She’d always believed this inherent compassion was born out of being a solitary twin. Jack was the baby who’d won the fight for life – a fight which his sister Georgia had so catastrophically lost. Did he suffer some kind of subconscious survivor’s guilt? Is that what drove him to compensate? Putting out fires wherever he saw them to somehow make up for the death of his sibling, to pay some karmic price for winning the race.

She had once suggested this to Gareth, who told her it was cod psychology and that the reason Jack was so remarkable was ‘’Cos we brought him up proper, like, nothing more than that, babe.’ Maybe he was right. But whatever the reason, Jack was undoubtedly a beautiful soul.

Even Judith’s mother, who’d never shown any interest in children, especially her own, had completely fallen in love with her grandson. It had taken a while for her to come round, but hard-hearted Patricia was helpless in the face of Jack’s tenderness. Seeing him bring out this softer, previously unseen side of her mother was disturbing for Judith, who couldn’t remember ever experiencing anything akin to maternal love when she herself was growing up.

The day before Cat and Sol’s wedding, she’d finally plucked up the courage to tell her mother about the pregnancy.

Unsurprisingly, Patricia had reacted badly to the news that her nineteen-year-old unmarried daughter was ‘with child’. She told Judith she was ashamed and wanted nothing to do with her or her ‘bastard’ offspring. Although she’d been expecting it, it still hit Judith like a slap in the face.

Then after the loss of Georgia and Jack’s premature birth, Judith was too blasted to even contemplate telling Patricia what had happened. It felt fragile and private, and she suspected her mother would merely try to make the tragedy her own. So she said nothing, presuming the gossip network of Coed Celyn would do its job and Patricia would eventually deign to get in touch. But she didn’t.

It was Gareth who had eventually poured oil on troubled waters. When Jack was just three months old, he took him for a walk in his stroller and knocked on Patricia’s door. She opened it, scowling. Gareth responded with a big smile. ‘Look who’s come to meet you!’ he said, and on cue, Jack had gurgled at her and wriggled in excitement.

It was love at first sight, and Patricia had instantly morphed into a doting grandma. Judith could never work out why her mother was able to love her grandson more than her own daughter, but Gareth merely put it down to her ‘getting soft in her old age’.

When they still lived in Coed Celyn, Patricia would take Jack for walks at least twice a week, dressing him up in some ridiculous outfit that she’d bought from a dusty catalogue. She doted on him, and so when Judith announced they were moving to Surrey in 2001 it broke Patricia’s heart.

‘God knows what your grandmother will say when she finds out her beloved grandson is gay,’ Judith had whispered to Jack the night before as he sat next to her, rubbing her back.