‘When can you move in?’

‘Anytime I want. There’s no carpets down though. Vinny wants me to choose the carpets tomorrow and he’ll pay for them. I have saved some money meself, but he told me to save that for other things I might need. He’s such a good boy, Viv. I don’t know what I’d do without him.’

‘All the more reason to get rid of Yvonne.’

‘Oh, yes. Apparently, it was Vinny who lied about her age. He didn’t want me to think she was too old for him. He didn’t seem overly concerned when I told him about Slack Alice either. I’ll suffer their relationship for now, I’ll have to. I won’t rest until I’ve found a way to get rid of her though. Just gotta bide me time. Girls like Yvonne usually end up digging their own graves anyway.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Three Months Later

Summer 1961

Queenie relaxed in her deckchair, drinking her cup of tea. It was a lovely September day, warm, sunny, but with a slight breeze.

Smiling as a couple of robins nibbled at some breadcrumbs she’d put out earlier, Queenie screamed as that bastard kitten appeared from out of nowhere and pounced. ‘Get away, you little bastard. Go on, shoo.’ The birds thankfully flew off unharmed and the cat scarpered when she threw the dregs of her tea at him.

Queenie put her cup down and shut her eyes. She loved her new garden with a passion. Her old garden was more like a back yard, not a proper garden like this where you could plant flowers and listen to the birds sing.

These days, Queenie liked her own space. She wasn’t one to invite the neighbours indoors, but she would stop and chat to them in the street. She already knew most of them from the local market and shops.

Next door lived sprightly old Ivy Harris, a true East Ender. Queenie liked her very much and often popped in Ivy’s for a cuppa and a natter. The only neighbour Queenie wasn’t particularly struck on was the woman who lived opposite. ‘Nosy Hilda’, Ivy called her and Queenie soon found out why. She was a proper curtain-twitcher and was always prying or spreading idle gossip.

The house itself was beautiful, so posh and modern. The kitchen was tiled in green and white and it was lovely to have posh cupboards. Even the larder was double the size of her previous one.

The rest of the house was painted apple green, including the bedrooms. That pleased Queenie as it was ever such a modern colour. It also matched her mustard Dralon sofa, although Queenie had decided that in future she would like patterned wallpaper in the lounge to jazz things up a bit.

The boys all loved their new home too. The bedroom they shared was bigger than the last one. Brenda had settled into her little room too. At first she’d been scared sleeping alone as she’d never done so before, but after Lenny stayed over a couple of nights with her, she soon adapted to her new surroundings.