‘Good. And what about a meal? I know it’s late for such small children, but surely they need to eat before they go to bed?’

Jane came back just then, leading Ryan by the hand, while Hayley flew ahead of them to clutch her father’s hand and stare solemnly up at Jez.

Tom realised he hadn’t prepared her for this meeting. ‘Can we all sit down? I need to tell them who you are. I should have done it before, I know, but they slept most of the way down and I didn’t dare say anything to them till after we’d left.’

Jane quickly pulled off the children’s shoes before they clambered onto the big white sofa. ‘Perhaps we should order the food for them first, Tom?’

Jez picked up the phone, dialled a number and spoke to someone, then handed it to her. ‘Order what you like.’

She blinked in surprise, then ordered so modestly he took the phone from her hands and said, ‘And anything else you think might suit two small children, please. And we need it quickly.’

While they were waiting for the meal to arrive, Tom said, ‘Hayley, love, I didn’t tell you before, but this is your other granddad.’

She looked at Jez. ‘He doesn’t look like a granddad. He’s not got a bald head.’

Jez couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.

‘And where’s the other grandma?’

‘There isn’t one,’ Jez said. ‘Just me.’

She frowned and eyed him again. ‘Have you fallen over and hurt your face?’

‘I was in a car crash and banged my face.’

She crawled along the sofa to the edge nearest to him to look more carefully, touching his face very gently. ‘Did they sew you together again like Grandma sewed my teddy?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did it hurt?’

‘A bit.’

She continued to study him with that unnerving gaze young children have, then crawled back to lie against her father with a tired sigh.

‘Don’t go to sleep, Hayley,’ Tom told her. ‘You need to eat some supper first.’

The food arrived shortly afterwards, wheeled in on a trolley and set up under Jane’s supervision on the table. Fruit in the shape of a face tempted Hayley, but Ryan wanted only toast and jam.

‘They didn’t make much impression on that lot,’ Jez commented.

‘It’ll do fine for my supper after I’ve put them to bed,’ Jane said.

Tom wandered over and began picking at the lavish display of food. ‘It’ll do for mine, too.’

Jez joined him, worried about his son’s careworn expression, ate a piece of apple, then was tempted to another.

Jane came bustling in. ‘You both need to say goodnight to them.’

Jez hesitated. ‘What do I do?’

She smiled at him, such a motherly smile that his breath caught in his throat. ‘Just watch what Tom does. It’s mainly kiss them on the cheek and tell them to sleep well. Then you’d better come back here for a meal. You look to me as if you need feeding up.’