‘It was like a – what do you call a birth hospital?’

‘Maternity hospital,’ Sybil said, chuckling.

‘Yes. A lot of babies! Very good!’

Agnieska had spent almost five years in a Displaced Persons camp in India, south of Bombay, before a brief time in a beautiful camp in Uganda, which she said she enjoyed more. She gradually told them stories about it, which Katie knew Marek had never heard before, either. Sometimes round the meal table she would tell him something in Polish and he would repeat for the rest of them in English.

‘She says,’ he related one evening, ‘that when India gained its independence in forty-seven, there were great celebrations, and for a few says everything in Bombay was free: restaurants, taxis.’ Agnieska was laughing. ‘They went to the city and had a marvellous time, living it up – you can say this, living it up?’

‘Yes,’ Katie said. ‘You certainly can.’

‘You’ve certainly seen a lot of the world, between you,’ Sybil said.

‘I’ve got something to tell you, lovey,’ Katie said to Michael, soon after she and Marek had made their decision. They were in their room and she had sat down on the bed and pulled him onto her lap.

Michael said, ‘What?’ absent-mindedly.

‘Are you listening?’

‘Yes.’ He turned his head and his blue eyes looked into hers. She was startled again by how beautiful he was, and she was full of love for him.

‘The thing is, you like Marek, don’t you?’

He nodded.

‘Well, Marek and I are – well, we love each other and we have decided to get married.’ He was staring steadily at her. ‘Which means that we’ll live together – I mean, we’re going to stay here with Sybil . . . And . . .’

‘Will he be my daddy?’

‘He’ll sort of be . . . He’ll be like a daddy to you, a bit like he is now, that’s all.’

‘Oh,’ Michael said. ‘That’s all right. Can I go and play now?’ He was wriggling to get down. Katie felt a bit wounded. She had expected a more emotional response, perhaps even opposition.

‘Are you pleased?’ she asked, as he slithered from her lap.

‘Yes!’ he called, in a happy voice. ‘I’m going to play trains with Piotr now. He promised!’

Katie’s life was very full, besides her intense involvement with her future husband and his family, with what they had experienced and where they came from. She and Em tried to make sure they met every month, at either one of their houses, although Handsworth started to win over, as Robbie loved Sybil’s house and the park so much. Gradually they rebuilt a friendship on mutual respect, and the memories and sense of humour they still had in common, as well as the friendship growing between their boys.

And every few weeks she met her father. She did not ask what excuse he made to be absent from home on a Saturday morning, sitting drinking coffee in Lewis’s in Birmingham. She knew he had led a life based on untruth, and it was something she had to accept. It was an untruth that seemed set to continue.