In England, once the sensation was over, interest in the Twin Towers waned. In a country used to terrorist bombings over the years and having been through the Second World War, this was only one in a long line of tragedies, soon supplanted by something new. After a few days, nobody even mentioned it at work. Caroline couldn’t put it out of her mind. Teddy in the same city where planes had crashed into buildings. How was she to know that the same thing wouldn’t happen again? She tried calling daily, getting through only every now and then.

Josh seemed reluctant to let her speak to Teddy. “He’ll hear how upset you are, Cara. He’s doing okay. Let him process this in his own good time.”

She had to wait patiently to see when flights would resume. They’d all be overbooked, of course. All those people trapped in New York, waiting to get out. Finally she made contact again with Josh. “When do you think you can fly? Teddy’s missing school.”

“I was going to call you,” Josh said. He sounded a little hesitant. “Teddy’s been having nightmares. We took him to Desiree’s shrink. He says the child has a real terror of planes right now and shouldn’t fly for a while. So we’ll find a school for him here.”

“No!” Caroline surprised herself with the force of her word. “No. If he’s having nightmares and he’s terrified, he needs to be with his mother. No wonder he’s upset, being amongst strange people after a tragedy like that. I want him home with me, Josh. I’ll come and get him if necessary.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said, Caroline?” His voice was surprisingly calm. “The doctor says he should not fly for a while. It could do him severe psychological damage. And we’re not strange people. We are his new family. He already thinks of Autumn as his sister. They share a room. They are very close. And he’s got me. I’m his dad. I’m going to do what’s best for him, and that means staying here at the moment.”

At that moment, Caroline felt her stomach drop. She realized Josh was going to keep stalling. Perhaps he was never going to return Teddy. If she wanted her son, she was going to have to fight for him. She was going to have to get a lawyer.

She went through the motions of work, eat and sleep. Someone at work recommended a family solicitor. She met with him, and he told her it was reasonable that the child shouldn’t fly at the moment. If her husband decided to apply for sole custody, that would be the time to do something legally. Since he hadn’t made any such threat, all she could do was wait and see. She came out a hundred pounds poorer for the consultation and very angry. As she lay alone in her bed at night, staring at water stains on the ceiling, she fantasized about flying to New York, grabbing Teddy and rushing home with him. But then she’d be the bad one, the irresponsible one, and Josh would have a perfect reason to demand sole custody of his son.