He started to speak but she lifted a hand to stay him. ‘Look, Doug, you’ve had your chance to talk. Now it’s time you hear me.’

He nodded, leaning back in the chair, his eyes fixed on her.

’Damage is the right word,’ she said. ‘You need to acknowledge that you have damaged me and cut me to the quick. But not only me. You need to accept responsibility for what your daughter saw that afternoon. Jasmine believes that my tears and my sadness are her fault. She’s blaming herself for causing us to go to the estate that afternoon. I don’t think she understood what was happening but she knew there was something wrong. I’ve tried to hide my feelings from her but she senses when things aren’t right. Her confidence and security have been shattered so you and I have to make things right for her.’ She placed one hand over the other, covering the pearl ring on her finger.

Douglas was frowning, his mouth drawn into a tight line. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands.

Resisting the urge to comfort him, Evie went on. ‘Her best friend Penny is the Camerons’ daughter so she knows what having warring parents means. That’s the reason why I’m agreeing to take you back and to do what I can to repair our marriage.’

Doug moved off the chair and came to sit beside her, reaching for her hands. ‘I’ve made a hash of things, Evie. I wish I could wind the clock back, but I promise you, it will be different from now on. You won’t regret it.’

She drew her hands away from him. It would be all too easy to let things ride but it was important she seized the moment and didn’t completely capitulate. ‘If you think I will fall gratefully into your arms and forget everything that’s happened, you’re wrong. Yes, I want to forget. I want to be a wife to you again. I want us to be a family. But you have come so close to destroying everything and I’m going to need time for the wounds to heal. If I’m to forget the past we have to start to create a future, and I need you to help make that happen.’

‘I promise you, Evie. I’ll do whatever it takes.’

He reached for her hands again. She was about to move them away but she remembered the words of the monk and this time let him take them.

‘I’ve moved your things out of the small bedroom. We’ll need that for the baby once it’s old enough to sleep in there. Your things are in the room next door.’

His face lit up.

‘I won’t be.’

His face fell.

‘Aunty Mimi has cleared out the main bedroom and I’ve moved into it. The cradle can go in there with me for the baby’s first few months. Until it’s old enough to sleep in a cot in its own room.’