Please send constant details. So proud of you. Xxxx

Eliza sent back her love and a row of kisses too. Her phone beeped again. A Scrabble notification from Navillus, saying it was her turn to play. She hadn’t expected to hear from him so quickly. She chose her letters and pressed send. Moments later, it pinged again with a message.

Hello Fearless Flyer! I hope you’re settling in well? All good with me and the Scottish wing of my family. I hope you’ll keep in touch. Navillus ☺

She typed back. All good here too, Navillus. Hope your jetlag isn’t too bad. FF

I’m eating a banana. The potassium helps reset my internal body clock. Your turn to play a word!

After playing her letters, she fixed her hair into a long plait again. She hadn’t worn it in a bun since she’d left Gillian’s office. As she got dressed, the jetlag made her movements clumsy. The idea of running into Alex again soon had also become real.

Rose had coaxed the entire story out of her again before she left. ‘Please. It will be therapeutic for you.’

‘It won’t be. It will only be mortifying,’ she said, before giving in.

She’d met Alex on her first day in Edinburgh. She was sixteen. He was nineteen. It was like being struck by hormonal lightning, she told Rose.

She’d had crushes before, kisses at school dances too, but nothing serious. She’d been shy about such things. Her mother had sat her down some weeks earlier and asked if she wanted to go on the Pill. Eliza was so embarrassed she’d pulled her jumper over her head. Jeannie laughed and hugged her. ‘Not yet, then. But let me know when and if you do.’

Eliza peeked over the jumper. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be warning me against premarital sex?’

‘I’m being responsible. I also don’t want you to miss out on any fun. Sex can be a glorious thing. Don’t be frightened of it. Choose your partners wisely and well. Always use contraception. Mind you, I’d love you to have an unplanned pregnancy. I’d make a wonderfully groovy granny, don’t you think?’

‘Mum!’

‘I’m serious. You mightn’t realise it yet, but you’re officially a seething storm of hormones. A sudden urge to lose your virginity might leap out unexpectedly. Let me know if you start to feel any lustful stirrings and I’ll whisk you off to get the Pill quicker than you can say, “Wear a condom, please, sir.”’

‘Stop it!’

Her mother just laughed, of course. She loved shocking Eliza.

Alex had been lying stretched out on the sofa in the Montgomery’s family apartment. When Olivia introduced her, he leapt up, tall, graceful, his hand held out. ‘So she is real, this mysterious goddaughter! I’m Alexander. And I’m so pleased to meet you.’