But first, the unicorn wallpaper needed to go. I checked the steamer had reached boiling point, grabbed a scraper and got cracking.

I took a brief lunch break to watch Hope while Daniel went for a run. I felt him eyeing me, sensed the trace of concern and questions behind his veneer of normality. Daniel was ready to listen the moment I was prepared to talk.

Re-emerging from the clouds of steam much later, I showered and changed into a sloppy pair of lounge pants and went to rustle up something for dinner. Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table with a newspaper.

‘I cooked a rice thing.’

‘Oh?’ Surprised, I lifted the lid on a pot gently bubbling on the stove, dipping my head to investigate. ‘It smells fabulous.’

‘After working flat out since before dawn I’d imagine beans on toast would smell equally as delicious.’

‘No, I love chorizo and prawns together. And is that feta?’ I straightened up. ‘For a straight down the line cheddar guy, this is impressive.’

He kept his eyes on the newspaper, pretending not to be bothered, but his eyes crinkled up at the corners. ‘Well, your fancy metropolitan cooking ideas seem to have inspired me. And I presume Hope and I are going to benefit from all that bumping and scraping up on the top floor. This is the least I owe you.’

I fetched bowls from the dresser and ladled out two glistening mounds of deliciousness.

‘Well, I can’t start the master bedroom until you’re out of there, so that makes the top floor next on the list.’

He filled glasses with flavoured water and handed me a fork. ‘I’d have been happy to leave it undecorated, particularly considering everything else that needs doing.’

‘You can’t relax properly while surrounded by thirty-year old unicorn wallpaper, covered in Blu Tack stains and blobs of make-up! And Hope deserves a beautiful bedroom.’ I paused, squeezing the sudden rush of tears back behind my eyeballs. ‘I needed to feel close to her, today. Even if I was removing her wallpaper, I think she’d have approved.’

Daniel looked at me, his own eyes glistening. ‘She’d have been so thrilled.’

I nodded in acknowledgement, unable to say anything more.

‘This is really good!’ I finally managed, a few forkfuls later. ‘I might add the recipe to the retreat folder.’

‘Why, thank you for the compliment, but it’s a top-secret recipe.’

‘I’m not sure it’s that good.’

‘Maybe not, but due to being unable to remember what I chucked in there, even I don’t know the secret.’ He put his fork down, turning serious. ‘I am really grateful. I would have come and helped, only Hope’s been grizzly all day. Bringing her up there would only have been frustrating for both of us.’

‘I’m not sure a baby should be in all that hot steam anyway. And I thought we’d agreed that we’re both equally grateful, so don’t need to go on about it any more?’

‘Yeah.’ He pulled a rueful smile. ‘You know. Still working through a few self-sufficiency issues.’