‘Well, he must have shifted bloody quickly. I can’t see anyone out there.’

I rushed to the front door and went out into the lane, looking up and down the road in case the man had gone in the other direction, but there was no one in evidence. Puzzled, I went back into the house.

‘Will you go and knock on Mrs Barley’s door – check if she’s all right? I can’t imagine he could’ve made it to her back door that quickly, but just in case …’

Jack rolled his eyes, but humoured me by going round to see the old lady. He was back in no time.

‘She’s fine – didn’t seem at all concerned. Said it was probably her gardener. He pops in and out quite regularly, apparently. Nothing to worry about.’

‘Oh. But I still don’t see how he could have cleared off that quickly … Well, at least she’s okay – that’s the main thing.’

I looked back into the garden, but a shiver rippled through me. I would be keeping an eye out for the gardener, just to make sure it was him. I felt uneasy about a man being able to wander unhindered into a garden so close to our own. Having moved from an urban area where break-ins were rife, it concerned me now that maybe this wasn’t going to be the bucolic haven I’d hoped for.

That night I sat up in bed, trying to read. But I felt restless, and kept going over the same paragraph time and again without absorbing a thing. Eventually, I put down my book and nudged Jack.

‘Are you asleep?’

He sighed. ‘Not any more. What’s up?’

‘I keep thinking … about that man in the garden.’

He rolled over and pulled me towards him.

‘Stop fretting,’ he soothed. ‘Listen; we’ve had a great day, made good progress. I’m earning more, we’re in our dream cottage and we’ve got a new baby to look forward to. Life feels … I don’t know, full of hope. I know you’re a born worrier but I’m sure that bloke out there was just the gardener or something. This is sleepy rural Warwickshire, not an inner-city den of iniquity.’

‘I know. It’s left me a bit unsettled, that’s all.’ I snuggled down beside him and he kissed my shoulder.

‘Try to get some sleep. You’ll have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.’

*