socks up.’
As Jed let go of her arm and stormed from the room, Frankie ran to the toilet and locked the door. She felt so lonely. She couldn’t even ring Joey, because he was at his work’s Christmas party. Frankie sat on the toilet seat and cried. Memories of Christmases with her mum and dad came flooding back and she wished she could go back in time.
Her mum had always made such a big fuss about Christmas. Frankie used to love it as a child, but over the years she’d felt too old and cool to bother with the preparation or the big day itself.
Frankie guiltily put her head in her hands. Last year, her mum had asked her and Joey to help her with the Christmas shopping and she’d begged them to decorate the tree and the house with her. Both she and Joey had laughed in Jessica’s face. Neither had known it would be their mum’s last Christmas and Frankie now felt full of remorse. She hadn’t appreciated her family life at the time, but after living with Jed’s parents, she bloody well did now.
Her reminiscing was ended by her boyfriend’s angry voice. ‘Frankie, get out ’ere now. You’re meant to be helping my mum,’ he yelled.
Frankie took a deep breath. ‘I’ll be out in five minutes. I’ve just been sick, Jed,’ she lied, as she pulled the chain.
Hearing his footsteps walk away, Frankie checked her eyes in the mirror. They weren’t red and there were no signs that she had been crying. She unlocked the bathroom door. The guests had started to arrive, and their loud, coarse voices could be heard a mile off.
Determined to make Jed happy, Frankie plastered a smile on her face and walked into the kitchen. ‘Sorry about that, Alice, I came over a bit queasy. Now, what can I do to help you?’
Alice patted her arm. ‘You go and sit yourself down with Jed,’ she said kindly. ‘I’m all done here now.’
Jed was sitting in the lounge talking to a couple Frankie had never seen before. ‘You all right, babe?’ he asked, nodding at her to sit down on the sofa next to him.
Frankie smiled and sidled up to him. ‘I feel much better now.’
Jed cuddled her. ‘About time too,’ he whispered sarcastically.
As the Bentley pulled on to the gravel, Joyce clapped her hands in glee. ‘They’re here! Oh, my God, look at the car, Stanley. Thank Christ I made you hide yours.’
Stanley said nothing while Joyce first checked her appearance in the mirror, then ran to answer the door. She looked ridiculous in the full-length blue dress she was wearing. She looked like she was going to a fucking ball. As for making him leave his car at Dougie and Vicki’s house, Stanley was lost for words.
‘We can’t have Polly’s parents thinking that we have no money, Stanley,’ she said. ‘That Sierra of yours is an utter embarrassment, you’ll have to get rid of it for the day.’
As his mother opened the front door, Raymond looked at her in horror. Not only was she speaking like she had a plum in her mouth, she was also dressed as though she was going to a film premiere.
‘Welcome to my home. Do come in,’ Joyce said, adding a little curtsey.
‘Hello. Pleased to meet you,’ Polly’s mum said.
‘All right, sweetheart,’ said Polly’s dad.
Overcome by her own self-importance, it wasn’t until Polly’s parents stepped inside the house that Joyce noticed their clothes. Polly’s dad, Dickie, was the spitting image of the character Boycie out of Only Fools and Horses.
Dickie was wearing blue jeans, tan shoes and a tan leather jacket and instead of sounding extremely upper class, which Joyce had imagined, his voice had a strong south London lilt to it.
Jenny, his wife, also had jeans on. With her knee-high boots, short fur jacket and short blonde hair, she reminded Joycie of the famous singer, Lulu.
Joycie was mortified. She and Stanley were all done up to the nines and Polly’s parents were dressed as if they were off to some seedy strip club.
‘Now, would you like a drink or something?’ Joyce asked in her ultra-posh voice.
Dickie slapped Joyce on the arse and winked at Jenny. ‘I’ll have whatever’s on offer, you little raver!’
Back in south London, Eddie waited until he heard Stuart snoring before he opened the rest of his letters.
It was Johnny, his little mate the screw, who had got hold of a torch for him. Ed wasn’t a great sleeper at the best of times and the torch had proved to be a lifeline for him, because he sometimes read under the covers well into the early hours.
The letter from Dougie earlier had upset Eddie immensely. Doug’s wife, Vicki, had been Jessica’s best friend. Ed had introduced them years ago at a party and they’d been inseparable ever since.
Truth be known, Eddie was honoured that Vicki was naming her child in memory of his wife, but seeing it written in black and white brought everything back that he’d tried so hard to move on from. Over the last couple of months, he’d hardly thought about Jessica’s death, but reading that letter had done him up like a kipper.
Eddie put his hand under his bunk. He’d Sellotaped the torch underneath, so nosy screws like Carter couldn’t find it. He could see that one of the envelopes contained a Christmas card, so he opened that first.
Hello Ed.
Hope you’re doing OK, bruv? I hate the fact we’ve fallen out. We went through so much together and I want to make things right between us. Please send me a VO so I can visit you in the New Year.
Happy Christmas,
Ronny
Ed looked at the front of the card and smiled. Ronny had always had the brains of a rocking horse and only he could send a card with the words ‘May your Christmas be jolly’ scrawled across the front whilst Eddie was sitting in clink for murdering his wife.
Everybody else had just sent letters, apart from two, who had sent cards inscribed ‘Thinking of you’.
Eddie was down to his last two letters now. He knew from the writing and the air-mail sticker that one was from Gary and Ricky, who were currently on holiday, and he decided to save that until last. He loved hearing from his sons. He’d had a right go at them for not telling him that the O’Haras had turned up at Jessica’s funeral. Raymond had made him see sense and Ed had soon after made it up with both of them.
In prison, lots of things got blown out of proportion. Living your life in a goldfish bowl wasn’t exactly easy and lags had far too much time on their hands to mull things over and get paranoid. That’s why that poor sod had hung himself recently when he hadn’t heard from his old woman. The unfortunate bastard had convinced himself that she was having an affair with his brother.
Ed put Gary and Ricky’s envelope to one side and studied the other. The handwriting was kind of unique and professional and the postmark was from Southend-on-Sea. Eddie ripped it open. He had no idea who the letter was from, but guessed by the handwriting that it had to be a woman.
Hi Eddie,
I hope you don’t mind me writing to you, but I just felt that I had to.
Firstly, I would like to say how upset I am by what has happened to you. I understand your predicament more than most as, in a way, I obviously played a big part in it. I have read all the press coverage and I would really like to help you. I am willing to stand up in court on your behalf. I would love to come and visit you so that we can have a proper discussion about this. If you do not want my help and do not reply, I will not think any less of you.
My thoughts are constantly with you.
Take care,
Mrs Smith x
Eddie knew immediately who the letter was from. He’d called himself Mr Smith when he’d hired Gina, the private detective, and he knew that by using the same name, she was talking