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up.
    ‘Come on, let’s go home. I’m hungry.’
    Silently the two boys made their way home. It was three in the afternoon when Roy brought Janine into his house. It was the first time he had brought a girl home and both he and Janine were nervous. Grasping her hand in the hallway, he smiled at her.
    ‘Everything’s gonna be all right.’
    He looked down into her green eyes and as always had the urge to kiss her. She had milk-white skin and long thick red hair. To Roy’s mind Janine was class. She was also very tall - five feet eight inches. In a way he was glad that she was ‘in trouble’. It would give them the push they needed to come out into the open.
    He led her by the hand into his mother’s kitchen. As usual Sarah was cooking. Even on days like this with the sun cracking the pavements Sarah still cooked. With nine children to feed, preparing a meal was a major event. She looked at Roy and Janine, her surprise showing on her face. Roy stood awkwardly in the kitchen and, still grasp-ing Janine’s hand, smiled at his mother.
    ‘Mum, I’d like you to meet Janine … Janine Grierson.’
    The girl stretched out her free hand and nodded her head. ‘Pleased to meet you, I’m sure.’
    Her voice was very low and refined. Wiping her hand on her apron, Sarah took the girl’s hand and shook it gently.
    ‘And you, love. Well, sit yourselves down. I’ve made
     
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    some ginger beer. Would you like a glass?’
    Without waiting for an answer, she went to the scullery and took the large jug from the table out there. She needed time to think. Grierson? Grierson? Where did she know that name from? She carried the jug back into the kitchen. Roy had sat Janine at the kitchen table and standing beside her. Then, like a bolt out of the blue, it came to Sarah. This was Janine Grierson. Her heart sank in her chest. Her father owned the butcher’s in Portobello Road. He had also owned the house next door to Christie’s round in Rillington Place. What on earth was Janine doing with her Roy? Not that she didn’t think her son was good enough for her, oh no! But Elizabeth Griers had great plans for her only daughter, Sarah knew that much.
    Forcing a smile on to her face she poured out glasses of ginger beer. As she placed them on the table Roy spoke up. ‘Janine’s pregnant, Mum. And I’m the father.’ Outside in the garden, Maura was watching Garry and Benny working. Benny was holding the cartridges steady while Garry filled them with the gunpowder. After watching a particularly thrilling Lone Ranger at the Saturday morning minors, Garry had experienced a renewed interest in the making of bombs. He pushed the wadding carefully into the cartridge before taking it from Benny and placing it on the garden wall. He stepped back to admire his handiwork. That was the last one. Maura sat on the wooden crate. Her long blonde hair seemed to come alive in the sunlight which gave it golden highlights. Her aquamarine eyes carefully watched every movement her brothers made. At five, Maura knew that she wanted to be a part of their games she had to sit and
    watch quietly, otherwise they would sneak out of the garden leaving her alone.
    She saw Garry give Benny a large hammer. Then Garry carefully took one of the filled cartridges and placed it on the grass. He had to press it down a couple of times to stop it falling over. Then he nodded at Benny who took the hammer and brought it back over his head, ready to smash it down on to the cartridge at a sign from his brother. Garry pushed his glasses higher on his nose and raising his hand as if he was starting a race, brought it down heavily to his side … Inside the house Janine was crying quietly as Sarah spoke. ‘It’s nothing against you, lass, but think of your father. He’ll go stark staring mad when he hears. Baby or no baby, there’s no way he’ll allow you to marry Roy. I know it.’ Her voice had a finality about it that made Roy’s blood run cold in his veins. He opened his