‘It’s hardly ideal, though,’ I reminded her. ‘I’m in temporary accommodation, I have a short-term job and I don’t even know if I can afford to bring a child into the world. A child whose father is Harvey, for goodness’ sake. What if he wants to be part of the baby’s life? I’d hate that.’

Evie sucked in air. ‘I’ve been thinking about Harvey too. Does he know yet?’

I shook my head. ‘I wanted to have the scan first, find out how far along I am before I tell anyone. Not even Dad knows yet.’

‘Then you can’t miss that appointment.’

‘What if Dad’s injuries are really serious?’ I said solemnly. ‘I don’t want you to have to go alone.’

Evie bit her lip. I could tell she was torn; she didn’t really want to go by herself.

‘How about we try to contact this friend of Dad’s again?’ I suggested. ‘Perhaps there’ll be more news by now.’

Agnes had given Evie her mobile number and Evie tapped out a text message asking for an update. I made us some toast and more tea, decaff for me, and by the time we’d eaten the toast and the tea was cooling, we got a reply.

Your father had his operation. He sleeps but he is not dangerous. I give more news when he will be awake.

We collapsed against each other with relief.

‘I think that must mean that he’s out of danger, rather than being actually dangerous,’ Evie said with a wobbly smile. ‘Unless he’s had a personality transplant when he hit his head.’

We shared a slightly hysterical laugh.

‘Thank heavens,’ I said, a sob catching in my throat.

‘So,’ said Evie determinedly, ‘much as Dad would love to see you, I’m going to Germany on my own. I don’t know how long I’ll be staying and you need to be there at that scan on Friday.’

I opened my mouth to argue but Evie took my phone out of my hand and changed the number of tickets from two to one. ‘I’m the eldest, so no arguments.’

‘Yes, boss.’ My stomach swooped as it hit me just how much I wanted to find out my due date so I could start to make some plans. ‘But promise me you’ll text me as soon as you get there.’

She hugged me. ‘Promise. And don’t worry about money or where you’ll live. We can sort that out over the coming months. Everything will be okay; I’m here for you from now on.’

‘Thank you.’ I kissed her and she stroked my hair and I felt flooded with relief that, despite the awfulness of the event that had brought her here, I had my sister back in my life and, for that at least, I had reason to be happy.