‘Nah, we ain’t got time,’ Jed said, snatching the bottle from Sammy and downing the last of the Jack Daniel’s. Smashing the empty bottle against Harry’s headstone, Jed stood up, took some tissue out of his pocket and crouched down on Harry’s grave.

‘What the fuck you doing?’ Sammy asked, confused.

‘Having a shit – what does it look like?’ Jed chuckled.

Sammy creased up laughing as Jed performed his dirty deed. ‘Do you think we’ll find a boozer open now?’ he asked as Jed wiped his arse with a tissue.

Jed ignored his cousin’s question and stared at the destroyed grave. Cocaine always gave him the shits and his diarrhoea was steaming in the cold December air. ‘That’s what you get for shooting my grandad, Mitchell. Happy Christmas, you old cunt.’

Laughing like hyenas, Jed and Sammy legged it from the scene of the crime.

Eddie was in a jovial mood as he picked Joey up and drove towards Upminster. Firstly they were visiting Jessica’s grave, then his mum and dad’s graves, where they were meeting his uncle Reg, and aunts Vi and Joanie. From there they were going to have a few drinks in Canning Town to toast Harry’s memory.

‘So, are Vi and Reg going to be there as well?’ Joey asked warily.

‘Yeah, why do you sound so worried?’ Eddie asked.

‘I just sense they aren’t that comfortable with my sexuality, that’s all.’

Eddie laughed. ‘Fuck ’em, what do they know, eh?’

When they pulled up at the cemetery, Joey grabbed a bunch of flowers from the back seat and smiled. His dad’s acceptance of him and Dominic as a couple meant the world to him.

‘So where is lover boy today?’ Ed asked.

‘He’s gone to visit his nan. Dom’s parents forbade him to tell her about us in case it gave her a heart attack. She’s got a dodgy ticker, apparently.’

Eddie chuckled, but as they reached Jessica’s grave his mood turned sombre. ‘Hello, my darling,’ he said sadly.

Joey arranged the flowers and then placed the Christmas card he’d bought for his mum next to them. ‘THE WORLD’S GREATEST MUM’ was plastered across the front and as Joey began to read the inscription inside, Eddie crouched down and began to weep. ‘I still love you, sweetheart, and I hope you don’t think that because I’m now with Gina that I’ve forgotten about you. I’ll never forget you, Jess, and there ain’t a day goes by when I don’t miss you, babe.’

Not used to seeing his dad cry, Joey bent down and put a comforting arm around his father’s shoulder. He was crying himself now, but not to the same extent as his dad. ‘Come on, let’s go before we upset ourselves any further,’ he said.