‘Who she is, not what she does…’ Ryan repeated her words quietly, thinking that his own parents could have taken a few lessons from Jenna. In his home, praise had always revolved around achievement.

Jenna fiddled with her glasses. ‘My parents were always more interested in what I did than who I was, and I was determined not to be like that. Clive worked—I stayed at home. Traditional, I know, but it was the way I wanted it.’

‘Can I ask you something personal? Did you marry him because you loved him or because you were pregnant?’

She hesitated. ‘I thought I loved him.’

‘And now you’re not sure?’

‘How can you love someone you don’t even know?’ Her voice cracked slightly and Ryan crossed the kitchen and dragged her into his arms.

‘The guy is clearly deranged.’ Dropping a kiss on her hair, he eased her away from him. ‘So now I understand why you asked me that question. You must find it impossible to trust another man.’

‘No.’ She said the word fiercely. ‘Clive lied to me, but I know all men aren’t like that—just as not all teenage mothers are inept and not all boys wearing hoodies are carrying knives. I won’t generalise. I don’t trust him, that’s true, but I don’t want Lexi growing up thinking the whole male race is bad. I won’t do that to her.’

Her answer surprised him. He’d met plenty of people with trust issues.

He had a few of his own.

‘You’re a surprising person, Jenna Richards.’ Young in many ways, and yet in others more mature than many people older than her.

‘I’m an ordinary person.’

He thought about the way she loved her child, the way she was determined to be as good a mother as she could be. He thought about the fact that she’d been with the same man since she was sixteen. ‘There’s nothing ordinary about you. I’m intrigued about something, though.’ He stroked her hair away from her face, loving the feel of it. ‘If you were at home with Lexi, when did you train as a nurse?’

‘Once Lexi started school. I had a network of friends—many of them working mothers. We helped each other out. Sisterhood. They’d take Lexi for me when I was working, I’d take their children on my days off. Sometimes I had a house full of kids.’

He could imagine her with children everywhere. ‘Can I ask you something else? Why didn’t you ever have more children? You obviously love them.’

‘Clive didn’t want more. He decided Lexi was enough.’

‘Like he decided that you weren’t going to have a dog or eat fish?’