‘I loved him very much. He was my first love.’ She hesitated; there was only so much detail she should burden her nephew with. ‘What I did was wrong, so wrong. I should never have gone behind your mum’s back like that, nor should your dad. The thing is, he loved us both. He was so excited about being a dad and starting a family with your mum. With me it was –’ she let out a huge sigh, her body loosening cathartically – ‘different. He wasn’t a bad man. He just couldn’t decide between us.’

Jude nodded but Maggie could see he was getting upset again.

‘Let me ring your mum.’

Lou picked up immediately.

‘Where the hell are you? I’m outside Toby’s and he’s saying he hasn’t seen you all afternoon. The car’s packed and ready to go.’

‘Lou, it’s Maggie.’

The silence was deafening, so Maggie spoke quickly to fill it.

‘I got home from work to find Jude on my doorstep. He’s here with me now.’

‘Let me talk to him.’

That was it. The full sum of what her sister was prepared to say to her. Maggie handed the mobile to Jude.

From the squawking she could hear as he spoke to his mum Maggie could tell Lou was apoplectic with rage. Jude, on the other hand, said nothing, letting the tirade wash over him.

Then he put his hand over the receiver.

‘She wants me to walk into the town centre so she can pick me up.’

Nearly fourteen, Jude was perfectly able to get himself to their meeting point – the walk would only take him a few minutes. But that would let Lou off the hook and, even though she might not care what she thought, Maggie felt a duty to warn her about her new fiancé.

‘Tell her I’m not letting you leave. She needs to come and get you.’

Jude relayed the message and the squawking got louder. Then he passed the phone over.

‘She wants to talk to you.’

Maggie’s hand trembled as she held the device to her ear. Regularly in her job she came up against people who were aggressive and behaved alarmingly but none of them ever intimidated her as much as Lou did when she was angry.

Yet to her surprise, Lou didn’t let rip.

‘I’ve got to get Mae in the car, then we’ll come round to get him.’

‘Oh, okay. See you in a bit.’

Ten minutes later Lou, Scotty and Mae ascended the three flights to her flat. Scotty threw himself at her with the same enthusiasm Jude had but Mae, now walking confidently, hid behind her mother’s legs. It killed Maggie that she didn’t seem to recognize her.

‘She’s grown up so much in a few months,’ she smiled, unable to take her eyes off the little blonde girl.

‘You look tired,’ said Lou.