Although not a churchgoer, she went in, driven by loneliness and drawn by the promise of ‘safety’. A group of young women were seated together, seemingly all talking at once, their shrill chatter amplified by the dusty wooden floor and painted walls. Used to sitting at home with no one but a baby for company, Jessica was overwhelmed by the noise. She hesitated on the threshold, and was about to turn and leave when she noticed a thin blonde girl sitting apart from the rest of the women. Taking a deep breath, Jessica went and sat next to her, and the other girl looked up. Her greasy hair was dyed blonde, the roots dark against her pallid skin. She looked scraggy and she had a spotty face, her pimples poorly masked by cheap concealer that was too dark for her pale complexion. As she gazed at Jessica, her blue eyes softened in a smile. They both had young babies.

‘I wondered if Lily was too young for something like this,’ the other girl said, nodding towards her baby so that untidy wisps of hair flapped around her face. ‘It’s my first time here.’ She looked down at her bony fingers fidgeting in her lap.

‘Mine too. I’m not sure it’s my kind of thing.’

They were both silent for a moment and then the blonde girl looked up again.

‘My name’s Ella.’

She seemed anxious to be friendly, and Jessica had the impression that she too was unused to adult company.

‘I’m Jessica. And I know what you mean. It seems a bit cliquey, doesn’t it? It’s like they’re all ignoring us.’

‘I know. The sign said “welcome”, but you’re the only person here who seems to have noticed me. Until you turned up, I was just sitting here wondering how soon I could leave.’

Jessica glanced round at the group of chatting mothers who still all appeared to be talking at once. It didn’t look as though any of them would have noticed, let alone cared, if Ella stood up and scuttled out of the room. Jessica turned back to smile at her nervous companion.

‘Not exactly friendly, are they?’

Neither of them admitted they had gone there because they were lonely, but they recognised that unspoken need in one another. After a few minutes, her new acquaintance smiled at something Jessica said, and she felt her mood lift. No one had smiled freely at her like that in a very long time. Jason never smiled at all, and her mother’s expression was always tinged with anxiety. Even the health visitor was only doing her job, focusing on Daisy with brisk efficiency, paying scant attention to Jessica herself. She made only the most perfunctory enquiries about her, readily accepting Jessica’s assertions that she was fine without any question.