‘Well?’ he repeated.

Kitty gulped, then taking a deep breath she blurted out, ‘I had to see you, Richard. You see, I’m going to have a baby – your baby!’

She watched the horrified expression on his face and felt like crying. It wasn’t the reaction she had hoped for, but then she had been shocked too. He just needed time to come to terms with it, that was only natural.

He began to pace up and down, then stopping abruptly he barked, ‘Are you sure? And how do you know it’s mine?’

‘Of course it’s yours,’ she said. ‘For the last few months I have only been entertaining your two most elderly friends and they … Well, let’s just say that neither of them are capable – if you know what I mean.’

‘And what are you going to do about it?’

She stared at him aghast. He looked so cold and aloof. ‘Wh-what do you mean?’

‘I mean there are people you can go to. Women who will get rid of it for you.’ All the while he was speaking he was glancing nervously towards the door but Kitty was so distraught that she barely noticed.

‘But I don’t want to get rid of it.’ She was crying now. ‘It’s our baby! I want us to get married and to be a family.’

‘And what about the photos, if the men turn ugly and decide that they will sell them to the newspapers?’

Her chin rose. ‘Then let them. We’ll go and live somewhere far away where nobody knows us. I’m tired of being used and I want to lead a normal life now.’

Seeing how distressed she was becoming he ran a hand distractedly through his hair as he commenced his pacing again. Then suddenly he stopped in front of her and, taking her hands in his, he smiled – the smile that could still turn her to putty in his hands.

‘Of course, you are quite right, my darling,’ he said. ‘Let them do their worst and we will be married. How does a month from now sound to you? That should give me time to arrange everything. But can we have a quiet wedding, perhaps at the registry office? I don’t think the circumstances warrant a grand affair, do you? If you’re happy to leave everything to me, I shall go ahead and make all the arrangements. You just find yourself a pretty white outfit.’

Suddenly her face was radiant. She would have married him in a shed had he asked her to because finally all her dreams were coming true. They would be wed and live happily ever after just like in the fairy stories Sunday had used to read to her.

He gently led her back towards the door. ‘And now, darling, I really must go and get ready for the client who is due shortly.’

Once he had hurried her out of the door, she felt as if she was floating on a cloud. She hastened back home to tell Maggie the good news, although she wasn’t looking forward to telling Ruby. Still, it couldn’t be helped and her mother would just have to accept the situation, Kitty decided.