Max turned off the road and into their drive. Emily was three months old already. Everyone warned him it would go in a flash. He wondered how Maddy had got on at the health centre, if she’d even gone. She kept making excuses about it not being necessary for Emily to be weighed. But he liked to encourage her to go. She still wasn’t completely herself. The health visitor told them she was suffering from mild postnatal depression and any contact and conversation during the day would help her. He wished she’d mix with the other mums a bit more. She’d refused to take antidepressants when the GP offered them to her. Sometimes he didn’t know what to say or do. This wasn’t how he’d imagined parenthood to be. He tried to call her at least once every day. But today he hadn’t been able to. It had been one of those days he’d rather forget. A nightmare house John had sent him to renovate. It would be quicker and less hassle to knock it down and start from scratch.

As he got out of his car, the shriek of an ambulance siren startled him as it roared into the street. Max expected to see it turn into another road, but as it reached their house it slowed down and pulled into the drive.

At that moment, their new neighbour, Sarah, opened their front door to let the paramedics in. ‘Thank God you’re here. Come quickly, Max, please!’

In the sitting room he tried to take in the scene in front of him. Maddy standing with her hands clamped across her mouth, eyes bulging, and three paramedics leaning over the sofa. Beneath them, a miniature pair of feet, the skin mottled blue and grey. Maddy’s denim shirt was dark and patchy with water. He’d never seen her look so pale. When she saw him, she let out a whimper and rushed towards him, arms outstretched, her face crumpled with all the pain and anguish he felt too. He shivered despite it being a warm day. Words he wanted to say were stuck in his throat and came out as a pitiful groan. Everything around him appeared to be floating. He lunged forward but someone pulled him back. He watched their mouths open and make shapes, but he couldn’t hear a thing, like being under water.

Then the muffled silence broke with a familiar cry and he saw Emily’s tiny feet moving. Thank God she was still breathing.