Love reborn

Liz watson, 42

Gathered at the kitchen table, my children happily munched the cake we’d baked together. ‘Yummy!’ grinned Emily, then 9, and James 7.

They giggled as their half-sister Jordan, 3, and half-brother Adam, 6 months, smeared chocolate all over their faces.

I began laughing, too, but then a pain in my chest reminded me Emily and James would be gone soon.

Because, the following week, my eldest kids were going to live with their dad Steve, who’d recently moved hundreds of miles away.

It was June 2014 and, four years earlier, Steve and I had gone through a difficult divorce.