By the time he got back to the hall Erin had his doctor’s bag tipped out on the floor. ‘Dental floss,’ she murmured in approval as she searched. ‘You’re a man after my own heart. What sort of doctor doesn’t carry dental floss?’

He grinned, then laid the pup on a towel on the floor right near Marilyn’s head.

‘Do we need to clamp and tie the umbilical cord?’ Erin asked doubtfully.

‘You’re asking me as a dog expert? Let’s do it anyway.’ Then, as another contraction rippled through, he left the pup to Erin and went back to delivery mode.

And two pups later it was over. At least he guessed it was over. There was no heartbeat that he could hear inside-there were no signs that there were any more to come. The third live pup slid into the world and Marilyn’s body seemed to sag in relief.

‘Don’t you dare die now,’ Erin said to her, almost fiercely. ‘Dr Dom’s getting fluids into you. He’s doing everything he can. You have three puppies totally dependent on you. You can’t die.’

Not completely dependent, Dom thought ruefully as he watched Erin. Marilyn was lying back, exhausted to the point of death, but as Erin presented each of her pups to her she nosed them with the beginning of maternal interest. As Erin set them at their mother’s teats, they knew what to do.

Erin was doing everything she could to give these puppies a start in life, and Marilyn was trying herself. The big dog was breathing deeply, evenly, as if she guessed that she had to concentrate on gathering her strength.

‘She’s a dog in a million,’ Erin said fiercely, echoing his thoughts. ‘How can they have just thrown her out?’

‘It beggars belief,’ Dom said sadly. ‘But that’s life. We just pick up the pieces.’

‘You sound like you do it all the time.’