His Sharon had just got on with it, like she did everything else in her life, with hardly a word out of her. As he had watched her push his son into the world, he had been genuinely amazed at the power of women. Seeing his son’s head emerge, he had finally understood the strength of the female sex. There was no fucking way on earth a man could have lived through something like that. It was brutal, it was violent and it was the most beautiful thing he had ever witnessed in his whole life. His Sharon was stronger than most men he knew. She had shat his son into the world and acted like it was nothing. He was so proud of her. Seeing her like than, so brave, with her legs in stirrups and his son appearing amidst the blood and the gore – his heart had burst with love and pride.

‘He is fucking beautiful, Shaz. You did a real good job, girl.’

Sharon Scott laughed at her husband’s words. It had been painful but she was amazed at just how easy it had been. According to her mother it was the most traumatic thing a woman could ever experience. She had enjoyed it in a funny sort of way. Childbirth was a means to an end, and what an end! She had a fine, handsome son. It had been worth every second of her labour, especially seeing her husband’s absolute amazement at the child they had created. This was one of the best days of her life. They were here, they were together and, most importantly, they were finally a real family.

Sharon Scott had never felt so valued, so needed in her whole life. It was as if she had lived every moment for this, for this child and for the chance to make a family for herself. This is what she had dreamed of since she was thirteen years old. Since she had fallen in love with Lenny, all she had wanted was their baby, their own child. Now they had him. Leonard Derek Scott. She had had trouble talking her husband out of calling him Leonard Scott the Third. Imagine the shit that would have brought him at school! But she laughed at her husband’s obvious pride in his son and heir, as he kept referring to him.

The grandparents were also doting, as they should be, of course. After all, he was the first grandchild on both sides.

Ivy was overwhelmed with the love she felt for the tiny scrap of humanity her daughter placed into her arms. Never having had a son, she was shocked at the rush of love he engendered inside her.