t was, Lindsay thought, the most splendid bouquet of flowers she had ever spent money on. She didn't even know the names of most of the things in it. She only hoped the nurses could find a big enough vase. She walked through the hospital corridors towards the lift, still buzzy with lack of sleep and the satisfaction that comes from surviving a terrifying ordeal. She'd never been so scared in her life, nor so relieved at the outcome.

Lindsay emerged from the lift and took the short corridor that led to the private rooms. She nodded to a nurse who exclaimed at the flowers. Lindsay paused on the threshold and took a deep breath. Then she grabbed the handle and marched in.

Rory was sitting on a chair by the window, the animation on her face revealing she was in the middle of some anecdote. But Lindsay had no interest in her today. She turned to face the bed, where Sophie sat propped up, nursing Clare Julia Gordon Hartley, thirty-six hours old and the most beautiful creature Lindsay had ever clapped eyes on. A slow grin spread across her face and she leaned down to kiss Sophie and then their daughter, who remained oblivious to attention while there was milk to be downed.

Lindsay glanced up at Rory. "So, what do you think?" she said.

"She's gorgeous."

"That's the right answer," Sophie said. "You can come again."

Rory uncurled her legs from under her and stood up. "Try and keep me away. How long are you going to be in for?"

"They usually keep mothers in for five days after a section, but I'm going to try to persuade them to let me out sooner than that. Hospitals are such unhealthy places," Sophie said. "Besides, Lindsay's getting off far too lightly right now."

"Well, I'll probably wait till you're both home." Rory reached for the flowers. "I'm going off now, I'll give these to one of the nurses and get her to stick them in a vase. Lindsay, what time are we kicking off tonight?"

"Eight o'clock, Caf¨¦ Virginia."

"Kicking off what?" Sophie asked, curious rather than suspicious. Doubt had disappeared some months before, for which Lindsay was profoundly grateful.

"Wetting the baby's head," Lindsay said. "Work contacts, mostly. All the gang from Radio NMC, plus people like Giles and Sandra."

"I'm so glad I'm missing that one," Sophie said drily.

"See you soon," Rory said, stooping to kiss Clare's wispy black hair on her way out.

Sophie watched her leave, then reached for Lindsay's hand. "I'm glad you forced me to get to know Rory. She's great fun."

Lindsay shrugged, embarrassed. "I didn't see how I could avoid running into her, with us both so involved in the media scene. I just hoped the two of you would ignore me and get to know each other. Self-preservation, that's all it was."

"Well, it worked." Sophie shifted. "She's asleep. Do you want to hold your daughter?"

Lindsay picked up Clare as if she were a primed bomb and edged round to the chair by the window. "I can't believe how good she is. Did you get much sleep?"

Sophie grunted. "It wasn't too bad. She went three hours between feeds at one point, which was blissful. But it's not restful in here. We'll both do better once we get home."

The rest of the day passed in a drift of feeding, changing, bathing and conversation. Lindsay's parents turned up in the afternoon to drool over their grandchild, and Lindsay left her mother with Sophie for half an hour so she and her father could get some fresh air.

"It's all worked out for the best, then," Andy said as they walked along the banks of the Kelvin.

"Amazingly enough, yes," Lindsay said. "I couldn't believe it when they put Clare in my arms. It was like a hook going into my heart. Instant love."

"There's nothing like it," Andy agreed. "You forgive them anything, you know."

"Even stupidity," Lindsay said wryly.

"Even stupidity. Do you see much of Rory now you're doing the radio show?"

For the past five months, Lindsay had been the presenter of the midday news programme on Radio NMC. It was one of the few good things that had come out of her encounter with Tam and Bernie Gourlay. The station's boss had been a close friend of Tam's, and when his anchorman had left for BBC national radio, he'd called Lindsay to offer her the slot. She'd been at a loose end ever since she'd given up working with Rory as the price of reconciliation with Sophie, and it had turned out to be the perfect slot for her abrasive humour and incisive questioning. "I usually only see her when Sophie's around," she said. "It's safer that way."

Her father nodded. "Aye. Nice lassie, but trouble on legs."

Lindsay shook her head. "I'm the one that's trouble, Dad."

"Aye, well, that'll all change now. You've got responsibilities."

Lindsay grinned. "I know. Great, isn't it?"

She left the hospital in time to get to her counselling session at half past five. She'd gone into therapy while Rory had still been in hospital recovering from the gunshot wound that was bizarrely a mirror image of Lindsay's own. When she'd woken screaming in Rory's spare room for the third night running, she'd called Sophie for help. They'd had a cautious lunch together when Lindsay had revealed the truth about the events on the roof of the car park. Sophie had been horrified at Lindsay's risk-taking and adamant that she needed professional help.

"How can I talk to a therapist?" Lindsay had demanded. "As far as the cops are concerned, I'm just a bystander who got caught up in a Republican revenge shooting by chance. Thank God the only one of them left standing kept his mouth shut or I'd be on remand at Cornton Vale right now. I can't sit down with some New Age namby-pamby and confess that I killed two men. They'd freak out."

"Leave it with me, I'll find someone," Sophie had promised. And she'd kept her word. Anne-Marie Melville was a medically qualified psychiatrist turned counsellor who regarded her duty of confidentiality as highly as a priest in the confessional. Lindsay reckoned Anne-Marie had probably saved her sanity.

That evening as she left Anne-Marie's consulting rooms, she was astonished to see Rory sitting on the bonnet of her car, soaking up the sunshine. "What are you doing here?" Lindsay asked.

"Nice to see you too," Rory said, sliding off the car and giving Lindsay a hug. "I just wanted to see you on your own before we got ripped into the drink. I knew this was your night for seeing Anne-Marie and I thought I'd grab you when you were vulnerable."

Lindsay grinned and hugged her back. "Living dangerously, huh?" She moved away and unlocked the car. "Come back to the house and have a drink, we'll go into town together."

They were silent on the short drive, each keeping her own counsel till they were sitting on the living-room sofa, both clutching a cold beer. "Mmm, that's nice," Lindsay said, rolling the bottle against her forehead.

"Bernie called today. She's finally found a house she likes and the owners have accepted her offer."

"Where is it?"

"Cornwall. Near St Ives. Jack likes the sea. She was thrilled to hear about Clare."

"I suppose that's as near as we're going to get to a happy ending," Lindsay sighed.

"All things considered, we should probably be grateful we came out of it with nothing worse than matching scars," Rory said.

Lindsay reached for her hand. "I know it's not exactly what you hoped for. I'm sorry."

Rory shook her head. "Don't be. I'd only have broken your heart. And it taught me something important too."

"What? Don't mess with married women?" Lindsay said, only half teasing.

"There's that," Rory acknowledged ruefully. "But more importantly, I learned that I'm maybe not as much of a lost cause as I thought I was. I always reckoned me and love were as incompatible as a Mac and a PC. But what I felt for you... well, let's just say I'm not really scared any more."

"Oh, Rory," Lindsay said, putting down her beer and pulling Rory into her arms. "You deserve better than me."

Rory grinned up at her. "You think I don't know that?" She snuggled into Lindsay for a moment, then pulled away and said briskly, "Come on. It's time to go and paint the town lavender. You've got something to celebrate, Lindsay. The new life starts here."