Of course I tell Gorata I am busy Saturday afternoon. Even if Etienne only has an hour to spend with me, I want to be home ready and waiting. In fact, as soon as I’ve paid for this onesie, I am going next door to buy the red lingerie I promised him!

Surely once he sees me like that, he will try and stretch out the hour? Find some excuse that his dreary, messy wife Mary will believe?

“You’ll be sorry, Kaz,” Gorata says. “There are some real cute guys in the class. Way more sexy than any of those night-club head-bangers!” And she rings off.

But what do I need with cute yoga guys? I have Etienne and he is everything to me. Especially if he agrees to have a baby with me. Then my life will be complete.

The lovely, calm mother comes back to the queue now, pushing the pram, holding up her pink onesie.

“Thank goodness there was one left,” she says to me with a sweet smile. “Two princesses for two daddies! So when are you due?”

This time I don’t rush out the store in a panic. Instead, I smile back.

“It’s still early days,” I say. “I don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. But I’m hoping for a girl, as you can see.”

For a moment, I almost believe this is true. It is a warm comforting feeling, belonging to this sisterhood of mothers.

Just then the woman’s phone rings.

“Oh, it’s our Daddy!” she tells me.

By now I am heading to the till to pay. But I can still hear her voice as she speaks to her husband.

“Yes, my love. We’ll be home soon. I just got the cutest onesie for our little girl. You’re going to love it! It says, ‘Daddy’s Princess’! Isn’t that lovely? What shall I cook you for supper?”

The shop assistant slips the pink onesie with its silver crowns into a packet for me. Such a pretty packet – all pastel blue and pink swirls. Saturday afternoon, I will take it out and show Etienne. Surely he will love it too? Especially if I am already wearing my red lingerie.

In the background, I can still hear the mother on the phone with her husband.

“Spare ribs again?” she laughs. “You and your spare ribs!”

I’m about to turn and tell her that the love of my life loves his spare ribs too. What a funny coincidence!

I’m thinking, I should get her phone number and then – once I am really pregnant, she could give me some guidance on how to be a mom and still stay well-groomed and sexy.

But what she says to her husband next sends me into shock. I can’t believe what I am hearing. The baby store and the shop assistant blur as if my eyes have seized up. I take the packet and put my change into my bag with shaking hands.

I rush out of the store.

***

Tell us: What does the woman say to her husband that gets Kaz into such a state?