This part of Twickenham was lovely compared to where their old flat had been in Teddington. They’d purchased the three-storey terraced house just under four months ago. It was a doer-upper. The kitchen, lounge and master bedroom had been the priority – these rooms were now painted plain white with cheap, mis-matched furniture that would ultimately be replaced when they’d had time to decide on the ‘look’ they wanted to go for. The second bedroom would slowly become a nursery but, for now, was nothing more than a pink-plastered box. The top floor had two bedrooms and one bathroom – this was his mother’s domain. She’d moved in with them at the old flat within weeks of Charlie’s death, as both Jack and Maggie were absolutely insistent that she was not going to live on her own. They initially assumed that, regardless of the love they had for her, Penny would be an added ‘burden’ – for want of a better word – but, in truth, she’d been the one to hold everything together.

Since moving to the Twickenham house, Penny had been a godsend. She stepped into Maggie’s life at exactly the moments when Jack wanted to step out – the nestbuilding, the conversations about pelvic floors and piles and sickness, the fear and trepidation about life after the baby was born. All of the things Jack would have been totally crap at, Penny was in her element. And when it came to the everyday stuff, Penny made Maggie’s life easier and better than Jack ever could – and being constantly occupied helped Penny to rally from the death of her beloved husband far more quickly than if she’d been allowed to wallow in some supervised-living accommodation, full of other old people with dead partners. She had a new generation to live for now and she was going to love the new baby with all of her heart. Penny likened waiting for the birth of Maggie’s baby to waiting for Jack to be handed over from Social Services all those years ago.

Jack was very lucky that Maggie and Penny got on so well, but Penny was also surprisingly astute about their need for privacy. She’d signed up for a couple of evening classes and had even bought herself a little TV for her bedroom, turning the top floor into a proper little granny flat. She was secretive about the evening classes, prompting hours of humorous speculation, Jack eventually deciding that Penny was doing pole dancing and woodwork.