Chapters (48)
- Cover
- THEFEUD
- Dedication
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
Stanley resembled a startled deer as he saw Harry clock him. He’d been rooted to the spot for the past five minutes and could barely believe what he’d witnessed. He’d seen Eddie with his hands around Jessica’s throat, and was about to react before Harry had stepped in.
‘Have a chat with your dad and I’ll speak to Ed,’ Harry said, walking away.
‘Are you OK? He didn’t hit you, did he?’ Stanley asked.
Jessica stood up. ‘No, he didn’t. I’m fine, Dad, honest I am. It’s cold out here, let’s go back inside.’
‘What’s going on?’ Joyce asked, as Stanley and Jessica sat down at the table.
As Jess hugged the twins, Stanley moved next to his wife. ‘Thanks to you, our daughter’s married to a fucking lunatic. As I walked outside, Ed had his hands around Jessica’s throat and was trying to strangle her.’
‘Why? What’s she done wrong? Didn’t you try and stop him, Stanley?’
‘His father dragged him off of her. Anyway, what was I meant to do? They’re villains, Joycie. They probably carry guns with them. They ain’t gonna take no notice of a little man like me, are they?’
Lee had been carted off in the ambulance and had been told in no uncertain terms to say that he’d fallen down the stairs that led up to the hall, or else.
Eddie had now calmed down a bit. His dad had given him a good talking to and he was back at the bar having a drink with his brothers.
Most of the guests, including Auntie Joan and Auntie Vi, hadn’t batted an eyelid when Ed had kicked off. Most family get-togethers ended up in a ruckus of some kind, and once you’d seen one poor bastard beaten to pulp, you’d seen them all.
Vi and Joan had been dancing to ‘I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’, when the fight had erupted.
‘Eddie’s smashing some bloke’s head against the bar,’ Vi had said casually.
Joan carried on singing without even bothering to look round. She’d brought the boys up, and knew full well what cloth they were cut from.
Pissed off with Ronny and Paulie bombarding him with questions about Lee, Ed walked over to his dad. ‘Can I have a quiet word?’
Harry excused himself from Sylvie and followed his son outside. ‘I’m sorry for pushing you, Dad. I just lost it, you know how it is.’
Harry put a wise arm around his son’s shoulder. ‘Take my advice, Ed, talk to Jess and tell her you’re sorry. Good women are hard to find and you’ll be a fool to yourself if you lose her. I know I’m sort of courting Sylvie, but she’ll never replace your mother, no one can.’