She placed her laptop and pen on the sofa beside her and sat back, still and numb for a while, letting the silent tears flow for Jimmy and the heartbroken, lonely young woman from the past who had been left behind with Jimmy’s unborn baby. Loneliness was a terrible thing, Grace knew; she had endured it when Matthew first left and before she’d conceded and had given up the flat, unwillingly moving back in with her controlling mother. And, from the sounds of it, Connie had a controlling, unfeeling mother too! Who tells their grieving young daughter that giving their unborn baby away is the only option? Grace knew things had been different for unmarried mothers back in those days when Connie was a young woman, but still, it felt so heartless, and why was she far away in the countryside and not with her parents when she most likely needed them the most?

Grace wiped her tears. Determined to find something or some way of helping Connie, she picked her laptop up and read on. The next few pages were blank as she tapped through on the mouse pad, but then something familiar caught her eye. After tapping back a page, she took a proper look.

If only I had kept my passion and love for Jimmy intact a little longer, certainly until my eighteenth birthday on 20 June, and then we could have married and …

Grace sat bolt upright. The twentieth of June. That was her birthday too. Her pulse quickened. What were the chances of that? It had to be a sign. She liked signs, and wasn’t sure why exactly, other than that they tended to feel comforting, reassuring somehow. As the similarity sank in, drawing her and Connie together over the decades, a fresh batch of tears came as she picked up her pen and pad and tried to write.

8. 20 June. Mine and Connie’s birthdays!!!

Grace let all the feelings flood through her until, moments later, she became aware of a colourful flash at the window. A Hawaiian shirt in petrol blue with vibrant green parrots all over it was jigging up and down. Jamie from next door was tapping on the front-room window and waving exuberantly with his other hand. Grace quickly swiped at the tears with the sleeve of her top and leapt up, motioning to him that she was coming to the front door. After taking a brief moment to gather herself, she let him in.