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‘She’s a nice old thing, although I don’t think she quite approves of the idea of feh pulled a wry face ‘She certainly isn’t on her own there She’s only just o, so unfortunately she wasn’t able to tell us very oes rather a lot’

‘She’s seen Ginny going into the house with him?’

Leigh sighed ‘Not as yet, thank God I keep asking myself hoould feel if it was one of e’

‘You’ve a long way to go before they do,’ Debra pointed out to her ‘Sally is only eight and Bryony ten’

‘I know Paul should have had them this weekend, but he cancelled at the last moment I could have killed him, Debs Not for my sake, but for theirs Oh, Bryony put a brave face on it said she expected that Daddy had a lot of work to do, and I went along with it Work Hahhis time Luckily Jeff came round, so ent into Chester, walked

round the walls and then went on the river He’s so good with them, Debs You can see in his eyes how much he’d have liked kids of his own Thatthat he can’t be a father That’s why Alex divorced him, you know Apparently, when they found out that his sperm count was too low for her to conceive, she told him that she couldn’t stay married to him That the reason she had married had been to have children’

‘He’s a nice man,’ Debra told her

‘A very nice reed

Both of theh mimicked one of the voices froh they were physically co they shared

Leigh had been ten when her father had married Debra’s mother, and Debra had been four

Leigh was like her father, tall, vigorous, with strong bones and thick curly brown hair

Debra was like her ht, slim, with delicate bones and the kind of honey-coloured hair that went strikingly fair in the summer

Luckily, although it was very fine, it was also very thick As an accountant, she often felt she would look more businesslike if she had it cut, but she had alorn it at shoulder-length, and she liked the versatility this gave her, plus the fact that her simple timeless style was easy to maintain

Her e where she had been brought up Leigh had bought a shters could be near to their grandparents

Debra was now the proud owner of a very pretty little Georgian terraced house in Chester which ithin walking distance of where she worked

She was a happy, contented girl who enjoyed the friendships she shared with people of both sexes At twenty-six, she was in no hurry to commit herself to a per the early years of her training when she had worked in London had taught her that the intensely passionate and deeply private part of her nature which she wanted to share with her lover was not always so that the male sex seemed to want She had decided she wanted, needed a partner ould share her goals in life, anted security and calm; a family Passion, she had decided, was not for her One day she wanted to h had once remarked that she was afraid of passion She had, of course, denied it—too vehemently perhaps

‘Coh told her