Nell ignored this attempt to show off and concentrated on tickling Naomi’s tummy, while Willow appeared not to have even heard.

‘So where is your friend Penny today?’ Marigold asked Nell. ‘Not out with the sexy mayor, I hope?’

‘I have no idea,’ responded Nell, ignoring the spiteful tone that was creeping into Marigold’s voice. ‘Probably painting furniture or doing something helpful. She usually is.’

‘She’s hardly that much of a saint. I saw the look they exchanged, as if they wanted each other on toast. Why is that husband of hers letting her stay on here anyway? Colin, isn’t it? Nice man.’

‘You only met him for five minutes in Harrods, Marigold,’ Willow reminded her.

‘I’m an exceptionally good judge of character,’ her mother-in-law insisted.

‘When did you meet them?’ Nell asked her daughter. ‘You didn’t mention it.’

‘I still had baby fog. Penny remembered me, actually. I was looking for the ladies’ and she pointed it out.’

Nell grinned. ‘That sounds like Penny. She’d always know where the ladies’ was even if you were on Jupiter.’

‘I still don’t know what he’s thinking, letting her gallivant off to a Greek island,’ Marigold commented bitchily.

‘Marigold, for goodness’ sake,’ Nell tried to keep her temper for Willow’s sake, ‘we are in the twenty-first century. Why did Ted let you come?’

‘That’s quite different.’

‘Because you’ve got him firmly under your thumb, that’s why,’ Willow commented jokily, not looking up from her book.

Marigold cast a venomous glance at Nell. Her biddable daughter-in-law was behaving quite differently in her presence. Almost rude.

‘I just wonder if he has any idea what’s going on out here and whether someone ought to have the courtesy to let him know, that’s all.’

‘Marigold!’ Willow snapped her book shut this time, making her mother-in-law jump. ‘For goodness’ sake! This has nothing to do with you. You don’t even know them.’

‘I don’t think that’s the point. If Ted were teetering on the edge of infidelity I would want someone to tell me, I can assure you.’ Willow fought back the image of chubby, submissive Ted on a precipice of temptation and decided it would be a jolly good idea if he fell in.

‘Anyway,’ Marigold continued, with a smile so deliberately fake it would have scared the fishes under the deck, ‘why don’t we all go out to dinner tonight? I’m not one for staying in –’ she couldn’t resist getting a dig in as well – ‘and there’s nowhere to shop for supper nearby anyway. And I’d like to meet your other friends. You could invite the mayor along too,’ she added innocently.

‘What about Naomi?’ Nell asked Willow.