Annie arrived back into the room and punctuated the silence. She was struggling with a tray laden with tea, a selection of foil-wrapped biscuits, and a fresh-looking Victoria sponge cake. Annie placed the tray onto the coffee table in the middle of the two sofas and positioned herself carefully next to me. She let out a loud sigh accompanied by a small smile.

I looked at the tray, keen to be of assistance and show willing, I leant in towards the teapot.

‘I’ll be mum then,’ I said jovially, but before I could reach the pot, Annie intercepted. Suddenly I found that my hand was pressed against the scalding pot. I immediately felt the searing heat penetrate through my fingers before I had time to retract. I sucked my breath in through my teeth as the sting from the heat resonated through my fingers. I looked anxiously at Annie who now had both hands on the pot, ready to pour, seemingly oblivious.

‘Don’t you worry yourself, dear. You just sit back and relax,’ Annie said softly without taking her eyes off the tea pot and cups. ‘This is some of my best crockery you know, Daisy.’ Annie poured out and handed me a small white china teacup and saucer. She turned back and poured another cup.

I slowly sat back and cradled my tea, gently stroking my index and middle fingers where the fuzzy feeling still remained. Something was preventing the words that were appropriate to the situation from forming in my mouth. I could feel agitation rising through my chest. I looked up at Ben who had his eyes firmly locked on the screen of his new Blackberry phone, a device he was clearly quite taken with. He had apparently missed the whole incident.

‘Help yourself to milk and sugar, dear. Oh, and I made this cake. Ben’s favourite. Did you know?’ Annie’s eyes were wide open and reminded me of the saucer I held in my hand.

‘No, I didn’t.’ I looked into my teacup.

‘Oh yes, been making Victoria sponge cake for years, haven’t I, son? It is a special occasion after all, isn’t it?’ she said, her face remained fixed upon the coffee table.

I took a sip of tea and found that my hand shook and caused a ripple of clinking china which attracted a brief look from Annie. I was now completely on edge and shot a glance over towards Ben, urging him to look up and rescue me but he was too absorbed in his phone. The new millennium had brought with it a necessity for technology. Somewhere tangible to store more things that people didn’t want others to see, a concept I wasn’t yet wholly comfortable with.

‘You’re starting to show, I see. Was it planned?’ Annie’s tone reeked of distaste.

Annie’s facetious comment hung in the air. I hadn’t expected to get pregnant during the first week of knowing Ben. I don’t think Ben had quite realised the enormity of it yet. He was going through the motions, asking the right questions. At a time when I was struggling to feel anything for the baby, I was glad Ben had yet to make any emotional connection either.