Ivy and Del Conway were over the moon at the way the wedding had gone off. Ivy had never seen her daughter looking so beautiful. They were in a nightclub on Southend seafront that they had taken over for the night, and the food and drink was outrageously good. They had champagne on tap – anything anyone wanted was on tap. It must have cost Ray a fortune, and Ivy was pleased that her daughter had got herself a man who was so good to her. Those boys were well behaved these days, and they obviously loved Ray as much as he loved them. It did her heart good to see them all happy. Little Kathy was going to be a heartbreaker with that black hair and those blue eyes. The place was packed and, as she watched her own husband getting steadily pissed at the bar, she smiled to herself ruefully. Her Del would never change, but even she could see that he was pleased for his daughter, and so he should be.

Annie made her way over to Ivy, and the two women, who were very friendly with each other, chatted happily together. This was a wonderful day, and they were both pleased with how it was turning out. In fact, they were both of a mind. They saw that the children they had produced had finally found the soulmate that eluded so many other people. They were rightly pleased with the day and saw nothing in the future except happiness for these two who were so much in love.

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six

Gerry and Reggie were both half-drunk and sitting together in one of the small booths that dotted the nightclub.

‘Strange venue for a wedding, Reggie, don’t you think?’

Reggie grinned and she was aware of how painfully handsome her brother was. Of course, she knew he was gay – and that it was still something to be kept as quiet as possible. Even now that was a no-no in the criminal underworld.

‘He’s just bought it. Well, the word “acquired” is probably more apt.’

Reggie knew that he was talking out of school but at this moment he didn’t really give a shit. He had felt it was wrong what Ray had done and he had said as much to him.

Jack Johnson agreed with him but, as Jack said, what could they do? It was over with, finished and done. Maybe if they had known about it beforehand they could have intervened, but Ray had a habit of working on his own and that was always going to cause friction. His attitude had been: this is a personal matter, why would I involve anyone else? He had a point, but it was the principle. Young Elton was in on it, of course, and that was another bugbear. Elton Mills was in on everything these days.