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but Luke doesn’t even notice.
    What’s the point of peppering your conversation with meaningful pauses if no one notices? I’ve had enough of being stealthy, it’s totally overrated.
    ‘Luke, let’s have another baby!’ I say in a rush. ‘Tonight!’
    There’s silence. For an instant I wonder whether Luke even heard. Then he raises his head, looking totally astonished.
    ‘Are you nuts?’
    I stare back at him, affronted.
    ‘Of course I’m not nuts! I think we should have a little brother or sister for Minnie. Don’t you?’
    ‘My petal.’ Luke sits back on his heels. ‘We can’t control one child. How on earth would we control two? You saw the way she behaved today.’
    Not him, too.
    ‘What are you saying?’ I can’t help sounding hurt. ‘Do you think Minnie’s spoiled?’
    ‘I’m not saying that,’ Luke says carefully. ‘But you have to admit, she’s out of control.’
    ‘No she’s not!’
    ‘Look at the facts. She’s been banned from four Santa’s Grottos.’ He ticks off on his fingers. ‘And St Paul’s Cathedral. Not to mention the incident at Harvey Nichols and the fiasco at my office.’
    Is he going to hold that against her for ever? They shouldn’t have expensive artwork on the walls, is what I say. They’re supposed to be working, not walking around looking at art all day.
    ‘She’s just spirited,’ I say defensively. ‘Maybe a baby would be good for her.’
    ‘And drive us insane.’ Luke shakes his head. ‘Becky, let’s hold our horses on this one, OK?’
    I feel crushed. I don’t want to hold my horses. I want to have two children in matching pom-pom hats.
    ‘Luke, I’ve really thought about this carefully. I want Minnie to have a lifelong friend and not grow up an only child. And I want our children to be close in age, not years apart. And I’ve got a hundred quid’s worth of vouchers for Baby World which I never spent!’ I add, suddenly remembering. ‘They’ll expire soon!’
    ‘Becky.’ Luke rolls his eyes. ‘We’re not having another baby just because we’ve got some vouchers for Baby World.’
    ‘That’s not why we’d have the baby!’ I say, indignantly. ‘That was just an extra reason.’
    Trust him to pick on that. He’s just avoiding the issue.
    ‘So what do you mean? That you never want another baby?’
    A guarded look flashes over Luke’s face. For a moment he doesn’t answer, but finishes wrapping the present, straightening every corner perfectly and smoothing the Sellotape down with his thumbnail. He looks exactly like someone putting off talking about something which is a sore point.
    I watch in growing dismay. Since when was having a second baby a sore point?
    ‘Maybe I would like to have more than one child,’ he says at last. ‘In theory. One day.’
    Well, he couldn’t sound less enthusiastic.
    ‘Right,’ I gulp. ‘I see.’
    ‘Becky, don’t get me wrong. Having Minnie has been … amazing. I couldn’t possibly love her any more, you know that.’
    He meets my eyes directly and I’m too honest to do anything except nod silently.
    ‘But we’re not ready to have another one. Face it, Becky, it’s been a hell of a year, we don’t even have our own house yet, Minnie’s a handful, we’ve got enough on our plate as it is … Let’s just forget about it for now. Enjoy Christmas, enjoy being the three of us. Talk about it again in a year’s time, maybe.’
    A year’s time?
    ‘ But that’s ages away.’ To my horror my voice shakes slightly. ‘I was hoping we might have another baby by next Christmas! I’d even got perfect names planned for if we conceived it tonight. Wenceslas or Snowflake.’
    ‘Oh, Becky.’ Luke takes hold of both my hands and sighs. ‘If we could get through just one day without a major incident, maybe I’d feel differently.’
    ‘We can easily get through a day . She’s not that bad!’
    ‘Has there been a single day in which Minnie has not created havoc of some sort?’
    ‘OK,’ I say a