Olivia spent a few minutes with her on the train, admiring the luxurious cabin, the tiny bathroom, the comfortable bed and crisp linen. She only admitted then that Celine hadn’t taken the news of Eliza’s London trip well.

‘Put it this way. She said she hopes you choke on the London smog. She also didn’t like it when I reminded her that London hadn’t had serious smog for decades.’

A whistle blew. Olivia waited on the platform until the train left.

Minutes later, she was getting into her car again when her phone rang. It was Maxie.

‘Liv, I’ve just remembered something! The postcards are still in the study. What if Eliza finds them?’

‘Of course she’ll find them, Maxie. She’s doing your packing. But it doesn’t matter, does it? Don’t we want her to read them?’

‘Yes, but not yet. I didn’t get the chance to go through them all first.’

‘Maxie, we can’t know if anything on them is true anyway. And Eliza grew up with Jeannie, remember. She knows more about her habit of exaggeration than anyone.’

‘But these aren’t only tall tales about possible fathers. Would you want Alex or Rory knowing what you got up to in your twenties?’

Olivia’s answer was instant. ‘Not in a million years.’

‘Should we at least warn her they’re there? I think we should. Though I’m not sure I can do it. I think I’d only get upset.’

Olivia bit her tongue. Maxie managed to get out of doing a lot of things for fear of getting upset.

‘I’ll phone her tomorrow,’ she said.

*

Eliza’s train arrived on time into Euston Station. There was a touch of mist outside but already the promise of a bright spring day.

She’d been to London once before on holiday with Olivia. They’d had ten days of tourist sights – Madame Tussauds, a London bus tour, a West End musical. Even a trip on the muddy Thames. As she stepped out of the station, it felt exotic and familiar at once.

Maxie had given her directions, instructions and an envelope of money. ‘Take cabs if you want, darling,’ she’d insisted. ‘Hang the expense.’ Eliza had liked hearing that phrase from her too.

She decided to take the Tube. She’d mapped out her route. Hazel and Maxie’s flat was near Hyde Park, off Park Lane. Such a wonderful location, Maxie had told her. Hazel walked to work most nights. Maxie had run around Hyde Park most mornings. Some mornings. ‘Well, once,’ she said.

Eliza emerged at Green Park Station. Rather than use Google Maps, she followed Maxie’s written directions. Walk along Piccadilly, then up Down Street. Follow the roads around to Shepherd Street. It was a quiet pocket of shops and restaurants, a cobbled street, half sun-lit, half in shade on this spring morning.