‘Oh, shush, Molly, stop it,’ Ruth said, blushing. She smiled and shook Katie’s hand. ‘Nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind my coming – it’s just that we were both visiting this weekend.’

‘Of course not,’ Katie said. ‘The more, the merrier. Let’s go out to the back and I’ll make you all some tea.’

It was a lovely, lazy afternoon of conversations and meeting new people, and children free to romp around everyone, with the adults intervening or joining in when necessary. They all sat round eating and drinking in the warm breeze. Em disappeared inside to feed the baby and, as the sun sank lower, Sybil’s friends and their dogs began to drift away, first calling out their thanks and goodbyes.

When everyone had been well fed, Katie was free to sit and talk. She liked Ruth, who told her that now she had finished her science degree at Cambridge, she had stayed on to do research.

‘Does that mean you got a First, my dear?’ Sybil asked across the table. ‘One of my brothers went to Cambridge, but he came out with a disgracefully poor degree in the end. Went abroad instead and had all sorts of adventures.’

‘How exciting,’ Ruth said.

‘Oh, indeed it is – well, it’s exciting the first time you hear about it anyway,’ Sybil added wickedly. ‘He lives in Australia now. But you . . . ?’

‘Yes, I did get a First. I think research is my thing.’

Seeing that Ruth and Sybil were getting along well, Katie went to sit with her two old classmates at one end of the table in the shadow of the trees, so that they could all catch up.

Their eyes kept being drawn to the baby, who spent most of her time asleep in Em’s arms.

‘I still can’t believe she’s really here,’ Em said, smiling down at her. ‘All that time I was in such a state wondering what was wrong. In the end I gave up thinking about it, and decided we were lucky to have Robbie – and then out of the blue, bingo! And here she is. I mean, it would’ve been nicer if they were closer in age, but I’m not complaining – I’m just so happy to have her!’

Katie was overjoyed for her too. Over these years when they had met as often as they could manage, and had rebuilt their friendship, her own children had arrived with no trouble, first Tomas, then Dorothy, while poor Em was having no luck.

‘Maybe we’ll have more chance of getting a house of our own now, like you!’ she joked. ‘How many kids d’you have to have to get a council house?’

‘I don’t know if that’s the only reason!’ Katie laughed. ‘But you must ask them to send you out where we’re going: we could be neighbours again. I mean, it’s all new – very rough at the moment, but there’s room to make gardens and things. Oh, you must come over there – the kids could go to school together.’