But what? That she thought Rick cared too much? How could that ever be a problem?

The thing was, the more she saw of Rick, the more she thought there was something that didn’t ring true about him. If she didn’t know better, she would say it was all an act with him. He was playing a part, and playing it to the hilt, insinuating his way into their family and beguiling Naomi with his charm and helpfulness. Although there had been nothing charming about his manner at the fête yesterday afternoon when he’d revealed Willow’s condition – that she was pregnant. For a moment he’d seemed quite different, almost surly. Was that his true self? Had, for a split second, the mask dropped?

As for his endless fretting over Willow, dictating what she could and could not eat and drink, that would drive Martha crazy if Tom ever tried that on her. During lunch today, Rick had insisted that anything Willow ate from the barbecue, which Ellis had presided over, was thoroughly cooked, that there was no blood seeping out of her burger or lamb chop.

‘Sorry to be such a pain, Ellis,’ he’d said, all ingratiating smiles and apologies, ‘but I’d never forgive myself if any harm came to Willow or the baby.’

He’d then had the nerve to take over the barbecue, damn near burning everything for them all while banging on about salmonella and how somebody he’d known had been ill for months after eating a dodgy chicken drumstick while in Hong Kong. God, he’d sounded such an old woman and had made Martha want to eat the bloodiest burger she could get her hands on, which naturally she wouldn’t, she wasn’t stupid. But she could quite sympathise with Willow trying to have a sneaky glass of wine behind Rick’s back. No, she didn’t blame her sister for doing that. In her shoes, Martha would probably do the same.

In contrast Martha had been quite open with Tom about the wine she’d drunk in the garden yesterday afternoon, but it wouldn’t be something she would do too often. Just as she wouldn’t drink more than the odd cup of coffee. Which was a challenge at work, where mainlining super-strength caffeine was an essential part of the working day.

Returning her thoughts to Rick again, Martha wondered if her problem with him lay in the potential threat he possessed with regards to the balance of their family. By being the father of Willow’s child, he had the power, and, Martha suspected, the motivation, to change things. Because if, through his encouragement, Willow emerged from her chrysalis, as Tom had called it, and finally become the adult it was high time she did, that would mean the dynamics between the two sisters would have to change. No longer could Martha play the Big Sister card.

The very fact that she was articulating these thoughts disturbed her. Perhaps because it was scarily true, and the truth was often at odds with the perception one had of oneself, or how one wanted to be perceived.