Time passed slowly. The ward quietened as the visitors drifted away. I was half expecting it, but no one came to tell us it was time to leave. A new nurse, just arrived on night duty, came in to introduce herself and to change one of the packs of fluid that drained into Ted’s arm.

‘How is he?’ I asked softly, thinking of the monitors at the nursing station.

‘There’s no change.’

That meant there was no deterioration. I smiled my leaping gratitude at her.

At nine o’clock I told Lola and Jack that they should go home. It was over an hour’s drive and Jack had school in the morning.

‘Aren’t you coming?’ Jack asked.

‘I’ll stay here a little longer. Lola will see you into bed.’ I glanced at her over his head and she nodded. ‘Or if you’d rather, you can go to Caz and Graham’s.’

‘No,’ Jack said at once.

Lola bent over and kissed her grandfather’s forehead, then touched her fingertips to his lips. ‘See you later, Grandad,’ she whispered.

Jack touched the small steeple of bedclothes over his feet and snatched his hand back. ‘Bye,’ he mumbled. He followed his sister to the door and then hovered, torn between the impulse to rush back to Ted’s side and the need to keep his own distance from me and his sister. Sometimes Jack was so transparent I thought I could read his hurt and put everything right for him so easily; at others I was afraid I hardly knew him. ‘Bye,’ he said again. Lola was leading and he followed her.

‘Drive carefully,’ I warned automatically. ‘I love you both.’

‘Yes, Mum.’

I sat down yet again. An hour dragged by and Ted rolled his head on the pillows and feebly shifted his legs. The Night Sister suddenly appeared with the first nurse. They moved rapidly around him, checking his fluids, and the tubes and wires that led into him, and calling him by his name.

‘What’s happened? What’s wrong?’ My voice was sharp and loud.

‘There are some new signs. The doctor’s coming.’

I was squeezed out of my place at his side. Ted’s eyes were wide open now and I could see how much it hurt him to breathe.

‘Dad? Dad, I’m here … I …’

I couldn’t finish what I was saying because the doctor arrived and I was edged further away to make room for him. I stood obediently outside the room with my arms wrapped round my chest. The old men were mostly asleep although pools of light lapped one or two of the beds. I waited until the doctor came out again. He was wearing a dark-blue shirt under his white coat and a name tag that read Dr Raj Srinivasar. I saw all this in a split second. He indicated that we should step a little distance away.

‘Doctor?’