‘My babies, my little babies,’ she sobbed, as she approached the car.

Joey got out, shut the door, and held his tearful sister in his arms.

‘Let me see ’em. I wanna hold ’em,’ Frankie screamed hysterically.

‘Calm down, you’ll frighten them. They’re nothing like you remember them, so don’t act too shocked, eh? They’re going to need plenty of time to settle; they’ve had a hard life, remember?’ Joey warned.

‘Georgie! Harry!’ Frankie yelled, as her brother opened the car door.

‘Say hello to your mum,’ Joey urged the kids.

Georgie stared at her mother. Harry didn’t want to look at the woman who had taken him away from his beloved family, so looked at the gravel instead. Neither child said a word.

‘Why are their little hands tied up?’ Frankie cried.

‘They tried to do a runner earlier. Now, let’s get them inside, they must be hungry and thirsty by now,’ Joey said sensibly.

Frankie couldn’t help her tearful reaction to her children’s homecoming but, not wanting to startle them further, did her best to pull herself together. The last time she had seen them was in 1993, on the day that she’d stabbed Jed. She’d gone to prison straight after that and had never set eyes on them since. Joey untied Georgie and Harry’s hands and told them to sit down on the sofa. Frankie knelt down next to her children and tried to hug them both.

‘Leave us alone. Go away!’ Harry shouted angrily.

Georgie sat frozen to the spot. She was staring at her mother as if she’d just seen a ghost.

Babs turned to Joey and Dominic. ‘Let’s go rustle up some food and drinks. Frankie needs time alone with her babies.’

Frankie grabbed the leather pouffe and sat down opposite her children. She could barely believe they were home and she couldn’t take her eyes off them. They looked so grown up, both of them.

‘I can’t believe how old you both look,’ she whispered.

The kids glanced at one another. Being in a big house was strange enough on its own, as neither child could remember setting foot in one before.

‘Do you remember me at all?’ Frankie asked. She was shocked by how mature for thirteen Georgie looked and Harry she would never have recognised in a million years. His hair had darkened so much from when he was little.

Georgie nodded, then grasped her brother’s hand.

When Harry was around his dad, grandad, and especially Sonny Adams, he was brazen and never scared of anything. Today, however, had really put the fear factor into him and being separated from all his family, bar Georgie, he couldn’t hold it together any longer. ‘I don’t wanna be here. I want my dad and my nan,’ he cried.