Two brothers killed in the Birmingham pub bombings were celebrating news of a pregnancy when they were killed, an inquest heard.
Hearings into the deaths of 21 people in the 1974 bombings got under way this week after a 44-year wait for the bereaved families.
Twin blasts, detonating in "massive explosions" minutes apart inside the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, brought "devastation" on the night of November 21.
Among those killed were Eugene and Desmond Reilly, who were in the Tavern in the Town.
Continuing a second day of pen portraits, their older brother Sean Reilly said he was 26 when the bombings happened, and their younger sister Mary was 17.
He recounted a story Mary told of having seen Desmond in Alum Rock Rock Road on the afternoon of November 21, looking for Eugene to celebrate.
"Mary said Desmond was in great spirits, he was delighted that his wife Elaine was pregnant. They had much to look forward to," he said.
"Desmond just invited her to join them for a drink, but she had just finished work and said that her mother was expecting them home for dinner.
"The bombers took away our brothers' futures and part of our future too.
"Eugene never had the opportunity to get married and have children and Desmond never got the opportunity to meet his son.
"Part of us died with them on the day they died."
Jane Davis (17) had aspirations to become a nuclear physicist, her brother Brian said.
He also lost his brother John a few years after the bombings, in an industrial accident in Saudi Arabia.
Jane's mother had a brain tumour so she "took on the washing, cooking and cleaning" and took the weekly wash to the launderette each Saturday, Mr Davis said.
"She was a good friend to everyone," he said.
"When she died, it was like a light went out."
She and fellow casualty Maxine Hambleton had only just returned from grape picking in the Champagne regional vineyards of France when they died, and had been due to share photos of their trip that night.
Mr Davis said: "We will not be able to hear Jane's voice, but we do still have her words in the postcards."
One read: "My back is bloody killing me. It is still raining in sunny France and there is no chance of a sun tan. See you all Wednesday - Love Jane, kiss, kiss, kiss."
Anne Hayes, from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, was 19 when she was killed, alongside friend Marilyn Nash, at the Tavern in the Town.
She had left school to become an apprentice hairdresser, before starting work as a shop assistant at Miss Selfridge in Lewis's department store.
Thomas Chaytor, known as Tom, had been adopted as a child, and was a divorcee with two young children.
He met his girlfriend Susan Hands in 1971 when they were working at what was then Rackham's department store in the city centre.
She said: "Tom had got a part-time job at the Tavern in the Town, only two or three weeks prior to this, to boost his income.
"Clearly, after the events in 1974, as a 23-year-old, I had to rebuild my life. I have no idea how things would have turned out had the bombings not occurred."
On Tuesday, the jurors heard that another victim, Charles Gray (44) was born in Scotland to a large family.
He completed National Service and moved to Birmingham, working at a toffee factory and Longbridge works, where he "never missed a day's work".
A single man who lodged with a married couple, he was "well-dressed", and had "an easy charm and a slight air of mystery".
He had never been in the Mulberry Bush before the night of the bombing.
Pamela Palmer came from an "ordinary family", her older sister Pauline Curzon said, and worked in an office.
That night she had gone for a drink with her boyfriend, "but my father called us at 11pm, concerned she had not returned".
She added: "My father, brother and husband went into town to look for her. They returned at 6am the next morning with the news.
"She was a lovely sister, helped me in numerous ways, and her companionship is a memory I treasure."
Ms Nash was a supervisor at Miss Selfridge and was 22 when she was killed alongside Miss Hayes in the Tavern, in New Street.
Maureen Roberts, an only child, was a 20-year-old wages clerk when she was killed.
Her boyfriend, Fred Bromley, had intended to ask her to marry him on the date of her parents' wedding anniversary, just after the bombings.
She was described as "happy-go-lucky" and had "striking auburn hair the colour of gold when the sun shone on it".
Her parents had been saving money for her 21st birthday when she died.
