When she heard a knock at her door she was up and out of her seat with a mixture of relief and dread. She hoped it wasn’t her mum or dad; her mum was astute enough to suss out the situation. She opened the door to Reggie Dornan and, for the first time in years, she was actually pleased to see him. She could see how shocked he was at his welcome and only hoped that he would immediately take on board what was going on. When she saw the man standing behind him, she was stunned into silence. He was the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on. He was big – bigger even than her Lenny had been – and he had deep-blue eyes and thick, black hair. She stood there for a long moment, her hand at her throat, as Ray Donovan walked towards her and, holding out his hand, said softly, ‘I’m Ray.’

She opened the door wide and gestured for them to come into her home. She was bereft of speech.

Reggie watched them greet each other and felt a prickle of jealousy. He followed them into the house and felt a moment’s anger; he should not be following Ray Donovan into Sharon’s home – he was there to introduce them. He had to tread carefully where Sharon was concerned. He saw her as little as possible but he knew that Jack had noticed the animosity between them and wondered at why it was there. Like most people, he assumed that Lenny had been playing away from home and that Sharon had found out and blamed Reggie. Reggie never said a word either way – he was far too shrewd.

When they walked into the lounge, Reggie’s heart dropped and he understood the reason for his unusually warm welcome.

Big Lenny, as drunk as he was, knew he had been caught out.

Reggie introduced Ray Donovan and he saw that Ray had taken in the situation immediately as well.

Big Lenny stood up and said haltingly that he was just leaving. It spoke volumes that no one insisted he got a cab and that they happily let him get in his Cosworth and drive himself home.

When he had gone, Reggie rolled his eyes at Sharon and she smiled sadly.

‘Looks like we came at the right time, Sharon.’

She sighed heavily. ‘You could say that.’

She offered them a seat and sat there quietly waiting to hear why they had called on her.