Mikey feared that the doctor's attempt to cheer Lydia up would have the opposite effect, drawing them all into that ritual of mawkish intimacy that he had seen them sink into, especially Mam Agnes and Aunt Gracie. They were always looking for opportunities to ‘let loose the waterworks’, he'd heard Jackson say once. Give them a tragedy and they'll give you the tears.

‘That's my father's job,’ Mikey said, in answer to the doctor's question. ‘In any case, I'm not sure when last my mom washed her feet.’

Lydia offered a muttered protest, in spite of her pain, Silas the merest smile. Both knew immediately that Mikey's offhand humour was an attempt to resist being drawn into any display of emotion, he had never been a ‘hugger and kisser’, even as a child. He had done what was expected of him when he arrived along with Jackson and Mam Agnes, he had embraced his mother and squeezed his father's shoulder. Now he stood up against the wall, so very obviously apart from the rest.

Mam Agnes, momentarily bewildered by this remote, aloof Mikey, tried to draw him back into their tearful fold. She wiped away a tear, and said, ‘Get away you!’ in light-hearted defence of her daughter. Gracie blew her nose, while Alec snickered in a mockingly effeminate way that Gracie vowed silently to make him pay for later.

‘You're right, young man,’ the doctor said, ‘leave the details to the adults, you just enjoy your mom while she's a captive. She's a tough woman, she'll be all right.’ And turning to Silas, he added, ‘You know what, Mr Ali? Your wife has got such lovely feet, you should get a plastic surgeon in here to look at them, once the swelling's gone down and the stitches are out. Would be a shame to leave her all scarred.’

Lydia blushed, shutting her eyes to hide her embarrassment and to ward off a sharp pain, which came now in spasms, despite the constant doses of painkillers she was being given.

‘Fokken busybody,’ Gracie said under her breath, when the doctor had gone.

Mam Agnes straightened Lydia's pillow, while Gracie fussed with the flowers at the bedside, trying to fit the huge bouquet that Alec had bought – against her advice – into the small vase he'd found in the shop on the ground floor.

Each night, her family gathered around her, Silas and Mikey, Jackson and Mam Agnes, Gracie and Alec, all trying to maintain the cheerful tone that the doctor had set the night she was brought in. Mikey kissed his mother on the cheek and then took up his usual, sentinel position against the wall. One night, Gracie urged him to sit on the bed by his mother. ‘What else are children good for but to comfort their parents?’ He sat down next to Lydia, and impulsively she drew him close to her. He seemed to yield, relaxing his stiff body, resting his head on her chest with a tenderness that belied his tall, gruff appearance. With Lydia's feet still raised, they resembled an oddly chaste couple, awkwardly trying to be close.