Over the years, Rose had regularly met Eliza’s godmothers. They got on very well. In recent years, though, a slight tension had entered Eliza and Rose’s relationship in regard to them. Rose still couldn’t understand why Eliza wouldn’t ask Olivia and Maxie about her father.

Eliza had finally told Rose the little she knew. About the promise her mother had made to tell her the truth on her eighteenth birthday. She’d shared some of the stories Jeannie had made up about him over the years, thinking Rose might enjoy them. Rose hadn’t seemed to find them funny.

She kept raising the subject. ‘Aren’t you even a bit curious about him, Eliza? Wouldn’t you like to know who he is?’

Of course she was curious, Eliza said. Of course she wondered about him. But it had never been straightforward. Her father’s identity had always felt like a special secret between her and Jeannie. A special bond. A birthday promise, unfulfilled for the saddest of reasons. If she hadn’t been able to hear it from her mother, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it at all.

In any case, she said to Rose, her godmothers might not even know his name. Jeannie had always said she’d tell Eliza first, then Olivia and Maxie.

Rose had persisted. ‘But they must know something, Eliza. They were best friends. If I got pregnant again, you’d be the first to know. Your mother might have mentioned his name to them even in passing. Perhaps if the three of you sat down together and swapped all the little things she ever said about him, joking or not, you’d figure it out.’

But that hadn’t been possible. For work and family reasons, Olivia and Maxie had only visited Australia separately over the past thirteen years. Eliza told Rose she couldn’t ask them to come to see her together. She wasn’t the only one avoiding the subject, either. Olivia and Maxie had never raised it with her, had they?

‘Maybe they’ve been waiting for you to ask first,’ Rose said. ‘Or waiting for the right time. Perhaps he’s even out there waiting for you to find him. He might have known your mother was going to tell you on your eighteenth birthday. He might not have heard the news about Jeannie. He might be wanting to meet you himself.’

‘Why didn’t he ever come looking for me, then?’ she asked.

‘Maybe your mum asked him to stay away. Or he was with someone else then, or even now, and she’s jealous of his past. There could be hundreds of reasons.’

Rose had apologised eventually. ‘I’m sorry if it feels like I’m nagging. You know I only ever want what’s best for you. So do your godmothers. Because we love you.’

Standing at the window now, Eliza thought back to all those conversations with Rose. She thought about her godmothers too. She pictured Olivia meeting her at Edinburgh Airport in a fortnight. She imagined Maxie’s surprise when she appeared at Gretna Green moments before her wedding. She pictured the three of them in one place again.