Tiger Men by Judy Nunn

and he now realised they were whores no longer able to ply their trade. They didn’t live on the premises, but Ma provided them with part-time employment as laundrywomen, kitchen helpers and cleaners, alongside her own girls who were expected to lend a hand with menial tasks during the day.
    ‘In fact, it’s my guess you’ve a real soft heart underneath,’ he said.
    ‘Keep your Irish shite to yourself,’ Ma replied not unpleasantly. ‘Will you look after Evie or won’t you?’
    ‘In or out of working hours?’
    ‘Whenever there are most eyes upon you I’d say. Working hours, but a slow night when there’s little custom.’
    ‘What’s wrong with tonight then? Tuesday’s never busy.’
    ‘I’ll look forward to hearing the gossip,’ she said with a smile. ‘The girls won’t be able to resist.’
    Ma was right. The gossip reached her ears within less than twenty-four hours. Peg and Maeve couldn’t wait to spread the news. They paid her a visit shortly after midday.
    ‘Evie? Really?’ Ma raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘My, my, how surprising.’
    ‘He was feeling sorry for her,’ Peg said, not spitefully but put out nonetheless: she’d had her sights set on the Irishman. ‘Well we all feel sorry for Evie,’ she hastily added, ‘poor thing. Mick took pity on her, he did.’
    ‘That’s not the way it looked to me.’ Maeve was quick to disagree. ‘He couldn’t keep his hands off her. Lusting after her something fierce, he was, Ma.’ She gave a saucy wink. ‘Peg’s just jealous is all.’
    ‘I am not, Maevy. You take that back. You take that back right now. I am not jealous, not one bit, I’m not!’
    Maeve laughed. Peg’s fierce protestation spoke for itself. ‘And it didn’t sound like pity the way Evie told it neither,’ she said. ‘They had a right good time together, Ma. That’s what she told me.’
    ‘And you can’t begrudge her a good time, given what she’s been through.’
    Ma intervened before Maeve could twist the knife any further. Maeve and Peg liked to egg each other on. Two of her top girls, they’d been at the Hunter’s Rest longer than the others and, both Irish, they were close friends but fiercely competitive. Despite their advancing years, for they were now thirty, they were popular with the men, Maeve’s provocative dancing and Peg’s voluminous breasts keeping them in regular demand.
    But neither had come anywhere near Evie for prettiness, Ma thought with a tinge of regret. Evie had been pretty and gutsy and fun, and it was a bleeding shame she was washed up so young.
    Ma would never have openly acknowledged the fact, but she’d always had a soft spot for Evie. Evie was a fellow Londoner and she reminded Ma just a little of herself as a girl.
    ‘Oh, we don’t begrudge Evie, Ma.’ Worried that Ma’s sudden pensiveness might signal disapproval, Maeve was quick to protest. ‘We don’t begrudge her at all,’ she said and Peg nodded in vigorous agreement. ‘We’re really sorry about what happened to Evie.’
    ‘I know you are, love, I know. You’re a good girl, Maeve. You too, Peg,’ she added (Ma never displayed favouritism). ‘Now off you run, and leave me to my paperwork.’ Like dutiful children they kissed her on the cheek and departed. They are good women at heart, Ma thought. Despite the competition Evie’s youth and prettiness had presented, neither Maeve nor Peg took any pleasure in the girl’s predicament.
    The bedding of Evie changed a number of things, Mick discovered.
    Although he and Ma never spoke of the subject again, he sensed a subtle shift in their relationship. An unspoken bond of something approaching fondness seemed to have developed between them. Far more noticeable though, was the change in the girls. Overnight, they appeared to accept the fact that he was unavailable. Even Peg stopped vying for his attention. Ma was right, Mick thought. Bedding Evie had been the way to keep the others off his back. And as for Evie herself, far