The Tie That Binds

- The Maguires

As the sun began to set, no one saw the body sink beneath the grey water and the three men turn and walked away, their crisp suits marked which made the eldest man' lip turn up in disgust.

'What made you have to do this Danny? I've told you time and time again, if they take one of ours we have no choice but to put one of theirs in the morgue. Or in his case, the river. Now, we three need to get gone. In this light and around here, there could be too many people watching us and I for one don not want to have to explain to Ma where we are.'

At every step, there would be a pint and a whisky waiting for them when they walked into the pub. First though, they had to head home, there was more chance of watching an inhabitant of London Zoo walking through Mayfair than these men walking into their local looking anything less than perfect.

As always their mother was in the kitchen and the men walked in one by one and kissed her cheek before sitting at the worn table.

'Have you eaten?'

The heaped plates and three mugs of tea were down on the table before the brothers could say anything, jackets were on the back of chairs and one by one the white shirts were off. Sean as the eldest was at the top of the table watching his mother move around her domain, to him there was no one quite like her. His younger brothers, Danny and Michael or Mickey as he liked to be called were drinking their tea, and avoiding looking at him. Knowing his luck with Danny this would end up in yet another disaster he had to sort.

'Do you want me to take your shirts to Aunt Patty? She'll get them right as rain for you boys and you know how much she loves to see your shirts on her line, they'll be gleaming as bright as they did when you came home with them from Saville Row.'

Sean nodded to his Mother, his Aunt Patience was a proud woman but she would never say no to a few extra bob in her pocket since her husband had done a runner a few years back. Sean knew that come the morning the shirts would be back in the house freshly pressed and ready to be worn once more.

The table was cleared in the blink of an eye, and scrubbed down – the one thing about Chastity Maguire was that her home always sparkled. She was proud of two things, her boys and the house that Sean had made sure was hers from the moment his old man had left.

Making their way in their respective rooms they changed into their fresh suits and shirts, each brother looking at their own reflection in the glass, all doing the same thing so it appeared they were moving as one, their hair was combed and bryl creamed to ensure it looked perfect, tie were adjusted and the gold pin in the correct place, the only difference to brothers were the monogram on each of their shirts which stood out from the pure white starched cotton. Each one of the brothers had their own unique colour, something that showed they were individuals as well as a unit. Sean' was blue, Danny' green and Mickey had red. Their Mother had smiled when she'd first seen them, noting the blue for Sean' eyes as she called him her blue eyed boy, Danny had chosen green to remind him of Ireland and their roots and Mickey had chosen red saying to his Mother that he was going to be the brightest of the three and stand out.

As they made their way down the stairs their Mother was waiting the clothes brush in hand smiling at her boys as they stood side by side in front of her. Her boys were all now men, each one respected by the community around them, and they were good boys – always looking after her every need. Sean in particular as the man of the house, made sure she had every comfort, it had been him who had brought home a television and she'd had the privilege to be the only person to have one in the street.

* * *

The brothers put on their clean suit jackets, buttoning them and adjusting the handkerchief in the breast pocket. Bending down automatically to let their Mother brush away any lint from the shoulders. She wouldn't let them out the door if their was a speck of dust or mark on their clothes, the pride she felt for them could have filled the small hallway as she took in their appearance.

'Ma, that's enough we're fine. Now let us be.'

Sean kissed her cheek and waited for his brothers to do the same, Lord forbid if the Maguire brothers if they stepped out their front door and didn't kiss their Mother. Mind you, there hadn't been a day in the brother' lives were they hadn't shown her that she was adored by them all. In fact, the three Maguire women were all adored by the brothers, Chastity Maguire as their beloved mother was on her own pedestal. Then there was their aunts, Patience and Temperance were looked after by the three men. If they needed anything, they would tell Chastity and it would happen, Sean always made sure the Maguire women had everything that they not only needed but wanted.

Chastity Maguire stood on her gleaming doorstep and watched her boys walk down the cobbled street shoulder to shoulder as the girls of the street attempted to catch their eye. She noticed the nets of number forty two twitch as the snotty mare watched her sons go by. The woman had moved into the street a few months ago and had rebuffed Mrs Maguire' attempts to welcome her. Mr Kelly seemed polite enough though, and was often seen talking to her sons in the street, but as for his wife... Chastity found herself pitying Mr Kelly for finding himself married to a woman who thought she was better than everyone else and then there was the daughter, Louisa Ann, as her Mother often yelled unceremoniously into the street. Chastity thought Louisa was a good girl, she never missed Mass and was always so polite and helpful when the two women met in the small corner shop. She often found herself thinking Louisa would be a good match for Sean, if only to get her away from that overbearing mother of hers.

* * *

The Kings Arms was busy as it was every night when the brothers walked in, the three pints of ale were waiting for them as always, Sean's whisky chaser sitting next to the glass of bitter. As Danny went to pay for the drink, the barman placed his hand on young man' arm.

'Put your money away son, it's no good here tonight.'

Enough was said, the silent understanding passed between the two men, as Amy, the eldest daughter of Sam the barman and Danny' sweetheart rested upstairs. The doctor who having recently left her, was coming over to speak to the two men. Swiftly knocking back the glass of whisky that had be placed before him the doctor told the two men in Amy' life the news of her progress.

'Amy's cuts are deep but there seems to be no glass in them, she was lucky Sam, if she'd fallen any harder on to the table she would have been looking at internal injuries. I'd be happier if she was in hospital but she insists she knows best and who am I to argue with her. I leave it to you both to make sure she stays where she is and I'll be back tomorrow.'

With a slight nod of his head, Sam motioned the boys to follow him into the snug.'

'The Missus and I would like to thank you for what you did...' Sam began to say...

Danny stopped him from going further, his face losing it's usual boyish smile, his blue eyes becoming icy cold.

'It was bad enough Fisher the flash little toe rag coming here chucking around the money he made from hijacking the Flynn boys wages job. But when he started mouthing off to your Amy - she's as good as family. We had to show the little...'

Whilst Sam may have had his reservations about Danny' legendary temper, his paternal side recognised the fact that his precious little girl would be loved and protected by the men before him. Sean noticed the man' face change to one of concern and the age old rhetorical question left his mouth.

'People are talking.'

Fisher was a flash little git, Sean thought, but the man was well connected especially with two of the most notorious, and to many, terrifying men if you ever made the mistake of crossing. The twins.

Sam took a deep breath before saying the words Sean Maguire had hoped he would never hear.

'Ron and Reggie want a meet...'