‘That would make me the family friend who you can visit whenever you have time,’ I offer, by way of escape route for him.

‘That would make you a grandmother,’ he says simply, making my heart swell with a love I never knew I deserved. ‘Just think how lucky any child I had would be: two grandmothers on my side, an extended family spreading far and wide.’ He smiles. ‘It could almost make up for all the mistakes I’m bound to make should Michelle ever do me the honour of having my babies!’

‘Mistakes can be learned from,’ I say. He nods, opening the book up and flipping through its pages. His hands shake. ‘You nervous too?’ I ask.

‘Terrified.’ He smiles. ‘But excited too, you know?’

‘Totally,’ I agree. ‘Rhys, before they get here, there’s something I need to say—’‘Susan…’

I hold my hands up to stop him. This is too important. And long overdue. ‘Rhys, I know I have said it, but you will never understand how deeply sorry I am for the choice I made. It was cowardly. I have only found the strength to forgive myself because my survival depends on it and I owe you that at the very least.’

‘Susan,’ he tries again.

‘I will never be able to thank your mother enough for all she did for you. She has raised you to be a kind, thoughtful and brave human being. A man I am blessed to have the chance to build a relationship with.’

‘She is amazing, it’s true,’ he says. ‘But your choice wasn’t cowardly. It was the only option you felt you had and it breaks my heart to think you had no other, but I get it. I realise it wasn’t your fault. You’re no more to blame than I am.’ ‘I couldn’t do it,’ I say quietly. ‘In the park.’ He drops his eyes to the floor, but I carry on, because he needs this final piece of the jigsaw. ‘I went to the place you were born because I thought that was the place I should end it. And yet, when I got there, I could feel you. I could hear your cry. I felt the same wind in my hair that I felt the night I gave birth to you. And I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do to you again what I’d already done once before. And then you turned up to save me, you and James and Kat, and, well…’ I try to catch his eye so he knows I mean what I say. ‘It made me realise, without doubt, that being too weak to take my life might have been the very thing to save me.’ Rhys swallows, rubbing away a wobble I see on his chin. He takes me in his arms, holding me tight, and for a moment I wish he’d never let go because I suddenly feel like I could live forever.

‘How lucky we are to have found one another,’ he says finally. ‘Despite all that kept us apart.’