‘Agreed,’ Belinda said. ‘You remember my mum left my dad because he had an affair?’ As she spoke, she sorted the marriage certificates into one pile, the birth certificates into a second and the decree nisi into another.

Fern nodded. ‘Yes.’

Belinda handed her a pile of papers. ‘These are marriage certificates for my great-grandparents through to me. Birth certificates, again from my great-grandparents through to me. Look there’s my father’s name – Enzo Belrose. And this single decree nisi is mine.’

‘Where are you going with this?’ Fern asked.

‘I didn’t realise a couple of papers were missing at first. There’s no marriage certificate or decree nisi for my parents,’ Belinda said quietly. ‘I don’t think my parents were ever married.’

‘Maybe your mum kept them in a different place and you didn’t find them. Or could your mum have destroyed them in a fit of anger after your father’s affair?’ Fern asked.

‘I went through the house methodically, I would have found them. I did think about her wanting to be rid of them, but I don’t think she did destroy them.’ Belinda put everything back in the envelope. ‘Ever since I realised they were missing, I’ve been thinking about my mum. She never talked to me about her wedding day. Even when I asked her a direct question – what was her dress like, for instance, or where did they go on honeymoon – she’d brush me off. Called me an old romantic.

‘I remember asking to see their wedding photographs. I mean everyone has photos of their wedding, don’t they? Even if they don’t have an album as such. Mum laughed and told me they were too broke when they got married to afford a photographer and that’s why she didn’t have any photos. When I asked if that didn’t make her sad, she just shrugged and said, who needed photos when she had the person.’

Belinda took a biscuit and carefully dunked it in her wine. ‘Mmm, these are so good. The best nibbles ever.’

‘They’re a bit addictive,’ Fern said, taking one. ‘I don’t make them very often – they tend to lead me to the wine bottle when I have them in the biscuit tin. Too much temptation.’

‘I’ve been thinking too about Mum’s reactions when I was planning my marriage to Peter,’ Belinda said. ‘I bought every bridezilla magazine I could lay my hands on and Mum fell on them every time. She’d go through them muttering, “Who’d wear a dress like that? How much?” and other things like that. When I wanted her advice on wedding etiquette and how to do things, can you guess what she said?’

Fern shook her head.