‘Of course, why didn’t I think of that before,’ she cried, remembering the proud old lady sitting in her favourite armchair by the window; on the sill were the usual pack of Embassy Players, Murray mints and brandy & coke. Maybe Nan was a little pickled but at 86 she still had a twinkle in her eye and a mind sharper than most. Gemma laughed a little to herself ... then felt a sharp twinge in her belly.

‘Okay, okay I know you’re here, how can I forget? You’ve been cooking in there nicely for six months!’ Smiling to herself she gently stroked her belly and thought, ‘Number three, and it doesn’t get any easier.’

‘But hopefully it will be better...’ Gemma knew these moods were mainly hormonal but it had to be different this time. After all, this time she knew what she was doing...right? And she was finally with the right man...right? Third time lucky...right?

The past few years had been a roller coaster. ‘Life is, I suppose...’ Gemma mused. ‘But it wasn’t as much fun as Ronan Keating would have us believe!’

Gemma had felt helpless as she watched the collapse and closure of her independent estate agency. Everything happened at once, or so it seemed. The death of her father, her husband’s affair, the credit crunch, the dreaded Home Information Packs, fewer and fewer sales, increased rates, higher utility and advertising costs... the list seemed endless. In the space of a year Gemma’s world had caved in and her dream business had disappeared.

She developed an aura of pessimism and gloom. Even her closest friends were starting to exclude her from their usual gatherings as they found the only thing she ever talked about was her rotten luck. This only helped reaffirm her belief that the world was against her.

But who could blame her? For Gemma, breaking free from her old firm and starting her own business had taken every drop of her courage. And the triumph she felt initially was short lived. The whole process was unbelievably stressful. Her ex-husband, Rob, had been unsupportive; telling her time and time again she was stupid to try and go it alone. Was he right?