‘Only a year. Vinny’s fifteen now.’

‘Yvonne ain’t sixteen, Queen. She’ll be eighteen this year, love. I know it’s only a three-year gap, but it’s a lot when the boy’s only fifteen, ain’t it?’

‘Lying little slut!’ Queenie spat. ‘Right, tell me any other dirt you got on her please, Jeanie. I won’t say a word where I got the info from. I just want that girl out of my Vinny’s life.’

‘OK. But don’t mention me or my Trevor. Your Vinny’s got quite a name for himself now as being handy with his fists. Trevor’s been through enough as it is, Queenie.’

Thrilled that people were seeing Vinny as handy with his fists, Queenie crossed her forefinger over her face and chest like Mary O’Leary used to. ‘You have my word, Jeanie. On my kids’ lives.’

Queenie was indoors with Viv debating what to say to Vinny when the phone rang. ‘What you up to, Mum?’ asked Vinny.

‘Eating shit with sugar on it.’

Vinny chuckled. ‘Meet me at Jack’s cafe at five. I’ve got a surprise for ya. Oh, and come on your own please.’

Queenie hated surprises at the best of times. ‘This better be nothing to do with Yvonne, Viv. She best not be there with him, I’m telling ya,’ Queenie raged. Her conversation with Jeanie hadn’t unearthed anything too shocking, but she’d learned that Yvonne was a slapper like her mother, as she’d once told Trevor she thought she was pregnant, which turned out to be a false alarm. It was blatantly obvious Yvonne was a ponce too as she was forever pointing out things she liked to Trevor who then bought them for her, just as Vinny was now doing.

‘I wonder what the surprise can be?’ Viv pondered. ‘I hope he ain’t bastard-well proposed to her, Queen.’

‘I’ll throttle him if he has, believe me.’

‘What you gonna say to him about her?’

‘I can’t say much that Jeanie told me as Vinny’ll know it’s come from her and Trevor. The only things I can say is she’s lied about her age, been engaged three times and had a boyfriend of twenty-seven. I can also tell him what a slag her mother is.’

‘Do you think that’ll be enough to put him off?’

‘Dunno. Keep your fingers crossed. I’m gonna take a slow walk round to the cafe now, before I wind meself up any more. We’ll have our sprats when I get back. The kids and Albie can have ham, egg and chips.’

‘OK. I’ll cook tonight.’

When she arrived at the cafe, Queenie was relieved that Vinny was standing outside alone.

‘Where we going?’ Queenie asked, as Vinny took her by the arm and turned off the Whitechapel Road.

‘You’ll soon find out. We’ve only got a short walk ahead of us.’

‘Where to though? Just tell me, Vinny. You know I hate bleedin’ surprises.’

Beaming from ear to ear, Vinny put an arm around his mother and kissed her on the top of her head. ‘Oh, you’ll like this surprise. I can promise ya that much.’ He’d been buzzing ever since viewing the property earlier. It was brand spanking new as the previous house on that site had been bombed.