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says, it’s better to tell everyone I’m pregnant, so they can say whatever they want to our faces, instead of whispering it behind our backs.’
    ‘But you do want to marry Jack?’ Katie asked anxiously.
    ‘I’ve never wanted anything more in my whole life. I just wish people would stop pretending I’m not having a baby when Jack and I are looking forward to his arrival.’
    ‘Not just Jack and you.’ Katie smiled. ‘I can’t wait to be Auntie Katie.’
    ‘You’re going to make a great one.’
    ‘I’ve often wondered …’ Judy began tentatively.
    ‘What’s it like to be an aunt?’ Helen broke in. ‘You’ll soon find out because Jack and I intend to make you and Lily honorary ones.’
    ‘Not that – but I’d love to be an aunt – I was thinking about what it’s like to go all the way with a boy.’
    ‘You and Brian are the sophisticated ones.’ Helen took four glasses from her father’s cocktail cabinet. ‘Living in London …’
    ‘In hostels where we aren’t allowed visitors of the opposite sex in our rooms, only the common rooms which are cold, dreary and public.’
    ‘You mean, you and Brian haven’t …’ Helen looked at her in surprise.
    ‘We were able to get up to more when he lived with Martin and Jack. Then we could sneak into his bedroom for the odd half-hour, not that we did that much. Well, not as much as you and Jack,’ Judy qualified. ‘So, what is it like?’
    ‘You don’t really expect me to answer that.’ Helen handed out the glasses and bottles of Babycham.
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because it’s something private that you have to find out for yourself.’
    ‘At least tell us if it hurt,’ Judy pressed, ‘and how you felt afterwards. And did Jack think any the less of you …’
    ‘It’s like nothing else that’s ever happened to me,’ Helen broke in hastily. More open than Lily and Katie, she had tended to discuss everything with her friends but not this. It belonged to her and Jack and no one else.
    ‘It must have been embarrassing to undress in front of Jack for the first time.’ Lily blushed as they turned to her. ‘I didn’t mean to put it quite like that, but I’ve often wondered how any girl could …’
    ‘You and Joe were practically engaged.’ Judy passed her the bottle opener.
    ‘We never got as far as undressing and not much beyond kissing,’ Lily confessed.
    ‘That doesn’t surprise me after the lecture Joe gave me when he walked in on me and Jack.’
    ‘He caught you?’ Judy’s eyes widened as she stared at Helen.
    ‘Not actually. We were dressed – sort of – but Jack was holding my underclothes.’ Helen busied herself with the bottle opener and Babycham.
    ‘Did Joe and Jack …’
    ‘Joe didn’t say a word to Jack but he said plenty to me. You should have heard him. He carried on worse than any maiden aunt. You were right to give him his ring back, Lily. I pity any girl daft enough to marry him. And as for it being embarrassing, it wasn’t. Jack did most of the undressing and it seemed right at the time.’
    ‘So?’ Judy poured her Babycham and settled back in a chair.
    ‘You’re not going to give up, are you?’ Helen asked.
    ‘If I had been the first, I would have told you what it’s like.’
    ‘I don’t know what it’ll be like for you, only Jack and me, and it was magical – and personal.’
    ‘Was it painful?’
    ‘A bit, but like the undressing it didn’t seem to matter.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘And I’m looking forward to married life. You want to know any more, talk to Brian,’ Helen said firmly.
    ‘In the common room.’
    ‘You’re staying until Sunday. Why don’t you ask Brian to borrow Marty’s bedroom?’ Helen pushed the coffee table aside and wheeled the trolley Joe had brought in into its place.
    ‘I’m not sure I want him to.’
    ‘That’s the difference between us, I wanted to.’ Hoping to change the subject, Helen opened a carrier bag and pulled out a blue satin net and cream lace