Jo put her hands up defensively. ‘OK … I’m sorry. You’re right. There’s no point in dwelling on the past.’

Ben gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Tell me about Emma. And Matt and Freya. How are they all?’

Jo beamed. ‘Oh, you should see baby Bertie!’ she said, clapping her hands with delight and obviously happy to change the subject. ‘He’s gorgeous. Absolutely enormous, too … honestly, God know what they’re feeding him but …’

Ben listened with a smile as Jo regaled him stories about the lives that had carried on without him, while he was out of the picture. Emma was still travelling far too much in Jo’s opinion, but the good news was that she had met someone in Singapore, a fellow lawyer, and they seemed very happy. Apparently, she was bringing him home to meet Jo at Christmas and Jo was hopeful that an engagement might be on the cards.

Matt and Freya were both besotted with their little boy and Freya had decided that she wouldn’t go back to nursing after her maternity leave as Matt was doing so well at work that she was lucky enough to have the choice to stay at home …

As he listened, Ben felt more and more disconnected from the world. Everyone else seemed to lead such normal lives. How had he ended up in a real-life version of a horror movie? Actually, he thought, the plot of his movie was so far-fetched that there was no way it would ever get made. How many other men found themselves cowering on their knees in terror, while their slim, beautiful, charming wife twisted clumps of hair from their head and cracked their jaw by kneeing them under the chin?

After an early dinner – bread for Elodie, coq au vin for them – Jo and Ben put Elodie to bed together in the white-painted little nursery that had been waiting for her since the day she was born, but had never been used.

Ben watched Jo delightedly showing Elodie all the books and toys she had lovingly collected for her, in the hope of being able to use them one day and had to swallow down the sour taste of shame that was in his throat. It must have killed Jo to have no contact with her first grandchild, when she would have been willing and able to offer her so much love. For the millionth time, he cursed himself for not being strong enough to stand up to Bella.

As Jo finished reading her a fourth story, Elodie’s eyelids began to droop shut. She looked so sweet and snug, sitting on Jo’s lap on the large wooden rocking chair, sucking lazily on her thumb, that Ben leaped up.

‘What’s wrong?’ Jo asked in alarm. ‘Where are you going?’

‘To get my phone. I need to get a picture of this.’

Ben jogged down the stairs, two at a time like he always used to, feeling lighter and happier than he had done for years. It had been good for both him and Jo to spend time together with Elodie and he vowed that he was going to make it a regular occurrence from now on. It was ridiculous to have let so much time pass without a visit.