‘Better now than later, I suppose, when it may be too late.’ He went on to tell her of shady property deals, offshore accounts, even dodgy funeral plans. ‘So when will you tell her?’

Helena sighed and didn’t answer for a little while. ‘Part of me wants to run over to Fairacres now but the other half wants her to stay being happy for as long as possible.’

‘Why don’t we get your loom moved now and then you can decide? If she’s upset you won’t want to leave her and this old girl’ – he patted the loom fondly as if it were a horse – ‘needs to go to its new home.’

‘Just the two of us?’ asked Helena.

‘I think we can manage.’

Although it took longer than Helena had hoped, they did get the loom moved. But by the time she’d bought fish and chips for them both it was too late to go and see her mother.

Helena had appreciated the distraction. The loom had to be partly dismantled to move it and while she was taking photos of how various intimate bits of it looked before it was taken apart, she wasn’t thinking about the shattering information she felt obliged to tell Gilly.

She had wondered briefly if she actually needed to tell her but soon realised she couldn’t risk a man she saw as practically a murderer becoming permanently attached to her mother. And Jago had been quite sure he felt her mother should be warned.

She decided to invite herself for lunch. It would give them plenty of time to talk. She didn’t want to drop a bombshell and run, much as she might have liked to.

Chapter Fourteen

Gilly was a bit surprised when Helena rang to say she wanted to come for soup and a sandwich. Helena had told her she’d moved the loom and Gilly would have thought she’d want to get it set up so she could press on with some work. But as Gilly had a butternut squash to hand she set about making soup. Pre-roasted with chilli oil and made creamy with coconut milk, it was Helena’s favourite.

As she hacked at the squash and made cheese scones to accompany the soup, Gilly wondered what was on her daughter’s mind. She couldn’t help remembering that she’d been a bit twitchy at the Sunday lunch when she’d brought Jago to meet her. Since then she’d seemed fine, although Gilly realised she hadn’t seen much of her. They’d been in regular contact and with Helena helping to get the barn ready for her loom and trying to get as much done for her wool fair, all had seemed normal.

Maybe the poor girl just wanted some of her mum’s soup, Gilly concluded, giving it a stir and tasting it. Not everything everyone did had an ulterior motive.