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‘You know, there’s an easy way to find out.’
‘How?’
‘If he was her son, then Toby would be a cousin of Carys and Oliver.’
Abigail was already shaking her head. She knew where she was going with this. ‘I’m not on speaking terms with the Somervilles since they found out who I was. Do you really think they’d do a DNA test?’
‘You could at least ask.’
Abigail still shook her head. ‘Besides, without access to Toby’s AncestryDNA account, it wouldn’t do much good anyway because I couldn’t compare the results.’
‘You still haven’t figured out his password?’ Lili said in surprise. ‘I thought you two were—’ She paused and looked away. ‘Sorry.’
Abigail knew what Lili was going to say. Abigail and Toby had been best friends. She’d thought she knew everything there was to know about him. But she didn’t. And now she didn’t think she’d ever figure out the password. Abigail frowned. Lili had still hit a sore point. Going through the High Court to get access could take years and a lot of money.
Lili stood up. ‘I know. Let’s go for breakfast on the promenade. Or better still, let’s go out this evening and get plastered on some bottles of Prosecco.’
‘I can’t.’
Lili looked at her in surprise. ‘Since when did Abigail refuse a glass or several of Prosecco?’
‘Since she discovered she was pregnant,’ Abigail blurted.
Lili stared at her.
Abigail stared back. She hadn’t meant to come right out and say it like that.
‘I think I need to sit down.’ Lili resumed her seat. ‘You’re not larking about – are you?’
Abigail surprised herself, and Lili, by bursting into tears.
‘I think it’s a boy,’ Abigail said. She had told Lili how she’d come to suspect that her missed periods and upset stomach weren’t just down to stress. Lili went to sit back down on the sofa with Abigail and Ulysses. She was carrying two cups of tea, and hesitated, looking at Abigail’s. ‘Are caffeine drinks bad for the baby?’
Abigail smiled. ‘I think we’ll be fine.’ Her smile faltered when she said that. It’s just the two of us now,she thought.
As if Ulysses could read her thoughts, he placed a paw on her lap. She smiled at him, thinking,okay, make that three.She’d recovered from her tearful outburst. She had no idea where it had come from, although she guessed it was the pregnancy hormones coursing through her body.
Lili resumed her seat. ‘How come you think it’s a boy. Is it the way your baby bump sits?’
Abigail guffawed. ‘What bump? Right now he’s just the size of a walnut.’
‘So you don’t know if it is a boy?’
‘I think I’ve got another month until I can have a scan to tell me the sex.’
‘So, why do you think it’s a boy?’
Abigail reached for her teacup and disturbed Ulysses. His head was on her lap. He was snoring. He gave Abigail a look that only a Cavalier King Charles could pull off, looking very put out. He moved around on the sofa, his backside to Abigail, and rested his head on Lili’s lap. ‘Oh.’ She hadn’t expected that. ‘Your dog is a bit of a turncoat.’
Abigail had discovered that about him already.
‘But I think he loves you more,’ Lili joked. Her expression turned serious. ‘So, about this baby. Why a boy?’
Abigail sighed, her attention drawn to the birthday party playing on in the background. ‘When we were going through IVF, Toby used to enjoy researching baby names.’ Abigail remembered it had always made her cross, as though he might jinx it. In hindsight, she wondered if after the second attempt had failed, that’s what he’d thought too. She stole a glance at the home movie, realising that she would never know why a boy, and why that name.
‘Most guys want a boy,’ Lili said, as if reading Abigail’s thoughts.
‘But Toby had even picked out a name.’
