knowing the business. It's not just the car schemes and the money, you know that right?'

Frankie was looking at her then, and Katie nodded diligently, feeling an uncomfortable heat in the back of her throat. 'Yeah, o' course.'

She watched as Frankie proceeded to pull a pack of fags off the table, taking her time to remove one from the pack and stick it between her teeth. She lit it with a stray match and took a long drag before exhaling a plume of smoke from her nose, speaking only after she had finished. 'We're not gangsters. I never did like that word. Sounds like we're thugs or summink, doesn't it. It's business what we do, all of us—you, me, little Freddie, and his . . . uncle, me bruvver, big Fred. That's the main thing, isn't it. Business.'

Katie watched silently, and Franks went on, setting her jaw a little. 'Me husband left me, you know.'

'What?' The word came from Kate's mouth before she had even noticed it. 'Donny?'