He looked confused, or perhaps concerned, but she didn’t explain. He’d hear about what had happened soon enough, one way or another. She wasn’t ready to talk about baby Will.

‘Can I watch it one more time?’ she asked, afraid that she might cry.

But she didn’t cry. Instead she listened to Freida talking about her life, here. How she had grown old and left her lighthouse, found a new friend, and allowed herself to stop struggling. Gradually, it sank in that everything might be OK.

Looking through Freida’s files later that evening, it dawned on Holly that she was grateful. Freida had left her exactly what she needed. She hadn’t told the truth about her research, all those years ago – and she bloody well should have – but by leaving, she hadn’t made things any different to what they would have been anyway. The risk was always going to be there. But, once it was acknowledged, it was a risk that people could choose to take, if they wanted to.

It was not a new form of infertility. Holly felt herself lighten, as her fear lifted further from her shoulders.

It was just a risk.

It meant, Holly thought, that Rosie and Kaz could try again.

It meant that her own life was not built around something that was broken. Just something that was imperfect.

She could live with that. She’d never wanted to be perfect, anyway. She’d just wanted to be brave.

‘I’ve made up a bed in the spare room,’ Declan said, looking from Holly to the others. ‘It’s just a single.’

‘Oh no, it’s …’

‘We’re, no, just …’

Eva and Piotr spoke over each other, then thankfully shut up.

‘That would be ideal, thank you,’ Holly said, calmly standing up. Eva looked lost, and Holly could think of only one thing to offer her. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘You can have the file, if you want. You can tell everyone the truth. All of it.’

Eva took the file from her outstretched hand.

‘But what then?’ she said. ‘People depend on the pouch. FullLife own the patent. How can we really hold them to account, when they have a monopoly?’

‘Actually,’ said Holly, pausing in the doorway, ‘they don’t own the patent. They were guaranteed exclusive rights for the first twenty years, and now they lease it from me.’

Eva stared at her.

‘I didn’t want it to get into the wrong set of hands,’ she said. ‘But maybe … perhaps just one set of hands is always going to be the wrong set.’

Declan was already pulling the coffee table out of the way. ‘You two can get a sofa each,’ he said. ‘I’ll grab some sleeping bags.’ He looked over at Holly, then back at them. ‘I’ll give you a lift to the station tomorrow,’ he said. ‘I guess you’ll be wanting to head home.’