Things between Alfie and Niamh continued at a comfortable pace over the next few weeks, although inside both were pining for something more. Alfie, of course, still was trying to convince himself that his interest in Niamh was solely out of fascination for the fact that she was something new and tempting, but Niamh had no misgivings in admitting to herself that she was developing feelings for Alfie; feelings that were starting to run deep.

She had considered mentioning it to Ada during one of their multiple weekly phone calls, but for some reason she hadn't. Perhaps it was because she felt foolish admitting to having feelings for someone she had only known for a number of weeks, and perhaps it was because she was afraid Ada would tell Polly. Whatever the reason, her phone calls to her family remained to be about things like the weather and business and anecdotes of daily life. It was strange really because she missed them all like crazy. She missed Ada's snoring (well, perhaps only a little); she missed John's kids waking her up at the crack of dawn to settle an argument that couldn't be settled by their parents because they were in bed fucking; she missed her horses (God, how she missed them!); she missed Polly's Sunday dinners; she missed Arthur's hugs; and she even missed Tommy's irritating aloofness. But despite everything she missed about home, day by day Camden started to feel less like the other side of the world. Mostly that was to do with Alfie, who would call her from the bakery to check in and visit her at lunch when he could, but it was also the people she would talk to on her daily walks with Cyril. They might never accept her as one of them really but they accepted who she was to Alfie and treated her with respect and kindness because of it. She often wondered if they would do so had they the knowledge that her marriage to Alfie was essentially little more than a forced friendship? Perhaps they would and perhaps not; hopefully she never had to find out.

"I was about to warn you that Ollie's kids are a right noisy bunch but then I remembered that you've got about a million nephews and nieces so this'll be nothin' to you," Alfie commented as their car pulled up outside Ollie's modest house that reminded Niamh very much of her own home back in Small Heath.

It was Thursday night and the Solomons' had been invited to have dinner with Ollie and his family. Alfie knew that despite Niamh claiming she was more than happy with her life in Camden so far that she would be far happier if she could make a friend or two, and Ollie's wife was just the woman to help with that. Given that she was in good standing with the other young woman in the area, Alfie hoped she would help them to accept Niamh and bring her into their fold somewhat.

"Are they all boys?" Niamh asked.

"Yeah," Alfie nodded. "Ollie Jr is five, Abraham is almost three and the baby, Joshua, is only a couple of months old. Little devils they are but quite sweet in their own way I suppose."

Niamh could tell by the glint in Alfie's eyes that despite saying otherwise he quite clearly was very fond of the young children, and she found herself wondering not for the first time that week how any children she and Alfie might have would be received by their father. It was a fanciful idea of course but one that she entertained nonetheless, and usually while she was doing something mundane like dusting or ironing. Polly always said Niamh was a daydreamer and she wasn't wrong. Only daydreams didn't usually hurt. But her daydreams about Alfie sort of did when she had to face the reality that they would only ever be dreams and nothing more.

The door swung open before Alfie and Niamh had even made it more than halfway up the garden path and two little boys came running out excitedly screaming for Alfie.

"Hello boys," he smiled, patting the oldest one's hair and scooping the other one up in his arms, where the little boy then pulled at Alfie's beard playfully. "One day right, Abe, when you're a big boy I'm gonna tug on your beard 'til you cry and then you won't find it so fuckin' funny no more."

"His name's Abraham, not Abe," a woman spoke from the door. She was tall and slender, and wisps of black hair peeked out from beneath the scarf she wore on her head. "And what have I told you about swearing around the kids?"

"Sorry, Karina," Alfie apologised contritely. "But you do know when he goes to school he's gonna get called Abs and Abe and God knows what else, so you may as well get used to it now. And actually swearin' is a sign of intelligence, just so you know."

"Only an idiot would say something like that," Karina muttered with a roll of her dark eyes, though her lips twitched with humour. "Now are you gonna introduce me to your wife? No, of course you're not so I'll just do it myself. You must be Niamh? I'm Karina; it's so nice to meet you. Finally."

Alfie rolled his eyes at the raised eyebrow Karina gave him when she uttered the last word, but he knew better than to argue. Jewish women were formidable; each and every one of them, and having grown up with Karina, he knew what a venomous bite she had when rattled. Nah, he wasn't ashamed to admit he'd much rather keep her on his good side.

"Hello," Niamh smiled shyly, glancing back at Alfie for help as she was all but dragged into the house by Ollie's wife.

"Ollie, they're here," Karina called out as she led Niamh into the living room while Alfie followed suit with the boys.

"Niamh," Ollie smiled, standing up to greet her, a sleeping baby Joshua nestled in his arms. Having seen her visiting Alfie at the bakery over the past few weeks he had grown much more comfortable using her first name in front of his boss. "How are you?"

"Well, thank you," she answered politely. "It's lovely of you to invite us for dinner."

"I would have invited you sooner if the boys had pulled their fingers out and actually arranged it," Karina commented, taking Abraham from Alfie's arms and popping him down on the floor next to his toy train set. "Ollie, give the baby to Alfie and go and finish setting the table while I serve up dinner."

"Yes dear," Ollie answered, and Alfie snorted at just how much Ollie was under his missus' thumb. The bloody woman could tell him to jump and he'd ask how high without a second thought.

"Now this is how I like them," Alfie grinned as little Joshua was placed in his waiting arms. "Nice and quiet, just sleepin'."

"Ha, I wish that's how he was all the time," Karina commented from the kitchen. "He's had me awake the last three nights for hours on end screaming the house down."

"He's just colicky," Ollie explained.

"No he's clingy because you insist on holding him all the time," Karina shouted from the kitchen doorway. "And now I have to try and get all the housework done every day while holding him because otherwise he screams the place down. You've spoiled him, Ollie."

Ollie grimaced guiltily. Karina did have a point, he knew that. He would come home from work and hold baby Joshua for hours and hours because he missed him so much. He had done the same with the older two when they were babies but it had never backfired on him this way before.

"I best go and finish sorting the table out before she bollocks me for that as well," he murmured.

"I heard that!"

Dinner was a lively affair to say the least. Alfie had the two older boys in stitches with silly stories about their father, and at one point Ollie Jr laughed so hard he started to choke on his food. Karina had warned all of the males at the table to behave or else they would not be having any apple crumble and custard for pudding, which made them all cease their antics rather quickly. After dinner, Niamh offered to help Karina clean up the dishes but their host would hear nothing of the sort and instead dragged her husband into the kitchen to aid her. Alfie was ushered into the garden with Ollie Jr while Niamh played trains with Abraham, who seemed to have taken a little bit of a liking to her.

"You have blue twain," he ordered. "My got gween twain. Choo choo!"

"Choo choo," Niamh echoed with a smile. "I think your train is going much faster than mine, isn't it? It's a super speedy train."

"Speedy twain," Abraham repeated with a giggle as he drove his train along the carpet as fast as he could.

From the bassinet in the corner of the living room came a little gurgle followed by a whine and Abraham ran over with a frown.

"My baby cwy," he pouted as little Joshua began to sob. "Ssh baby."

Niamh walked over to the bassinet herself and stroked the baby's head in an attempt to soothe him. He seemed to settle for a moment before letting out a little cough and beginning to cry even more. Without thinking, Niamh picked him up and cradled him against her chest as she'd done with Finn when he was a baby, not to mention all of John's children. By the time his third child came, and Ada had Karl, Niamh was an expert with babies.

"Oh dear," she muttered against the baby's cheek as she bounced him up and down gently. "Don't cry little one. There, there, it's alright."

"I thought I heard him crying," Karina suddenly appeared with a tea towel in her wet hands.

"Oh," Niamh gasped, startled. "I hope you didn't mind me picking him up but you were busy and I didn't want to disturb you."

"Of course not," Karina scoffed. "I'd have minded more if you left him there to cry."

"Mumma, my baby cwy but now he happy," Abraham informed his mother.

"I know, Aunty Niamh made him stop crying," Karina smiled at her son before giving Niamh a wry grin at her look of shock at being called aunty. "Well Alfie's their uncle so it only makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Aunty Niamh?" Abraham frowned.

"Yes lovely," Karina nodded. "Aunty Niamh is married to Uncle Alfie."

"My Uncie Alfie?"

"That's right, sweetheart."

"My want mawwy aunty Niamh," Abraham suddenly decided.

"You'll have to fight Uncle Alfie for her," Karina chuckled.

"I'm certain he'd give me up easily," Niamh muttered without thinking.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Karina said with a knowing look. "Listen, marriage is hard for everyone, let alone for two complete strangers. I've known Ollie my entire life and I was five when I told him he was going to marry me one day, but even so once we actually lived together I thought I'd made the biggest mistake of my life. The only thing that got us through those first few months was that we loved each other, so give yourself a little break."

"I know but…" Niamh sighed. She wanted to tell Karina everything but they had only just met and it wasn't really appropriate.

"Niamh," Karina smiled kindly. "Once you're my friend, you're stuck with me so you may as well just get it all out now otherwise I'll force you to tell me another time."

Niamh couldn't help but smile back and suddenly everything she had been holding inside of her came spewing out like lava from a volcano. She hadn't realised just how much she had needed a friend until that moment. When she was done, Karina put a hand on her shoulder and sighed.

"I wouldn't dream of presuming that I know what goes on in Alfie Solomons' head because I don't think God himself can work it out most of the time," Karina smirked. "But I have eyes and so does Ollie, and despite the fact that Alfie thinks he's the biggest idiot to walk the earth he's actually a lot smarter than people give him credit for, and it's obvious to both of us that Alfie cares about you. I saw it at the dinner table; the way he was making sure you were comfortable with everyone and ensuring that the children liked you. I saw it in the way he kept glancing at you when he thought no one could see. I think if you give him time, you might be surprised where things could go."

"You think?" Niamh frowned.

"I do," Karina nodded confidently. "For some people love isn't this thing that happens in an instant, oftentimes it's friendship that turns into something more. And I for one think that friendship in a marriage is just as important as anything else. Give Alfie some time because he might be a big bad man nowadays, but with emotions and all of that he's a wimp just like the rest of the male population."

Niamh smiled and was about to argue that she didn't think Alfie Solomons could possibly be afraid of anything, but before she could open her mouth, Alfie and Ollie Jr came bursting through the back door, pretending to be pirates. Chaos ensued once more as Abraham decided he too wanted to play, and Karina went back to the dishes while Niamh watched the boys with little Joshua now fast asleep in her arms; so wrapped up in her own thoughts and the tiny face she was looking down at that she failed to notice Alfie's longing looks as he watched her.

"I hope dinner weren't too traumatisin' for you?" Alfie sat down on the sofa with an exhausted grunt, mindlessly reaching down to scratch Cyril behind the ears.

They were back home with enough food in leftovers from Karina to feed them for days. It was getting late and Niamh felt pleasantly tired, but she wasn't quite ready to sleep just yet. This was the time of night she enjoyed the most; when there was a stillness in the air that couldn't be explained.

"I enjoyed myself," she answered honestly. "The children are sweet and Karina is lovely. She mentioned something about afternoon tea with some of the other ladies she knows one day next week so I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully they'll like me even though I'm not Jewish."

"Course they'll like you, you're lovely," Alfie turned his head to look at her. He bit back a smile at the way her cheeks reddened ever so slightly at his compliment. "Although they'll be cluckin' around like hens after a worm. They'll wanna know every little thing about you. They won't leave you alone, I guarantee and anythin' you say can and will be used against you in the future for both good and bad."

"I think I'll survive," Niamh smirked, sitting down beside Alfie and kicking her shoes off with a sigh. "After all, I have Esme for a sister in law."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head briefly against the back of the sofa, giving Alfie the opportunity to look at her unabashedly. She really was beautiful and his fingers ached to trace the outline of her full lips and her sweet button nose. Sometimes, he would go into the bathroom after she had been in there and he would just inhale the scent of her soap, allowing it to calm him. Knowing that she was just within his grasp yet somehow so far bothered him and the longer the time went on, the more he wanted to know if she possibly felt the same.

"Niamh," he spoke quietly.

"Yeah?" she opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

"I… are you…I mean… are we…" Alfie stopped speaking because words were failing him. All he could concentrate on was Niamh's eyes and the way they drew him in. Her tongue darted out to lick at her dry lips and his eyes fell upon them hungrily. His hand moved involuntarily to brush her hair back from her face and he heard her breath hitch when he stroked her cheek gently. Leaning forward, Niamh's eyelids fluttered as his face neared her own and she could feel his warm breath against her skin.

Ring ring! Ring ring!

At the shrill ringing of the telephone, just like that, the spell was broken. With a look of disappointment Alfie eyed the telephone and sighed. His disappointment was nothing compared to Niamh's and when Alfie stood to answer it reluctantly, Niamh decided to take herself off to bed.