‘See this whitish bit?’ Brooke pointed out a pale spot at the centre of the pink curl of the baby’s top lip. ‘Is that bad?’

‘Ah. That’s a milk blister from sucking. It’s normal, nothing to worry about.’

‘But it can’t be from sucking. I only just started doing proper breastfeeding and that blister thing was there as soon as she was born.’

Paula had heard that same breathy edge of anxiety in many new mothers she’d cared for over the years. She smiled at Brooke in the warmly reassuring way she had smiled at other mothers. ‘It’s really nothing to worry about. It’ll go away naturally. Some babies are born with that little blister because they’ve been sucking their thumbs inside the womb.’

‘Really? Ha! That’s what you were up to in there, little baby.’

Brooke and Paula looked down at the newborn then looked up to grin at each other with the gormless delight of people disarmed by the impossible loveliness of an infant.

By now the baby was fully awake, twisting her head, mouth open, searching for a breast, making surprisingly loud yowling sounds. Brooke jerked with fright.

‘Ooh, she wants milk,’ she said, lunging towards the baby, flustered. ‘This is all so hard. Don’t even know how to—oh, shit …’

‘You can take your time,’ Paula suggested. ‘Would you rather sit in the chair to feed her?’

‘Yeah, might be easier on my tummy.’

‘Okay. You make yourself comfortable and I’ll bring her to you.’

Brooke sat on the upholstered chair and took a pillow off the bed to cushion her caesarean incision. Once Brooke had undone the top buttons on her nightgown and unclipped her maternity bra, Paula calmly handed her the wailing baby.

She was ready to help the young woman get the baby properly attached to the breast. It had always intrigued Paula that something as essential to human survival as breastfeeding was often so difficult. The difficulty seemed like a biological design flaw.

In fact, it turned out Brooke was managing fine on her own.

‘Wow, you’re good at that,’ said Paula. ‘A lot of people have trouble but you’re doing so well.’

Brooke looked up, her eyes welling with tears. ‘Really? I’ve been worried this poor kid got a shit deal having me for a mum.’

‘What? No way. She’s lucky to have you as her mum. You’re going to be great.’

‘Thank you for saying that.’ Brooke sniffed back tears and tucked her head down.

Paula listened to the little sucking noises the baby was making. She recalled visiting Stacey when Cameron was born, watching her feed him, and being astounded by the happily animal nature of the process. Then Paula checked herself—she mustn’t let memories of Stacey leak across and distort her perception of the person in front of her now.