‘Don’t start all that football team talk again. It’s not going to happen.’

They’d left it late to start a family because of the length of time of Lucy’s medical training.

‘Is this a good time for a career break?’ Aidan asked. Lucy had worked so hard to qualify as a surgeon. Young and female, she’d felt she had to prove herself to the older men who believed the only place in an operating theatre for women was passing surgical tools, swabbing the blood.

‘I don’t know if any time is the right time, but I do know that I am very, very happy.’ As she spoke her smile slipped.

‘Melissa and Fergus?’ Aidan knew what she was thinking. Their best friends had been trying for two years and it seemed cruel almost that they’d fallen pregnant without making a conscious effort.

‘They’ll be happy for us.’ Aidan knew that this was true. ‘Everyone will be happy for us, including you.’ Aidan bent down to rub Brady behind his ears. ‘You’re going to have a human brother or sister, Brady. What do you say about that?’

He lowered his ear near the dog’s mouth. ‘He says he wants a boy, how about you?’

‘It’s such a cliché to say “as long as it’s healthy”,’ Lucy said. But… you know. What sex would you prefer?’

Aidan shrugged. ‘Genuinely, I’d be delighted with a boy or girl.’

It turns out they were expecting both.

‘Twins!’ The twelve-week scan brought the unexpected but welcome news. It was both happy and daunting. They were still adjusting to the thought of life as a three, now they’d be a four. Catherine and Connor.

Although they loved their two-bed Victorian cottage with the tangle of roses under the bay windows and their view of rolling fields, they hurriedly sold and moved into a larger new-build with enough bedrooms for the twins to have one each and a spare for a future sibling.

The twins were identical, sharing the same placenta. Extra checks were needed as a shared placenta could lead to complications, but Lucy sailed through without any problems. Until week twenty-two.

‘The girl is growing at a slower rate to the boy,’ Dr Chandra told them. ‘I’d mentioned this previously, but although we’d hoped she’d catch up, she hasn’t. You have Intrauterine Growth Restriction – IUGR.’

‘What does that mean?’ Aidan was baffled. ‘What’s caused it?’

‘It means there’s an increased risk to the smaller of the babies—’

‘Catherine.’ Lucy placed her hand protectively over her bump.

‘To Catherine. This is caused by a failure of the placenta.’

At the word ‘failure’ Lucy and Aidan exchanged a glance, each of them feeling it keenly, but they were medically trained. Knew the quicker these things were picked up, the better.

‘Why?’ Aidan asked.