She threw him a reproachful look.

‘If you don’t tell me, I’ll definitely go and ask him myself, if I have to camp outside his hotel to do it.’

She let out a long, shuddering breath and sank down on the nearest chair. ‘You promised me last time that you’d let the matter drop for good.’

‘Brian said you had a heart problem and we mustn’t upset you. He was lying, wasn’t he?’ Tom waited a moment, then repeated, ‘Wasn’t he? I watched you play with my children last Sunday. A woman with a heart problem couldn’t have run around the garden like that. So it was a lie.’

She nodded, avoiding his eyes.

‘Why? Why do you work so hard to keep me from meeting my father?’

‘Because I want you to be happy. He … never was.’

‘Well, I’m not happy. I need to know where I come from. And I need to know why he rejected me.’

‘I can tell you that, you don’t need to ask him.’ She took a deep, sobbing breath and said rapidly, ‘He didn’t reject you. I had a lawyer’s letter from him when you were five, asking for regular access.’

‘He wanted to see me? Why didn’t you let him?’

‘I reminded him of the promise he’d made to me, to leave you to grow up normally. No one knew he was your father. Your grandparents were the only ones who knew who’d fathered my illegitimate child, apart from myself and Brian. Now they’re dead, there’s only us and we’re certainly not going to tell people.’

‘Is it so shameful? He’s not a bad guy, from all accounts.’

‘He’s into drugs and who knows what else. He’s had two marriages fail. He doesn’t seem like a good guy to me. We’re just a normal, ordinary family and I want us to stay that way.’

Tom fought to control his temper. What was normal? He no longer knew. He’d been brought up in an unremittingly Christian household, one that was very different from most of his school friends’ families. His mother had even tried to choose his friends and leisure activities for him, all based at her church. How normal was that?

Her loving supervision and careful indoctrination hadn’t worked, though. From his friends and teachers at school he’d learned about the wider world, and he no longer believed in the sort of religion he’d been taught at her church, wasn’t even sure he believed in a god at all. He’d not told his mother that, because he knew how much it’d hurt her.

He’d been brought up to believe that religion, marriage and family were the most important things in life, and that if you did the right thing, you’d be happy. His mother was indeed happy with Brian, who was a nice guy. Lucky her.

Tom no longer believed in happily ever after, or even in for better for worse, not after his years with Gail.

‘So my father backed off, just because you asked him to?’ he asked at last.