Alice smiled and looked at her son's face (she still couldn't believe she had a son at all). His eyes, when actually open, were the beautiful blue of his late grandmother. "He didn't get that hair from me," she said. "And I saw you in Dawn's children. And me in my nieces and nephews. Especially Samantha."

She sighed and attempted to look bereaved. "They're going to come in and take Fabian away and leave a tenner on the chair."