So we sat in the car, each sending a message to our business partners, then switched our phones off and put them in the car’s glove compartment.

For those days we were away, he never left my side, and, rather than finding that irritating, as I would have done recently, I grew to love it. I felt like we were conjoined twins, that we depended on each other in some kind of essential way. At night in bed he’d lie behind me and stroke my back and we’d suggest baby names to each other for hours.

“Daniel?”

“That’s the name of a boy who used to bully me.”

“Vanessa?”

“Vanessa was my best friend in elementary school. Until she spat in my dinner.”

I was so tempted to say Ruby, but I held back, thinking how I’d feel if he said Tom. So we ignored certain names, locking them in a room where things from the past lay.

It was one of those times where you immerse yourself in another world, and at the end, it seems as though a year has passed. We came back from France closer to each other than ever, but no closer to resolving the problem that lay between us.

CHAPTER 32

Emma

Before we had left the house that night, I sent Jane a text to say that we were going away and wanted a bit of time together.

Good idea, she’d replied. Treat it as a fresh start.

I frowned. Had she guessed what I’d been up to? What do you mean? I replied.

I just meant, she sent a couple of minutes later, that this is a blessing for you—a chance at having a family with Harry. Make the most of every minute x

•   •   •

A few days after we returned from France, she came round for dinner, full of apologies for telling Harry I was pregnant. “I thought you’d already told him,” she said as she hugged me. “I didn’t think you’d tell me first!”

“Forget about it,” said Harry. I noticed he wasn’t looking at her and thought he must be furious with her. He’d waited years for news like that, and I knew he would have wanted to hear it from me first. His voice was cold and I wondered whether this would affect their friendship. “I’ll go and sort out dinner. It’ll be about twenty minutes.” He went off into the kitchen and closed the door. I heard music playing and knew he wouldn’t come out until dinner was ready.

“It’s all right,” I said to Jane, who was now red in the face. “He’s so happy. You really shouldn’t have told him, but it doesn’t matter, not in the long run.”