Ricky sat down and took off his tie and jacket. ‘Well, you’re not forty yet, and you certainly look nothing near it. And they might not have seen your wedding ring. And you’re not really showing very much yet. You’re so slim normally that the extra weight looks like nothing. You could hardly see a thing even in your wedding dress; all the guests who didn’t know you were pregnant kept saying how lovely you looked now that you’d gained a few curves.’

Verity acknowledged the compliment and patted Ricky’s hand, but said almost sternly, ‘It’s not because of any of those things, darling. It’s because my cheque book said Miss Verity Trueman. What else are people going to think?’ So I’ve decided to write to everyone: the passport office, the driving licence people, the banks, everyone, and get them to change my name to Mrs Verity Karim. I really should have done it weeks ago, but we were so busy with the wedding, and the honeymoon and …’

Ricky surprised them both by interrupting Verity vehemently. ‘No! Verity, I’m putting my foot down. I abso-lutely forbid it!’

’But forbid what, darling?’ asked Verity, confused.

‘You changing your name. You have a perfect name. You should absolutely never change it. Your name is beautiful and wonderful, and it’s staying the same.’

‘But Ricky, darling. Everyone I know changes their name when they get married, it’s practically odd not to.’

‘Well, then, let’s be odd. Your name is important to me - it stands for everything I love about you.’

‘But Ricky, I want to change it. Don’t you understand? I want to be Mrs Verity Karim. I want the world to know. Don’t you?’

‘Verity,’ Ricky said heatedly, ‘I don’t want you changing your name. I wouldn’t have married you if I thought that you’d be changing it.’

‘Ricky, that’s just cruel!’ said Verity, her lip trembling. ‘How can you say you wouldn’t have married me … It’s only my name I want to change, it’s not me …’ Blinking back tears, she ran to the kitchen.

Ricky realized he had gone too far, and went after her. ‘Verity, I’m sorry, I’m tired. I didn’t mean to upset you. You just took me by surprise. We’d never even discussed you changing your name.’

Verity had been dabbing her eyes ineffectively with coarse kitchen towel, which she put down quickly when Ricky came in, busying herself instead with the coffee percolator. ‘I’m not upset,’ she said bravely, her eyes still wet with the tears she hadn’t managed to wipe away. ‘I just came in to get the coffee.’

‘Here, let me do that,’ said Ricky appeasingly, and taking the steaming pot of coffee off the plate, poured out two cups, stirring in the brown sugar; he brought them through to the sitting room.