An hour and a couple of pints later, Ed had finally calmed himself down. Sitting opposite Jessica on a wooden bench in the beer garden, he gently held her hand. ‘This is what life’s all about, eh? Me, you and the kids,’ he said, nodding towards the twins, who were playing happily on the apparatus.

Jessica smiled as Frankie waved at her.

‘Watch me, Mummy,’ she yelled as she hurtled down the big slide.

Jessica turned her attention back to her husband. ‘I know we’ve had our ups and downs recently, but I do love you, Eddie Mitchell.’

Eddie winked at her. ‘Does that mean we’re gonna sleep in the same bed tonight and you’re gonna let me have my wicked way with you?’

Jessica felt her cheeks redden. Even after all these years, Eddie still had the ability to make her blush. ‘Yes, we will sleep in the same bed tonight and, if you behave yourself, I just might let you have your wicked way with me,’ she told him shyly.

Their intimate moment was ended by a screaming Joey. Standing at the top of a climbing frame, he was bawling his eyes out.

‘What’s the matter?’ Jessica asked, walking towards him.

Frankie giggled as she took stock of the situation. ‘Joey’s too scared to come down, Mummy,’ she said, as she ran over to her dad.

Knowing her son didn’t like heights, Jessica urged him to hold the metal rail and walk backwards. ‘Just come down the way you went up, Joey,’ she urged him.

‘I can’t, Mummy. I can’t get down,’ Joey sobbed.

Aware that some other children were laughing as him, Jessica had little option but to go up herself and carry Joey back down. ‘It’s all right, Mummy’s here now. Come on, stop crying, there’s a good boy.’

‘Isn’t Joey a crybaby, Daddy?’ Frankie said laughing.

Eddie was embarrassed. There were other parents looking over at him and he was thankful that nobody knew him in this boozer.

Jessica walked towards him with Joey in her arms. ‘I’m gonna take him to the toilet and sort him out. He’s had a little accident. Give us your car keys, Ed, I’ve got a spare set of clothes for him in the boot.’

‘What do you mean accident? Has he hurt himself?’ Eddie asked, bemused.

‘Don’t tell no one, Mummy,’ Joey begged his mother.

‘He’s wet himself,’ Jessica mouthed to Eddie.

Annoyed, Eddie slung her his car keys. His youngest son was a total fucking embarrassment. That Jed might be a little bastard, but at least he was a kid for his father to be proud of. Joey was a total tart and showed himself and his family up wherever he went.

‘I’m going on the swing now, Daddy,’ Frankie said, as she climbed off his knee.