Daughter of Mine by Anne Bennett Page A

much do you put into the house, our kid?’
    ‘I know I don’t earn much yet,’ Neil said, ‘but when I finish my apprenticeship in two years I’ll be on a good enough wack.’
    ‘You mind they don’t finish you then,’ Rodney warned. ‘Happens in the factories all the time, and the bloody shipyards.’
    ‘They won’t.’
    ‘You’re sure of yourself,’ Steve said. ‘I hope you’re right. Sometimes you haven’t money to bless yourself with, never mind give a woman a good time.’ He put his arm around Lizzie, who was by his side. She didn’t shake him off, she wouldn’t shame him that way before his family, but she did wish she’d never started the conversation that had developed into these heated words. In fact, if she was totally honest, she wished she’d never set eyes on Steve Gillespie and his dysfunctional family at all.
    ‘Give a woman a good time,’ Neil said sarcastically.‘I know what manner of good time you like to give a woman. Maybe some of us are more choosy and like to keep it in their trousers more.’
    Flo clouted Neil on the side of the head. ‘Less of that dirty talk.’
    Neil looked across the room where Lizzie stood, her face crimson. ‘Dirty talk, Mom, dirty talk!’ he cried scornfully. ‘Why don’t you complain about the dirty deeds your sainted son gets up to.’
    ‘Shut your mouth!’ Lizzie felt the anger flooding through Steve, so even the arm he had around her shoulders trembled slightly and she saw the whitening of his fisted knuckles.
    Neil ignored his brother and, addressing himself to Lizzie, said, ‘See, our Steve here likes variety, goes down the streets like a dose of salts, sampling them all.’
    ‘I said, shut your gob, or by Christ I’ll shut it for you.’
    Lizzie put a hand on Steve’s arm and said gently, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ But Steve could tell by Neil’s sly eyes what he was going to say next unless he put a stop to it. He and Mike both had very high sex drives and when between girlfriends, or going out with girls that gave them little sexual satisfaction, or perhaps just for a change, they often frequented places where they could pick up a woman of the night. They never considered it a problem and it meant they didn’t have to force the girls they were dating to go further than they wanted to.
    Often, after Steve left Lizzie he’d be so worked up that he’d be forced to seek solace elsewhere. How hadNeil found that out? Steve did not know, but he saw Neil knew all right: he could see it in the little shit’s eyes. He also knew that if Lizzie was made aware of it, he’d never get near her again.
    Neil smiled at his brother. It was good seeing him squirm for a change. ‘Lizzie has a right to know what she’s taking on,’ he said. ‘Does she know, for example, that some of the women…’
    Steve had dropped his arm from Lizzie’s shoulder and was across the room in an instant. He almost lifted Neil from the floor with his left arm, while his right fist powered into Neil’s face.
    Lizzie watched, horrified. No one seemed surprised or went to the aid of the boy, who slid down the wall as Steve released him. Neil’s mouth and nose spurted blood and Lizzie noticed that one of his teeth had been knocked clean out.
    Flo, with a sigh, crossed to the fire and filled a bowl from the kettle to the side of it, got a clean rag from the line above the hearth and carried it over to Neil. ‘You asked for that,’ she said as she handed it to him. ‘Why couldn’t you stay quiet when you had the chance?’
    ‘Why should I?’ Neil’s words were slurred because of his thick lips but his eyes still held contempt. ‘Just because big brother says so?’
    ‘If you want more of the same, I’m willing to oblige,’ Steve growled out. ‘Only this time I’ll not stop at one punch, you little shit. I’ll beat you to pulp.’
    Lizzie crossed to Steve. ‘Please, don’t fight any more.’
    She was totally shocked. The angry, hate-filled words had been