Anna looked at her mother-in-law too, aware Gayle had yet to answer her question.

‘Yes,’ Gayle said. ‘I can do that. I’d like to do that…’

Anna rose and gave her mother-in-law a hug. Gayle, rather than being stiff and cold, softened a little and patted her, just once, on the back. Anna smiled as she pulled away and gave Teresa a sneaky wink. Oh, she had no doubt it wouldn’t be plain sailing with Gayle from here on in, but she’d staked out her boundaries, quite effectively, she thought, and she was pleased about that.

Little Spencer gurgled at that moment, and instead of sitting down again, Anna went to crouch by the side of his pushchair. ‘Hello there, young man,’ she said, grabbing his foot lightly and giving it a little wiggle. The baby turned his head and gave her a beaming smile.

For a moment, Anna couldn’t do anything but stare at him. There was a cheekiness in his expression, a twinkle in his eye, that was so familiar. ‘Oh, my goodness!’ she said, turning to Teresa and Gayle. ‘He really does look like Spencer!’

Chapter Fifty-Eight

SHE WAS ALREADY waiting for him in the coffee shop when he got there. Brody walked over to her table. She looked up as he drew close. ‘Hello,’ she said.

‘Hi.’

‘Long time no see.’

He nodded.

‘What has it been? Five years?’

‘Six, I think.’

Katri motioned for him to sit opposite her. Her blonde hair was loose around her shoulders, shorter than he remembered it, but her blue eyes were as sharp and observant as they’d ever been. ‘You look well,’ she said, with her customary forthrightness.

‘Thank you.’

‘You weren’t in a very good place last time we met.’

‘No,’ he replied. ‘I wasn’t. And it only got worse…’ He went on to tell her his story: the cottage, the isolation, everything.

She let him talk, and when he’d finished, she reached out and touched his arm. ‘Oh, Brody.’ That’s what he’d loved about her once, that alongside the no-nonsense approach to life, she was warm and compassionate.

‘But I’m here,’ he said, gesturing to the café, which sat on the edge of Richmond Park and, despite the damp Wednesday morning, was half full. ‘I’ve been seeing someone – a professional. I realized I needed to let someone help me, that maybe there were some things I could do with talking about.’

Katri put her coffee cup down and gave him a Well, yeah! kind of look. He couldn’t help laughing softly. It was good to remember that it could be this way between them. The last couple of years of their marriage had been filled with tears and arguments, angry silences.

‘I’m glad you got in touch,’ she said. ‘Especially about today.’

He nodded. ‘I wanted to be here. I’ve missed too many years.’

‘Yes. I was cross with you about that, but now I’m starting to understand.’ She paused for a moment and Brody saw the tiny wobble at the corner of her lips, the slight sheen in her eyes, as she said, ‘She would have been twelve today. That hardly seems possible, does it?’