The Happy Birth Day sign was peeled down from the wall. The toys she placed in the cot – there had been colourful toys all around the room – because Rosie might want to keep some of them. But the decorations, the gold and silver and purple ribbons, she collected up so that the pain of removing them would be hers and no one else’s.

She wished Rosie and Kaz would talk to each other. It was strange, particularly for her, that she took comfort in knowing that her child had a partner – the sense of peace she’d felt during their wedding had taken her completely by surprise. Daphne herself had never wanted a partner, and certainly never believed that anybody needed one. She’d always felt like she was most complete, living as the best possible version of herself, when she was single. She’d tried a few people out, of course, boys and girls while she was at school, men and women during her twenties, but she’d always felt relief when the relationships ended, as though she could return to being herself again. So when she decided she wanted to have a child, she did that on her own, as well. Though she had her family. Her mum drove her mad, but her gratitude ran deep.

It had always surprised her that FullLife focused so much on traditional families in their publicity. Given that they wanted the support of the majority of the population, though, it made a certain kind of sense to advertise the pouch as the way to create an ideal version of the existing family unit. It was how they got mainstream popular opinion behind them so fast: the pouch gave women equality and allowed men to experience complete parenthood. It fitted with society’s image of happiness, of success. Even now, many parents were still heterosexual couples and lots of conceptions happened naturally – by choice – people opting for the embryo to be implanted in the pouch a few days later. But the real value was what the pouch offered to the non-traditional family. Single women and men empowered to become parents. Gay couples able to carry their own child. Trans people. Older couples. Women with health difficulties. People who wanted to live in groups. The possibilities for moving society away from its narrow view of family were beautiful. Though, apparently, it was going to take more than fifty years. Whether through biological or sociological change, human progress wasn’t linear; there would inevitably be problems along the way.