‘Did he ever talk to you about it?’

Kate shook her head. ‘You know how he liked to avoid confrontation. But I don’t entirely blame him. What would he have said? “Your mother is poisonous, deeply selfish, dishonest and unreliable”? I already knew that.’

‘I assume you have seen Dr Wiseman.’

‘Yes.’

‘How did it go?’

‘When I walked out of his office, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. But as I came down on the train, I lost sight of the potential for a solution and all I could focus on was the certainty that I have a problem.’

‘Well, you’re in a very volatile state of mind. And you will be for a while. But the first step to recovery is to admit you’re not well. Did you talk about work?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Taking some time off.’

‘I can’t do that.’

‘Kate—’

‘I can’t, Rose.’ Kate sat up. The pain in her chest was still searing. ‘Please don’t push it. I just absolutely cannot take any time off now and that is all there is to say on the subject.’

Rose nodded in a way that made it crystal clear she was far from convinced and the matter was certainly not closed. ‘All right. Just stay here for a while. I’ll bring you up a cup of tea and tell the children you had to rest.’

‘Did you hear from Belgrade?’

Kate’s aunt hesitated a moment too long. ‘Let’s talk about it at work on Monday.’

‘What happened?’

Rose was now staring at the floor. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘How?’

‘You know it is. We have to find a couple willing to adopt Maja there. Then we have to go to court to force the state to remove her from her mother, see through the legal adoption, then bring the entire new family over here. It’s long-winded, extremely expensive, and success is far from certain.’

The anxiety in Kate’s chest was exploding again now. ‘We don’t have a choice.’

‘Ian thinks we do.’

‘No . . . No. We made a promise!’

‘Calm down, Kate. That’s why I suggested we deal with it on Monday or whenever you’re in a fit state to have a rational discussion about it.’

‘We’ll do it outside the law!’

‘We can’t, and you know we can’t.’ Rose’s gaze was steely. ‘Look, I’m on your side. I think Sir Alan will be, too, so I suggest in the strongest possible terms that you let it go for now.’

Once Rose had gone, Kate closed her eyes and started to cry again. She had never felt so hopeless and ashamed.

Rose came back with a cup of tea. ‘Take your time,’ she said. ‘And if you can’t make it down to supper, that’s fine.’

‘Can I help?’

‘No. Absolutely not.’ Rose pointed to the huge rolltop bath in the bay window. ‘Run yourself a hot bath, look up at the moonlight, drink your tea and relax for a few minutes. I’ll bring you something stronger in a while.’