‘The body heals quick, so they say.’ Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘No news yet on how long the heart takes,’ she laughed, making a joke about something that tore her apart. She pulled her hand away from me, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I made some calls. Someone’s coming down for me. You can go home to Scout, Max.’

‘I’ll stay until he arrives,’ I said, speculating how long it would take Edie’s married man to make up an excuse to come to northern France.

‘I feel so bloody sad, Max.’

‘You’ll have a beautiful baby,’ I said. ‘I know you will, Edie. And you’ll never forget this baby. You’ll never stop loving her.’

‘Maybe I’m not meant to be a mother. I wouldn’t know where to start.’

‘You’ll know when you the time comes. And you’ll have these feelings unlocked inside you that you never knew were there. This great store of unconditional love, Edie. That gets unlocked and that’s what gets you through. A child changes everything. It’s simple until they arrive. It’s just men and women dealing with all the usual stuff. But after you have children, everything’s got all these jagged edges. It’s like life is holding you hostage. Because there’s something in the world that you love more than yourself.’

I looked at the door as if expecting to see Mr Big walk in, removing his wedding ring.

‘I know it’s a mess,’ she said, reading my face. ‘And I know it’s not easy. And I’m not so stupid that I think it will ever be easy.’

I said nothing.

‘But he loves me,’ she said. ‘He loves me, Max. He does, I know it.’

Edie Wren was twenty-five years old. You might not have found her beautiful but I did. She was a small, feisty redhead, and probably the bravest person I have ever met. She made me laugh and she made me care. There wasn’t much of her but it was all good.

I got up to go.

‘Why wouldn’t he?’ I said.

I stopped for petrol halfway home.

Beyond the motorway, the chalk hills of the North Downs stretched off into the distance, brown and green in the white winter moonlight and I stared at them as the big BMW filled up with diesel. I listened to the sound of the cars booming by and for a moment I hung my head and I thought about a baby who would never be born.

Then my phone began to vibrate.

WHITESTONE CALLING, it said.

‘Did we get him?’ she said.