‘No thanks, but funny you should say that, I’d like to buy a nice bottle of Butterworth fizz while I’m here to go with our celebration dinner this evening. I’ve left Darren marinating squid in chilli and kiwi juice.’

I rubbed my chest. ‘Just thinking of that is giving me heartburn.’

She gave a snort of laughter. ‘In that case you would not like the main course: garlic chicken and spicy noodles.’

‘Not right now, no,’ I said, wincing. ‘Although after the amount of fibre my colleagues have fed me today, I don’t think I can face any food at all.’

Her face became serious for a second. ‘You’re doing so well, you know. You’ve completely taken pregnancy in your stride, no fuss, no drama. When I was pregnant – briefly – I was so uptight and paranoid that every little thing would damage the baby that I couldn’t enjoy it. And then of course …’ She gave me a wan smile. ‘It was over.’

‘I’m not that calm,’ I said, stroking my tummy. ‘You should have seen me earlier when the baby moved for the first time.’

‘Wow.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Is it moving now?’

I took her hand and guided it to my bump, pressing it firmly against my jersey dress. I watched her features soften in amazement and wondered whether I’d be brave enough to do this with Jensen next week.

‘That is incredible,’ she whispered.

‘Isn’t it?’ I looked at her through watery eyes. ‘I’m in love with it already.’

Evie’s own eyes were moist with tears when she met my gaze.

‘Tell Jensen how you feel,’ she said suddenly. ‘Even if he’s offered this new job. I didn’t tell Darren how much I loved him and I nearly lost him for good. Don’t make the same mistake.’

My stomach fluttered nervously, although now I didn’t know which was me and which was the baby. I pictured Jensen’s face as he’d watched the baby move on the scan four weeks ago; he’d been so excited. But he was excited about the prospect of this promotion in Cape Town too and it wouldn’t take a genius to guess which he’d choose: a new job in South Africa in a career that he loved versus staying in England to help bring up somebody else’s baby. Despite Clare’s words of encouragement earlier, I couldn’t see my happy ending coming any time soon …

Chapter 26

As the train pulled into London St Pancras station, the butterflies in my stomach had switched to turbo-mode. It wasn’t the baby; it was the impending live appearance on national radio coupled with a lunch date with Jensen.