‘Cheers.’ We clinked glasses. The wine tasted heavy in comparison to champagne. I swallowed it quickly.

‘How about a quick tour of the garden?’ Edie asked. ‘I’m crazy about gardening.’

‘Of course,’ my mother said. She led the way down from the veranda, looking uncertain. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know where everything is.’

‘The roses are at the bottom of the hill,’ Maud said. ‘Next to the hydrangeas. The gardener puts coffee in the soil so they turn blue.’

‘You show us, darling.’

Maud led us down the lawn and stopped in front of a rose bush. ‘This one’s my favourite.’

‘I can see why.’ Edie leaned forward, eyes closed, and sniffed the biggest flower. ‘It’s so good to be able to bend over without a giant belly getting in the way.’

‘Edie gave birth to our daughter on the fifth,’ Freddie said.

‘Congratulations,’ my mother said.

‘Nan,’ Edie said, opening her eyes. ‘She’s called Nan.’ She put out a finger and gently touched the rose, which bowed slightly then sprang back up. Her expression was blissful. ‘Isn’t this beautiful?’

‘She’s beautiful,’ Freddie said, and kissed his wife. ‘And what a pair of lungs.’

‘Where is she?’ Maud asked.

‘She’s at home with her nurse,’ Edie said.

‘Probably making this face,’ Freddie said, and scrunched up his nose and eyes.

We laughed, even my mother, and Freddie turned and winked at me. I wished the boys back at school could see me now. They’d never have believed that someone so charming, so attractive, could be friends with me. It was intoxicating, and I almost forgot Sylvie wasn’t with us.

‘So you’ve just got these two beautiful children?’ Edie said. She moved on to the hydrangeas and repeated the smelling and touching routine. We stood behind her in a semi-circle. Maud watched her with a serious expression.

‘Yes,’ my mother said.

‘You must have been terribly young when you had them.’

‘I’d been looking after my little brother for a few years by then – I didn’t feel young.’

‘And where’s he now?’

‘In a field in France.’

Edie pulled a face. ‘I’m so sorry. That bloody war.’

‘He was at university when it started – Edinburgh. His tutors all said he was doing very well, but Percy always had such a clear sense of duty.’

Freddie looked sympathetic. ‘I’m sure we would have loved him.’

‘Everyone did,’ my mother said. She smiled – a different smile to before, but it reached her eyes. I felt dizzy all of a sudden and realised I’d been holding in my breath.