Because it was a special day the visitors were invited to stay for tea that evening so they could spend a little extra time with their loved ones and the cook had laid on a lovely buffet in the dining room. The whole place rang with laughter as everyone waited to see in the New Year. Although she did her best to keep a smile on her face, Holly felt miserable, but even so, she chatted to the patients and visitors as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

She was in the dining room when Richard’s mother appeared and spotting Holly she hurried across to her. Richard’s young lady was clearly having a few minutes alone with him as there was no sign of her.

‘I’ve been trying to think where I’d seen you before all afternoon,’ she said with a smile. ‘And it just came to me. You’re the young lady that came to see me about my second husband who committed bigamy with your mother.’

Holly’s mouth dropped open. What did the woman mean … her second husband?

Seeing her confusion, Belle Garratt gently took her arm and led her to two empty window seats. ‘I was trying to explain to you when you called but you shot off before I could finish what I was saying.’

‘I … I don’t understand,’ Holly answered falteringly.

‘Neither did I at the time but then everything clicked into place when Richard kept raving on about the girl he was seeing. Her name was Holly and he was well and truly smitten with her. It was you, wasn’t it?’

Holly nodded numbly.

‘I thought so. Then shortly after your visit Richard informed me that you had ended your relationship and I put two and two together, although I didn’t tell him anything about it. The trouble was I had no way of contacting you and it was awful to see him so heartbroken. You went away thinking that you and Richard had the same father, didn’t you?’

Another nod from Holly and the woman sighed. ‘What I didn’t have time to tell you was that I was married for a very short, precious time before my first husband was killed in an accident on the docks. He was Richard’s father, not my second husband who ran off with your mother! That’s why Richard’s surname is Parkin, that was his father’s name, and a more wonderful man you could never have met. Richard was just a small baby at the time and I was still grieving for him when I met my second husband and as your mother will no doubt tell you, he had the gift of the gab and swept me off my feet.’

Holly felt as if the floor was rushing up to meet her. If what Mrs Garrett was telling her was true then she and Richard were not related in any way!

And then she thought of the pretty girl who was even at that moment in his room with him and she shrugged helplessly. ‘If only I’d known that before he met someone else,’ she said brokenly and Belle Garrett’s eyebrows disappeared up into her hairline.