I take the cloth from his hand, throw it over my shoulder and place Rose facing over the same shoulder, my hand on her bottom. I’ve received too many baby sicks on my clothes to count and I know Rose isn’t done with bringing up milk yet.

“So, I put your present on the back porch,” says Scott. “You can look at it later if you want.”

“I can’t believe you got something else, Scott. You’ve already been so generous.” I get to my feet. “But I’m intrigued, so let’s go see.”

“It’s not exactly original,” he says, following me through the kitchen and out of the back door.

On the porch sits a black pot with a white bow tied around it containing a rose bush studded with delicate white buds.

“A rose for Rose,” mutters Scott.

I swallow hard. “It’s beautiful.”

“The lady at the garden centre said it has an incredible scent and it’s called ‘Madame Hardy’, which I liked because, well… because you’re tough and well, hardy sounds pretty awful when I say it out loud.”

Laughing, I lean over and kiss Scott on the cheek, his beard tickling my lips. “Thank you, Scott. I’m going to take it as a compliment.”

“Phew.”

Mum appears at the back door. “You have another visitor, Trish,” she says nervously.

I wonder if she thinks I’m going to snap her head off again.

“Who is it?”

“Elliot someone.”

Scott’s eyes narrow. “Thought he wasn’t on the scene.”

“Not exactly.” Rose is starting to grizzle and I shift her to a new position. “I’m still trying to figure out the role Elliot wants to play in all this.”

Scott frowns and nods. “I should get out of the way.”

“Scott”

He holds up a hand. “Truth is, Trish, it’s probably best I don’t see the guy. Maybe I could come back tomorrow and plant the rose bush?”

“That would be great,” I say, wishing Elliot hadn’t shown up and Scott could stay.

Instead, I jiggle Rose in the hope she’ll stop fussing, and watch him stride away.

“Hey, Trish,” says Elliot, stepping outside. “Is that guy who just gave me a dirty look on his way out the new boyfriend?”

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

Rose is in full-blown grumpy mode now.

Elliot looks at his daughter like she’s an alien with six heads. “Is she OK?”

My good mood is rapidly disappearing. “Would you like to hold her?” I ask, shoving Rose in his face. “You are the father, after all.”

Startled, Elliot backs away. “I wouldn’t even know where to start. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about… our situation.”

“I told you, I don’t expect you to be involved.”

“I know, but I feel responsible and it would be weird just to disappear knowing I’ve got a daughter out there.”