Then her eyes met her mother’s, both of them stricken, when they saw Bob’s welling eyes, and a tear roll down the side of his face to the pillow.

Forty-Three

‘You come in if you can, bab,’ Mr Perry said. ‘But if you can’t, I’ll manage for a day or two, or find someone to stand in for yer.’

‘I’ll try and get here, Mr P,’ Em promised. ‘I think I’d rather be busy. But Mom needs some help, and it’s not easy for our Joyce or Vi to get time off.’

‘Don’t you worry.’ Mr Perry patted her shoulder in a fatherly way. ‘Family comes first. I remember when my missus was taken bad – you’ve got to do your bit.’

Em was touched by everyone’s kindness. Bob, in his quiet way, had been a popular man. He’d worked in the same place, at the power station, for most of his working life and had made loyal friends, who came and asked after him. Most of all, though, Em was humbled by the way her in-laws treated her.

‘He’s no age,’ Edna said sorrowfully when she went back after her first visit to the hospital. In fact Edna and Bob were almost exactly the same age: fifty-three. ‘But there we are, bab – there’s no telling. He might be right as rain in a few months. Now, don’t you worry about things here. Robbie’ll be all right with us. You go and look after your mother.’

Em, with a pang, realized that Robbie would indeed be perfectly all right without her. She hated handing him over to anyone else to look after, but was grateful for Edna being so kind and capable. Her father-in-law, Bill, was also quietly concerned and asked after her dad.

When Norm got in late that afternoon, he held her close in their room while she had a little cry. ‘It’s awful seeing him like that,’ she wept. ‘Just lying there – I didn’t even know him at first. He can’t speak and he can’t move: all down one side of his body . . . He knew us all right, but oh, Norm – he was so upset. I’ve never seen him like that before.’

Norm seemed to come into his own. He stroked her back and said, ‘Now look, love – our mom’s right. You need to pay attention to your mom and dad, the way things are at the moment. Don’t you worry about anything here.’

‘Everyone’s being so kind,’ Em sobbed, ashamed of the moaning she’d done. ‘I don’t deserve it.’

‘What’re you on about?’ Norm stepped back and looked into her blotchy face, laughing. He leaned in to give her a peck on her freckly nose. ‘You’re a daft thing sometimes. Now, come on – I’m going to walk you over to your mom’s, and you can stay there for a day or two till we see how things go.’

She looked up at him, full of emotion. ‘Oh, Norm, I do love you.’