‘We can’t know they never intended on coming and I’m sure they have their reasons,’ Mum said.

‘But Mum, Adam is so upset. I don’t know how to make it better for him.’ I felt bereft. My inadequate sorrys and, ‘I’m your family now,’ just hadn’t seemed enough.

‘You can’t always make it better for him. Nell, are you okay if I take Anna upstairs and show her something?’

‘Yes.’

‘Forget the crown, Nell,’ I said miserably. It didn’t seem important anymore.

‘Absolutely not.’ Nell was on a mission now. ‘I’m not going to be beaten. Look, if I just tape the roses to the halo and twist in strands of jasmine, and entwine cream ribbon through it all, it’ll be done. It should be easy. Fuck.’ A thorn tore through her skin, and she sucked her index finger.

‘You’re going to bleed all over your dress. Honestly—’

‘Anna.’ Nell’s eyes met mine. ‘I’ve got this.’ She plucked another dusty pink flower from the diminishing pile. ‘Right, you little bastard. If you don’t behave, I’ll chop your head off. I’ve secateurs here. Don’t think that I won’t.’

I knew she’d pull it off.

Upstairs, I sat on Mum’s bed while she lifted something out of the bottom of her jewellery box. She pressed it into my hand.

‘A coin?’ I didn’t understand.

‘Not just any coin, but the coin Grandad Harry fed into the jukebox to play Elvis the day he met Nan.’

‘Really?’ I turned it over in my hand, feeling all of the history contained in its cold, hard metal.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Grandad said he asked the owner to fish it out so he could keep it as a reminder of the minute he fell in love. Whether that is the actual coin or not we’ll never know, but the point is what it symbolizes.’

I still wasn’t quite getting it.

‘I’ve never told you this, Anna, but Nan’s parents disowned her.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she fell pregnant with me before she was married.’

Instinctively I placed my hand over my stomach, remembering the time I had convinced myself that I was pregnant a few months ago.