Gracious Living. Andrea Goldsmith

down to earth,’ he’d say to her. ‘Or better still, come to bed.’

      Things and sex, that was Adrian. So many things and so much sex, and then with Ginnie’s birth and the problems, less sex, until he decided Elizabeth was frigid and should seek professional advice. Which she did. But after a few sessions the counsellor said there was little more she could do unless Adrian were willing to attend, which he was not. After the counselling finished, the sex recommenced and continued until the end of the marriage. Elizabeth simply complied with his expectations, proficiently but, as he was quick to remind her, without the passion she had shown in the early days.

      There was a knock at the bathroom door and Ginnie entered. She was dressed in a pair of brightly coloured harem trousers and a loose, yellow shirt.

      ‘Well?’

      Elizabeth peered around the shower screen. ‘Perfect,’ she said, and silently hoped that everything would be.

      ‘Good. Now will you please hurry – I want to leave in ten minutes.’