Now, as Reggie stood in the church, he looked about in bewilderment. He could not believe the scene in front of him. He was in the first pew, as befitted his best-friend status, but Lenny had been far more to him than that and it grieved him that he could never let anyone know. He looked at the bowed head of Sharon and his heart went out to her and those two little boys who were the apple of Lenny’s eye. He was heart-sorry for them all. They had lost someone that would have moved heaven and earth to give them a good life. Reggie would take on that mantle now and do whatever he could to ease their pain. It was the least he could do for Lenny; it was what he would have requested, what he would have wanted. Reggie would take care of Lenny’s family as if they were his own.

As the Mass started and the priest began the preparations for Lenny to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it took all of Reggie’s willpower not to break down there and then.

But he mustn’t do that. He felt Jack Johnson squeeze his hand in solidarity and that brought Reggie back to his senses. If he was happy about anything it was that no one had an inkling of the real relationship he and Lenny had shared and, for that, he could at least be thankful. He knew the ridicule that would come if that knowledge were to get out and he didn’t want it for any of them. Especially Lenny, who wasn’t there to defend himself.

Reggie tried to catch Sharon’s eye but she kept her head down and her sons pulled into her arms protectively. She was a wonderful mother, as Lenny had always insisted. Reggie swore to himself once more that he would do everything in his power for those two fatherless boys.

Chapter Eighty-One

Sharon listened to the eulogies and wished for this farce to be over. Jack Johnson was visibly moved as he spoke of the man he had looked on like a son, and how his death was a reminder to them all of how fleeting life could be, and how important it was to pack in as much living as possible. He had smiled at her and her sons as he’d said that and she had felt cold hatred in her heart once more for the complete hypocrisy of her life with the man everyone was feting. It was hard not to feel the disgust at what he had really been.