‘Look. I just agreed with what you said.’ Kathryn’s voice was suddenly loud, and she put her hand up to her throat as she spoke. She looked over at me. ‘That’s all I did.’

‘Coconut cake is meant to be a bit dry, surely – ’

‘It’s all right, Howard,’ said Mum. ‘You don’t have to try to make it better. Kathryn’s quite right. The cake was dry. I don’t know how anyone could eat it.’

The three of us were silent for a moment. The cuckoo clock kept ticking. Then Mum leant over Kathryn and for a minute I thought she was going to grab her by the neck, but she just placed the plate of Gingernuts in her lap and said, ‘Have a biscuit, dear.’ She looked into my wife’s face. ‘Go on.’

Kathryn took a biscuit and began to chew as Mum watched.

‘The cake’s wonderful. Really,’ I said. ‘Wonderful.’

Mum straightened up. ‘I think I’ll put it in the bin.’

She snatched the cake from the table and marched out again.

Kathryn and I sat in silence, listening as Mum scraped the cake into the bin, the knife screaming on the china.

After a moment, I spoke. ‘Get your coat on. I’ll meet you outside.’

By the time I’d left Mum’s, Kathryn was halfway down the road. She walked with her head on one side and a little swing in her hips. She walked like she wasn’t in any hurry, one foot stepping deliberately in front of the other, her arms swaying a little, her hair swaying a little.

Even then, I wanted to touch her.

Behind branches just coming into bud, the sun was low in the sky. As I followed Kathryn out of the gate and along Totleigh Way, the sun hit me full in the face. I stood still for a minute, blinded by the bright orange light, and I felt my hands and feet go warm. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply.

Kathryn could wait. Mum could wait.

‘I’m expecting a baby.’

I opened my eyes and squinted against the sun. She must have stopped and walked back towards me, because she was facing me now.

‘Howard. A baby.’

Her coat was unbuttoned and I could see the whiteness of her throat.

I stepped forward and slipped my hands inside the rough wool of her coat and pulled her towards me. There was a slight smell of bacon fat on her collar; it mingled with the sweet hairspray scent of her hair. I held her closer. We stood in silence. It was so warm there in the sunlight that her forehead was slightly moist when I kissed it.

I looked around me. There was nothing but that strange orange light.

Kathryn put her arms around my shoulders and rested her head on my chest. Her hair tickled my neck as she spoke. ‘Are you pleased?’

I wanted to shout out in the street, to run back to Mum’s and tell her, to pick my wife up and carry her home, but all I could do was say yes, yes. Yes.