‘Awesome. I’m coming now,’ he said, before slotting his phone back inside his pocket and going to walk away.

‘Hey, where are you off to?’ Grace asked.

‘Come with me,’ he said, slipping a hand around hers. ‘There’s someone else who wants to meet you too …’

When they got to the gate, there was a silver mini-coach parked up and a group of people milling around chatting to Georgie and Tom.

‘What’s going on?’ Grace said, lifting her shades to get a better look at the group. There were two older men, in their sixties perhaps, and two women of about the same age. A younger couple and three small children too, who were dashing around excitedly, teasing each other by seeing who could flip the other one’s sunhat off first. ‘Are they more of Lara’s family?’ she added, grinning at Ellis.

But before he could answer, one of the men came over to them.

‘Hello, you must be Grace,’ he said in English with a London accent, taking her hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

‘Um, yes, that’s right,’ she said, intrigued. He wasn’t American, so these people couldn’t be part of Lara’s family from New York. So who were they?

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grace. I’m Terry, and this rowdy bunch here is my wife, June,’ and one of the women waved over enthusiastically. Grace waved back, bemused. ‘And that fella over there is my brother, James, and his wife, Audrey, and then you’ve got my son, Dougie, and my daughter-in-law, Steph, and their three kiddiewinks, Ben, Bobby and little Kitty.’

‘Nice to meet you all,’ Grace said, and then in a daze added, ‘Did you say Kitty?’ What a coincidence, as Grace remembered mention of a woman called Kitty in one of Connie’s earlier diaries; she was her best friend and had been with Connie at the funfair when she met Jimmy.

‘Yep, that’s right. Named after her great-granny she is, God rest her soul.’ And he crossed himself before looking skywards. ‘But come on, you had better come with me and meet the old fella himself.’ And Terry led her round to the other side of the mini-coach where a very frail and elderly gentleman was being helped into a wheelchair.

Stanley!