They brought in beer from the Outdoor down the road and sat drinking and celebrating until Robbie’s head was nodding and Em said, ‘I’ll just take him up to bed.’ She scooped him up and laid him on the bed upstairs, but as he lay down his eyes opened again.

‘No, Mom – don’t go . . .’

‘Oh, Robbie.’ This time Em felt exasperated. She knew she’d always given in to Robbie before, and that it had not been an easy day for him, but she still wanted to get back to the company downstairs. ‘All right – shove up a bit then. Just for a few minutes.’

It took some time before he had fully gone off again, and by the time she got back downstairs she was half asleep herself, and Dot and Lou had got up and were preparing to go.

‘Lovely to see yer, bab,’ Dot said, picking up her bag. She was looking quite smart these days, Em noticed, and had filled out. Dot, tall and dark, had always been a thin, rangy woman, but now she looked quite curvaceous. Em was glad to see her so happy.

‘How’s little’un taking to Norm coming home?’ Dot asked.

Em pulled the corners of her mouth down. ‘Not too well yet. He won’t really go near him.’

Dot put her hand on Em’s arm. ‘Give him time, love – it’s bound to be a bit strange for him.’

Up in the bedroom, Norm and Em debated in whispers what they were going to do. The bed was narrow enough, without three of them trying to sleep on it.

‘Can’t we move him onto the floor?’ Norm asked.

Em felt a pang go through her, the pain of having to be separated from her son, whom she had shared a bed with ever since he was born. But she knew Norm was right.

‘I’ll put the spare blanket down,’ she said. ‘We can make a little bed for him.’

She folded the blanket to make a mattress for Robbie on the bare boards. They gave him a pillow and Norm went to fetch his coat. Then very carefully they moved Robbie onto his new bed. It seemed like a miracle that he didn’t wake.

It seemed cosy, all of them in the same room. Em and Norm got into bed and lay crushed close together. Very quietly they managed to make love, wincing every time the springs squeaked.

‘When we get to Mom’s we’ll have a proper bed,’ Norm said happily.

Em felt another plunge of dread. ‘That’ll be nice,’ she managed to say.

They slept, slotted together spoon-like, Em facing the wall, with Norm curled protectively around her.

She woke to a yelp of pain from Norm. It was already light. Turning her head, she could see a shoe banging up and down against Norm’s head.

‘Ow! For Christ’s sake – what’re you doing! Stop it!’

Robbie was whacking Norm with a hard, determined face.

‘Don’t like you!’ he shouted. ‘Don’t like you. Go away – you go away again and don’t come back!’