Once they were seated on the coach, Ella let Christine hold Lily, and she was able to relax and settle down to enjoy the journey. The coach was warm and she stopped shivering. Lily felt heavier in her arms than she remembered, and her weight was soothing.

‘I think she’s growing,’ she said, and smiled. ‘She must be healthy.’

‘And happy. And we’re going to make sure she stays that way.’

‘I never thought I’d have a baby to look after.’

‘I know, but remember to keep your voice down while we’re out,’ Ella muttered. ‘There are people all around us. We don’t want to draw attention to our situation.’

It was true. Christine could hear a muffled buzz of voices that she had been too preoccupied with Lily to notice. She nodded in Ella’s direction and a few moments later the coach set off with a bump. She held Lily close, but the baby didn’t seem to stir. If she put her head very close to Lily’s face, she thought she could make out the faint purring of her breath mingling with the rumble of the engine. They hadn’t gone far when they halted, and Christine heard a disturbance. Several people began asking what was going on, and above the commotion a loud voice rang out, ordering everyone to stay in their seats. At her side, she heard Ella swear. Without a word of explanation, Ella grabbed Lily who woke up and began to cry.

‘You should have left her with me. She was fine,’ Christine protested.

An unfamiliar voice called out their names. At first Ella didn’t answer, but then she began yelling, ‘Give her back! She’s mine!’

Voices were shouting and Lily was crying, and Ella was screaming. Terrified by the commotion, Christine began to cry. She didn’t know what was happening, but she was afraid Ella’s evil twin had stolen Lily. Ella’s shrieks faded and a woman’s voice called Christine by name, and someone took her by the arm to help her out of her seat. Christine shrank back against the window.

‘No, no, leave me alone. Where’s Lily? Give her back! I’m not going anywhere without Lily.

There was a pause, and a muttering, and then the woman returned.

‘Come on, then,’ she said. ‘We’ll take you to Lily. But you have to come with me. Lily’s not on the coach any more. Come with me, please.’

Still sobbing, Christine was guided off the coach and taken to a car and driven back to York. She was escorted to a cold room where, shaking and crying, she was led to a chair. Her social worker arrived and tried to calm her down, and a few moments later, she recognised the voice of the policewoman who had been to her house and told her that Ella had stolen a baby called Daisy.