Lena laughed. ‘One of my many gifts! I can’t believe I slept in! Tania gone off already?’

Daniel nodded as he poured them both mugs of tea. ‘She was up and out before I got up. And what a fucking mess she left as usual!’

Lena smiled tolerantly. ‘Well, that’s our Tania all right. Even the boys weren’t as messy as her.’

They took their teas out to the back garden; it looked beautiful. Lena admired her surroundings and wondered for the thousandth time how she could have hated this place all those years ago. Now it was her haven, the place where she relaxed, where she found peace.

‘What do you think about tomorrow, Lena? Shall we go or not?’

Lena sipped her tea. ‘I think we have to, Dan. Ria is expecting us, anyway.’

Daniel had thought as much. ‘Who’d have imagined Petey would be getting shackled! I hope it works for him.’

In all honesty, Daniel had no real interest in going to Petey’s engagement party. He knew that it was a sham. Petey was incapable of ever being faithful, as had been proved time and again over the years. He went through women like other men went through underpants. He had the perfect life for a lover of women; from the nightclubs right through to the strip clubs, he had his pick of the fillies, and he was good-looking too. Daniel didn’t care what he did but his strict ideas about fidelity in a marriage meant he thought Petey should give all that up once he tripped down the aisle. He knew Peter felt the same even though he had taken the occasional flyer in his day – not that anyone else had ever known that, of course. Saint Peter, as Daniel thought of him lately, had made sure of that much.

‘I think Ria wants it at the house to keep it small, Dan, you know. If it was at one of the clubs it could easily get out of hand.’

Daniel turned his attention back to his wife and nodded his agreement, but he kept his own counsel on that point. Young Bernadette O’Toole liked the clubs a bit too much, as he’d observed – and she liked the men who frequented them as well. Not that anyone could actually accuse her of anything untoward – she was just a flirty type – but Daniel Bailey knew a whore in the making when he saw one, and his nephew’s intended had ‘trollop’ written all over her. She had even tried to give him the glad eye! She needed to be admired by every man within her orbit. Petey would have more fights than Muhammad Ali once he shackled himself to her, but that was his look out. He decided to suss Lena out on the subject, saying craftily, ‘She seems like a nice enough girl. What do you think, Lena?’