The pub went on sale almost immediately, valued higher now that they had the Bib Gourmand. Uncle David had said any pound over what they thought they’d get could go to Penny, for everything she had done – but she said she wouldn’t hold him to that. Uncle David and Eric temporarily moved up to The Red Panda to get affairs in order, with Penny splitting shifts with David so that he didn’t work full time. They closed Sunday night through to Wednesday morning, and then he took daytimes, and she took evening dinners. After Sunday service she’d headed down to London to check on the café and start to organize herself for what came next, scheduling in appointments at the clinic for then, too.

Clementine came with her and had check after check to ensure her womb would be a hospitable home for Penny’s embryos, and it was startling, really, how in sync her life felt. Clementine was allowed to take a six-month-long paid sabbatical from her job after Stella heard what she was doing and supported the idea completely. Clementine would act as a consultant and take maternity leave at full pay for two months and half pay after that if she needed it. Penny had spent so long fighting against herself, and her circumstance, that the simple-ness of the next few months could almost have been a trap – except she didn’t stop long enough to think about it. Her mantra was: I accept all the good that comes to me in life. It was woo-woo, but she was determined that every choice she made and every step in the direction of her new life she took, she would embody this.

What if it is supposed to be easy? she dared ask herself.

Clementine had to call the clinic on the first day of her period so that she could go in for a scan to check her womb lining. Then she got checked every few days, and on the twelfth day the doctor said it was time.

On the day of the first embryo transfer, Penny had resigned herself to it not working first try. She didn’t want to get her hopes up, or stake everything all at once. If life was going to be easy, that meant understanding that the plan would unfold as it needed to, and gripping on any harder wasn’t going to alter its course.

‘Well, this is all quite no-nonsense,’ the doctor had explained. ‘Because your eggs have already been fertilized it’s a case of simple transference. It’s a bit like a smear test, really: no anaesthetic, you’ll be awake, and after five minutes you can get up.’

‘And what about after?’ Clementine had asked. ‘If I stand or go for a wee …?’

The doctor smiled. ‘You mean, will the embryo fall out if you do those things?’

Penny burst out laughing.