When Queenie clocked Vinny, she leapt out of her chair and marched towards him.
‘Look, I know what you’re angry about, but I just thought seeing as Dad is dying it was the right thing to do. My father is the last person I would want at my club, but for once I decided to put Roy and Brenda’s feelings before my own. It is their engagement party, and the way I saw it was if Dad is found bloody dead in that bedsit of his next week or sometime soon, they might never have forgiven me for not inviting him.’
Queenie stared into her son’s eyes. She knew her eldest better than he knew himself at times. ‘Don’t take me for a fool, Vinny. I know you’re up to no good. It had better not be something to do with Roy and Colleen, because if it is I won’t be happy at all.’
‘What do you take me for, eh? I try and make a bit of an effort and throw a nice party at all my own expense and this is the thanks I get. Well, cheers, Mum. Thanks a lot. I even got in touch with Colleen’s work pals and invited them.’
‘OK, I’m sorry,’ Queenie said, aware of how hurt Vinny looked.
‘Dad. Uncle Michael says Brenda and Dean are outside,’ Little Vinny said, tugging his father by the sleeve of his suit jacket.
‘Tell Champ to turn the music off, Mum, and get ready for the big entrance. He knows what he’s got to do. I’m gonna keep Bren and Dean outside until Roy and Colleen arrive. I want them to all walk in together.’
After Queenie gave Lenny the heads-up, she sat back down opposite Vivian.
‘I hope you had a go at Vinny for inviting Albie. What on earth was he thinking of, eh?’ Vivian asked.
Queenie shrugged. ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake. Albie has spotted us and is coming over.’
Vivian glared at her ex-brother-in-law as he plonked himself on a seat next to her. ‘Jesus, you smell like a fucking brewery and the party ain’t even started yet. How many you had?’
Dreading doing what Vinny had ordered him to do, Albie had been merry on arrival. Vinny had then served him up a few large brandies. ‘I’m a dying man, Vivian. Is a man staring death in the face not allowed to have a few drinks?’ Albie slurred.
‘Well, hurry up and croak it then,’ Vivian muttered.
‘The bleedin’ state of you, Albie. You haven’t even had a shave and the collar of that shirt is filthy. Looks crusty, it does. Don’t you dare introduce yourself to Colleen’s parents. They’ll think their daughter is marrying into
The Beverly Hillbillies
,’ Queenie remarked.
‘I’ve already met Colleen’s parents. Very nice people. They’re standing up by the bar.’
About to scold Albie for embarrassing the family name, Queenie was stopped by Lenny’s voice booming out over the microphone. ‘Surprise! Congratulations Roy, Colleen, Brenda and Dean. This party is for you and so is this record.’ He then proceeded to play the Dixie Cups’ ‘Chapel of Love’.
‘Always reminds me of our wedding day this does, Queenie. One of the happiest days of my life, that was,’ Albie said wistfully.
‘Oh, shut up, you silly old bastard. This record didn’t come out until the bleedin’ sixties. We’d been married donkey’s years by then,’ Queenie spat.
‘I ain’t sitting here listening to this old bollocks. Come on, Queenie, let’s go and say hello to all the guests,’ Vivian said.
Queenie stood up. ‘And don’t you dare do anything to ruin the evening, Albie. I know what an arsehole you are in drink.’
When Queenie and Vivian walked away from the table, Albie felt like crying. He would have liked to have attended the party in a nice suit, celebrated the joyous occasion with his children, behaved himself and done them proud. Yet here he was, resembling a tramp, three sheets to the wind, all because his eldest son was an evil bastard and was using him as a pawn in his latest game. Albie put his head in his hands. A brave man would walk away now rather than ruin his own son’s engagement. But Albie was a weak man, who would do anything to save his own bacon, and that had been his biggest downfall.
Mary Walker was begging her husband to calm down and think sensibly. ‘If we let Nancy go, Donald, she will be married and pregnant in no time, then we will lose her forever. We have to stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life. Perhaps if we allow her to see Michael, their relationship will fizzle out in a matter of months. But, if we force her to leave, and she moves in with them Butlers, we might as well have handed our own daughter over to a hungry pack of wolves.’
Donald was devastated, but extremely angry at the same time. For years he had worked his bollocks off to provide his children with the best possible start, and Nancy had just thrown everything he had ever tried to do, including teaching her good morals, back in his face.
Mary let out a traumatized sob when Nancy bounded out of her bedroom with a suitcase in her hand. ‘Please don’t go, darling. You will regret this for the rest of your life if you end up a part of that family. You’ll be pregnant and trapped before you know it.’
Wanting to hug her wonderful mum more than anything else in the world, Nancy knew that she couldn’t. If she did, she might not ever leave, and she loved Michael too much to give him up. If she did stay, it would be like living in a prison cell and her overbearing father and brother would watch her every move to make sure she never set eyes on the love of her life again. ‘I’m sorry, Mum, but I have to leave. I’ll be in touch soon, I promise.’
‘Oh, no you won’t. If you walk out that door and choose those Butlers over us, we want no more to do with you, do we, Dad?’ Christopher stated.
‘Your brother is correct, Nancy. For your mother’s sake, I will give you one last opportunity to apologize to your family and stop all this nonsense once and for all. Because if you don’t, I swear on the Bible you will vacate our lives forever.’
Not wanting her obnoxious father to see her falter, Nancy picked up her case, stormed out of the door, and did not cry until she had reached the pavement outside the shop.
‘Donald, do something. Please, go and bring her back,’ Mary sobbed.
Donald held his hysterical wife in his arms and did his best to comfort her. ‘None of this is our fault, Mary, so let’s not blame ourselves that Nancy has turned out to be a bad apple. We have given that girl everything, and for her to throw it back in our faces like she has is thoroughly appalling. It will be difficult, but from this moment on, Nancy doesn’t exist any more in this household. My old mum used to say, “If you lie down with dogs you catch fleas.” Well Nancy will be infested with those fleas for life now, and as much as it breaks my heart, we have to say goodbye and good riddance to her.’
Johnny Preston was well aware of his hands physically shaking when he replaced the receiver on its cradle in the phonebox. He had just rung Graeme to update him on what was happening and how he felt it in his bones that tonight was the night.
Spotting an off licence, Johnny headed towards it. His nerves were jangling and a half-bottle of Scotch should help to calm him down. Trying to shoot Vinny with trembling hands was a no-go. He would probably gun down somebody else by mistake.
Ten minutes later, Johnny was parked in a secluded alleyway off the Mile End Road. He took the bottle of Scotch from the inside of his jacket, unscrewed the lid, and drank half of it in one gulp. Immediately feeling more calm and confident about the task in hand, Johnny decided to stop at another off licence on the way back to the club to purchase another bottle in case he needed it later. With a few Scotches inside him, Johnny felt as though he could conquer the world, and that’s exactly what he needed to pull this one off successfully.
Glancing at his watch, Johnny re-started the bike’s engine. Hopefully, in the next few hours, Vinny Butler would exist only in memory.
Back at the party, Colleen’s parents, Rosa and Eugene, were in total shock as they listened to what Albie Butler had to say about their future son-in-law. ‘Go find Colleen, Eugene. Bejesus, I can barely believe what I’ve just been told. No way is she marrying into this family now,’ Rosa said to her husband.
‘So, you’re telling us that Roy broke both your legs, plus some ribs, and put you in hospital for over a month?’ Eugene asked Albie. Before he took Rosa’s advice and forced Colleen to cancel her engagement, he needed to get his facts straight. Roy had seemed such a decent chap.
‘Yep. He has a violent temper, does my Roy. You should warn your Colleen never to upset him. He will definitely get violent with her if she does,’ Albie continued. The horrified expressions on Colleen’s parents’ faces were enough to make him feel dreadful, but then when he saw Vinny grinning at him from a distance, Albie knew that for once he would rather face the music himself than ruin Roy’s life. Albie tore his eyes away from his eldest son and stared at his tatty shoes.‘Ignore everything I just said. It isn’t true. It was Vinny that put me in hospital, not his brother. My Roy is a good boy and he will make your Colleen very happy,’ Albie said, walking away from an open-mouthed Rosa and Eugene.
Knowing that he would rather admit his awful lie to Queenie himself and explain why he had said it in the first place, rather than let Vinny expose his secret, Albie went in search of his estranged wife. He hadn’t walked more than ten steps when Vinny collared him though. ‘That was a quick conversation. You better have told Rosa and Eugene everything I asked you to, otherwise you’re in shit street.’
‘I did start to tell them, boy, but then I saw you watching me and it put me off. I will have another bash again later,’ Albie replied, playing for time. He already knew what he was going to do. He was going to speak to his family one by one, and explain why he had pretended to be at death’s door. He would also warn Roy about Vinny’s cunning plan. He just hoped that Roy would show some gratitude in return by bunging him some money so he could leave the area. He wouldn’t be able to live locally after disobeying Vinny’s orders, that was for sure.
Vinny sneered. ‘If you let me down, I swear I will jump on that stage, grab the mike, and tell everybody what a despicable lying old cunt you are. Oh, and then I will have to kill you, Dad. Now, do we understand each other?’
Albie nodded sadly. He knew without a doubt that Vinny wasn’t bluffing. His first-born was toxic. In fact, he was more than that, Vinny was rotten right down to the core.
Surprised by what a fantastic little DJ Lenny was turning out to be, Vivian grabbed her sister’s hand as she heard the opening chords to Joe Loss and his Orchestra’s ‘March of the Mods’.
‘Michael, Kevin, come on. You used to both be Mods,’ Queenie said, gesturing for her son and his friend to join her and Vivvy on the dancefloor.
‘Leave it out, Mum. This ain’t a proper Mod tune,’ Michael informed her.
‘So, what did you think of Colleen’s family?’ Vivian asked Queenie, when they had finished their little dance routine.
‘Seemed pleasant enough. Couldn’t really understand what they were saying though, could you?’
Vivian shook her head. ‘Not a lover of the Irish, me. Don’t trust the bastards.’
Queenie chuckled. Vivian didn’t like or trust anyone who came from north of Watford.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake. What does he want now?’ Vivian said, when she and Queenie walked back to their table to find Albie hovering nearby.
‘Can’t I have a dance and drink in peace without you bloody pestering me now?’ Queenie asked.
‘I need to speak to you alone, Queenie. It’s really important that I do.’
‘Well, she don’t fucking wanna talk to you, do you, Queenie? Now go away and leave us alone, Albie,’ Vivian ordered.
When Albie slunk away like a scolded puppy, Queenie bit her lip to stop herself having a go at her sister. If Albie had something of importance to tell her, then she wanted to bloody well hear it. As much as Queenie loved Vivian, she was quite capable of fighting her own battles, and sometimes she wished that her sister would butt out and let her do the talking.
Michael and Kevin were having a right good laugh. Vinny had invited half a dozen of Roy’s old school pals to the party. One of them had bought his sister with him and Kevin had just been winding her up by telling her because his father was black, he had been blessed with a gigantic-sized penis that white men could only dream of owning.
‘Michael, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but there’s a girl outside asking for you. She’s very upset and has a suitcase with her,’ said Paul, who worked on the door.
Hoping it wasn’t one of his many ex-birds turning up on his doorstep, Michael darted out to reception and was amazed to see Nancy standing there. He hadn’t even realized she knew the actual address of the club. ‘What’s wrong, babe? Has your mum and dad found out?’ he asked, when Nancy threw herself into his arms.
‘Yeah. Somebody saw me in your car, so I told them the truth. They said I had to choose them or you, so I chose you and left home,’ Nancy wept.
Aware that Paul and the other doorman Pete were both watching with interest, Michael ordered them to put Nancy’s case somewhere safe, then led his girlfriend outside.
‘You are OK with me turning up here, aren’t you? You don’t seem very pleased to see me,’ Nancy mumbled.
‘We’ll talk in the motor,’ Michael said, putting his arm around her and steering her towards where his car was parked. His mind was all over the place. He loved Nancy, he was sure of that, but now she had turned up with her suitcase in her hand, he felt slightly trapped already. What was he meant to say to his family? None of them even knew he was bloody dating her. And what the hell were Vinny and his mother going to say when they realized who she was?
‘You’re not going to make me go back home, are you?’ Nancy asked, when she got in the passenger side of the car.
Michael tilted Nancy’s chin towards him. ‘Of course I’m not going to make you go back home. It’s just a bit awkward this has happened tonight, that’s all. I so wished I’d have already told my family about you. Gonna be a bit of a shock for them when I march in the club, and introduce you in a minute, isn’t it?’
‘I can’t meet your family tonight, Michael. I’m not even dressed for a party. You’ll have to tell them about me tomorrow, then I’ll meet them the day after or something.’