Madeline’s van is parked in the drive, but there’s no sign of her. I assume she must have gone in already. I walk up the path and pull on the ornate metal doorbell. As it chimes, I try to get my head straight and think about what I’m going to say. But my brain is mush. I’ll just have to wing it.

After waiting for thirty seconds or so, I tug on the bell once more. The chime sounds again. Perhaps she’s upstairs, or in the loo. I wait for two further minutes and ring again, trying to peer through the semi-opaque front door. But I can’t see any movement in the hallway beyond. I knock on the glass and ring one more time before turning around and heading back to my car. I wonder if she’s in there, hiding from me.

My first instinct is to call Toby and tell him how she blanked me. But knowing how the two of them met behind my back, I’m reluctant to talk to him about her. I get the feeling he’ll stick up for her no matter what I say. And then something else occurs to me. What if Toby didn’t ask Nick about her like he said he did? What if Toby already knew why Madeline is acting strangely around me? The memory of their parting kiss flashes into my mind, even though I was too far away to be absolutely sure that it wasn’t anything more than a peck on the cheek. But here I am, speculating again. I need to stop this.

As I slide into my car, I suddenly know what I need to do to get some perspective on this. I need to speak to Celia. I was hesitant before because I didn’t want to put her in the middle of anything. I didn’t think it was fair. But now I feel as if I have no choice. Not if I don’t want to drive myself mad. And I trust Celia to be fair-minded. She loves her son, but she also loves me and the kids. And she won’t want anything to break us apart. Above all else, she’s family oriented.

I remember Malcolm telling me about an incident back when Toby and Nick were children. Toby’s teacher had told him to stop crying in class, that he was acting like a baby. But when he got home from school, it turned out that Toby wasn’t being overdramatic at all; he was suffering with appendicitis and in terrible pain. Well, Celia marched into the school the next day and gave Toby’s teacher an absolute earful about it, reducing the poor woman to tears. Celia is the same with Alice and Jamie – won’t hear a word said against them. I love her for that fierce protectiveness. Her family really are the centre of her universe.