‘Why would you give a baby a mobile?’ Jack asked.

‘Not a mobile phone, darling. A dangly mobile. For above her cot.’ Penny wrapped her arm around Jack’s waist and, together, they watched the room. They were amazed by the number of people who wanted to say hello to their little Hannah. It reminded Penny of the number of people who had turned out to say goodbye to their Charlie.

‘A funeral, a christening and a wedding all in the same twelve months,’ she said, thinking out loud. Jack squeezed Penny’s shoulder and she rested her head against his chest.

‘I think the wedding will be next year, Mum. I’d like to take Maggie back to St Lucia for the honeymoon and, well, it’s not cheap. Plus Maggie wants to get back down to a size ten.’

‘Oh, she could do that in a couple of months if she put her mind to it.’

‘She’s a hormonal woman with a currently insatiable craving for Chinese takeaways and red wine . . . are you going to tell her to “put her mind to it”? ’Cos I’m bloody not!’

*

Although Hannah had slept through much of her big day, she still went straight down as soon as they got home. As did Penny.

Jack hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol at the naming ceremony because he was the designated driver but once safely back home, he sat down on the sofa with Maggie and poured himself a large brandy. Maggie ventured to ask how his assignment to the Cotswolds was going and he told her how he felt he’d been shafted: ‘First of all I get personally requested because of my experience in similar cases, then I’m outranked by a couple of Oxford Robbery guys. And Ridley’s playing both sides. He bollocked me for show, so that Chipping Norton thinks I’m on some kind of fucking leash, but then, he’s also told me to bypass them and report directly to him.’

‘You get the same sort of political games in the NHS,’ Maggie shrugged. ‘It doesn’t mean Ridley doesn’t trust you.’

‘I know that,’ Jack conceded, ‘but sometimes I wish he’d just stand up and be counted.’ Maggie moved closer to Jack and gently laced her fingers through his. ‘I don’t know, Mags. It’s bad timing, I guess. The team over there are just starting to respect me and . . .’ Maggie leant over and kissed him.

‘Does that mean shut up?’ he asked, laughing. She kissed him again.