They ate tea in silence, each lost deep in their own thoughts. Later, when the meal was finished, she heard the TV in the lounge click on, the nightly news blaring through the house. She was helping her mom do the dishes, something she always did, when her mom said quietly, ‘You don’t have to marry him, not if you don’t want to. Never marry someone just because you’re pregnant.’ She said it so emphatically that Vanessa stopped drying the plate.

‘Is that what happened to you?’ Vanessa asked, shocked.

‘I’ve never told you this but, I was pregnant with you before your dad and I married. We had a brief relationship that wasn’t meant to last but I fell pregnant and although it wasn’t what I wanted at the time, I was encouraged to marry your father.’

Vanessa was shocked. ‘Mom, are you not happy?’ Her world seemed to roll around her. Was her whole life a lie?

‘I wasn’t. Not at first. I was in love with someone else, but over time, I grew to love your father deeply – I still do – but I will never forgive my parents for forcing me into marriage just because I was pregnant and might shame them.’ Her mind was stuck in the past for a minute and Vanessa stayed quiet, letting her mother drift until she came back to her. ‘All I’m saying is, if you don’t want to get married, you don’t have to.’ Her mom raised a hand to cup her daughter’s cheek gently. ‘We’ll support you whatever you choose to do.’

‘Mom,’ she cried before being enveloped into the comforting arms of her mom. Slim yet strong, gentle yet capable.

Vanessa woke to the early-morning sun streaming through the chink in her curtains. She had fallen asleep on top of the comforter, too tired and emotionally wrung out to even crawl underneath it. She thought about what her mom had said the night before. She had grown to love her dad, and he must have grown to love her too somewhere along the way. They were happy; why couldn’t she and Mark be happy?

Vanessa was keeping the baby and would marry Mark and everything would be OK. She’d make it work. They’d make it work. Together.

But what if he didn’t want her?

She had to have faith that he’d do the right thing.

Vanessa was making tea in the kitchen when there was a soft knock at the back door. She moved the lace curtain aside and saw Mark standing there, one hand in his pocket. He wore jeans, a black T-shirt and a jacket to protect against the wind. He looked gorgeous. Her heart stumbled momentarily in her chest; its rhythm upset. She unlocked the door.

‘Hi,’ she said.

‘Hey. Can I come in?’