Adam passes me a packet of wipes and I ease Harry’s legs out of his sleepsuit. The second I remove the nappy, an arc of urine sprays me.

‘Still glad you volunteered?’ Adam says. But I am.

‘You change the sheets and I’ll give us both a quick bath. We’re soaked.’

In the bathroom I run warm water into the tub and squirt in Johnson’s Baby Bath. I ease Harry’s arms out of his sleepsuit. Wide awake now, he watches me with deep blue eyes, Adam’s eyes. I lay him on the bathmat, where he kicks his arms and legs and makes raspberry sounds while I strip off my own pyjamas. My body has changed and not for the better; purples veins criss-cross over my breasts. Red stretch marks streak my stomach. But I don’t care. I’ve grown a human. Right now, I feel like the cleverest person in the world.

‘Let’s get you clean.’ Harry doesn’t protest as I slide him into the water with me. It’s when I’m sponging his arms that I see it. The birth mark shaped like a map, almost an exact match of Adam’s. I trace it with my finger.

‘He’s destined to travel.’ Adam leans against the doorframe.

‘Maybe,’ I grin. ‘But doesn’t it feel good to be at home?’

I wake.

My eyes snap open. I’m terrified I am back in the Institute in Alircia, but I’m still in my bedroom. Adam snoring next to me. Harry cooing in his Moses basket, awake but content. A whole night. Perhaps this is it. Perhaps I am staying here for good. The thought warms me. I pad across our landing past the bookcase, which has now been built and is filled with paperbacks. A photo of Adam and me framed in silver on the top shelf. Smiling, I head downstairs and lift a frying pan from the cupboard. Bacon and eggs. On the fridge is a to-do list, the first few items crossed off, including the leaky tap. When breakfast is nearly ready, I gently shake Adam awake.

‘What have I done to deserve this?’ he asks as I set a full English in front of him. ‘You’ve just had a baby. I’m supposed to be looking after you.’

‘We can look after each other. We’re a team.’ Finally, we feel like it.

We eat in bed, our baby nestled between us. Afterwards, I lie on my side and feed Harry.

‘This… Harry,’ Adam says. ‘Us… It’s just…’ His eyes fill with tears.

‘I know.’ I smile at my husband, knowing he is feeling exactly the same things that I am. Loved. Wanted. Happy. All of the things we had thought that we weren’t.