‘Yeah, my job, you know – since she got sick. Juliet took care of her medicines, you took her to her appointments, Gran fed her, Granda brought her little presents. I said inappropriate things that made her laugh.’

‘Come here,’ she said, and Ryan seemed unsure.

‘Come here,’ she said, and she stood up. Ryan walked up to his ma with his hands up. She took him in her arms and hugged him. He wasn’t as comfortable with hugging as his older brother Bernard.

‘You’re hard work, Ryan, but you’re worth it,’ she said.

‘Thanks, Ma,’ he said, and he removed himself. ‘So while the going is good I have something to tell you.’

Grace deflated. ‘What?’

‘Juliet has a black eye.’

‘What did you do?’ she said with alarm.

‘Nothing.’ His hands were up again. ‘I know it sounds like a domestic abuse poster but she walked into a door. I swear.’

‘God Almighty,’ she said, and she walked into the hall in time to see Juliet appear with a swollen and black eye. She was holding a packet of frozen peas to its side.

‘I think it’s a little late for peas, Juliet,’ she said.

‘I know but it feels good.’ She hugged her and kissed the top of her head, then she took her niece by the hand and brought her into the kitchen, pointing to her face.

‘This is what happens when you give kids benzos, Ma.’

‘Lesson learned, but to be fair she slept like a top, didn’t you, love?’ Molly said, before putting a large plate of freshly cooked sausages in the middle of the table.

‘Yes, Gran,’ Juliet said.

After that, Molly, Juliet, Ryan, Bernard, Lenny and Grace ate sausage sandwiches and drank tea together. Grace ordered everyone to shovel them in as quickly as possible so that there would be no temptation for Jeffrey.

‘What’s he supposed to eat, Grace?’ Juliet asked. Grace took a breakfast bar out of her handbag and placed it on the table.

‘Poor Jeffrey,’ the black-eyed Juliet said, and everyone nodded. ‘Still, I’d rather be fat than an orphan,’ she said, and Ryan burst out laughing. Molly raised an eyebrow and when her granddaughter’s lips curled into a smile, she winked. ‘There’s my girl,’ she said as Grace stabbed her fork in the last sausage and shoved it in her mouth.

Later, upstairs in her parents’ box room, Grace applied make-up to Juliet’s face to cover the bruise.

‘You want a little eye shadow?’ she asked. Juliet hunched her shoulders. She didn’t care. Just like your ma. She tried to encourage her to wear a pretty dress but she was more comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt. ‘If Ma’s wearing AC/DC, I am too.’

‘Fair enough,’ Grace said, brushing Juliet’s long brown hair the way she’d brushed her mother’s so many years ago.