The divorce papers were formally served to Gavin the following morning, and the response came fast.

The first of the calls arrived just after eleven, and then they did not stop.

He called and called, one after another, a long string of missed calls stacking up on my mother’s phone, which she had left with me and would not touch.

When the calling did not get an answer, the messages started.

They were exactly what Victoria had warned us they would be.

“Tell your mother to get back home right now.” Then, in shouting capital letters, that my mother was making the worst mistake of her life.