But when I pick up the card from the carpet, I can’t help noticing the name of the person who sent it. The scrawled sign-off at the bottom right of the card says “Loads of love, Sheena.”

Sheena. I’ve only ever known one Sheena, and that was Alice’s mum. But Alice and I didn’t become friends until we started secondary school. We’d never even met before then. Whoever sent Mum this card must be another Sheena. Strange, though; it’s not exactly a common name.

Curious, I begin to read the message that’s written inside.

Dear Sue,

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Mick and I are thrilled for you both, we really are!

Unease trickles slowly down my spine. Mick and I? Does that mean…? It must be Mick and Sheena Dawson. Alice’s parents. But that’s impossible. They didn’t know each other then. I read on, my heart in my mouth.

You’ve been trying for so long, I bet you can hardly believe it! And Sue, you’re never going to believe this either, but we’re having another baby, too! So we’ll both have our babies at more or less the same time! Isn’t that fantastic? Catherine is over the moon. She can’t wait to be a big sister!

Loads of love,

Sheena xxx

I stare at the card, blood rushing in my ears. I read it again, letting each sentence unfold in my head. This doesn’t make sense. Why would Sheena Dawson have written to Mum, congratulating her on her pregnancy? This makes it sound like they were best friends. Besides, the Sheena that wrote this sounds so full of life. All those exclamation marks! All that happiness. Alice’s mum was never like that. The Sheena Dawson I remember was a quiet, joyless woman, a woman prone to long episodes of debilitating depression.

I read the words one more time and rock back on my heels. Mick and I are thrilled for you both. Why haven’t Mum and Dad told me any of this? Why didn’t Alice’s mum tell her?

I clasp my hands together in front of my chin. I think of how my parents, especially Mum, tried to discourage our friendship. All those tight-lipped comments about an “unsuitable family.” Not to mention the awkwardness I so often felt at Alice’s house, as if I wasn’t really welcome.

I check the other cards, the ones people have sent to congratulate my actual arrival, rather than just the pregnancy itself, and skim the greetings in each one, but the Dawsons didn’t send another one.

Something peculiar happens inside my stomach. A flipping sensation that’s got nothing to do with the baby. It’s far too early for me to be able to feel any movements. “Catherine is over the moon. She can’t wait to be a big sister.”