‘Sally,’ he starts. I nod, holding my breath, my past, my future, huddling them all into a safe place in the corner of my mind before he destroys them. ‘I don’t know how to say this.’

I pull my hand from his grip. ‘Just say it, Tom.’

‘Before I say anything, I need you to know that I’ve only just found out about this myself.’

Here we go, exonerating himself before he even tells me what’s going on.

‘I hate having to tell you like this… but…’ Tom stands up and walks over to the wall, leaning with one hand against it, the other on his face. The fucker has got another child.

That’s what he’s unable to say. I know it.

‘Sally, there is another child, a boy, Kenny…’ I let the pain sting me. Ouch. Sitting silent on the sofa my insides somersault and blood rushes to my head. My body feels weak, my mind, not so much. Part of me wants to jump up out of this chair and hit him, scream at him, shove him out the front door. Tell him never to come back, that it’s over, I hate him. Another part of me wants to cry. I do neither.

Tom continues. ‘He contacted me two months ago… I promise you, I knew nothing up to that moment.’

Two months ago! I thought he was going to say last week. He’s been lying to me for two months! Kissing me, making love to me, though I think that might have just been the once. Our sex life has taken a battering since the boys arrived. I shake my head in despair as tears start to fall down my cheeks.

Tom moves away from the wall, slowly turning to look at me. Feeling braver, now that he’s told me and I haven’t hit him over the head with the nearest suitable object. I quickly brush my tears away, unsure if they are tears of hurt or anger. I don’t speak, I want to hear his whole lame story about why he kept it from me. Why he didn’t admit it when I questioned him on Saturday? Why did he hide it from me then? Why did he have to lie?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, what would happen to us, how I would react, since the possibility was put in my head. Since seeing the photograph. And now, here I am trying my best to stay calm on the outside while I’m burning on the inside. Say nothing Sal, wait until he tells you everything.

His voice becomes less wimpy. ‘I had to wait for the DNA results. I didn’t want to upset you if it wasn’t true.’

‘What fucking DNA results?’ I hear myself scream at him.