"Er, Annie?"

Joe tentatively approached the lady sitting in the armchair at Mill Cottage.

"Who are you?" Annie asked abruptly.

"I'm Joe." Annie's eyes widened and Joe realised his mistake. "Not your Joe. I'm... Joseph. Joseph Tate."

"Rachel's baby?" said Annie quietly. Joe nodded.

"Robert said you'd probably like to see me..."

"I remember when you were born." Annie looked off into the distance. "I gave you some shares, you know, in the farm..."

"I know." Joe recalled the history of Emmerdale Farm. "My grandad bought the farm from Jack, to build the quarry there. I got some of the proceeds..."

"Not that you needed it, with that Christopher Tate for a dad." Annie's tone made it clear that she didn't approve of Christopher at all.

"No, well..." Joe shifted. "I still appreciate it. You thinking of me."

"Of course. You're my great-grandson."

Joe smiled at this. "I'm sorry we lost touch. I suppose, after what happened with Jack and my mum..."

"How is young Rachel?"

Joe's smile dropped. "She died. It happened years ago..."

"Oh..." Annie looked confused. "Yes, of course she did. And young Mark..."

"You've lost a lot of people," Joe acknowledged. "So have I."

"Where's your dad?"

Joe was starting to regret popping in. "He died too. I moved to New Zealand with my aunt Zoe, but I'm back now."

"And you live here? Mill Cottage?"

"No. I live at Home Farm. I own this place, though. I'm Robert's landlord. And Seb's stepdad..." Joe impulsively pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed Annie his lock screen. "Look, there's Seb, and baby Rachel..."

"That's nice." Annie acknowledged the photograph. "Seb's my great-grandson too."

"Yeah, best not to think about the family tree too much." Joe could see Annie was getting tired. "Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. I need to talk to Robert really..."

"Will Jack be home soon?"

Joe froze, confused. "Er... you mean Debbie's Jack?"

"I need Jack back at the farm." Annie closed her eyes. "Someone needs to do the milking in the morning."

Joe was spared replying by Robert sticking his head around the door. "Oi, Tate, we having this meeting?"

"Yeah." Joe turned and walked past Robert into the kitchen.

"What a nice young man," Annie commented to Robert.

"Yeah, he's lovely," said Robert sarcastically as he followed Joe.