Dismissed to the waiting room and its collection of ancient magazines with curling pages that Netta could swear had been there since her childhood, she thumbed through a few dog-eared Picture Posts, seeing the smiling faces of tired soldiers embarking on battleships, film stars supporting the war effort and Victory parades. She flipped over the pages anxiously. Nothing had changed but Mima Garvie’s opinions rankled. How dare the maid assume she’d dumped the baby on her parents? It appeared no one locally knew the truth about her absence: both a blessing and a worry. By now her heart was thumping with fear as it always did around a white coat or a ward.

‘Well now, who’s this coming to cheer my day?’ Dr James Begg breezed in as if she was a regular at his door. He took her hand in his as he ushered her into his consulting room full of cluttered instruments, files and a huge desk which he sat behind. This was the man who had put her in that place. She was in no mood for his jovial banter.

‘Well then, Jeanette, good to see you abroad at last. I was giving you a few days to settle in but you’ve beaten me to it. Haven’t they done a grand job?’ His beady grey eyes peered at her over half-moon spectacles. ‘Let’s have a look at you – thin as a lath but that’s to be expected. Peg and Angus will soon put some flesh on your bones – then you can look to the future. Nice to have you back in the land of the living. Park Royal may be a palace but it’s a bit of a barn. The best in south Scotland for your sort of thing, though. Did the trick. Got you sorted as I knew it would. How’s your memory, still a bit fuddled I expect. Early days… early days.’

‘Why? Dr Begg, why did you let them take my baby? Why has this happened to me?’ His dismissive small talk was pushed aside by her pleas.

‘If I knew that, my dear, I’d be a rich man. Just one of those things, a one in a thousand chance and you were the unlucky one. Not your fault, my girl. Have to put it behind you now. No more worries, no crying over spilt milk, Jeanette.’

No worries indeed! she was sick to the stomach with all the developments going on behind her back. Surely he would understand that?’

‘They won’t let me have my baby! Dr Begg, please help me. I find my baby is called Gus not Ray, and I’m not allowed to go near him without Peg watching over me in case I drop him. Father accuses and doesn’t look me in the eye. What’s going on?’ she pleaded.