‘You promised Emily you’d be here in the morning.’ Her voice stumbles. The thought of him leaving again paralyses her. She tries to block out her mother’s voice, but it’s getting louder, more insistent. ‘Haven’t you missed your bed?’ The words escape before she can stop them. They stare at each other and he rests his hand on her leg. She lets him gently push her back on the sofa and her mind floats in a cloud of his intoxicating odour of whiskey, cigarettes and sweat. He leans over, pushes up her jumper and kisses the warm skin around her navel.

‘No,’ she says in her mother’s voice, and pushes him away.

Chapter Seventy-One

After only two hours’ sleep, Maddy wakes with a start. She can’t remember going to bed. Was Max coming back a dream? It takes another few seconds before she remembers: Max is alive. With a surge of energy she sits upright, holding a hand to her pounding chest. He is lying next to her gently snoring, a line of cushions piled up between them.

Her head falls back on the pillow and she stares at the ceiling which transforms into a blue sky. On their wedding day, he slipped the gold band on her finger and she was certain they were happy. But had he been? Had he really wanted to be with her? Tears stream down her cheeks until she gives in to sleep once more.

It is 7 a.m. when she wakes again. Sam has slept through. In the kitchen, she fills the kettle and switches the TV on low.

The baby went missing in the early hours of Saturday morning from the family home.

She turns the TV off and pours boiling water into a bowl ready to warm a bottle of formula milk. He said they could move to the coast, but how can she trust him again? Why has he come back? Mother says he’s trying to trick her and take Sam away.

The baby is crying upstairs. She wakes Emily and brings Sam down. His fingers tangle in her hair. She kisses his forehead and touches the two circles of heat on his cheeks then slips two fingers down the back of his top.

‘You’re a bit warm, darling.’ She offers him his bottle and he takes a little while Emily eats her cereal, but then he cries, turning his head from side to side, rejecting any more milk. She lays him in the pram. ‘Come and say goodbye to Daddy.’

Maddy takes up a cup of tea. Max is sitting in bed watching the news. She switches it off. Emily runs to him and throws herself on the bed.

‘I’ll drop Emily at school then take Sam for a walk. You’ll stay for a while, will you?’

He nods, his gaze lingering on the blank screen.