‘You remember, Daddy?’ Bobby asked breathlessly.

‘Sure I do. It was Mummy’s birthday, and we went out for a picnic. You wandered too near the water and I had to run and grab you. That was a great day, wasn’t it?’

Bobby nodded. Corinne’s eyes were on Alex.

‘Do you remember?’ Alex asked her.

‘Oh, yes, it was lovely.’

‘You’ve even got the details right,’ Alex said, returning to the picture. ‘Right down to that red shirt.’

‘Mummy still has it,’ Bobby said.

‘Really? Well, that’s lucky.’

Corinne was suddenly doing something else. Alex couldn’t even be sure she’d heard the words, although they seemed to sing in his own ears.

Mummy still has it.

It changed everything. Suddenly he was no longer fighting darkness.

He put a hand on Bobby’s shoulder. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly.

The rest of the day was standard-issue Christmas-turkey, plum pudding, crackers filled with silly jokes and funny hats, Christmas cake, more crackers. Alex faded contentedly into the background, doing nothing that might spoil the atmosphere.

There was the odd awkward moment. From somewhere Jimmy produced a sprig of mistletoe and wandered into the kitchen where Corinne was cooking. Alex heard a giggle, then a silence that tested his control to the utmost. But he forced himself to stay where he was.

And nothing could really spoil the one blazingly beautiful gift that had been given to him unexpectedly.

Corinne had kept the red shirt. He could live on that for a while.

Alex insisted on helping with the washing-up.

‘You can’t ask the kids and spoil Christmas for them,’ he explained. ‘And poor Jimmy isn’t up to it.’

‘Poor Jimmy!’ she exclaimed indignantly. ‘You’re a smug hypocrite, you know that?’

He grinned. ‘It’s what I’m good at.’

She gave a reluctant laugh and accepted his help.

‘I’ll wash,’ he said. ‘I don’t know where to put things. Pinny?’