Songbird. Josephine Cox

      At the Emergency department of the local hospital, a nurse cleaned the cuts again and removed a tiny sliver of glass from the biggest one. She warned Maddy to only wear her stage make-up for the shortest time – to take it off as soon as possible, to allow the skin to breathe and to heal.

      After a cup of tea and some biscuits, Maddy was feeling a lot better. Alice’s excitement was infectious, and by the time they’d taken another taxi to Whitechapel, where Alice lived, Maddy had promised herself that everything was going to be all right.

      Alice herself was not so sure. In spite of promising Maddy that things would sort themselves out, she had a murmuring dread that more trouble was bound to come out of all this.

      Yet, even now, after witnessing the violence he was capable of, neither Alice nor Madeleine fully realised the true evil that was Steve Drayton.

      CHAPTER FOUR

      ALICE HAD ALWAYS been a light sleeper. She couldn’t tell whether it was the sound of Maddy crying that had woken her, or whether she had just woken like she normally did, after a few short hours of sleep. Either way, she was now wide awake and concerned about the younger woman. ‘Poor little devil,’ she yawned. ‘What’s to become of her?’

      Taking her robe from the bedside chair, she slung it on and crept into the kitchen of her two-bedroomed flat to make a cup of tea. It was a bright summer morning, and even in this busy area of London, near the big roundabout at Aldgate East, she could hear the blackbirds calling to each other.

      Coming into the kitchen, she found Maddy hunched across the table. Red-eyed and sorry-looking, the girl immediately apologised. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’

      Alice laughed and filled the kettle. ‘Away with you! Sure, the walls are so thin, I can hear the man next door pulling on his trousers,’ she joked. Looking to see if there was an empty cup on the table, she gently chided her young friend, ‘I see you’ve not yet made yerself a cup o’ tea then?’

      Maddy shook her head.

      ‘Hmh! Well, let’s have one together now – you’re bound to be thirsty, all the tears you’ve cried. Then I’ll make us a good breakfast. Remember that you’re eating for two now.’ She bent to look at Maddy’s face. ‘Ye look awful, so ye do. There’s not a man this side of the Irish Sea who would want to kiss that sorry little face, and who could blame them, eh?’

      Her cheeky words had the intended effect, for they made Maddy laugh out loud, even though it hurt to do so. ‘Well, that’s not very nice, is it?’ she chuckled.

      Alice gave her a hug. ‘Tea then, is it … with a dash of milk and one sugar?’

      ‘Thank you – yes, I’d like that.’ Heartened by this darling woman who always seemed to say the right thing, Maddy drew the dressing-gown Alice had lent her tighter about her. ‘I really am sorry if I woke you,’ she murmured.

      Alice prepared two cups and opened the biscuit tin. ‘The thing is,’ she answered cheerfully, ‘I’d have woken up sooner or later, and if I didn’t wake up it wouldn’t matter, would it, because I’d be dead and gone, so I would.’

      ‘Don’t say that!’ Maddy didn’t believe in joshing about such things.

      It was like tempting Fate.

      Having made the tea, Alice brought the tray to the table. ‘And I’ll thank ye kindly not to eat all them custard creams,’ she warned drily. ‘There’s two for you, an’ two for me. And I won’t be pleased if there’s crumbs all over the table neither.’

      Her banter had done the trick, and soon Maddy was brighter. ‘You’re such a good friend to me,’ she told the older woman, ‘letting me stay with you like this.’

      Alice brushed away her comments, saying, ‘What are we going to do with you, that’s what I’m wondering. You can’t possibly go back to him – not after what he did. Like as not, if he takes another bad mood, he could finish you off. Think of the baby, my love.’

      Maddy took a sip of her tea and sighed. ‘I’m sure he’ll be in a better frame of mind today,’ she said hopefully. ‘When he’s had time to think, he might realise what he’s done.’

      ‘Don’t you believe it, me darling! That’ll be the day, when Steve Drayton admits to being in the wrong. No.’ Alice was emphatic. ‘I can’t let you go back to him, at least not until we’re certain he really wants to take care of you and the child.’

      ‘Oh, if only he would …’ Maddy said wistfully. ‘Tell me the truth, Alice. Do you think there’s a real chance he might come to terms with the idea of a baby?’

      Alice was silent for a moment, chewing on her biscuit and washing it down with another swig of her tea. ‘D’ye want the truth?’

      Maddy nodded. ‘Please.’

      Leaning forward, the older woman secured the girl’s full attention before saying bluntly, ‘I don’t think there’s a cat in hell’s chance of him accepting the baby.’

      ‘But he is the father!’

      ‘Oh yes, he may be the father, but he will never admit that the child is his. And I can’t see a child playing any part in his life. You know as well as I do, he’s a bad lot – along with the other villains he keeps company with. And not a single one of them has any scruples or conscience whatsoever.’

      She paused, all manner of images going through her mind; of late-night visitors to the club, shady deals and vicious arguments, often ending in violence. Steve Drayton lived in a dark world, one in which she feared Maddy might get swallowed up.

      ‘We both know the rumours that circulate about him and his cronies, and you know what they say – there’s no smoke without fire. That’s no environment in which to bring up a child.’

      ‘I know all that,’ Maddy admitted soberly. ‘And I still can’t help but love him.’ She was well aware of all the warnings that Alice was sending out. ‘I wish I didn’t love him, but I do. I want to live with him and for us to bring our child up together.’

      Dear God in heaven! What would it take for the girl to see the truth about Drayton? Alice insisted, ‘You must stay here with me for a while, until we know for sure he wants the two of you. Will you do that for me, if only for my peace of mind?’

      For what seemed an age, the air was thick with silence.

      Maddy had never seen Alice so agitated and, to tell the truth, she was beginning to wonder if her friend could see more badness in Steve than she could see herself. Oh, she knew he had a shady reputation, and she had witnessed at first hand how cruel he could be. But how could he not love her, when she loved him so much? She wanted to understand him, to heal his unhappy past, to restore his faith in womankind.

      Her first impulse was to tell Alice that she was going back that very day. She had to reason with Steve, and the sooner the better. But something in Alice’s warning made her cautious. ‘Very well, I’ll promise not to come back with you today.’

      ‘And what about tonight? You’ve got to teach him a lesson! Don’t turn up. Hit him in his pocket – where it hurts most.’

      ‘I don’t know if I can let him down again.’ Maddy was in turmoil. ‘I’ve only just got back onstage. Me being away has already cost him money. Besides, it’s Saturday – his best night. The place will be full to bursting. I need to think on it.’

      ‘Well, while you’re thinking on it,’ Alice said, ‘think about the way he attacked you. Think how he beat you up, even after you told him you were carrying his child. And even though you might by some miracle talk him into family life, just think what the future would be like – never knowing when he might turn on you or the child. God knows, he’s capable of it.’

      ‘I