Ben frowned. ‘That’s not fair, Bella. It was her husband’s funeral – she’s in shock.’

‘She wasn’t in so much shock that she couldn’t fawn over Matt and Freya, not to mention how she acted like your bitch of an ex-girlfriend was her daughter-in-law instead of me! Honestly, Ben, you have no idea how hard today was for me.’

Ben took his hand off the wheel and rubbed his forehead. He wanted to point out that today had been hard for him, too, but knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

‘I don’t think Mum would have done anything to upset you deliberately.’

Bella pulled a face and emitted a ‘pah’ sound. ‘She was off with me from the minute we arrived. She barely said “hello” then turned her back on me and stomped into the kitchen without even attempting to take Elodie. You’d think she’d have been desperate to see her.’

‘As I said, I think she had other things on her mind. Come on, Bella, give her a break.’

‘She didn’t worry about how I was feeling when she insisted that your bloody ex come and sit with us and went out of her way to make me feel left out.’

Bella’s voice broke slightly as she finished speaking and Ben knew that tears would follow. He gripped the steering wheel hard, in an attempt to quell the sudden urge he had to slap her. ‘You didn’t exactly try to integrate, though, did you?’

‘I did!’ Bella protested furiously, wiping away the tears that were now coursing down her cheeks. ‘But you were too busy ignoring me to notice!’

Ben gritted his teeth, not trusting himself to reply. He hated it when Bella got like this. There was simply no reasoning with her and he knew he would have to go through a massive scene before she would calm down, only when he apologized.

‘You can’t even deny it,’ Bella said, with more than a note of triumph.

‘Oh, for Christ’s sake!’ Ben slammed the steering wheel with the flat of his hand. ‘It was my dad’s funeral, Bella! Why are you being like this?’

Bella visibly jumped and cowered slightly in her seat. ‘Ben! Stop being so aggressive! You’re scaring me and you’re scaring Elodie.’

As if on cue, Elodie, who had been sleeping soundly in her car-seat, started to cry. Bella made a huge point of shushing her, while shooting accusing glares in Ben’s direction.

Ben wanted to cry himself and could feel the tears welling up in his own eyes. He just wanted a little bit of sympathy and some understanding but he had known all along that Bella would turn today into an excuse to have a go at his family and make it all about her.

It had been such a difficult day and he was struggling to process his feelings. It still didn’t feel real that Peter was gone for ever and Ben knew that it hadn’t sunk in yet.

He could feel Bella’s eyes on him. ‘So you’re sulking now, then?’