"Yes, yes of course," said Stephen, clapping his hand over Cedric'smouth before he put his purple foot in it."Don't mind me," she said. "I'm just here...to keep Angie company."Angie smiled at her mother-in-law, reaching out to take her hand inthanks. The sentence though, as innocent as it may have been in Angie'seyes, meant a whole heap of other things to Stephen and could almost beseen creating a centre parting as it went just over Cedric's head."I, er, um. I, er, that is we, er, um," spluttered. The poor of this land need to deal with the harsh realities of life each and every day and my going with you was the only option. So, now I am yours, your woman. Do you not find me attractive?"I was stunned by her revelation and didn't reply right away. Her father had given us his blessing and she was now my woman? What had I got myself into now? The sound of her sobbing brought me back to the moment. She had buried her face into the plaid and was clearly upset."Kirsty, what's wrong?" I. The smell of stale smoke was in keeping with the faded upholstery. It was just after opening time and the bar was almost empty. The barman was watching a replay on the telly, only coming near us when we called for beer. By the third pint we were supping rather than gulping, leaning our elbows on the bar and putting our feet on the bar rail. From a back room we could hear the sound of pool balls being played. “ Come on” said Stu, “I fancy a game”. Taking our drinks with us we went into the. ." and jenny softened her voice, "... but maybe we can start over."She looked hopefully at the fourteen-year old, who smiled inwordly at her aunt jenny being such a pushover.Ashley forced a smile: " Yeah, maybe we can." OK then, honey, just go get ready for dinner... and we'll talk more later"Ashley nodded. "Thanks aunt jenny." She cooed. But as jenny left the room, she missed the cruel little smirk spreading across Ashley's face.Chapter 3Ashley's best friend was a girl named Amber. Amber was.