The lights from the concourse made her dark black hair shine. She took off her jacket to sling over her arm with her purse in the other hand. She wore...a pretty white soft blouse. Not as sexy as what Victoria wore, but it looked very nice on her. "I could go for a stiff drink," she moaned looking at one of the many bars."A cold beer would be nice but isn't it a little early?" Damn the time, I'd like one now," she insisted."We're almost there, how about I buy you a drink once we get past. Or you would be out on your ear. I kissed one or two of the more attractive visitors, after long rum-fuelled evenings, but didn’t take it any further. Anyway, it was one day in March and Jack, the barman with whom I shared a house, knocked on my door quite early. He’s been drinking heavily the night before – and, I suspect, shagging one of the cleaners, a little black girl called Maria – and said he couldn’t bear to work that day. So I offered to help him out. I stuck a ‘closed, back this. ‘You are still so weak, mother. Here have some soup.’ But Valentine insisted on sending for the fuming man. Mr. Tucker’s uncle had been a kind hearted man albeit with little sense for business, as his nephew would often claim. When almost two decades earlier a young woman of stunning beauty showed up in his tavern with a baby on her arm he made sure they were well taken care of, lacking nothing. When Valentine started to ask around about employment possibilities old Mr. Tucker was helpful and. Eric and Layla took turns holding Amy so she could see the priests, singers, and musicians. She then laid her head in Eric's lap to snooze through the sermon. Communion was offered but Eric couldn't participate, of course.Leonardo and Maria owned a large tract of land that was mostly forest. The Russo family always enjoyed going there with the kids since they had acres on which to run and play. The cousins quickly organized a game of tag in the front yard while dads hid all the prize eggs in.