Certainly, in the eight months since Shannon had decided her mother could no longer manage in her own flat, Rhona’s presence at Waggoners had caused visible disruption. For a few weeks, she had been allocated the spare room, between the two boys’ bedrooms on the first floor. But the stairs soon became too much for her to cope with, and Shannon had declared that her mother must have the front room, formerly the family sitting room. The change required a certain amount of DIY input from Billy. New shelves were needed to fit around the pieces of furniture Rhona had brought with her from the flat. A handrail had to be erected by the step up to the front door (though it became increasingly rare for the old lady to go outside the house). More rails had to be fixed in the hall on the route to the downstairs lavatory, and some inside the lavatory itself, which was now designated for Rhona’s exclusive use.

All of this work Billy Shefford undertook without complaint, though occasionally Jude got the impression he was asking himself if it was really necessary. It was, after all, only a matter of time before all of these geriatric aids would need to be removed. But, from her observations of Billy and Shannon’s marriage, Jude got the impression that such reservations would never be voiced.

Shannon had always adored her mother – ‘I love her to bits’ she kept saying – and that unalterable fact Billy had had to take on board right from the beginnings of their relationship. Those beginnings went a long way back. Billy and Shannon were childhood sweethearts. They had got together at the comprehensive in Clincham when they were both fourteen, and neither had had eyes for anyone else since. They had married four years later; ‘far too early’, in the opinion of Rhona, who was still going on about it that morning while Jude was treating her.

‘Shannon was definitely university material,’ she repeated. ‘Her teachers at the school said that. She could have gone on and got a proper qualification, rather than tying herself down with a garage mechanic.’

Jude had heard the contempt in the last two words many times before, but never made any comment. Rhona thought her beloved only daughter had married beneath her, and nothing would change that opinion. Jude felt considerable sympathy for Billy. He had accepted the mother as part of the package when he took up with the daughter. He had known Rhona would always be critical of him, but now the critic was firmly embedded inside his own house.

Jude decided to put up a minor defence of the poor man. ‘He’s a bit more than a garage mechanic now, Rhona. He and Shannon have a very enviable lifestyle.’