Thanks antfan, I'd forgotten that bit.

colne_dsr, I agree Karen isn't really taking Lawrie seriously, but I think the fact she is amused shows that she doesn't consider the idea of future children to be an issue at all. If she anticipated any conflict with Edwin over it, I think she would be slightly flustered (even by a very lighthearted comment) in the same way she is when it comes up (can't remember how) that Edwin and his first wife hadn't made the final decision to divorce and, had it not been for her untimely death, might have reunited.