‘For God’s sake, think about it, Gwen! Gordon is claiming paternity of Tom. If you send away now the man everyone in this village thinks is your husband, the man who in the eyes of the law is Tom’s father, you’ll be handing on a plate all the evidence Gordon needs to make the world suspect he might be telling the truth, and that your marriage was nothing more than a sham to cover up your pregnancy with his illegitimate child. But if Jack stays and the two of you play doting parents to that little boy, Gordon’ll find his pleas falling on deaf ears. No one will believe him. No one will want to believe him. There’ll be no question of who Tom’s father is if Jack stays to play his part. Your boy will be safe.’

‘Oh, God.’

‘So you get back into that house and you get down on your knees if you have to, but don’t you let Jack walk away today, because if he does … you’ll have lost your best weapon against Allingham and you’ll end up fighting alone for Tom – and Gwen … I don’t know if you’ll win.’

Gwen covers her mouth against a wave of nausea, as the full effect of Muriel’s words comes to bear.

‘I can’t be his wife …’

‘Oh, Gwen. Jack will do whatever is necessary to protect you and Tom … and he won’t ask for anything in return.’

‘How do you know? How can you possibly know that?’

Gwen is unable to interpret the strange look on Muriel’s face. ‘Because I do. The thing I find most incredible is that you don’t. But then … we only see what we want to see, I suppose. Now, get on up to the house and tell Jack what’s been going on and ask him to stay. And if you can’t swallow your pride and put your own foolish fears aside to do that, you’d best start imagining life without your boy because that’s the future you’ll be looking at. Right now, Jack Ellison staying is the only way to safeguard your son.’

When Gwen bursts into the kitchen a few minutes later it is empty. Muriel’s warning ricochets inside her head as she runs through to the sitting room, thinking perhaps he has made himself comfortable for a little while, but the room stands stagnant and undisturbed. She hovers in the hallway wondering if he might be somewhere else, but in her heart she knows the house is empty – she can sense its vacancy, its air unmoved by another’s presence. The silence cuts her to the bone. She is too late.