Hearst’s placatory metaphor about dogs on leads popped back into his head and made him smile. She really had no idea.

But she’d soon find out.

*

Because the name Regina means ‘queen’, her baby had naturally become known as Princess. Only a few days ago, the ward sister had asked Regina and Mario if they intended to name their baby, but they flatly refused – they knew full well that they were only being pushed into it so that, if things took a turn for the worse, she’d die with a name. Regina and Mario stubbornly backed their newborn daughter’s ability to beat any odds and be named when she was ready.

Regina’s arm was inside the incubator and her finger was in Princess’s hand. She now weighed just over three pounds. She was being ventilated and various machines monitored her other organ functions. But Regina didn’t notice all the wires anymore; all she saw was Mario’s nose and chin, her own hair and, on the rare occasion that they opened, she saw her dad’s eyes. Regina saw a little person – whereas Maggie saw a medical challenge that would go on for years at least and in truth might never end. She sat quietly by Regina’s side and read Princess’s notes.

‘I’m ready to hear it, you know,’ Regina said without averting her besotted eyes from Princess. ‘Whatever the doctors say.’

Maggie closed the file and said that it was too early for the medics to know anything for certain. ‘Remember that shift you did up on my ward, Maggie?’ Regina said. ‘All those old people heading for the end of their lives, losing so much along the way – continence, movement, cognition. How awful that must be, to knowingly lose all of those things that made your life worth living. Princess will be happy no matter what, because she can’t miss what she’s never had. I’m going to fill her life with such joy, Mags . . .’ As Regina continued, the tears came, but they were accompanied by the broadest, most loving of smiles. ‘. . . my touch, my voice, my kisses. As far as she’s concerned, those will be the only things she’ll ever need. She’ll think herself to be the luckiest little girl alive. She will know love like most people can’t even imagine.’ Regina wiped her face clean of tears and took on a more serious tone. ‘I understand the possibility of paralysis and brain damage, Maggie – don’t think I’m ignoring it. I’m just . . . I’m just . . . we had a three-legged dog when I was a kid and he didn’t miss his fourth leg because he never knew he was meant to have it in the first place.’