Kimberley Chambers 3-Book Butler Collection

by Kimberley Chambers

  ‘I shouldn’t think it’s got anything to do with him working at the club, Viv. I mean, he is twenty now, he’s bound to get urges. My Michael used to when he was younger. I remember seeing terrible stuff on his sheets. Your Lenny is bound to feel far more embarrassed than you do. Why don’t you pop back to yours, act like nothing’s happened, and tell him to come in here for a boiled bacon roll?’

  ‘No way is that filthy little sod coming in here to eat. I bet he ain’t even washed his hands. Made me feel so ill it has, Queen. Wouldn’t pour me another brandy, would ya?’

  Queenie nodded. Usually, she knew the best words to appease her sister, but Vivian catching Lenny masturbating was a difficult one, and for once Queenie was slightly lost for words herself.

  Back in Barking, Mary was desperate to clear her head and had decided to walk home from Nancy’s house rather than jump on a bus like she usually did. It was only four stops anyway, and she wasn’t ready to face Donald just yet. She wanted to work out exactly what she was going to say to him first.

  Nancy had been in a terrible state all day, and Mary was dreadfully worried about her. Mary hadn’t started her own family until she was twenty-two. Her daughter wasn’t even twenty-one yet, and how she was going to cope with three little boys all under the age of five, Mary did not know. Nancy wasn’t a bad mum by any means, but she hadn’t exactly taken to motherhood. She seemed to handle the boys all right when Mary or Michael were there to give her a hand, but when Nancy was home alone, she seemed to get extremely stressed. Daniel and Adam then ran rings around her and, being so young herself still, Nancy allowed the boys to do so, then got depressed about it.

  Thinking back to their earlier conversation, Mary sighed anxiously. She had managed to persuade her daughter not to leave Michael, but she wasn’t sure if she had done the right thing. It was one of those six of one, half a dozen of the other situations. Nancy would not be able to cope with Lee and that was a fact.

  ‘Hi, Mary. You OK?’

  Mary had been so deep in thought she hadn’t noticed Dederick and his two brothers crossing over the road.

  ‘I’m fine, thank you, boys. How are you today?’

  ‘Yeah, we cool. Going over the park to meet our friends. You gonna to be in that café tomorrow? Food never as good when you not there,’ Dederick said, treating Mary to a cheeky wink.

  Mary smiled as the three brothers walked away. They were all wearing tight-fitting white t-shirts and flared faded jeans, and with their identical Afro hair, they reminded Mary of members of the pop group the Jackson Five. Dederick and his brothers were lovely people, so was their mother Joyce, but a lot of regulars in the café didn’t see them that way. England had become far more multi-cultural over recent years, and many local people couldn’t get their heads around it. Both Mary and Donald believed there was good and bad in every race, but many English people didn’t share their liberal views. The majority opinion of the natives of Barking was that England should stop immigration immediately, otherwise their beloved country would be one day taken over, and white people would become the minority. Donald referred to these people as small-minded bigots, and Mary couldn’t agree more.

  Mary took a deep breath as she walked up the path that led to her house, and put her key in the door.

  ‘Hello, love. Dinner is ready,’ Donald said jovially. He didn’t feel at all jovial inside, he felt uneasy. He knew that his wife had been to see Nancy, and was now waiting for the backlash. He didn’t have to wait long.

  ‘You disgust me, Donald, you really do. How any man could cross over the road to avoid his own grandsons is beyond me. Nancy had told them that their granddad and uncle were walking towards them, and poor little Daniel was beside himself when you walked the other way. What type of man are you?’

  Donald knew he had no option other than to stick with his beliefs. ‘Mary, I told you when Nancy married into that family, I wanted nothing to do with her, or any children she might have in the future. I am a man of my word, that’s what type of man I am.’

  ‘Oh, and don’t I bastard-well know it. Not wanting Nancy in your life is one thing, but crossing over the road to avoid them two little boys is another. Would it have really hurt you to stop and say hello to them? What was you frightened of? Did you think that you might actually feel some emotion for once in your life?’

  ‘I refuse to have this conversation with you, Mary. We had a deal when you returned home after our minor break-up that if I allowed you to see Nancy, you would not mention anything about her or those children in this house. You are the one in the wrong here, not me. It is you, Mary, that has broken your part of the bargain.’

  ‘Fuck you, Donald, and fuck your bargain,’ Mary spat.

  Stunned that his usually well-mannered wife had used the F-word twice in the same sentence, Donald followed her as she stomped up the stairs. ‘Where are you going?’ he asked in a bewildered tone, when he saw her pull her small suitcase out from under the bed.

  ‘To stay with our daughter for a while.’

  ‘But what about the café? And what about your sausage and mash I’ve cooked you?’

  Mary threw a few bits into her case, zipped it up, then glared at the man she had married. ‘You and Tina can manage the café OK, and as for the dinner, you can stick your sausages where the sun don’t shine, Donald.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  ‘How was he? Did he settle in all right?’ Vinny asked, when he picked his mum and aunt up from Roy’s new care home at two p.m. as pre-arranged.

  ‘He seemed OK, didn’t he, Viv? I think he quite likes his new room,’ Queenie replied, hopefully.

  ‘He loves the view there as well. Where’s my Lenny? Why didn’t you bring him with you?’ Vivian asked, worriedly. Neither she nor her son had mentioned the awkward moment they had shared again, but Vivian couldn’t forget it. What she had witnessed would probably haunt her for the rest of her living days.

  ‘Champ’s with Ahmed and the boys. They were playing the machines in the amusement arcade when I left and I guarantee they will still be there when we get back. I just changed ’em up a tenner’s-worth of two- and ten-pence coins. Why you worried anyway, Auntie Viv? Champ’s twenty now. He’s a man not a boy any more.’

  Vivian pursed her lips and glanced at her sister.

  ‘Tell Vinny what happened, go on. He won’t say nothing,’ Queenie urged her sister.

  ‘Have you noticed my Lenny acting inappropriately with any girls at the club? And do you know someone called Lola or Layla?’ Vivian asked her nephew.

  Vinny froze momentarily. If Lenny had blabbed and his mum and aunt found out he had paid for his cousin to sleep with a prostitute, it would cause murders. Doing what he did best, Vinny decided to bluff it. ‘Yeah, there’s a barmaid at the club called Lola, but I’ve never seen Champ act inappropriate towards her or any other girl. Why do you ask?’

  ‘I can’t tell him. You tell him,’ Vivian ordered, putting her hands over her ears. She couldn’t bear to be reminded of her terrible ordeal.

  How Vinny kept a straight face when his mother told him what had happened, he would never know. At one point he started to laugh, but managed to cover it up with a coughing fit.

  ‘Take your hands off your ears now, Vivvy. I’ve told him,’ Queenie said, in all seriousness.

  Trying not to laugh again, Vinny cleared his throat. ‘Champ is just a normal twenty-year-old lad who hasn’t got a girlfriend. Just because he isn’t like the rest of us, doesn’t mean to say he don’t get urges.’

  ‘Standing in front of a mirror with your dingle-dangle in your hand while spewing obscenities is not what I call fucking normal, Vinny. I bet you don’t bastard-well do it,’ Vivian spat.

  ‘Well no I don’t, but you really are worrying over nothing, Auntie Viv. Now, can we talk about something else please?’

  When his mum and aunt started to talk about Roy again, Vinny turned up the volume on the radio. His brother hadn’t uttered one word to him on the whole of the
journey down to Eastbourne, and Vinny was getting very poxed off with his behaviour. He could understand Roy feeling bitter and depressed, he would if he was in the same boat, but anyone would think by the way Roy was acting that it was Vinny who had actually shot him.

  Over in Barking, Mary saw Michael’s car pull up outside and gave her daughter some last-minute advice. ‘Now, just keep calm and remember that poor little mite has lost his mum and his gran.’

  ‘Is our brother here, Nanny?’ Daniel asked, jumping up and down excitedly.

  ‘Yes, love. Now don’t forget to share your toys with him like I told you to.’

  ‘I won’t,’ Daniel said, running towards the front door. Adam toddled after his brother, but wasn’t quite as clued-up as to what the excitement was all about.

  ‘Come on. You can’t sit there,’ Mary said, nudging her daughter and following her grandsons.

  When Michael opened the door, both Daniel and Adam flew at Lee as kids do and hugged him. Lee hadn’t really understood what had happened to his mum and nan. He was too young to grasp the fact that both were dead and he would never see them again.

  ‘Hello, Lee. I’m Mary and this is Nancy. It’s lovely to meet you,’ Mary said, crouching down to hug the child. Her heart went out to the poor little sod, it really did.

  Michael had been thrilled when Nancy had mellowed, agreed not to leave him, and had said that it was OK for his orphaned son to live with them. ‘Say hello to Lee then, babe,’ he urged his wife.

  Nancy stared at the child. Lee had blond hair and, apart from having green eyes, looked nothing like Michael or her own sons. She obeyed her husband’s orders and awkwardly hugged the child. She felt nothing, just as she knew she would. Why should she? Lee wasn’t her flesh and blood.

  Within an hour of arriving at Kings Holiday Park in Pevensey Bay, Queenie and Vivian had both fallen in love with the place. ‘Ain’t it grand, Vivvy? I thought my Vinny was winding me up when he said Showaddywaddy were appearing here tomorrow night, but he weren’t. Look, it says so on that poster.’

  ‘And look at this brochure. They have loads of famous acts here. Jim Davidson is here in a fortnight’s time. Makes me laugh, he do,’ Vivian replied. She was ever so impressed by the whole set-up.

  ‘Look, bingo tonight at seven. Shall we have a game?’ Queenie suggested.

  ‘Yous two coming in the club? Or you gonna stand in reception all day? Your lager will go flat if you stand out here any longer,’ Vinny said, gesturing for his mum and aunt to follow him.

  ‘Dad, can me and Ben go and find Steve and Gary now?’ Little Vinny asked, keen to see the two lads he had met on his last visit.

  ‘Yep, off you go. You do know what one our bungalow is, don’t you?’

  ‘Yeah. Come on, Ben, let’s go,’ Little Vinny said, before gulping down the last of his drink.

  ‘Dunno why you invited that Ben Bloggs down here if Little Vinny has already met some mates. Bad influence, that boy is,’ Queenie said curtly.

  ‘Ben’s OK, and I invited him in case them other lads ain’t about. This is a holiday for all us, and as long as Little Vinny has a pal to knock about with, he can roam free. I’m sure you and Auntie Viv don’t wanna be saddled with him, and neither do I.’

  ‘Did you win any more?’ Vivian asked her son, as Lenny walked over to the table alongside Ahmed.

  ‘Yeah, loads of two-pence pieces fell out the bottom, but then I lost them again.’

  ‘I told him not to put them all back. He should have saved them for later,’ Ahmed said, ruffling Lenny’s hair.

  ‘Right, me and Ahmed are gonna love and leave you now. Take that fifty quid, get yourselves whatever you want to drink, and can you get a few bits from the shop for dinner tonight, and we need some breakfast stuff for the morning.’

  ‘Where you going?’ Queenie asked suspiciously.

  ‘To spend some time with two birds we met here last week.’

  ‘Can I come too?’ Lenny asked.

  ‘You’re going nowhere, you. Now, sit down and drink your lemonade,’ Vivian ordered her son.

  When two youngish-looking girls appeared at the back of the club, Queenie sat open-mouthed as her son dashed towards them with Ahmed in tow. ‘Well, I never,’ she muttered.

  Michael Butler sat on the edge of his wife’s sun-lounger and smiled as he watched Lee splashing about in the paddling pool with his two half-brothers. ‘Seems to have settled in well, doesn’t he?’ Michael remarked, as he cracked open a can of cold lager. He really wished he didn’t have to go to work tonight, but with Vinny away, he couldn’t leave Dean to run the joint on his own. It wasn’t fair.

  Realizing her daughter wasn’t going to answer Michael’s question, Mary did so instead. ‘Yes, he has. Poor little mite. Thank God he has you, Michael. How did you tell him the news? Did he understand?’

  ‘Not really. I just said that his mum and nan had gone to live in heaven, but I would take good care of him from now on. He did ask if his mum and nan would still be able to see him, and I told him if he looked at the sky of a night, two of the stars shining down would be them watching him. I didn’t really know what else to say.’

  ‘Aw, that was a lovely thing to say, Michael, wasn’t it, Nancy?’

  ‘Did you find out if Denise’s bloke was drunk?’ Nancy asked, in a none-too-sympathetic tone. It had been Denise’s boyfriend, Glen, driving the car when the accident had occurred.

  ‘He wasn’t drunk. It was the guy in the other car who was pissed out of his brains by all accounts. A witness came forward. Said they had seen the driver of the Ford Capri weaving all over the road a few minutes beforehand, and had had to swerve to avoid being hit themselves. Denise and her mum were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. A fucking tragedy, especially for Lee. I’ve spoken to the funeral directors and I’m gonna pay for their funerals. I want Lee to have nice graves to visit with proper headstones where he can remember his mum and nan. That will comfort him, especially as he gets older.’

  When Lee and Daniel ran over to Michael together, and it was Lee who her husband picked up and swung in the air above his head, Nancy couldn’t watch any more. Not only were they footing the bill for the funerals, the child was obviously now more important in Michael’s eyes than the two sons that she had given birth to.

  ‘Where you going, love?’ Mary asked her daughter.

  ‘Upstairs for a lie-down. I don’t feel too well. I think it’s the heat.’

  In a pub called the Beach Tavern, Vinny and Ahmed had just had a bite to eat and a few bevvies with Joanna and Chloe.

  Vinny turned to Joanna. ‘That food was smashing, but I feel bloated now. How about me and you take a little stroll? I’d like to spend a bit of time alone with you.’

  Vinny’s eyes mesmerized Joanna. Ever since he had swiftly left earlier in the week saying he had a family crisis to deal with, Joanna had thought of little else. The only time she could ever remember feeling slightly like that before was with Jamie Draper, her first love, but that was nowhere near as intense as the feeling she secretly harboured for Vinny. ‘Yes, I’d like that,’ Joanna replied.

  ‘Where’re you going?’ Chloe asked, when Joanna and Vinny both stood up.

  ‘They go for walk, but you no need worry. I will stay to keep you company, beautiful one,’ Ahmed said, laying on the accent and schmooze.

  ‘How long are you going to be?’ Chloe asked, directing the question at Vinny.

  ‘An hour, tops. See you in a bit,’ Vinny said.

  Joanna experienced a massive surge of excitement as she felt Vinny’s hand envelop hers. It was a lovely feeling, and one she had never ever encountered before.

  Queenie and Vivian were keenly waiting for the bingo to start. Both women loved a game, but rarely ever ventured to their local bingo hall any more. It was full of nosy old bats that always wanted to ask questions about family members. Vivian smiled at her son. She still didn’t feel quite the same about him since she had caught him masturbating, but knew for the s
ake of their relationship, she must try to put the awful experience behind her. ‘You all right, boy? You seem a bit quiet tonight.’

  ‘I wanted to go out with Vinny and Ahmed, Mum. I don’t know how to play bingo. It’s a woman’s game and I feel like a wally.’

  Vivian suddenly felt a bit guilty. She did baby him a bit. ‘How about you go up the bar and get yourself a pint of lager? You can get me and your Auntie Queenie another drink while you’re up there as well.’

  Lenny grinned. ‘I don’t need your money, Mum. I earn my own. Men buy women drinks.’

  Watching her son walk up the bar, Vivian turned to Queenie. ‘I still can’t believe that Denise and Madge are dead, can you? Don’t get me wrong, I never liked Madge, but I wouldn’t wish death on the woman. What a tragic way to go, eh?’

  ‘Yep, bloody awful. Now pick your pen up, the bingo is about to start.’

  In a nearby chalet, Joanna Preston was all of a fluster. Vinny had kissed her earlier as they had returned to the pub, and even though it wasn’t a proper tongue-in-mouth kiss, it had been on the lips, and had sent her in a bit of a manic state. ‘What do you think then, Chloe? Shall I wear this? Or do you think the red dress looked better?’

  Chloe sighed. Joanna had already tried on six different outfits, and was beginning to get on her nerves. ‘Look, Jo, I’m not trying to burst your bubble here, but don’t you think that we should be a bit cautious with Vinny and Ahmed? We don’t even really know them, and I can just tell by the way you are acting that you have got it bad.’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ Joanna replied.

  ‘Yes, you have! In all the years I’ve known you, I can’t remember you ever being like this over any boy or man.’

  ‘Well, so what if I like him? I thought you liked Ahmed as well?’

  ‘Yeah, I do, but not in the way you seem to like Vinny. Look, it is nice to go out with blokes who want to wine and dine us for a change, but we shouldn’t be reading too much into this, Jo. Let’s just have a laugh with them.’