She put her glass down and looked up at Jack. He was gazing at her intently. Almost frightening. What was he going to say? Even in her slightly hazy state, Maggie was bracing herself.

'So how old is George?' he almost demanded, the familiar blue eyes narrowing.

'Sixteen,' said Maggie. 'Beth's fourteen. Roughly the same ages as your kids.' And there the similarity probably ends, she thought bitterly. She could imagine his two perfect children: tanned skins, perfect manners and that all-American schmaltz you see on their sitcoms.

'Are you sure?' Was she imagining it, or had Jack raised his voice a natz just then?

'Well, I was there at birth. so I think I should know.' She half laughed, trying to make it into a joke. 'Pretty horrific, actually. I never intended to have any more, not after that! Twenty-four hours of solid agony. But then Beth came along and she was a lot easier...'

They both stared at each other, almost like the strangers they'd been at the start of this silly idea.

'I'm sorry, but...' Jack started.

'What?'

'OK, I'm sorry but there's something I need to know. Jack began again. Were his hands shaking slightly? 'I probably have no right to ask but I'll ask anyway.'

Maggie braced herself yet again. Surely it was the other way round. There were things she needed to know.

'Were you pregnant when we split up?'

Maggie's face immediately answered his question. She reached for the glass again. She was going to regret this later on. Was that it? Jack had left her because he thought she was pregnant? Had she wasted all these years of mourning on a guy who fled because he thought he'd got her up the duff? She certainly hadn't thought of that one.

'No of course i bloody wasn't.' Even she heard the anger in her voice. 'Is that why you disappeared? You thought I was pregnant and you ran away. And you came here today hoping to hear about the child you think you fathered but never met. I'm sorry but that's disgusting.'

'I don't know what you're on about.' Maggie stopped herself for a second to swallow a sob. 'All I know is that you didn't turn up that night and I spent years and years yearning for you, wondering where you were, what had happened. And now I've just realize that I wasted my time. The Jack I knew wouldn't have run off like that.' She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn't let her.

Jack grabbed her arm across the table. 'At least, Maggie, let me tell you what happened from my side,' he pleaded, his fingers turning her skin white as he tried to restrain her. 'Just hear me out. Please.'