Jo burst into tears again. ‘But why? What have we done to her to make her hate us?’

Peter shook his head. He had a look of cold fury in his eyes. ‘Who knows?’

Jo blew her nose. ‘And you were being so extra nice to her, too.’

‘I was being nice to her because I knew she was waiting for us to make a wrong move. I was determined not to give her the ammunition.’

It all made sense now, the non-alcoholic mulled wine and the over-enthusiastic welcome. ‘But then you didn’t need to give her the ammunition – I did it for you.’

Jo covered her face with her tissue, letting it absorb the tears that refused to stop falling.

Peter put his heavy, reassuring hands on her heaving shoulders. ‘It was bad luck, darling. She caught you at a particularly bad moment.’

‘You don’t blame me then?’ Jo looked up at him through her swimming eyes.

Peter gave her a tired, worried smile. ‘Of course I don’t. I could never blame you for anything.’

‘What the hell are we going to do though, Peter? I can’t bear the thought of losing Ben.’

Peter shook his head. ‘We won’t lose him. We just have to wait. She’ll come round, eventually. Mark my words, once the baby arrives everything else will be forgotten.’

But it had taken so much longer than any of them had ever imagined. Jo had sent a card apologizing for what she said, as well as texts and calls but they all went unacknowledged. When Elodie was born, all they received from Ben was a short text telling them her name and weight and confirming that everything was OK.

Both Peter and Jo had called his mobile number, which seemed to be no longer in use. Emma had also tried repeatedly without success, which hurt Jo far more than their refusal to have anything to do with her and Peter. Emma was as bewildered and perplexed as her parents but as she was travelling a lot for work, she didn’t have as much time to dwell on it as Jo did.

Day after day, Jo clung to her phone, praying for it to ring. She felt as though someone had taken her heart and wrenched it out of her chest. The cold fingers of fear that she really might never see her darling boy again tightened their grip with every passing week.

She thought about calling Matt, reasoning that any information, even second-hand, would be preferable to the deafening silence they were currently enduring. But as she began to dial his number, she was overwhelmed with shame and embarrassment. What if Matt knew about the row she’d had with Bella and had taken her side? She felt so fragile that she didn’t think she could take another barrage of criticism.

So she waited, trying to distract herself with her voluntary work at the local hospice and consoling herself that while her life was something of a struggle right now, at least she had a life. These poor people were nearing the end of theirs and it did at least help to put her own problems into perspective.