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Thankfully there were no hiccups in Wendy’s pregnancy and she delivered safely a couple of months ago. It wasn’t a boy, however. It was twin boys - enormously huge twin boys. I don’t know how that tiny little woman carried them both to term. But she did. And she delivered them naturally, too - no drugs or artificial assistance required. She’s made of stern stuff, that Wendy Wong.

As I said, our marriage probably never stood a chance.

I am genuinely pleased for Tony. I really am. We’ve both felt the pain of losing a son so the birth of a healthy boy, or two in my ex’s case, is cause for genuine blessing.

There is one aspect of this I feel less charitable about, though. Andy informed me that Wendy had been on a special diet and taking Chinese herbs to increase her chance of conceiving a boy. That’s where Tony had heard about the herbs. He’d been discussing making babies with her while he was still married to me! I seethed about that for a couple of days until Alex suggested that it might be time for me to move on, otherwise he’d get suspicious that I was still holding a flame for my ex. So I’ve moved on, apart from the occasional mischievous hope that Wendy’s pelvic floor is somewhere in the vicinity of her ankles at present.

In further evidence that God has a sense of humour, the two women whom I have most cause to hate in the world turned out to be unintentional allies in my fight over custody of Isabel.

Wendy decided that she would have her hands full with the twins and it might be better if Isabel remained with me and visited them in Hong Kong during school holidays. What a relief that was - I may no longer believe in fairytales but the character of wicked stepmother appears too often in these stories for her not to have some basis in fact!

And then there was Pamela. Andy came out not long after the marriage split (I think in a gallant effort to direct some flak away from me), and although stranger things have happened it’s unlikely she’ll be welcoming grandchildren from his quarter anytime soon. With her two grandsons likely to be in Hong Kong for the foreseeable future, Isabel remains her only grandchild in Sydney and Pamela found she had grown attached to those Wednesday evening visits from her granddaughter.

So the mistress and the mother-in-law ganged up on Tony and bossed him into granting primary custody to me, on the proviso that when he is visiting Sydney Isabel stays with him and his parents the entire time.

When Tony called me to inform me of his decision, I almost kissed the ground in disbelief.

‘Thank you, thank you,’ I said through the tears. ‘I promise you I won’t restrict your access to her in any way. You will always be her father and she will never, ever, hear a bad word from me.’

‘Yeah well it was the only sensible decision in the end, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, sensible, but I’m still surprised. I thought you wanted me to burn in vat of boiling oil.’

‘The thought had crossed my mind but I’m moving on from that now.’

‘Where has this all come from?’

‘Oh no, I’m not going to tell you. You’ll laugh at me.’

‘No I won’t.’

‘You will, I tell you.’

‘I promise.’

‘I’ve been going to counselling.’

‘What, couples’ counselling?’

‘No just me by myself.’

I laughed then, of course, although it came out more as an unladylike snort.

‘See, I told you you would laugh.’

‘I’m sorry - it’s just so bizarre. What prompted all this?’

‘I think it was my fortieth birthday. You know, pause for reflection and all.’

So my ex did have the capacity for self-reflection. Who would have known?

‘I thought about you on the day,’ I said, ‘but didn’t think you’d welcome a card somehow.’

‘Anyway, thanks to the navel gazing I am coming to terms with the fact that it was pretty much all my own doing.’

‘No definitely not all. My behaviour was fairly appalling, too. But I would never have pursued anything with Alex if I’d thought you still cared about me. I want you to understand that.’

‘My point exactly - but I don’t think I ever did stop caring.’

‘Well in that case you