Having been unable to find a solid enough job in the US (I was offered a couple of jobs but I think they were looking for someone with a pulse and a teaching qualification), I flew back to England with the girls (the eldest two are university but helped us bring our stuff back).

Part of the reason for coming back is that my folks and in-law offered to pay for Iona's education if I wanted to send her privately. Having seen some of the elementary schools in America, I thought it was a good idea and Iona started at the school my sisters (all seven of them) went to.

The school has a good record, all my sisters ended up getting into good universities (6 to Cambridge, 1 to Imperial, the English equivalent of MIT), and 85% of the kids who went there got in to their first place college. I know it's early to think of college, and I'm not putting any pressure on her, but if she doesn't get into college, part of me thinks I'll have let her and my wife down.

I've warned her teacher about what happened to her and her Mum, but some of the other girls in the school have already asked her what her Mum and Dad do, which I think upsets her a little. I'm not altogether what to tell her to say, because kids don't often think about it some times and want to know how it happened.