“What in God’s name?” she demanded. “What are you doing in my cabin?”

“I’m sorry but you’ve made a mistake. This is my cabin,” I said. “Cabin thirty-four, C deck. I have my ticket here.”

“There must be some mistake,” she said in a haughty voice. “This is definitely the cabin I was given because my friends are just across the hall. We asked for rooms together, you see. We’re traveling as a group, but there are five of us and I was the odd man out.”

“Maybe we’re supposed to be sharing,” I suggested, the thought not having occurred to me before. There were two bunks.

She stared down at me and my still-nursing baby, only partially covered by his robes that I had hastily pulled over me with distaste. “But they promised me,” she said. “I know it was supposed to be a two-berth cabin, but they told me the other berth would be unoccupied.”

“I’m afraid my decision to sail on this ship was made at the very last minute. The cabin would have been unoccupied when you booked it.”

“But I can’t possibly share with…” She frowned at us again and left the rest of the sentence hanging.

“Perhaps the purser will be able to find you alternative accommodation with somebody more suitable,” I said.

“I heard someone saying that the ship was completely full. Really this is too tiresome.” She gave an annoyed little sigh. Liam, now satisfied and curious to know with whom his mother was speaking lifted aside the layers of cotton and lace I had draped over him and peeked out at her. Her expression softened. “I’m sorry. That was most rude of me. If I am only paying for a berth in a double cabin, then I have to take my chances, don’t I? One must make the best of it, I suppose. And it’s really only to change clothing and sleep.”

“He’s normally a very good baby,” I said, hastily fastening my blouse buttons. “He sleeps through the night well.”

“I don’t doubt it. So it’s a little boy, is it? One can never tell.”

I looked down at his curls and white lace robes and smiled. “Impossible to tell. I don’t usually favor this amount of lace and ribbons but these garments were given to us. His name’s William but we call him Liam.”