‘Yes, well, you did a great thing. Now I guess I better go and make an announcement,’ she says. ‘There are around five hundred people downstairs expecting to see a wedding. Including the groom. He has no idea any of us know what happened yet.’

‘Good luck with that,’ I say, not envying her task.

‘I’ll come with you,’ says the one with the haemorrhoids. ‘I’ll find Adam, he can tell Gavin. You focus on the crowds.’

Before they leave, she turns back. ‘This is the sistership right here,’ she says. ‘When women come together, the world gets better. We don’t know our own power sometimes.’

Maybe she is right.

Rebecca and I pack up our things, then share a Mercedes home. She’s much easier to get on with since she admitted to being picked on because of the mole on her face. It’s like she set the elephant in the room free. I feel a little of the same thing.

From my sofa, in my dressing gown, I watch the drama unfold online. The press and social media are already speculating all sorts of theories as to why the wedding didn’t go ahead. I just feel pleased it’s not a far more sinister news story, and that Ross didn’t lose another daughter today. Who’d have thought that, one day, this body would save a life?

I did good. And I feel OK.

12

Beth

Risky keeps starting sentences then giving up before the first word comes out. Eventually she manages to say what’s on her mind.

‘So this is what I don’t understand: Michael just refuses to have sex with you?’

‘Pretty much. I mean, he usually runs away from me before he gets the chance to refuse, but yes, he does not want sex with me.’

‘Why?’

‘If I knew that I’d probably be able to save my marriage.’

‘Have you asked him?’

‘Yes.’

‘What does he say?’

‘He tries to make out that it’s my fault. He’s suggested it’s my weight. He’s suggested I have an overactive sex drive. He’s suggested I’m a bit mad.’

‘That’s cruel.’

‘Yes it is.’

She hangs her head as if the love of her life has walked away from her. ‘I thought he was perfect.’

‘No one’s perfect.’