Serena patted his arm and took over. ‘I think what we’re about to tell you may come as a terrible shock,’ she began softly as she held Ruby’s hand. ‘And once you know the truth, I’m not sure that you’ll ever be able to forgive us, but the thing is, Ruby . . . I am your mother and Mr Pembroke is your father.’

‘What?’ Ruby gasped, shock running through her veins like iced water.

‘It’s true,’ Serena told her. ‘And I think we owe you an explanation so I’ll start at the beginning. It began a short time after Mrs Pembroke had Miranda. She and Oscar were not getting along because she was adamant that she didn’t want any more children and she banned him from their room. He was lonely and eventually he turned to me for comfort.’ She bowed her head and blinked back tears before going on. ‘I had loved him for some time but we knew what we were doing was wrong, so we ended our relationship. But soon after I discovered that I was going to have a child and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell Oscar; I was so ashamed of what I had done. I loved your father but he was married and his wife had just had a baby, so there was no way we could be together. So I went to stay with my sister and my aunt for a while but I knew I couldn’t stay there forever. My sister was struggling to make ends meet as it was, and I didn’t think it was fair to add to her burden. I just didn’t know what to do for the best. You know them well – Maddie is my sister, although she changed her surname to Bamber because she thought it sounded grander than Wood, and the person you know as Mrs Petty is actually my Aunt Ethel.’

Ruby listened in disbelief, her eyes round with shock.