I braced myself, picked up the phone and dialled my parents. Dad picked up. The minute I heard his voice I began to cry.

'Who is this? Is this one of those prank calls? Are you one of those perverts preying on innocent people?'

'Daaaad, it's uh ... uh me ... Sophie.'

'Jesus, what's wrong?'

'Uuuh, we lost our ... uh uh ... house.'

'What? I can't understand you. What do you mean you lost it? ANNE,' he roared at Mum. 'GET IN HERE! SOPHIE'S ON THE PHONE AND SHE'S HYSTERICAL. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HER.'

'What's wrong, pet?' Mum sounded worried.

'It's all gone,' I sobbed.

'What is?'

'Everything. There's nothing left.'

'Sophie, love, what are you talking about?'

'THE MONEY!' I shouted, my anger rising to the surface. 'We have nothing left. It's gone every penny. Jack's company lost everything. And the bank is coming tomorrow to take our house. I'm homeless, Mum. I have nothing. Nothing. They even want our furniture.' I broke down again.

'Mother of God.'

'Can we come and stay for a little while?' I asked.

'Of course you can, pet. You can stay for as long as you like.' I heard Mum talking to Dad, filling him in on my destitution.

Dad came back on the phone. 'What happened to all the money?'

'Jack's company invested in a Ponzi scheme.'

'Jesus. Is there any way of getting it back?'

'None. Jack said they've tried everything. He's in a state. The bank's taking the house and the furniture tomorrow.'

'What type of gobshites go into a Ponzi scheme?' Dad fumed.

'Apparently the guy was well known, reputable. Loads of the hedge funds invested with him and lost. It wasn't just Jack's company.' I'd defended my husband for the first time.

'What about his salary and bonuses and other investments?'

'The bonuses were all tied up in the fund and his other investments in bank shares are worth nothing. Look, Dad, can you stop asking questions and help me?'

'Sorry, pet. Of course I'll be right over.'

'I don't need you to come now. I need you to come first thing tomorrow with a van. Can you borrow one, Dad? I can't pay for one. I want to take some of our stuff I'm not letting the bank have everything. I want to take my baby's toys and uh uh ... photos and ... china and ...'

'Anne, talk to Sophie she's hysterical again,' I heard Dad say, as Mum came back on the line.

'Oh, my poor Sophie,' she soothed, as I continued to bawl. 'I'm on my way over. We'll help you, love. We'll all rally together.'

'Don't come now, Mum. Jess is asleep and I don't want her worried. But I do need you here first thing tomorrow and can you ask Julie and Harry to help too and bring their big car?'

'Of course I will. But can I not come over and see you now?'

'No, Mum, thanks. I need to talk to Jack and sort out what we're taking with us. I'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Good luck, pet. Try and get some sleep.'

When I hung up, I realized Jack was standing in the doorway. 'What did they say?'

'They're coming tomorrow to help us take our things. I presume the bastard of a bank will at least allow me to keep family photos and my wedding china.'

'That's a good idea. What did your dad say?'

'He said we can stay as long as we want.'

'I mean about my investment.'

'You don't want to know.'

'I bet he said I was a gobshite.'

'Got it in one.'

'Did you defend me?'

'I tried, but it's hard.'

'Not if you believed me. Not if you listened to what actually happened. Not if you understood anything about trading. Not if you lived in my world.'

'Well, I may not be a genius, but at least I didn't get my family into deep shit.'

'I'll get us out of this.'

'I hope you do it soon because I don't fancy living with my parents long term.'

'Can you stop being a bitch for ten minutes and think about how I feel?'

I rounded on him: 'I don't have time for your feelings. I'm fighting to keep people we owe money to from beating down our door. I'm trying to keep Jess's life as normal as possible and protect her from this, but every time I turn around you have even worse news for me. I am now trying to keep us from living on the street, so can you stop looking for sympathy and help me pack our personal belongings before we're thrown out of our home?'

He stormed back down to his office and I began to pack. Photos, china, clothes, cutlery, Jess's favourite toys, anything that would fit in a suitcase. I packed until dawn broke.

Mum, Dad, Julie, Louise and Gavin were on our doorstep at eight the next morning. I opened the door and Mum hugged me tightly, followed by Dad, Julie, Louise and Gavin.

Jack was inside with Jess. We'd told her we were going on a little holiday to Granny and Granddad's and she was to pack her favourite cuddly toys and dolls.

'I'm so sorry, Sophie.' Julie's eyes welled up. 'Life's a bitch, isn't it? Men are bloody useless.'

'You should have called me,' Louise said.

'Dude, if I had any money, you know I'd give it to you,' Gavin assured me. 'You and Jack have always been so generous to me. When I get a job, my first pay cheque is yours.'

'Thanks.' I tried not to cry.

'Where's Clara?' Julie asked Louise.

'Acorn's minding her.'

'Where's Jack?' Dad asked.

'In the kitchen,' I said. 'Come on in. By the way, Jess doesn't understand. She thinks we're going to stay with you for fun. So we need to be careful around her. She knows something's up, but I don't want her traumatized.'

They all made a fuss of Jess, and Dad took Jack aside for a quick chat. All I could hear was '... seemed like a sure thing ...'; '... very risky ... shouldn't have piled in ...'; '... checked his background, very solid ...'

'Is it really all gone?' Mum whispered, as Gavin swung Jess around in circles. 'All of it?'

'Yes.'

'There must be a way of salvaging some of it. I'll go through the legal work for you,' Louise said. She looked as exhausted as I felt.

'I've been poor for ages,' Julie said. 'I can show you how to live on very little.' She looked awful, too. They must have all been up worrying about me last night.

'How long have you known?' Mum asked.

'Ages. I just couldn't face telling anyone. It's all so real now.'

'There, there, we're all here to help.' Mum rubbed my back. 'You look worn out. Sit down now and I'll make you a nice cup of tea and we'll get those cars loaded.'

'We don't have any cups, Mum, they're all packed. Come on, let's just get it over with.'

The van Dad had borrowed and Julie's car held most of our things. The rest went into the boot of the beaten-up Ford Fiesta that Jack had brought back from the garage when he'd traded in the Aston Martin and my Range Rover.

Jess sensed the tension and began to get upset. She kept asking why we were bringing so much stuff if we were just going on holiday.

I bent down. 'Jess, sweetheart, we won't be coming back to this house. We'll be going to a different one after our stay with Granny. This house is too big for just the three of us. We're going to find somewhere more cosy.'

'But I like this house.'

'We'll find another nice one, I promise.'

'But what about my Princess and the Frog duvet?'

'I'm bringing that.'

'What about my princess bed?'

For Jess's fourth birthday I had ordered a custom-made bed that looked like a huge throne and was hand-painted with scenes from her favourite movie The Princess and the Frog. It was a work of art. She absolutely loved it.

'I'm sorry, pet, we can't fit it into the car. But we'll get you a nice new one soon.'

'Nooo,' she sobbed. 'I want my bed. Everything is yucky now. I hate it. You and Daddy are mean to each other and Mimi's gone and you have sad eyes all the time. I don't go to ballet or drama or swimming or anything any more and I don't go on play-dates. I don't want a new house, I want this house. I don't want a new bed, I want my princess bed.' I put my arms round her and she sobbed into my shoulder.

Dad knelt down beside her. 'Jessica, listen to your granddad. If you want that bed, then I'll get it for you. I'm going upstairs now to bring it down and we'll set it up in your mum's old bedroom in our house.'

Dad stormed up the stairs, followed by Gavin and Jack. They came down carrying the bed and, with a lot of shouting, cursing and manoeuvring, somehow managed to tie it to the roof of the van.

While they did that, Julie fed Jess chocolate buttons and sang her funny songs to make her laugh. She cheered up in no time.

Louise pulled me aside. 'What happened to the money Dad gave you?' she asked. 'That should tide you over for a while.'

I winced. 'It went down in the Ponzi scheme and please don't say I should have given it to you to invest. I'm all too aware of the stupid mistakes I've made and the ridiculous amount of money I wasted on material things. I've been a total idiot.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself.' Louise sighed. 'We all make mistakes. Let me go through Jack's contracts. Maybe I can salvage something.' She patted my arm.

We walked outside and I went over to Jess and Julie. Jess had chocolate all over her face and looked happy. 'I ate some chocolate, Mummy, but I'll brush my teeth when we get to Granny's.'

I kissed her. 'You can have any treat you want today, baby. Are you OK now?'

'Yes. Julie told me funny songs and then she said that all men are very silly billies and that us girls need to stick together. She said when I grow up I should study hard like Louise and never get married.'

'She's right.'

'But princesses always get married to princes.'

'Sometimes princes aren't what they seem,' Julie said.

'Why don't we live in a castle together? Just us girls,' I suggested.

'What about Daddy?'

'He could live in the dungeon with Uncle Harry,' Julie said.

'Bloody good idea,' I agreed.

'But it's dark and cold down there,' Jess reminded us.

'Yes, I know.' Julie sighed.

'Right, then, we're all packed up,' Dad said.

Jack came over to us. 'Do you want to go in and say goodbye to the house, Jess?' he asked.

'No, thank you, Daddy. I did it already.'

'Sophie?'