It was so good to talk to Finch. He didn’t give her false hope. She didn’t have to be strong, like she did with her son. ‘You don’t think I should walk away? Let Anezka take over?’

Finch didn’t reply at once. ‘You could. But would you feel comfortable leaving your son … leaving Michael, when you don’t know if he’ll come through?’

She sighed. ‘No … No, you’re right. I can’t leave Leo. And Rex is coming in later today. I haven’t seen him since Christmas.’

Finch did not reply immediately. She wanted to tell him that she was missing him already, but she couldn’t quite say the words out loud.

When Romy arrived at the hospital, neither Leo nor Anezka was there. Michael looked no better. She thought he was asleep, but when she touched his hand, he opened his eyes. At first he seemed not to recognize her, his eyes still glazed and blank from the trauma.

‘Romy …?’ The word was a long time coming, distorted, dragged up from the damaged recesses of his brain.

‘How are you?’ she asked. Jasmine, Michael’s nurse, had said he was still disoriented and not aware of what had happened.

‘Am I …’ his face clouded with confusion, ‘… am I …’

She wasn’t sure what he was asking, but she told him anyway. ‘You’re in the Chelsea and Westminster, Michael. You’ve had a stroke.’

He frowned. ‘I …’ But the effort to think was obviously too much and he closed his eyes. ‘Just … want to sleep.’

Romy went outside to call Leo.

‘I’m on my way, Mum. I had to make some work calls.’ Leo sounded flustered, and Romy knew the asset management company that was training her son put him under a lot of pressure. She felt so sorry for him, just at this stage in his life, having to stop everything to deal with this.

‘I’m not hassling you. Take as long as you need. There’s no real change in Dad, anyway.’

‘I should be about half an hour. Is Anezka there?’

‘No. Just me. He’s sleeping most of the time. I’ll talk to his nurse and ring you back.’

Romy watched Jasmine – so young, so eager – put on her reassuring face as she approached.

‘OK … So he’s not had a bad night,’ she said. ‘His swallow reflex is improving and he’s been drinking little bits this morning. They’re doing an ultrasound scan on his carotid artery later, to see if the blood clot has dispersed. The signs are encouraging, but he’s not out of danger yet, Mrs Claire. We’re still monitoring him very closely. We’ll be able to tell you more after the tests.’

Romy nodded her thanks, but didn’t feel particularly encouraged. Michael was obviously still far from out of the woods.