Jonas sank again. ‘Then tell us what’s wrong, Anna,’ he said softly. ‘We’re with you all the way. Both of us are. But you have to tell us what’s happening.’

Anna took a deep breath. She raised her face to Em’s and her eyes were like those of a rabbit caught in headlights-terrified beyond belief.

‘Tell us, Anna,’ Em said gently, and the girl shuddered.

‘I don’t…I don’t know if I can face it. My kids…’

‘Just tell us.’

‘There’s a lump in my breast. I think I have breast cancer.’

There was, indeed, a lump in Anna’s breast. It was as big as a pea and close to the nipple, and it moved a little as Em gently palpated it.

‘How long have you been able to feel it?’ Em asked, carefully examining the rest of the breast. There was nothing else-just the one tiny, single lump.

‘F-four weeks.’

‘Is that all? That’s great,’ Em said warmly. She had Anna on the examination couch behind the screen. Jonas stayed out of the way, but he was still within earshot. ‘It’s very small and you’ve come early.’

‘Early?’

‘Some women worry about a lump like this for a year or more without having it checked,’ Em told her. ‘You have no idea the kind of trouble that can cause. But you’ve come quickly. And this is small. It’s less than a centimetre across, I’d think,’ she added for the benefit of the listening Jonas.

But Anna was trembling under her hands, afraid to meet her eyes. ‘So it is cancer?’

‘It might well be a small breast cancer,’ Em admitted. There was no use giving false reassurance when the most important thing was to get Anna to agree to have the necessary tests. ‘But there’s also a very good chance it’s just a harmless cyst. Cysts in breasts are common-much more common than cancer-and they feel very similar. It needs a biopsy to tell the difference.’

‘So…’ The girl’s eyes flew to hers, hope flaring. ‘This may well be just a waste of time. If it’s just a cyst, I can go home and forget it.’