Queenie felt her heart lurch in her chest when she saw the way Michael and Nancy looked at one another. They were clearly in love, and there was no way Queenie would allow Vinny to ruin his youngest brother’s happiness now by forcing Denise Thompson to make up wicked lies. That would be so very wrong.
Johnny Preston felt as cool as a cucumber. No longer was he shaking. He was absolutely brimming with confidence now. He had also moved away from the main road and was tucked nicely in between two cars that were parked nearer the club’s entrance. Annoyed with himself for having drunk his Scotch so quickly, Johnny glanced at his watch. He definitely had another hour or two to kill before the party in the club wrapped up. Desperate not to lose his bravado, Johnny decided to pop to another off licence. Surely it was better to be slightly merry than a bag of bloody nerves? Turning on the ignition, Johnny pulled away from the kerb right in front of a Rover 2000 that had to screech to a halt to avoid hitting him.
‘You absolute idiot! Did you not check your mirror? How I didn’t kill you I’ll never know,’ the driver yelled, leaping out of the car.
Realizing he was attracting unwanted attention from gawping passers-by, Johnny revved the bike’s engine and sped away.
Vinny had had his beady eyes on his father all evening, and was just about to march across to him and order him to tell Colleen’s parents what he had instructed him to, when Paul the doorman walked over to him. ‘There’s a girl in reception, boss. Says her name is Denise and she asked for you.’
Vinny grinned. He had always prided himself at having eyes in the back of his head. In his line of business, you needed to, and he had been well chuffed when he had seen Michael sneak Nancy Walker in earlier. If Denise hadn’t been popping in to break the news of her pregnancy, Vinny would have probably smacked Michael in the mouth and turfed his slag of a bird out immediately. ‘Go and have a chat with Karen while the bar is quiet, Ahmed. I have a bit of business to attend to,’ Vinny said, winking at his pal.
Ahmed grinned when his friend sauntered away. Vinny had told him earlier that Denise Thompson would be turning up to drop the baby bombshell. There were very few secrets between him and Vinny. They were more like brothers than friends, and seeing as Ahmed had already made Kenny Jackson disappear off the face of the earth on Vinny’s say-so, and was soon to work his evil magic on both Karen and Terry Smart, they already had a massive bond to keep them united for the rest of their colourful lives.
Up on the stage, Lenny was having a ball, and for the first time in his life, he truly felt like king of the castle. ‘And this song is going out especially for my mum and Auntie Queenie because I know that they both like it,’ he said confidently over the mike.
The song was Mary Hopkin’s ‘Those Were the Days’, and when his mum and aunt dashed onto the dancefloor, Michael was open-mouthed to see Denise Thompson marching his way with Vinny by her side. ‘I’m sorry, bruv, but she skipped past the doorman. Reckons she has something important to tell you,’ Vinny said.
Michael stood up. ‘Shall we talk outside? The music in here is very loud, Denise.’
‘No. Here’s fine. I thought you should know that I’m pregnant, Michael, and the baby’s yours,’ Denise blurted out, in the exact way that Vinny had instructed her to.
Hardly able to believe her ears, Nancy let out a racking sob, put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from retching, and ran from the club.
Having spotted the drama from the dancefloor, Queenie dashed towards Michael and dragged him away from his ex-girlfriend. ‘It’s all lies, son. You go and find Nancy and go straight back to mine. You can both sleep in Little Vinny’s bedroom. Go on. Don’t leave that lovely girl outside the club on her own,’ Queenie ordered.
Michael was perplexed. ‘But, how do you know Denise is lying?’
‘I just do. Now fucking go,’ Queenie shrieked.
Johnny Preston put his hand on his gun in anticipation of Vinny appearing as he watched the scene outside the club with interest. There was a girl crying, another one screaming abuse, and that old bat of an aunt had just come into view as well. The bloke present was Michael, Johnny surmised. He hadn’t seen the youngest Butler boy for many years, but it certainly wasn’t Roy or Vinny.
When he saw a police car slow down nearby, Johnny cursed his luck and immediately turned the ignition. He would have to go for a little ride, then come back once this silly argument had calmed down, as there was no way he was going to get caught with a gun in his possession. Feeling a bit edgy for the first time since he’d nearly got knocked off his bike earlier, Johnny decided to head to another off licence to help calm his nerves once more.
Back inside the club, Vinny was on a roll and had just approached his father to hand him an ultimatum. ‘There’s two hundred quid in there,’ Vinny said, stuffing an envelope into the pocket of Albie’s threadbare jacket. ‘Now, you’ve got ten minutes to do what I told you to, otherwise I shall leap on that stage, grab the mike and tell everybody what a nasty, lying, deceitful old cuntbag you are.’
Usually, Albie would do anything for fifty quid, let alone two hundred, but he had been watching his Roy tonight and he and Colleen seemed so ideally in love and well-suited that for once Albie was willing to put loyalty above money, or his own pride. ‘I can’t do it, Vinny, so do your very worst, boy,’ he mumbled, almost apologetically.
To say Vinny was furious by his father’s decision was an understatement. ‘You think I’m bluffing, you old bastard, don’t ya? Well, watch this, Daddy dearest.’
When his eldest son strutted towards the stage like a lion hunting its prey, Albie darted towards Roy. ‘I need to talk to you, son. It’s urgent,’ he begged.
Excusing himself from Colleen, Roy led his father aside. There was something about the look on the older man’s face that told Roy this was serious and when Albie began to gabble about Vinny’s plan to spoil his relationship, Roy shook his head in disbelief. ‘I know Vinny has never been that happy for me and Colleen, but he wouldn’t do something as bad as that to me, Dad. He’s my brother, for fuck’s sake. You have had a good drink. You sure you ain’t got muddled up?’
‘I swear to you, boy. Look at this. Vinny just gave it to me,’ Albie said, showing Roy the envelope with the money inside. ‘Ask Colleen’s parents if you don’t believe me. Your brother blackmailed me. He found out that I didn’t have cancer and said if I didn’t tell them that you were a womanizer, who had cheated on their daughter, and that you had broken my legs and put me in hospital, he was going to tell everyone I lied about my illness. I started to tell Colleen’s parents earlier, but I couldn’t go through with it. I panicked, but I swear I only lied about having cancer as I wanted to see my family again. I know none of yous kids would have agreed to see me unless you thought I was dying.’
Roy already had the hump with his brother because of Ahmed being at the party, so when he heard Vinny’s booming voice interrupt Edison Lighthouse’s ‘Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes’, Roy ordered his father to stay where he was and walked back into the club area.
‘Sorry to interrupt Champ’s wonderful disco and your dancing, ladies and gentlemen, but I would just like to say a few words. Firstly, I would like to congratulate Roy for finally finding a woman who will put up with him.’
When everybody laughed, Vinny did the same, while scanning the club for his mother and father, but unfortunately he could see neither, so just carried on with his speech. ‘Secondly, I would like to congratulate Brenda and Dean on their engagement, and also a big well done for getting my sister in the family way, Deano. She ain’t an easy bird to live with, I can vouch for that, so trust me you’re gonna need all the luck you can get.’
When everybody laughed again, Vinny was relieved when he spotted his mother and Vivian standing