Although her response to Daphne’s glider cake suggestion hadn’t been one of overwhelming joy, Gilly was a little excited at the prospect. She immediately put ‘glider cakes’ into her search engine and had a look. When her children were small she used to make amazing cakes in the shapes of pirate ships, ski slopes and mice and they’d always loved them. She really liked William so did he deserve anything less than a cake in the shape of a glider?

She considered ringing Daphne to find out roughly how many the cake was going to have to feed but decided Daphne would probably say something vague and unhelpful. No, she was going to go this alone and make William the best cake he’d ever had. Although going on what Daphne had said about him never having had a party, maybe he’d never had a cake, either? In which case it was bound to be the best one!

After ordering a couple of enormous cake tins from the internet, she made a list for the cash and carry. She added food colouring to the list of normal cake ingredients. And then she sat down and thought about her gliding experience. What had been so magical had been seeing the landscape from above, in the silence, as if one was a bird. Maybe it would be better to recreate the landscape in cake, from a bird’s-eye view, and add the glider later?

She looked online again and saw that other cake makers had had this idea. But instead of sitting the glider on the cake, she would suspend it over the cake, from the corner. Yes! She was happy. She’d work out the engineering later.

She rang Helena. ‘Hi, darling, I know you’re busy but I’m going shopping. Is there anything particular you’d like or shall I just get what I think you need?’

‘Oh, Mum! You read my mind! Jago has done all the housekeeping lately and it would be wonderful if I contributed something. I’ll pay you back.’

‘We’ll discuss payment later. Shall I drop it round to you? Or will you pick it up?’

‘I’ll wait until Jago goes out and then pop over. It’ll be nice to have a break and some company.

But it wasn’t until a few days after Gilly had rung that Helena finally got over to see her. She knew her mother would have put everything in the fridge and possibly made a lasagne or something as well. With garlic bread. She was also looking forward to a long hot bath in her mother’s bathroom, with her mother’s bath products. Washing arrangements in Jago’s house were still a bit primitive.