The question caught the nurse off-guard. ‘Sorry?’

‘Which date in October would it be due?’

‘The twenty-sixth.’

Her mother’s birthday.

She never told Tom about her trip to the doctor. When she presented it to him a couple of days after the appointment, once she’d confirmed in her own mind there was no way she could get rid of the baby, the news of their imminent shift into parenthood was met with unadulterated joy.

His parents back in Edinburgh were also thrilled, they said, but quick to point out that what with their age and Elsie’s knees, they could not promise to be as hands-on as they might wish.

‘Well, that’s a relief.’ Tom had whistled as he got off the phone from sharing their news.

‘Stop it, I like your mum,’ Gabriela retorted dutifully. Though she couldn’t say she really felt much beyond a sort of anthropological curiosity towards her and Graham, with their outdated views on the world, their days structured around mealtimes and whether it would be appropriate to use the formal or informal cutlery sets. It was a wonder that Tom had turned out as well-adjusted as he was.

‘Are you OK?’ he asked a couple of days after the revelation, noting her muted smiles as he swelled with excitement at the prospect of a child, clucking around the living room, fetching her pillows she didn’t need and googling vitamins, like her pregnancy was a school science project for which he was determined to win first prize.

‘Course,’ she said.

He sat beside her, taking her wrist in his hand and squeezing it gently. ‘You seem worried.’

She shrugged. ‘It’s just a bit of a shock.’

‘You don’t need to worry, you know that. This doesn’t have to change anything, except for the better.’

She wanted so badly to share his enthusiasm, but already she felt herself depleted.

‘What if I can’t do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Be a mother,’ she said before she could think it through, adding quickly, ‘you know, with my job … things are already so full on.’

‘You’ll be an amazing mum,’ he replied, unfazed. ‘Why wouldn’t you be? Once the baby’s here, you’ll see. Besides, you have me. You’ll never be alone.’

The words, even then, felt like both a promise and a threat.

Chapter 10

Isobel

At 8p.m. I am awoken by the sound of a door slamming. For a moment I lie uneasily in the dark, imagining a figure slipping through the hallway. I hold my breath, straining to hear a noise. The flat is unusually still and I pull the sheet more tightly around me, hardly daring to breathe.