‘Hm, well I should be careful if you do that. The weather’s suddenly taken a change for the worse and it’s raining cats and dogs out there. You wouldn’t want them catching cold. It might be best to keep them in the warm until they’re a bit bigger.’ He sounded for all the world like a protective father and just for a moment Kathy couldn’t stop herself from thinking what might have been had it not been for Ben. But still she clung to the hope that Ben would come back, and while that hope remained, there could never be another man in her life.

Meanwhile, David was shocked at the emotions that were pulsing through him. He had expected to feel resentful towards the babies. After all, the way he saw it, they were the reason she had ended their relationship. He’d also had to put up with a lot of gossip after Kathy left the hospital and finished with him. Half of the staff were convinced that the babies were his, he was sure of it. And yet he felt a surge of something he couldn’t describe as he gazed down at them. They looked so innocent that he just wanted to lift them into his arms so he could keep them safe. But he wouldn’t, of course. He wondered again who their father might be but immediately put the thought from his mind – it was still far too painful to think of Kathy with another man. And what a fool that man was, he thought, just look at what he was missing!

‘So … the birth went well?’ Somehow, he managed to drag his eyes away from the twins but his voice came out as a croak and he realised he was sweating. This wasn’t proving to be as easy as he had hoped it would be. ‘Oh, er … and here … these are for you.’ He pushed the flowers across the bed to her, scattering multi-coloured petals all over the bedspread, just as Sunday appeared balancing a tray of tea and a sponge cake she had baked that morning.

David was clumsily trying to gather the dropped petals together, but Sunday waved him to a chair and after placing the tray down she took the flowers from Kathy, telling him with a smile, ‘Don’t worry about those. I can see to them in a minute.’ She poured them both a cup of tea then swept away to put the flowers in water.

Once they were alone again, Kathy told him, ‘In answer to your question, the birth went very well, thank you. Although I have to admit it was a shock when we discovered there were two of them. I can’t believe neither the midwife nor the doctor picked up on it before.’