Esther fell silent, feeling faintly snubbed rather than comforted. Shona had excused herself to find the Ladies and without her – as always – it seemed to Esther that she and Carole were struggling. That Shona should have brought Carole along after all, without warning, had done nothing to ease her already heightened state of anxiety. To not know all over again where Dylan really was – how he was – had capsized her fragile equilibrium. On all sides, everything she had been managing – from seeing off Chris Mews to coping with Viv’s banishment – felt unmanageable. By the time she’d staggered into the hotel tea lounge, having run all the way from the station because she was late, the chance of the date with Shona had felt like a godsend. Someone to pour her heart out to. Someone who cut to the chase, and picked out what mattered. Spotting Carole, sitting in her stiff way alongside Shona at a corner table, Esther had been tempted to turn and run. She could have claimed transport delays. It would have been easy. But then Shona had seen her and stood up to wave, revealing in the process the smart black panels of what was clearly a maternity dress.

‘Cooeee,’ she cried, getting up and weaving her way, with difficulty, through the tea tables, to greet Esther properly. ‘Sorry, I wanted to surprise you on my own,’ she murmured as they hugged, ‘but I had a dizzy turn, and Carole put her foot down. Problems with blood pressure – it’s been dodgy – which is why we haven’t breathed a word. Just in case… you know.’

‘But this is tremendous… both of you… how exciting…’ Esther managed, operating mostly on autopilot as they arrived at the table, where Carole offered up her cheek in the cool way that never failed to feel disdaining.

‘We are thrilled,’ Carole declared, helping Shona settle into her chair, and then shaking out one of the table napkins for her onto her lap. ‘But there is a way to go yet, and we cannot be too careful.’

‘I’m only six months,’ Shona explained, casting a helpless look down at her swollen stomach, ‘and like I said, there have been a few swerves in the road.’

‘Perhaps best not to go into those now,’ Carole interjected smoothly. ‘We want to hear all about Amsterdam,’ she said as a waiter arrived with a trolley of tea things, including two multi-tiered silver servers, laden with cakes and sandwiches, which he transferred to the table. ‘As you were late, we had already ordered,’ she said, lifting the teapot lid and giving the contents a vigorous stir.

‘We hoped you wouldn’t mind,’ Shona chipped in.