‘I … I see,’ she stammered.

Seeing how shaken the young woman was, Belle Garrett hurriedly rose from her seat and went to fill the kettle at the sink. ‘I think what we need is a good strong cup of tea,’ she said kindly and all Holly could do was nod numbly.

Minutes later she was back with a tray and Holly wordlessly accepted the dainty cup and saucer the woman handed to her.

‘Get that down you, it’s good for shock,’ Belle urged and Holly took a great gulp from the cup almost scalding her mouth.

‘You mustn’t feel badly about this.’ The woman’s voice was gentle. ‘None of this was your fault and I can understand why your mother fell in love with him. Michael Garrett had the gift of the gab. He could have charmed the birds from the trees and I fell madly in love with him. I knew almost from day one that he wasn’t the man he made himself out to be but love is blind. I would have followed him to the ends of the earth if he’d asked me to.’ She sighed as memories rushed back. ‘I was with him for five years before he left me, and it took me another five to get over him and accept that he wasn’t coming back.’ She shook her head.

‘I had five children by then and somehow I had to try and keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. I was in a bit of a mess emotionally, which is probably why I was so vulnerable. Right from the day they met him my parents didn’t take to him and made it clear that they would never accept him, but I wouldn’t hear a word said against him so in the end we ran away.’ She blushed prettily then. ‘We lived together for a time and then when I discovered I was having my second baby he finally made an honest woman of me but my parents had already disowned me.’ She smiled. ‘Even so my firstborn, Richard, has done really well for himself, and the youngest has just left school so they’re all in work now,’ she told her proudly. ‘Richard’s just qualified as a surgeon and works at University College Hospital. Didn’t you say you were a nurse? You might know him.’

Holly suddenly felt as if she was caught in the grip of a nightmare and she started to sweat as she asked unsteadily, ‘Is his name Richard Parkin?’

‘Yes, that’s him.’

If, as his mother had told her, she and her father had lived together before getting married that would explain why Richard had a different surname. Parkin must have been Mrs Garrett’s maiden name. It also meant … that Richard was her half-brother! They both had the same father!

She swayed in her chair and felt sweat break out on her forehead.

‘Oh my dear, are you all right?’ Mrs Garrett asked anxiously as Holly dragged herself to her feet.