He was right of course but I was still furious and could feel the tears welling up.

Ben sighed, before reaching out to take my hand. ‘Come on, sweetheart. Don’t get upset. You are doing a fantastic job with our gorgeous baby. I’m so proud of you.’

He was so sweet sometimes. ‘Thank you. I’m sorry for calling so often, it’s just that I get so bloody lonely sometimes. It’s really, really hard.’

Ben reached out and took my hand in his. ‘Of course it is. I completely understand darling. But … you don’t have to be lonely.’

Ah. I had wondered when this might come.

‘I’m sure Mum is desperate to see Elodie and she’d be so happy to help out. To give you a bit of a break.’ Ben was trying not to sound too eager but he wasn’t succeeding. I could clearly hear the hope in his voice.

It wasn’t Jo who would be most desperate to see Elodie, I thought, it was Peter. I could just imagine how badly it would have hurt him not to be able to see her before now, knowing that she was his. And he deserved every bit of pain he was going through. But now that I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight and looking pretty good, I thought that maybe it was time. It would only pile on the agony for him.

‘Why don’t we invite her round? Come on, Bella, otherwise it’s a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face.’

‘Maybe,’ I began, seeing his eyes light up instantly with anticipation. ‘But you have to be here, too. I don’t want to see her on my own, just in case …’

I thought Ben might react to my insinuation but he just nodded eagerly. ‘Of course I’ll be here, too. How about this weekend? Shall I ask them to come here then?’

‘Them? Invite your dad, too?’ I wanted to be sure.

‘Well, yes. I’m sure he’s as desperate to meet his first grandchild as Mum is.’

If only you knew, I thought, looking away as I pretended to ponder, prolonging the moment for as long as possible. ‘I suppose so,’ I said eventually.

Ben gave a sharp gasp of surprise, his eyes shining, before he picked up his fork and resumed eating, trying to seem as casual as possible.

‘Why don’t you go and have a relaxing bath while I clear up?’ he said, once we had both finished.

I had wanted to listen to the conversation but a bath sounded very appealing and I could listen from the bathroom anyway. ‘OK, that would be nice. Thanks.’

I ran the bath as quickly as I could, then turned off the taps, climbed in and listened hard.

‘Mum, it’s me,’ I heard him say in a choked voice. I hoped he wasn’t going to get all emotional. It got on my nerves and was another thing that made him so different to Peter, who was rarely anything other than calm and measured.