‘Oh my God. Get inside, you’re both freezing,’ Joey urged his niece and nephew.

When the children walked into the room, Joyce dropped her dinner on the floor in shock and burst into tears. ‘Oh, my little darlings,’ she said, as she knelt down and hugged them both.

Dominic looked at Joey in astonishment. ‘How did they get here? Did Jed drop them off?’

Joey knelt down, it had been raining for the past half an hour, so he took the children’s coats off and ordered them to sit next to the fire. Harry was still sobbing and, overcome by emotion, he clung to his Nanny Joyce. Her cuddles reminded him of his mummy.

Joey knelt down and held Georgie in his arms. ‘Who brought you here?’ he asked her.

‘No one. We ran away.’

As Georgie then burst into tears as well, Joey turned to Dominic. ‘What are we gonna do?’

Dominic knelt down next to Joey. ‘This is important, Georgie. Why did you run away? You must tell us what happened.’

‘Because we wanted to see our mummy,’ Georgie cried.

Joyce was the next to break down in tears. ‘How did you find Nanny’s house?’ she wept.

‘’Cause I saw it when I was in Grandad Jimmy’s truck.’

‘Where is Mummy? Don’t wanna live with Daddy no more,’ Harry exclaimed, hiccupping.

Joyce held both children tightly to her chest. They were frozen stiff, the poor little mites. ‘Shall Nanny make you something nice and hot to eat and drink? It will warm your cockles, I promise.’

Georgie and Harry both nodded. They had chucked the rest of their sandwiches away and, after their marathon walk, were now both starving.

Joyce walked out into the kitchen and urged Joey to follow her. ‘What are we gonna do? We can’t keep them ’ere, we’ll get ourselves arrested. Should we ring the police?’

Joey thought momentarily, then shook his head. ‘Not yet. I’m gonna ring Dad, he’ll sort it out.’

Hearing Georgie and Harry chatting in the other room to Dominic, Joyce placed the sausages in the frying pan. She had missed her great-grandchildren so much and perhaps now they had run to her in their hour of need, something good might come out of this. Perhaps the authorities might let her have some kind of access to them.

Joyce made two mugs of hot chocolate and added some cold water so the poor little ha’porths didn’t burn themselves. ‘There you go, me little angels,’ she said, handing the mugs to them.

‘Can we see Mummy soon?’ Harry asked innocently.

‘Mummy isn’t here, love. But she told me to tell you that she can still see you from where she is and she loves you both very much.’

‘Daddy says Mummy is in prison and Nanny Alice says she is an evil old shitcunt,’ Georgie said, not quite understanding the meaning of her words.

‘If anyone is evil, it’s your Nanny Alice, not your mother,’ Joyce said standing up. She could smell the sausages burning.