She shook her head. ‘Not now, no. It’s yours.’ She wiped her eyes and forced a smile. ‘God, whatever is the matter with the pair of us, Edith.’ There was a time when the sound of my full name being used would have sent a shiver down my back. But there was something warm in the way she said it that day. ‘It was mine, from mine and Dad’s wedding. Purely decorative, of course. Otherwise, that would be a bit odd. But your nan bought it for me. It was my something new.’

On second inspection, I found a trail of blue ribbon stitched into part of the lacing. Mum laughed and wiped her eyes again. ‘Your nan stitched that in. She was always trying to be so efficient with these things.’ She stood up and gave my shoulder a squeeze. ‘Of course, your dad said she was being tight. But he meant efficient.’

I set my hand over hers before she could pull it away. ‘Thank you, Mum.’

‘Nonsense. My pleasure.’ She stood and leaned over awkwardly to kiss my forehead. ‘I’d give you the world if I could, Edith Parcell, with a big yellow bow on and all.’ She grabbed at the wine bottle that sat had between us, which I saw, then, was empty. ‘Top-up?’

‘God, please.’ In a twenty-four-hour period I’d gone from on top of the world to underneath it and back again, between the reactions of Rowan’s parents and now my own – and let’s not forget are-you-thinking-straight Smithy! ‘All the top-ups, all the happy feelings.’

‘I should say that’s the least you deserve, sweet Edi. I’m sorry for getting us both upset. Well …’ She ran a fingertip under each eye to remove the final traces of tears. ‘You didn’t cry but there we are.’ With a half-laugh she made her way back to the fridge. ‘Come on, let’s go and snatch those baby pictures off your father and pour some more whisky down his neck. I might get a quiet night out of him at the end of this.’

Chapter 4