Edith’s heart immediately went out to him. Poor George. No wonder he was acting so strangely. Elaine leaving him must have been a bitter blow.

‘Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want, until you find a place of your own.’

George smiled at her gratefully and Joss Senior chewed harder on his steak.

Edith’s brother troubled him. He was too damn’ meek and mild. His eyes went to his son and he swallowed hard. He had often wondered who the boy took after; now he knew. Try as he might he could not really love his only son. There was something disturbing about him. He felt the same about George Markham. But he was Edith’s brother, her closest family, and he would accommodate him.

There was something funny about Edith’s family. About the set up. The mother had been as mad as a hatter, the other children like scared mice. The eldest, Joseph, had seemed to him more like his mother’s lover than her son. From the bits and pieces that Edith had let drop over the years he knew they’d all had a terrible upbringing. He remembered when he had gone to tell Nancy Markham he was marrying Edith. Her malice as she’d told him about her daughter’s illegitimate child had shocked him.

She was sick in the head, Nancy Markham. No wonder the children all turned out weird. Except for Edith. She had been the sweetest girl he had ever known, and even though over the years he had systematically cheated on her with everyone and anyone, he still loved her. He still thought of her as that same sweet girl he married. But Edith had a distaste for sex, touching, even kissing. Oh, she had tried to hide it, but he knew. You always know when your attentions are welcome and when they’re not. But she was a damn’ fine wife and mother and that was the main thing.

Natalie watched her uncle eating and smiled at him. She had heard stories about her Uncle George all her life. He was her mother’s closest living relative. She knew her grandmother was alive. They heard from her only occasionally, and after a communication her mother was always jumpy for a few weeks.

Her greeny-blue eyes surveyed the room around her. She loved this house. She loved being inside it with her family. One day, when she met the right man, she would own a house just like it and she’d fill it with children and laughter. She smiled to herself at the thought.

Until then she had her job and her dogs. It was Natalie who had named the Dobermans. She had read Dante’s Inferno and it had made a great impression on her. Dobermans to her were devil dogs. But she loved them, as she loved all animals.