‘So, what do you think about this mess at school?’ she asked after an interval and Eva glanced up, her mouth full. She couldn’t get the food down fast enough, hunger making her light-headed. ‘This rumour she’s been peddling about that girl,’ Abi continued. ‘Why on earth did she do such a thing?’

Eva thought the whole matter was a little close to the bone. Her younger sister spreading malicious gossip about a fake pregnancy, while here Eva was with an actual embryo gestating inside her and no clue as to what to do about it. Her head felt dizzy with it all, and she propped herself up on one of the kitchen stools.

‘Don’t ask me. I’ve no idea what goes on inside that girl’s head.’

‘Does she talk to you at all? Confide in you if something’s worrying her?’

Eva shrugged. ‘Not really. You know Beth. She keeps everything bottled up.’

‘But if you suspected something was wrong, would you ask her? Would you try and get her to talk?’

Eva looked up.

Abi went on: ‘Sometimes it’s easier to tell a sibling than to admit something to a parent. Especially if it’s something big, you know? Something you thought might be too painful for a parent to hear.’

There were dark smudges under Abi’s eyes. Eva saw how worn out she was. But the line of her questioning caused Eva to hesitate. The desperate look her mother was giving her, like she was willing Eva to admit to something.

‘I—’

‘Does she ever mention Melissa?’ Abi went on, and Eva’s heart stilled.

‘Melissa?’

‘Does she ever talk about her? You remember how Beth was always over in that house. Did she ever discuss with you what went on while she was there?’

‘No-o,’ Eva said, deeply suspicious now. ‘Why?’

Abi bowed her head suddenly, as if overcome. She rubbed her forehead vigorously for a moment and said, as if to herself: ‘Leaving that house to Beth. I never could figure out why …’

Eva filled a glass with water and came and sat at the table. Her mother said: ‘Does it bother you, love? That Beth got that house?’

‘Not really.’

‘Are you sure? Because it certainly bothers me. God! Everything that woman has put us through …’

The bitterness in her mother’s voice surprised Eva. Referring to Melissa as that woman – it was something Abi hadn’t done before.

‘It’s fine, Mum,’ she offered gently. ‘I don’t want any handouts from Melissa – or from anyone else. I’d rather make my own way.’

Abi smiled wanly, reached out and held Eva’s wrist. ‘Good for you, love.’ She exhaled, some of the tension draining into tiredness. Then she asked the question Eva had been avoiding for weeks: ‘How are things going in college?’

She shrugged. ‘Okay.’