Then I heard them. Loud footsteps and voices far away but they could very well have been above me. Annie? She was back. She had changed her mind. Realised she couldn’t do it alone. Seen sense. I banged the door with my palm.

‘Help! Help! Annie, we’re down here. Open this door. Ben is sick, Annie. Really sick!’ I used so much force that I could feel my skin splitting. The smoked was billowing around my face now. I gave the door one last hit. ‘Open this fuckin’ door you sick, sick mother—’

I could see a sliver of light coming through the door as it was being lifted and opened. Then a bright light from a powerful torch was pointing right in my eyes. I shielded my face with my arm. As I did, more plumes of smoke caught in my throat and I started to cough. I peered out from behind my arm and I saw a mass of smoke and a figure in a mask illuminated by a bright light

I coughed again as the smoke entered my lungs. A large gloved hand reached towards me and as I reached out to grab it, everything went black.

The next twenty-four hours went by in a blur of paramedics, firemen, ambulances, doctors, police, questions, questions, questions. The last thing I saw before I was knocked out was a surgeon’s eyes, his mouth covered with a surgical mask. Something had gone wrong when I gave birth and pieces of the placenta were still inside me. Ben was whisked away somewhere else.

When I came round, Patrick was sitting next to me.

‘Patrick.’ I held my hand out and Patrick took it in both of his.

Patrick looked down at his feet.

‘The op went well. They were able to stop the bleeding. You’ve broken a rib and your ankle. You’re in a bit of a mess, Daze. Ben is not so good, he’s going to need a bit more time, but he’ll get there. He will. I don’t know much else, but they are monitoring him. You’re both strong.’

‘My baby!’ Realisation then panic swelled from the pit of my stomach. I tried unsuccessfully to swing my legs out of the bed.

Patrick stood and put a hand on my shoulder. ‘Hey, stop, you’re in no condition to go anywhere.’ He squeezed my shoulder. ‘I haven’t heard anything about the baby yet, I’m afraid Daisy.’

I leant my head back against the pillow. I felt the familiar feeling of tears soaking my cheeks as though they had never stopped. ‘How? How were you even here, Patrick?’

‘I had been trying to text you for days, Daisy; you kept ignoring me. I know you said you needed time, but that was ridiculous. I needed to see you. I missed you. I knew the baby was due. I drove to the house and when I arrived there were ambulances and fire engines, smoke was pouring from inside. Someone from the beach, a dog walker, alerted the emergency services when they saw smoke.’