‘I don’t recall Dad ever once saying that he would have liked a son,’ said Martha, before lapsing into silence once more and imagining mini versions of herself and her sister.

Having lost what she saw as her true self to the baby brain, Martha wondered if Willow was experiencing the same thing. Was she now even more forgetful? Or maybe for Willow, a baby brain was an improvement.

Martha immediately reminded herself that she had vowed not to harbour any negative thoughts this weekend – negativity was not good for the baby. Naturally she was reading up on how to do all she could to improve her child’s chances of being born happy and healthy. There would be no harmful or destructive behaviour on her watch. To that end she was doing all the right things.

Listening to Mozart – check.

Eating the right food – check.

Singing to her baby – check.

Reading to her baby – check.

Having an optimistic and positive outlook – check. Well … sort of.

In truth she had yet to master being wholly positive. She had never really been what you might call a cockeyed optimist, that was much more her sister’s speciality. Instead she had tended to look for problems before they happened, on the basis that she was then better equipped to deal with them when they did occur. Knowing how to deal with all eventualities was what enabled her to sleep at night; it was what kept her positive. She needed to be proactive, rather than simply go with the flow as Willow did.

So whatever jealousy or resentment Martha had harboured following Rick’s admission that Willow was pregnant, she was now doing her utmost to put that behind her. All that mattered was that she and Willow were having babies at roughly the same time, and that was a sisterly joy to be shared.

Except what still rankled with Martha was Rick’s voice on the phone that day. He had openly criticised her, and in a way that nobody ever had before. She hadn’t told Tom the extent of what Rick had said, and maybe that was because it would mean having to admit to the possibility that Rick was right.

Another admission she was determined to keep to herself was that she wasn’t looking forward to seeing Rick again today. She had gone from thinking that he was an ideal boyfriend for her sister to thinking the opposite. She didn’t want a brother-in-law who was prepared to be so confrontational with her. Would he have another go at her during this weekend?

The rational answer to that was to ensure she gave him no reason to criticise her; to be, at all times, on her absolute best behaviour. She would not think the worst of anyone or anything. Which included Mum and Ellis. She was going to appear to be perfectly magnanimous about their relationship. To put up any resistance would probably only throw them closer together, whereas to accept it would allow the thing to run its course. Much like that time when Mum allowed Willow to dye her hair shocking pink during the summer holidays when she was a teenager. Dad had gone mad, but Mum had said it was better to let Willow get it out of her system.