‘Yes, just quickly for me, and come straight back.’

I nip down the corridor to the ladies loo and hurry back with the sample, nervous about what she might be checking for. Dr Philips takes the pot from me, unscrews the lid, and dips a stick into it.

‘Have a seat,’ she says, gesturing to the chair. I sit down as she walks back over towards me, frowning at the little stick. Finally she looks back up at me, her eyes wide. ‘Well, it seems like double congratulations are in order.’

My stomach gives a little somersault as understanding sets in. ‘You mean…?’

‘Yes. You, my dear, are pregnant.’

I exhale. ‘I wasn’t expecting that. Not at all.’ In fact it was the absolute last thing I was expecting. I thought she might say ‘concussion’ or ‘brain tumour’ or something equally scary. But this… this is scary in a different way.

Dr Philips smiles. ‘We can work out how many months you are. Oh, and you’ll have to stop taking that pain medication. We’ll do a blood test while you’re here too.’

I blink several times and try to work out how I feel about the news. At least it explains the reason for my exhaustion and also why I fainted on my wedding day. ‘So… this is why I’ve been feeling so strange.’

‘It would seem so. But let me know if that headache doesn’t go away within the next couple of weeks. And make sure you drink lots of water.’

Dr Philips asks a few more questions and carries out a couple more tests, determining that I’m almost two months’ pregnant. I’m in quite a daze as I leave the surgery. I wonder how Toby’s going to feel about becoming a father. He’s always said he wants a family, but we were going to wait at least a couple of years before trying. He and Nick work with their dad in the family landscape gardening company and they’re busy expanding it at the moment, trying to make it more profitable. It used to be just Malcolm on his own doing driveways and gardens, but Celia suggested that their boys should get involved and make it more of a family business. I’m not sure either of them were that keen to start with, but now they both love it and Toby says it’s got potential to be really successful.

Toby has also started campaigning to become a local councillor. Starting a family could help with that dream. At least I’m hoping he’ll see it that way.