“Like a bear with a sore head, or should I say hands?” Heather turned her lips upwards in a tight smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“He was lucky they weren’t a lot worse.”

Heather drew up her shoulders. “Yes. The skin is peeling from his face and arms like bad sunburn. His hands are the worst. The left doesn’t need dressing but he’s got two deeper burns on his right hand that need to be taken care of. He’s worse than the kids. I have to drag him here to have them dressed.” She gave Paula another feeble smile. “Men are such babies, aren’t they?”

“Hmm,” Paula murmured. Particularly Ted. She could imagine the hard time he would be giving Heather, as if it was her fault he’d burned himself. “How’s everything else? You look worn out.”

“It’s been a tough week. Our youngest hasn’t slept in his own bed since the fire. He keeps having nightmares and Ted’s taking it fairly hard. He’s not sleeping well either; between them I’m not getting much rest.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“You and Dan have been such a help already. There’s really nothing else that can be done at the moment. We’ve been through tough times before. We can do it again.”

“Heather! Let’s go.” Ted barked from the doorway, where he stood with a freshly bandaged hand. Paula could see the skin peeling on his surly face, giving him a fearsome look. The murmured conversation around the room stopped and all heads turned to look at Ted. He nodded at Paula and strode away.

“Nice to see you, Paula.” Heather jerked herself upright and hurried after him.

Paula turned her lips up in a smile but inside she churned with embarrassment for Heather. Dan had countered everything she said about Ted’s poor behaviour with an excuse. Times might be tough for him but she could see no reason for him to treat his wife so badly in public. Goodness knows what happened at home.

She knew Dan was stressed at the moment and he could be quiet and aloof but he never raised his voice or spoke harshly. Her heart gave a little skip as she pictured his smile. Underneath she knew Dan was a genuinely kind man. He said the same about Ted but Paula had seen no evidence of it.

The receptionist smiled at her as she left. She had forgotten her baby concerns while she spoke to Heather. Now, as Paula made her way to her car, she worried again about the baby she was carrying. She was only just over halfway in her pregnancy but she knew she wouldn’t fully relax until she held her baby in her arms.

Her mobile phone rang and she dug in her bag to find it. Dan’s tiny picture lit up the screen.

“Hello, Dan.”

“Where are you?”