I hung up and leant back in my chair. Thank God I had my mother off my back. I had enough to deal with in work without grief from her, too. My boss, Alex Sutton, had not taken the news of my pregnancy well. At first he'd thought I was joking and refused to believe me until I took off my jacket and showed him my bump.

'But you always told me you didn't want children. I don't understand.'

'It's a long story,' I lied. The last thing I wanted to admit to my boss was that I'd got so drunk I'd slept with a stranger and used no protection. 'But I'll be raising the baby by myself and I assure you it's not going to affect my work. I've got my childcare well organized. I'll be taking three weeks off in April to have the baby, but I'll have my phone and laptop with me at all times and I'll be back in the office before you've noticed I'm gone.'

Alex pushed his glasses back up his nose. 'That's what you all say and then the child is born and you go all cooey and want to run home early to play with it.' He wagged a finger at me. 'I stuck my neck out for you, Louise. It was because of my repeated recommendations that you were made senior partner so early. This was not what I expected at all.'

I swallowed hard. 'Alex, it's fine. I love my job and I'm very good at it. I know you pushed for me to be made partner and I won't let you down. Look at Meredith. She hasn't skipped a beat.'

'Meredith married someone who is always there. Stewart gets home at five every day and if the child is sick, he takes the day off work to look after it. Are you planning on getting hitched?'

I shook my head.

'Perhaps you should consider it.' Alex's face was like thunder.

'Look, Alex, it's just about being organized, which I am. I've got the creche booked and a back-up childminder if the baby gets sick or I need to travel. I've worked my arse off for twenty years at this firm, and I have no intention of taking my foot off the pedal now. Trust me.'

Alex looked directly at me. 'Don't let me down, Louise. I'm counting on you for the Hollywell case. If I see any signs that you can't keep up the pace, I'll have to ask Dominic Rowe to step up. It's too important to risk.'

I gritted my teeth. 'I'm fully aware of how important the case is. After all, I'm the one who persuaded Simon Hollywell to hire this firm. I'll manage the pace just fine.'

'Make sure you do,' he said, walking out.

I closed the door and sat down. My heart was pounding. I'd known Alex wasn't going to be thrilled about my pregnancy, but I hadn't expected him to threaten me with Hollywell. I owned that bloody case. I'd heard through the grapevine that the billion-dollar computer technology corporation Micropack was looking to buy the Hollywell Limited games company for $485 million. I had personally got in touch with Simon Hollywell and persuaded him to let Higgins, Cooper & Gray advise them on the sale. It was complicated because forty-nine per cent of Hollywell was owned by Games4us2play. They had shareholders located in four continents, making it a very complex transaction. I was working with multiple parties across the world to get a handle on the key commercial and legal issues. It was a huge case and we were billing hundreds of hours. I was determined to lead it to a successful conclusion and bask in the kudos that would follow. I was damned if that snake Dominic was going to get his hands on it.

Within an hour, the entire office knew I was with child and I had a stream of people coming in to congratulate me. They all seemed shocked, especially my secretary, Jasmine. She stood in my office, staring at me open-mouthed. 'Are you really pregnant?' she asked.

'Yes.'

'Wow.'

'Yes.'

'Are you happy?'

'Yes.'

'Is it true you're raising the baby on your own?'

'Yes.'

'It's not easy. Believe me, I know.'

I smiled stiffly at her. 'I'll manage.'

'Well, if you need any advice, I'm bringing up three alone, so I can certainly give you tips.'

'Thanks.'

'Do you want to ask me anything now?' she asked.

'Yes. Can you get me the Hollywell file? I want to review it.'

She sighed and went to get it.

In the canteen at lunchtime, Dominic Rowe sidled up beside me. It was as if he could smell blood. I knew he would like nothing better than to get his hands on the Hollywell case while I stayed at home breast-feeding. He was currently a junior partner and was extremely ambitious. I didn't like him and the feeling was definitely mutual. He spent most of his time ingratiating himself with Alex. They both played golf and bored me to death in meetings about birdies and eagles. Dominic was from a blue-blood family his father was a member of the House of Lords and seemed to own half of Sussex. He had gone to Eton, then studied law at Cambridge. Although he was short, squat and not very attractive, he had very high self-esteem and the sense of entitlement that seems to go hand in hand with a privileged background.

He'd been a member of the incredibly exclusive Harrington House Golf Club since he was twelve. Alex had been trying to get into the club for years and it was through Dominic's connections that he had finally got his membership. I'd felt sick when he told me. With this one well-planned manoeuvre, Dominic had Alex in his debt, which was a very powerful position to be in. Dominic was a spoilt, over-indulged, back-stabbing, two-faced fake, but he was clever and excellent at manipulating people. I needed to watch my back.

'Well, well, well! Aren't you a dark horse, Ms Devlin?' he said, smirking.

'What do you mean?' I eyeballed him.

'Come on, it's the talk of the office. Louise Devlin, career woman, is pregnant. So, who's the father?'

'None of your business, Dominic.'

'You're going to bring the baby up alone?'

'Yes, I am.'

'Very brave of you.' He swept his auburn hair off his large forehead.

'Thanks.'

'With your workload, I imagine it will be very difficult.'

'I'll manage I'm very resourceful.' I took a sip of my water.

'Alex is concerned about the Hollywell deal.'

I froze. 'He has nothing to be concerned about. It's completely under control.'

'Well, don't worry.' Dominic patted my arm. 'When it all gets too much, I'll be here to pick up the slack.'

I stood up. 'Thanks, Dominic, you're very sweet. If I'm stuck for a babysitter, I'll give you a shout.'

'I didn't '

I cut across him: 'Don't take too long over lunch. We have work to do.' I turned on my heels and left the canteen.

The patronizing little shit. He was already after my job. I'd have to work harder than ever to prove to Alex that this baby wasn't going to make me less dynamic, sharp or focused. I pushed away the seed of doubt in my head. It was all about being organized and staying on top of things, both of which I was very good at.

That evening while I was at home finishing off some emails, my phone rang. It was Julie.

'I need help,' she begged. 'I've just weighed myself. I've put on five more pounds. I have to lose it. I'm forty this year. I will not be forty and fat.'

'You're not fat.'

'I've gone from a size twelve to a sixteen. I feel fat.'

'It's all just excess weight. If you focus, you'll lose it quickly.'

'Tell me how.'

'I gave you a detailed plan last year. Do you still have it?'

She snorted. 'Louise, I'm lucky if I can find myself among the piles of laundry, toys and general chaos.'

I suppressed a sigh. For the last four years Julie had called me every January, crying because she'd put on weight, and every time I'd sent her a weight-loss plan that she'd ignored. 'OK, I'll do another for you tonight and email it over. But if you really want to lose weight, you have to follow it properly. No cheating.'

'I promise I'm going to do it this year. Do I have to eat vats of spinach and cabbage? LUKE, GET THAT OUT OF YOUR NOSE.'

I held the phone away from my ear. Conversations with Julie always included a lot of shouting at the boys. 'No, you just have to stop eating rubbish. You need slow-releasing carbohydrates.'

'Sophie's always banging on about them.'

'She's thin,' I pointed out.

'She doesn't eat anything, slow-releasing or not. Did you see her on Christmas Day? She ate three Brussels sprouts and a small slice of turkey.'

'I agree she's too thin, and there's no point starving yourself because you'll crack one day and end up bingeing.'

'What type of exercise should I be doing? Everyone says Pilates is great for toning up.'

'It is, but you need to mix it with cardio.'

'I can't afford to join a gym. CURTAINS ARE NOT ROPES STOP SWINGING OUT OF THEM.'

Thank God I'm having a girl, I thought. 'You don't need to join a gym. I can send you a Pilates DVD and a cardio one. When Tom goes for his nap, do half an hour cardio and half an hour Pilates. You just need to get more organized so that you can focus on your weight loss.'

'It's hard to be organized with four kids. If Tom goes for a nap, I usually try to catch up with the laundry or tidy up, or else I pass out face down in my own bed because I'm so tired. GET OFF ME! I'M TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH MY SISTER. GO AND ANNOY YOUR DAD.'

'Losing weight and keeping fit aren't easy. It's hard work and you need to be disciplined.'

'You're right. I'll try, but I'm not like you and Sophie with your incredible self-control. I seem to be missing that gene.'

'Well, be happy as you are and stop asking me to help you lose weight.'

'But I'm not happy being this big. This time I really want to be thinner. I have to drop two dress sizes before my fortieth in June.'

Julie was different from me and Sophie. She'd never been driven like us. She'd drifted through school, popular, happy, laid-back. Then she'd gone to college and decided to study social science because it had so few lectures each week. She'd had lots of fun and scraped through her exams, having done the minimum amount of study. After college her best friend, Linda, had moved to London, so Julie tagged along, not having any idea what she was going to do. When she went to a recruitment agency to find work, she'd got on so well with the owner, Sylvie, that she'd been offered a job.

Julie didn't even have to go looking for Harry they'd met when he'd come to the agency looking for a new job. Julie was the agent assigned to him, and they'd hit it off immediately. When she'd wanted to get pregnant, she'd conceived the triplets straight away. That was Julie all over.

'If you follow my diet and exercise plan, you'll drop two dress sizes by June.'

'Brilliant. You're a star. I'll definitely do it this time. Anyway, enough about me. How are you doing? Are you feeling OK?'

'Yeah, fine. I've had to stop doing ashtanga because my bump is bigger, but I'm swimming every morning and finding that really good. I'm hoping to keep it up all the way through.'

'How long do you swim for?'

'An hour.'

'Bloody hell! Are you sure that's safe? DO NOT THROW THAT CUP.'

'I checked it out. Swimming is the best exercise to do when you're pregnant. I feel great after it, totally energized.'

'You're an amazing woman. Did you tell your boss yet?'

'Yes. Not a good reaction.'

'Yikes.'

'The vultures are circling, ready to pounce on my job if I screw up.'

'You'll be fine. You've never put a foot wrong in your life ... with the obvious exception of the one-night stand that resulted in pregnancy.' Julie giggled. 'Is Alex still cute in that Alan Sugar kind of way small, grey-haired and crinkly with a twinkle in his eye?'

Julie had met Alex once, years ago, when she lived in London, and through a haze of white wine had found him attractive.

'He looks like Alan Sugar's beardless brother and, no, he is not cute in any way whatsoever.'

'Look, I'm a full-time mum, I fantasize about anyone I even had a sex dream about George Bush, and I think he's gross.'

'Jesus, Julie!'

'I know. But at least I only dream about one-night stands, as opposed to actually having them.'

'I wish mine had been a dream. I now have Mum stalking me.'

'Well, clearly you gave an Oscar-winning performance on the phone today. She told me you were very upset about the nasty boy dumping you and she was giving you some space.'

'Alleluia!'

9.

Sophie.

I stepped out of the shower on to the warm bathroom tiles and dried myself. After moisturizing carefully with the new Creme de la Mer body cream, I shook my hair out of the shower cap, put in some heated rollers and applied my makeup. The good thing about modelling was that it had taught me how to do my own hair and makeup like a pro. I'd learnt all the tricks of the trade and it was a great asset.

I finished with some lip-gloss in a neutral shade and moved into the dressing room. I studied the rails of clothes. I wanted to look smart and stylish, but not as though I'd made too much of an effort.