Shawn grinned then and, looking at his family standing around the bed, he said happily. 'We're all close, Pat. Closer than most people, closer than even poor Mum ever realised.'
Patrick laughed then.
'She knew that, mate. We are close because of her. She made sure of that. Now we have to live up to her expectations, look after each other; at the end of the day, we are all we've got.'
'Do you think we'll survive her death, Pat?'
He looked at his brothers and sisters and saw them as his mother had seen them, all needing him and all needing each other.
'We fucking better, because she was the best thing that ever happened to any of us; she kept us together, and she made sure we were a family. Now all we have left is each other.'
Christy looked at them all and said quietly, 'Amen to that.'
