‘I’m sure that’s not true,’ Jo persisted. ‘Where did you live again?’

Bella put a hand to her ear and grinned. ‘I think I can hear a certain little someone stirring!’ She stood up and left the room, leaving Jo straining to listen. She was pretty sure she hadn’t heard anything. But her stomach started to turn butterflies, as she waited to meet her grandchild for the first time.

Moments later, Bella padded into the room, carrying a sleepy-looking bundle. ‘Here she is!’

Peter and Jo stood up and automatically moved to stand either side of Bella so that they could take a proper look. ‘Oh my word, she’s just perfect!’ Jo cooed. ‘Isn’t she, Peter?’

She looked across at Peter, who was gazing at Elodie with nothing short of awe. ‘She certainly is,’ he breathed. ‘Can I hold her?’

‘Of course.’ Bella gently lowered Elodie into Peter’s arms, where she lay peering up at him with a surprised look on her face.

‘What do you think then, Dad? Do you think she looks like me?’ Ben came over and tickled Elodie’s stomach, causing her to squirm and smile at the same time, eliciting delighted ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from Jo.

‘Not really, son.’ Peter pulled his eyes away from Elodie and looked up at Ben. ‘She’s far more beautiful than you!’

They all laughed and Jo sighed happily. It had been a long wait but now that it was over and everything was back to normal, she could tell herself that it had all been worth it.

‘Well, that couldn’t have gone better,’ she told Peter, as they drove away from Bella and Ben’s flat a couple of hours later. All the misery and angst she had bottled up over the past months was completely gone. Bella had been a different person to the one who visited them at Christmas and Jo concluded that it must have been her hormones affecting her personality back then. Some women just hated being pregnant and it dramatically changed the way they behaved. Bella must be one of those women, she decided, because her demeanour and friendliness towards them today could not have been lovelier or more welcoming.

‘No,’ Peter agreed. Already, she could see that some of the tension had drained away from his face, leaving him looking a lot more like his old self.

‘What did you make of Bella? I thought she was lovely.’

Peter paused for a minute before speaking. ‘She was friendly enough.’

‘But?’

Peter sighed. ‘Nothing. Ignore me.’

‘You’ve never been sure about her.’

‘No.’

‘Why do you think that is? We know she can be tricky at times after what happened at Christmas, obviously, but you didn’t take to her from the start. What made you dislike her?’

Peter shrugged. ‘It’s not that I dislike her, exactly. We don’t know anything about her. She always seems to deflect the conversation if you ask her any questions. Like when you asked her where she grew up and she pretended that the baby had woken up. I didn’t believe that for a second. I think she just wanted to change the subject.’