After a moment she heard a voice from below, quiet and soothing, and the sound began to die away. For a time then she heard the two men talking in low voices, before it all went quiet again. She felt very stirred up by it and lay awake for a long time afterwards.

None of them ever mentioned it in the daytime.

Fifty

‘There you are – didn’t I tell you?’ Maudie said distractedly as she wiped Elizabeth’s nose. ‘Goodness me, we’re drowning in snot in this house – all three of them and me! I’m astonished Michael hasn’t caught it yet . . . Anyway,’ she looked up, ‘I told you they’d soon get paired up. They’re far too handsome a pair to be single for long.’

It was a Friday evening, in the cold of November, and Katie had come to pick Michael up after work and have her usual end-of-the-week cuppa with Maudie. Katie made the tea and Maudie came to sit down at the kitchen table, mournfully blowing her pink, sore-looking nose.

‘Oh!’ She sank onto the chair. ‘I feel really grotty today. And so do the children, of course. Michael’s been angelic, I have to report, amid this sea of pestilence – and at least they weren’t ill enough to stay off school.’ She had Michael and Elizabeth to look after during school hours.

‘Poor you,’ Katie said. ‘You look all in.’

Maudie pulled back her long hair and retied it in a rough knot at the back. ‘Well, it sounds worse than it is. It’s good for getting sympathy. I think I felt worse about three days ago. Anyway . . .’ She stirred her tea. ‘Tell me then – you say there are women in the offing?’

Making light of it (why was she actually aching inside?), Katie said, ‘I think Piotr is fixed up. He keeps talking about a girl called Patsy. And another one called Gina.’

‘Ah, a fast worker! And what about the blue-eyed giant – I don’t know how you can resist him! Now, if I was single . . .’ Maudie gave a mock-pining look, then laughed.

‘Marek? Yes, I’m sure there’s someone – I don’t know her name. I mean, I can’t exactly ask.’

‘Why not? If it’s nothing to you, why should it matter?’

Katie blushed. Maudie’s eyes lit up with amusement over the rim of her teacup. ‘There you are, you see – you do like him! So it matters! Honestly Katie, you’re hopeless. What’re we going to do with you?’

‘Marriage isn’t everything,’ Katie said grumpily.

‘No, it isn’t.’ Maudie agreed, serious now. ‘But if it’s a good one – I mean, for all my grumbles, I wouldn’t be without John – it can be lovely, honestly.’

Katie walked home through the winter evening, warmed by her chat with Maudie.

‘We’re lucky, aren’t we?’ She looked down at Michael, who was holding her hand, muffled up in his coat and balaclava. There was a cold, mean wind, but at least it was clear, no fog tonight. ‘Having a nice friend like Maudie.’