The rest of her daughter’s words percolated through belatedly. So Will was in Devon, the neighbouring county. In Newton Abbot, presumably. And suddenly Maggie had flashed right back in time to the weekends they’d spent there at Philippa’s house in years gone by, when she was young and life was still carefree: tramping through verdant countryside with Philippa’s dog Bonnie, stopping now and then at a riverside pub along the way; the comfortably scruffy kitchen with its battered black range-cooker and the bunches of herbs drying along the wall. She could vividly remember being curled up on the baggy old sofa with Will in the evening, the smells of red wine and wood smoke in the air, feeling blissfully happy. She had never allowed herself to feel so happy with a man again. For a second, the memories pained her. She felt as if her heart might rupture, even thinking about that time.

‘So . . . can I, then?’ Amelia asked, impatient to have her question answered. ‘Go and stay with him?’

There were so many reasons why Maggie wanted to say no. No, this is our holiday and we’re meant to be having fun here in Cornwall together. No, because Will’s a bad person and you’ll get hurt, and then I’ll be livid and quite possibly murderous. No, because this has been sprung on me and I can’t make a decision like that on the spur of the moment, here at Pendennis bloody Castle, with a coach load of tourists milling around us.

But Amelia was looking at her with such hope and determination that all such words stopped in Maggie’s throat. ‘Okay,’ she heard herself saying, ‘on one condition. That I take you there. It’s my final offer, take it or leave it.’

Amelia looked as if she was about to protest, but Maggie’s expression was so steely, so stern, that she must have changed her mind. ‘Cool,’ she said. She even added a meek ‘Thanks, Mum’, before beaming and giving a little skip. ‘I’ll give him a ring,’ she said and, before Maggie could say anything else, she’d whipped out her phone and punched in a number. ‘Hi, it’s me, Amelia. So tomorrow’s looking good.’ She grinned. ‘Yeah, I know. I can’t wait!’

Chapter Nine